http://www.tulsaworld.com/Scene/article.aspx?subjectid=67&articleid=20090705_67_G5_Concer630850
A scrapbook of memories about 'three days of peace and music'
By JAMES D. WATTS JR. World Scene Writer
Published: 7/5/2009
It shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that the idea that became
Woodstock began as a marijuana-fueled dream.
"What if we had all the money in the world we could rent a Broadway
theater, have a concert and just invite our friends," Artie Kornfeld
recalled. "We could get Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, Creedence
Clearwater, Sly Stone, the Beatles, and every other act that (we)
would love to see perform. We wouldn't charge anything, and it will
be one of the greatest parties of all time."
Kornfeld, who was working for Capitol Records at the time, thought
this dream would always remain a dream until he and the friend he
shared that dream with, Michael Lang, happened to come across an ad
placed by John Roberts and Joel Rosenman, two well-to-do young men
looking for a way to use what they described as "unlimited capital."
About $2.4 million of that capital went into the creation of a
three-day event, held August 15-17, 1969, on several acres of a dairy
farm run by a man named Max Yasgur near Woodstock, N.Y., a small town
about two hours west of New York City.
The promoters told everyone they were expecting maybe 50,000 people
to attend a conservative figure to placate the locals, even though
the promoters knew that the event was going to attract a crowd of at
least 150,000 thousand.
That original dream came true in a lot of ways. The Beatles and the
Stones weren't on the bill, but the other artists plus such
performers as Crosby, Stills & Nash, Joe
Cocker, the Who, Jefferson Airplane, Santana and Arlo Guthrie made the gig.
It didn't start out as a free show tickets were $7 per day, or $18
for the whole weekend but it became one when the presenters forgot
to set up ticket booths and the hordes of people descending on the
concert site tore down the fences around the farm's perimeter. "There
was no malice," one concert-goer said later. The fence in question
"was just meant to be down."
And it certainly became one of the greatest gatherings, if not
parties, of all time: as many as 500,000 people, most of them under
the age of 30, living together in relative peace for three days.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the "Woodstock Music and Art
Fair: An Aquarian Exposition," to use its full official title. The
art fair and the exposition, like the ticket booths, security,
sanitation facilities and concessions, never materialized.
The music certainly happened, with some performers putting on shows
that are among the most iconic moments in rock music history -
Crosby, Stills & Nash performing for only the second time; Joe
Cocker's volcanic "With a Little Help from My Friends"; and Jimi
Hendrix's deconstruction of "The Star-Spangled Banner."
But, for most of the people interviewed for "Woodstock: Peace, Music,
Memories," the importance of Woodstock was not the performances, but
the simple fact that it happened.
WOODSTOCK: Peace, music, memories
By Brad Littleproud and Joanne Hague
(Krause Publications, $24.95) In 'Stock' By the time we get to
Woodstock, we may be drowning in 40th anniversary retrospectives and
reissues. Of course, that doesn't mean that some of them aren't worthwhile.
The product avalanche began Tuesday, when Sony Legacy unleashed "The
Woodstock Experience" a 10-CD boxed set that focuses on the
performances of Santana, Janis Joplin, Sly and the Family Stone,
Johnny Winter and Jefferson Airplane and includes 25 previously
unreleased tracks and six posters.
Rhino has already rolled out remastered versions of "Music From the
Original Soundtrack and More: Woodstock" and "Woodstock Two" to
coincide with the re-release of the "Woodstock" documentary on Warner
Home Video.
But the big prize will come from Rhino Aug. 18 with "Woodstock 40
Years On: Back to Yasgur's Farm." The six-CD boxed set will sequence
the 77 songs in the order they were played at the festival, including
38 previously unreleased tracks, as well as a few firsts the entire
set list of the festival in the liner notes and Max Yasgur's entire
address to the crowd as well as stage announcements and, fittingly,
the sound of rain.
--
James D. Watts Jr. 581-8478
james.watts@tulsaworld.com
.
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