Of course, the 40 year anniversary is a chance to re-issue “collectors editions” of the movie and the music. (I got the 4 DVD set from Target with the tambourine myself). It’s also the perfect time to release Ang Lee’s new movie. The School of Rock has a series of commemorative shows. And the “Heroes of Woodstock” are playing at Bethel Woods as I type this.
In the articles I’ve read, it seems fashionable to diminish Woodstock…that it wasn’t really as wonderful as people (mis-)remember. Yeah, maybe the artists didn’t really sound that good–the studio enhancements have been revealed. One author I read was obsessed about the male-female ratio in the crowd. And everyone gets to re-tell the joke that if you remember Woodstock, you weren’t there.
I don’t think that those three days of peace and music resonate with anyone unless they’re of a certain age. The groups have disbanded, died, or lost their relevance to today’s musical consumers. But still, I doubt any other concert will ever achieve the same mythological status.
I’m curious about Doper’s take on Woodstock–the event, and the hoopla surrounding the 40th anniversary.
I remember the event happening – it was in all the news at the time, but for most people of my age, the main knowledge of what happens was from the movie and album (my sophomore year of college, it was ubiquitous – you couldn’t walk around campus on warm days without hearing it being played somewhere).
The news at the time seemed to indicate it was a mess. I had no desire to go there because I hate crowds, and reports concentrated on things like the people storming the gate and the difficulty of conditions. The movie and album is what made it more than just a mess.
I have already passed my nausea threshold what with the semi-saturated media coverage of the anniversary of this event. It was a bit interesting though reading a newspaper article about all the hassles the organizers went through, the screwups with sound and getting groups onstage on time, assuming they weren’t doped up intentionally or otherwise (supposedly someone put acid in the Who’s drinks, resulting in what one of them called their worst performance ever). And based on the recordings I’ve heard it overall wasn’t so hot as a musical event.*
I generally do a :rolleyes: at griping about how “boomers” supposedly monopolize attention with their historical doings, but some of the hot air being expelled by Woodstock-era nostalgists is worth not only a bevy of :rolleyes: but a few barfing smilies as well. This was not some miraculous milestone of peace and love; it was more a case of having a drug-fueled blast, making a huge mess and managing not to kill anybody in the process, which some apparently feel was a miracle of sorts.
For awhile, Rhino Records supposedly was thinking of coming out with a 30-CD set of all the music and stage announcements from Woodstock. 30 CDs! Based on the glurge that infested the original concert albums, I can’t imagine the pain of trying to listen to all that. If they played it through just once for a captured Osama bin Laden, the Amnesty International people would go berserk citing it as horrendous torture.
Open concerts were all over back then. They were mostly free with some very good groups and some local bands getting a chance to show their stuff. I went to lots of them but not Woodstock. i had a girl friend who did not want to go and of course did not want me to go with friends. It was expensive. i think tickets were about 8 bucks. But a day there a day back and 3 days at the concert could kill a week.
The entertainment was fabulous. To get all those powerhouse groups in one place at one time was amazing. The Gratefull Dead, Cocker, Joplin.The Who, etc etc. Anybody bitching about the acoustics is not getting it. No it is not in a controlled studio. So it is not as good as the recordings. What concert ever is? It is about being there ,having fun and listening to great bands.
I’ve posted on this subject before, but worth repeating.
I vividly recall seeing the ads in the Chicago newspapers before the event - the ads made it seem like it was going to be an intimate, cozy, country-fair - with booths for art and exotic foods, etc. and - oh yeah, some cool music groups as well!
I really, really wanted to go but:
I was in Illinois and to get someone to schlep with me, all the way to NY, was going to be difficult.
I was also in a summer stock theater production of Brigadoon that was in rehearsal at the time.
The director of that summer stock show was a tyrant, and not only would he never have allowed me to take off to see that show - he didn’t even allow us to step off the stage to watch the moon landing! So while the rest of the world was glued to the television screen, watching man’s first landing on the moon, I was doing the Highland Fling on a stage.
As the events in Woodstock started to unfold, and now everybody wished they had gone, I had friends come up to me and say, “Damn, we should have listened to you and driven there!”
I do recall that when the film version of Woodstock finally hit the theaters, the place was jammed, people were smoking weed in the movie theater and dancing in the aisles. Not as good as being there, by any stretch of the imagination, but still pretty cool to remember.
This may be a good place to ask what the heck is going on with Woodstock: 40 Years on: Back to Yasgur’s Farm, the 6CD, Limited Edition, version of two dozen bands from Rhino. Amazon now lists it as “This item has been discontinued by the manufacturer.”
Does that mean that the edition was so limited it sold out? Was it pulled for some rights reason? Has Amazon just screwed up the release date?
I’m sure it was available. But last week is a long time ago. Anything could have happened since then to make it unavailable now. That’s what I’m asking.
Shipped from Amazon. Investigating their page, it looks like there may have been a mix-up with the release date. Amazon lists both August 11 and August 18 as release dates. Possibly it wasn’t supposed to go out last week, in which case it should be available again on Tuesday.
OTOH, Amazon does appear to have sold out their allotment of the Beatles’ Mono Box Set almost a month before the release date.
I was there, man. I was seventeen, the summer after I graduated high school. I went with two friends, who I promptly got separated from. Like everyone else, we had no idea what we were getting in to. I was on the field in the middle of the crowd almost the whole three days, except for a few hours when I went to scrounge food on Saturday. For me, it was an absolutely fantastic event.
Someone on the Amazon discussion board called Rhino about this. It seems August 18th is the official release date; copies bought directly from Rhino ship then. They also confirmed that it is not a limited edition.
Got my copy today, but I won’t be breaking the shrinkwrap till I get home.
I was 2 weeks from being born when Woodstock happened, and maybe I’m terribly naive, but I think that movie is an awesomely filmed documentary of a phenomenal moment in music (and U.S.) history. That split screen stuff blows my mind. My favorite moments: Crosby, Stills & Nash saying they’re scared shitless cause it’s their second gig, Pete Townsend playing guitar, Jerry Garcia stringing his guitar and talking about how cool/and “biblical” it all looks, that awesome chick in the red/black checked coat w/ the blue headband talking about all the different “cats” she’s run into there, Joan Baez, Ten Years After, Arlo Guthrie, Santana, Richie Havens, Jimi Hendrix- man, the whole thing. I watch it at least every couple years or so.
I would love to see a documentary (now) of people that were there, right up front, the baby that was born there, people whose lives were changed there, even the people that thought it was awful and had a terrible time. I’m totally fascinated by it all.
I was alive but missed the event, living 3000 miles away and under my parent’s roof.
But I wore the grooves out of my soundtrack album (Sly & the Family Stone being a particular favorite) and absolutely loved the film. I’ve seen bits of it twice this weekend, and some parts hold up amazingly well (Who, Sly), both musically and cinematically. Some don’t. And some of the extended / director’s cuts should’ve been left on the cutting room floor – like Jefferson Airplane (although Grace Slick has *amazing *eyes).
I always wonder who got Pete Townshend’s guitar when he threw it into the crowd.
Exactly. I’d love to know about this kind of stuff. Or what the guy is like now who was talking about being called a “freak” and what that word meant.
I actually shared a house once with a woman who was at Woodstock, and she is still a big ol’ hippie- the necklaces, the beads, the crazy bedroom with all kinds of eccentric found objects in it (including a giant molar that was on the floor under her bed). Super cool, super politically opinionated, super whichever-way-the-wind-blows kind of woman. I really liked her. She was definitely an individual.
older folk may get the smilie joke…