1969 Woodstock, or Not

I had actually been to the Woodstock area about 2 weeks before the Festival.  Even then, there were lots of signs for "Three days of peace and music".  

A Woodstock sign

David and I had thought about going but he was busy at the recording studio and I would have had to call in sick to work which I did a lot.  Our across-the-street neighbors,, Lynne and Samik went though, leaving on Thursday morning early.  We thought they were crazy because Woodstock is only about 100 miles from New York, but it turns out they knew what they were doing.  They got there early Thursday afternoon and already there was so much traffic that they had to abandon their red VW bus about 5 miles from the meadow.  They just left it on the side of the road, along with many others, keys in it, and hitchhiked with all their stuff to the site.  When they returned to it on Monday, keys were still in it and nothing was missing  They got home later Monday night.

Traffic jam on the way to Woodstock

David and I had considered going up Friday night after work, but by the news helicopters were already showing traffic backed up for miles and over 500,000 in attendance, so we wisely decided against it. 

There was a crowd of over half a million people

Still, I can't believe I missed one of the most significant events of my lifetime!  David was mad because he knew so many of the performers.  He knew some of the members of The Band; he was pretty good friends with Richie Havens, who was the opening act by default; and he knew Arlo Guthrie.  We were both on a first-name basis with Roger Daltrey of The Who.  John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful was there, and of course we knew him from seeing him riding around the Village with his parrot on his head.  We also knew Tim Hardin from when David lived at the Hotel Albert (he later died of an overdose in 1980).  And of course he knew, Melanie (who later because David's star-f**ker moment).  Then, of course though I didn't know him at all, I had seen Jimi Hendrix onstage in Paris in 1966.
 

Arlo Guthrie

The Band

Richie Havens

Roger Daltrey and The Who

Tim Hardin

John Sebastian

Melanie

Jimi Hendrix

To me the quintessential image of Woodstock is Jimi playing the Star-Spangled Banner, fringes flying, bombs dropping, and rockets exploding.  Amazingly, that performance was impromptu and not rehearsed.

Later on, after the movie was released, David and I went to the New York press preview.  The movie was wonderful,  But then, when Jimi started playing the Star-Spangled Banner, a lot of people got up and walked out.  I guess they felt it was disrespectful, but I will never understand why.  After all, my generation was against the Vietnam war; that was the whole point of Three Days of Peace and Music.