This Is Why Woodstock 50 Was Just Canceled

The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property ^ | August 12, 2019 | John Horvat II

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Of the rock festivals of the sixties, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was by far the most famous. Held on a 600-acre dairy farm near Bethel, N.Y. on August 15–17, 1969, the festival is the iconic representation of the drug-addled culture and sexual revolution that upended American life. This August marks the fiftieth anniversary of the era-defining event. Some have called for celebrating with another concert.

The occasion is hardly a cause for celebration—so many of the cultural changes after Woodstock had catastrophic consequences. Most do not know that the concert was a disaster—even from an organizational point of view.

What Went Wrong

Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong.

The organizers planned an event for 200,000 people. Nearly 400,000 people crashed the gates where they demanded and received free admission. Security fell apart. The highways were clogged with cars trying to get to the event. Heavy rains created a sea of mud that mixed with the promiscuity, drugs and marijuana that dominated the festival.

John Fogerty, from the rock group Creedence Clearwater Revival, described an early morning scene as “sort of like a painting of a Dante scene, just bodies from hell, all intertwined and asleep, covered with mud.”

Saving Woodstock

The “establishment” that the hippies condemned saved Woodstock. Professionals had already arranged to attract concertgoers by promising a star-studded cast that included Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Santana, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, and the Jefferson Airplane. A sympathetic media turned the logistic and moral disaster into a hippie legend by repackaging the event as “three days of peace and music.” When order broke down, the government stepped in with personnel from nearby Stewart Air Force Base. They flew in performers and put men on the ground to keep things from descending into total disorder.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Woodstock 50 ultimately died after being moved from New York to the Meriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.

Combined General and Maryland “Freak State” PING!

[txhurl]

Say ‘Dante’ to a moronnial and watch the slack expression you get.

[Bommer]

It would have sucked anyways. Katie Perry? Taylor Swift? Some half assed named rappers and general flash in the pan American Idol crap that the Disney channel calls music that would have resulted in 3 days of noise suck...all hosted by Ryan Seacreast. Can’t get more gay and worthless of a concert than that. Focus more on Fyre and Us concerts, to bring out the epitome of true suck!

[Texas Eagle]

Not enough handicap porta potties?

[SpaceBar]

Proudly sponsored by Metamucil and Polygrip.

[DoodleBob]

There was a lot of drug use and leftism in Bethel, NY those 3 days that lives on in colleges and other areas that we are still trying to quash. But compare the totality of those days with the carnage at Woodstock 99 and any contemporary gathering of 100,000+ leftists nowadays. Woodstock is not something that was pure deadweight loss.

In a weird sort of way, Woodstock probably says more about the positive morals of the hippies' parents than the mud pie crowd would prefer to acknowledge. Having a quarter of a million people without a lot of food and water etc and virtually no police presence, but yet there were no major crimes reported sounds more like kids remembered the Golden Rule vs sex and drugs and rock and roll. In turn, the fires and riots of Woodstock 99 probably says more about the morals of the GenXers parents (many of whom were Boomers...) than the kids themselves.

[rfp1234]

“Daunte Culpepper? You mean the ex Vikings QB became a poet after he retired”?

[jocon307]

oh good heavens, was that the lineup? They were calling this Woodstock? The gods of rock & roll cancelled this nonsense.

[robowombat]

The Porta San guys were among the unsung heroes of Dopestock. They kept their uh, facilities operating and kept toilet paper stocked. The aerodrome ground crews from Stewart AFB and the dustoffs from the same place deserve recognition for sure. The number of acid and dope overdose cases they medevaced in lousy weather was impressive. I was in the USAF then and a couple years later met on of the aerodrome guys. He said two things stood out. The place smelled like a feedlot and he was repeatedly hit on for sex by muddy half naked females as was the rest of the USAF ground staff.

[ozarkgirl]

Jimi Hendrix played the Star Spangled Banner at the last one, no one protested or took a knee. Wonder how that would go over in today’s political climate.

[Fightin Whitey]

"Daunte Culpepper? You mean the ex-Viking QB became a poet after he retired?"

Indeed. The birth of cowboy poetry.

[RedMonqey]

"John Fogerty, from the rock group Creedence Clearwater Revival, described an early morning scene as “sort of like a painting of a Dante scene, just bodies from hell, all intertwined and asleep, covered with mud.”

"Damned, Dirty Hippies”

[Impala64ssa]

The Bethel Woods arena is built on part of the site of the original Woodstock. It was the brainchild of Alan Gerry, an old hippie who sold the idea to investors as a way to help revitalize the economy of the Catskills. Turns out he's butt buddies of the Clintons, and incredibly still alive and kicking at 89, perhaps their oldest surviving "friend"? Some interesting controversy surrounding the securing funds for the building of this arena, according to Wikipedia "$1 million in federal funding earmarked for The Museum by the U.S. Senate in June 2007 was criticized after it was revealed the museum founder, Alan Gerry, then donated almost $30,000 to New York Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer, who had helped to secure the funding.[7] Clinton did not speak during the debate on the project, but Schumer strongly defended the Bethel project as a boon for an economically struggling county." My lovely daughter and son in law saw the Doobie Bros and Lynyrd Skynyrd there a few yrs ago. A sign of the times, when Skynyrd did their finale playing Free Bird. Since kids today don't take up smoking like we did hardly any of them had lighters, so some genius created a Zippo lighter app. The lights were dimmed and 10's of thousands of Androids were being waved in the air running this app.

[El Cid]

“Daunte Culpepper? You mean the ex Vikings QB became a poet after he retired”?

After playing for the Minnesota Vikings I suppose he'd have some experience about writing about the 7 levels of hell...

[I-ambush]

Sponsored by Viagra: “Sex-drugs, and Rock and Roll.”

[dfwgator]

Many think Jimi’s “Star Spangled Banner” was meant to protest the Vietnam War.....Far from it.

“The Americans are fighting in Vietnam for freedom. As soon as they move out, they (the Indochinese) will be at the mercy of the communists. Of course, war is horrible, but at present it’s the only guarantee of peace.”

- Jimi Hendrix (1967)

[aquila48]

[AnotherUnixGeek]

There was some great music performed at the original Woodstock: The Who’s rendition of ‘Sparks’, Jimi Hendrix’s performance of “The Star Spangled Banner”. But that was 50 years ago, there is no new Jimi Hendrix waiting to give a performance that will still be talked about in 2069, and Coachella is there to let people pay good money to stand in a field and watch the likes of Taylor Swift and Ariane Grande do their impressions of Rihanna.

[A strike]

The cultural decline began years earlier (earlier than “Summer of Love” even) and was well advanced by the time of Woodstock which only focused it.