Posted on 08/15/2019 9:56:56 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
For an event described as an Aquarian exposition, its origins were remarkably mercenary. Two men, one a pharmaceutical heir, placed an ad in The New York Times: “Young men with unlimited capital looking for interesting, legitimate investment opportunities and business propositions.” They eventually partnered with a record company executive and the promoter of the relatively small Miami Pop Festival. When plans for a music studio in Woodstock, New York, went awry, the quartet settled on the idea of an art and music festival.
Established food vendors wanted nothing to do with Woodstock, so the promoters hired an inexperienced group called “Food For Love.” As their supplies ran out, they naturally increased prices, which resulted in angry mobs burning down two concession stands.
There were only 600 toilets on site, meaning there were as few as one for every 833 attendees.
Two of those involuntarily dosed with LSD were The Who’s Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, both of whom have had bad things to say about Woodstock over the ensuing decades.
The Grateful Dead received electrical shocks during their rainy set; guitarist Bob Weir has spoken of trying to live it down, while drummer Mickey Hart claimed it was “the worst we ever played.”
Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick succinctly described Woodstock as “a bunch of stupid slobs in the mud.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thefederalist.com ...
After he recently passed, a friend said he was in fact there and it was the high point of his entire life!!!
And all the years I thought he was joking.
When you've lost Grace Slick...
Ugh...
Frankly, I didn’t give that two thoughts at the time that it happened. Fifty years later, it still isn’t worth my time.
“Pete Townshend “
ho cares what a bisexual communist pedophile says.
Just wish Pete would have finished the job on Abbie Hoffman.
I suspect that sentiment was what fueled, “Won’t Get Fooled Again”.
“As their supplies ran out, they naturally increased prices...”
Who said that hippies didn’t understand capitalism?
The sound man for The Grateful Dead insisted on changing the entire sound system already in place for different one.
Great article. Thank you for posting it.
It’s kinda amazing how there are such two disparate views of Woodstock - one that it was obnoxious wastepit and the other that it was the greatest thing ever. I guess it depends on where you were and who you were - a performer vs an attendee.
I don’t know anyone who was there - but by all accounts, it sounded like a giant mess, literally and figuratively. The heat, the mud, over-used bathrooms, the garbage, no food, lack of water, bad drugs, etc.
Burning Man looks pretty tame compared to Woodstock.
Frankly, I didn’t give that two thoughts at the time that it happened.
I don’t think I had even heard of it at the time??
I was...out of town, yes, that’s it! Way out of town.
I was with some pals on a McNamara scholarship.
The event as it unfolded sucked. Yet the idea or theme behind the event, aided by the media, morphed into being an undeserved iconic symbol of the 1960’s. Yet those of us who have lost our youth, nostalgia, real or imagined, becomes something to hang on to ease the reality of growing old.
Burning Man looks pretty tame compared to Woodstock.
Yes, but compared to the Fyre Festival...
Objects in the mirror are worse than they appear.
Unless that is all you can see.
[[I guess it depends on where you were and who you were - a performer vs an attendee.]]
Exactly- it didn’t matter that it was muddy, raining, cold, whatever- the people in the crowds likely enjoyed it even if the playing wasn’t perfect due to conditions- it was a massive party of their lifetime basically- and something that likely wasn’t going to be replicated ever due to the times- the ‘hippie times’ - it was a ‘unique’ period to say the least
Many Grateful Dead concerts weren’t much different than Woodstock really- when conditions got bad- people whacked out o n drugs- slogging in the mud- not a care in the world-
My brother in law 17 at time was there. We love hearing the stories at family gatherings. I was 16 and on vacation in Fla. When we opened one of the NY local newspapers a girl who sat near me in homeroom was on the front cover. It was the closest I got.
“..Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick succinctly described Woodstock as “a bunch of stupid slobs in the mud.”...”
Lol!!!
Perfect!
Regardless of all,
Jimi Hendrix performance was beyond millennial awesome.
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