Woodstock 50 Year Anniversary – tiny curations
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- Richie Havens – Freedom
- Joe Cocker – With A Little Help From My Friends
- Jimi Hendrix – Star Spangled Banner
Woodstock, started on this day 50 years ago. A 3 day festival, from August 15-17, on Max Yasgur’s Farm in Bethel, New York, where 500,000 people descended upon the town for Peace, Love, and Music; and a lot of brown acid. This was 1969; this was the time and the place to be. Many 50th anniversaries are upon us, why because of the year, 69. I don’t know what it is, maybe the numerology: 69.
At this time, the country was caught up in an unpopular war in Vietnam, with a Draft that had been enacted for all young me. And the country was in the midst of a cultural revolution.
Contrary to popular belief, this was not the “Summer of Love”; that took place in ’67 at Haight Ashbury in San Francisco.
Just one week earlier to the start of Woodstock, both Tate and Labianca murders happened back to back, as alluded to in the new Quentin Tarantino’s film, “Once Upon a time in Hollywood”. But it wouldn’t be until December of that year, that the Manson Family would all be apprehended and hauled in, that was when America got to see Charles Manson’s evil face for the first time.
Then there was Altamont. the Rolling Stone’s brainchild for a West Coast equivalent to Woodstock in both scale and in spirt. The Altamont Speedway Free Festival took place on December 6. However, that was marred by the Rolling Stones choice of security by hiring the Hell’s Angels. This unfortunate choice created bad vibes and a terrible situation resulting in a fan being stabbed to death, just feet from the stage. This brought the 1960’s to a violent end.
Both Woodstock and Altamont festivals can be seen in 2 great documentaries.
Plans for a Woodstock 50th Anniversary concert, by the original organizer, just fell through late last week. But other anniversaries did have their own celebratory festivals, one in ’94 and one in ’99.
Today, we will celebrate the legendary Woodstock festival and lineup with a Cliff Notes version of only the extreme highlights, enjoy:
And that was a Jimi Hendrix interview on the Dick Cavett Show, where he is explaining his now very famous rendition of the Star Spangled Banner on guitar. Before that was Joe Cocker, “With A Little Help From My Friends, the second cover version of that Beatles song featured at the festival. People my age remember that song from the great TV show, “The Wonder Years”. If you are a little younger and caught reruns, when Netflix acquired the rights in 2011, then you were not so fortunate, as the song was replaced with an anonymous version…
And starting us off, just like he did on the first day as the first act, was Richie Haven’s with Freedom.
There are many more good songs and sets to hear from that day, some of the other recommended highlights are Santana’s “Soul Sacrifice” and “I Want To Take You Higher” by Sly & the Family Stone.
Today also happens to be my Dad’s birthday, today he turns 69!He was 19 at the time of Woodstock, but did not attend what was to be the legendary festival. Happy Birthday Dad!
Thanks for listening.