Woodstock Festival Totally Explained

Everything about Woodstock Festival totally explained

The Woodstock Music and Art Fair was an event held at Max Yasgur's 600 acre (2.4 km²; 240 ha) dairy farm in the rural town of Bethel, New York from August 15 to August 18 1969. Bethel (Sullivan County) is 43 miles (69 km) southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, which is in adjoining Ulster County. The festival exemplified the counterculture of the late 1960s - early 1970s and the "hippie era". Thirty-two of the best-known musicians of the day appeared during the sometimes rainy weekend. Although attempts have been made over the years to recreate the festival, the original event has proven to be unique and legendary. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest moments in popular music history and was listed on Rolling Stone's 50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock and Roll.
The event was captured in a successful 1970 documentary movie, Woodstock; an accompanying ; and Joni Mitchell's song "Woodstock", which commemorated the event and became a major hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

Introduction

Woodstock was assembled through the joint work of Michael Lang, John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, and Artie Kornfeld. It was Roberts and Rosenman who had the finances, and who placed the following advertisement in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal under the name of Challenge International, Ltd.: “Young men with unlimited capital looking for interesting, legitimate investment opportunities and business propositions.”
Lang and Kornfeld noticed the ad, and the four men got together originally to discuss a retreat-like recording studio in Woodstock, but the idea morphed into the festival as we've come to know it. There were problems among the four: Roberts was regimented, and knew what was needed in order for the venture to succeed, contrasted with the laid-back Lang who saw Woodstock as a new, relaxed way of bringing business people together. The fence was purposely cut by the UAW/MF family in order to create a totally free event, prompting many more to show up. Tickets for the event cost US$18 in advance (approximately US$75 (External Link

) today adjusted for inflation) and $24 at the gate for all three days. Ticket sales were limited to record stores in the greater New York City area, or by mail via a Post Office Box at the Radio City Station Post Office located in Midtown Manhattan.
   The four founders behind Woodstock Ventures made Warner Brothers an offer to make a movie about Woodstock. All Artie Kornfeld required was $100,000. It would appear that it would benefit Warner Brothers, as "it could have either sold millions or, if there were riots, be one of the best documentaries ever made," according to Kornfeld.
   The festival came amidst military conflict abroad and racial discord at home. It was the biggest bash for the counterculture and is a reminder of the youthful hedonism and excess of the 60s. It was a culmination of what the counterculture meant - the bands appealed to the generation that was questioning the direction of American society. Many of the biggest artists of the 60s performed at the Festival, and it was their influence on the youth that brought them together to a farm in Bethel to struggle against bad weather, food shortages and poor sanitation. The site of Woodstock became, for four days, a countercultural mini-nation. Minds were open, drugs were available and "love" was "free". It was a festival where nearly 400,000 "hippies" came together to celebrate under the slogan of "three days of peace and music". At the time, it held the record for the largest music audience in the world until the Summer Jam at Watkins Glen in 1973 drew 100,000 more people. Yippie activist Abbie Hoffman crystallized this view of the event in his book, Woodstock Nation, written shortly afterwards. It also created a massive traffic jam and closed the New York State Thruway. Oral testimony in the film supports the overdose and run-over deaths and at least one birth, along with many colossal logistical headaches. Furthermore, because Woodstock wasn't intended for such a large crowd, there were not enough resources such as portable toilets and first-aid tents.
   Yet, in tune with the idealistic hopes of the 1960s, Woodstock satisfied most attendees. Especially memorable were the sense of social harmony, the quality of music, and the overwhelming mass of people, many sporting bohemian dress, behavior, and attitudes.
   After the concert Max Yasgur, who owned the site of the event, saw it as a victory of peace and love. He spoke of how nearly half a million people filled with possibilities of disaster, riot, looting, and catastrophe spent the three days with music and peace on their minds. He states that “if we join them, we can turn those adversities that are the problems of America today into a hope for a brighter and more peaceful future...” There also was a widely spread legend that Morrison, in a fit of paranoia, was fearful that someone would take a shot at him while he was onstage. Drummer John Densmore attended; in the film, he can be seen on the side of the stage during Joe Cocker's set.

Led Zeppelin was asked to perform, their manager Peter Grant stating: "We were asked to do Woodstock and Atlantic were very keen, and so was our US promoter, Frank Barsalona. I said no because at Woodstock we'd have just been another band on the bill."

Jethro Tull refused to perform; there are varying accounts of the reasons for this decision. One claim is that they thought it wouldn't be a big deal ; Ian Anderson is reported to have said he "didn't want to spend [his] weekend in a field of unwashed hippies". Another theory proposes that the band felt the event would be "too big a deal" and might kill their career before it started.

The Clarence White-era Byrds were given an opportunity to play, but refused to do so but they did perform at the Atlantic City Pop Festival held August 1,2 & 3, 1969, two weeks before Woodstock.

Paul Revere & The Raiders declined to perform.

Bob Dylan was in negotiations to play, but pulled out when his son became ill. He also was unhappy about the number of hippies piling up outside his house near the originally planned site. He would go on to perform at the Isle of Wight Festival two weeks later. At his June 30, 2007 concert at Bethel Woods, the original site of the Woodstock festival, Dylan joked (just before he performed 'All Along the Watchtower)': "Great to be back here-- I remember being here, playing at six in the morning, and it was pouring rain, too... a big field of mud!"

Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention Quote: "A lot of mud at Woodstock. We were invited to play there, we turned it down." - FZ. Citation: "Class of the 20th Century", U.S. network television special in serial format, circa 1995.

Free were asked to perform and declined.

Spirit were asked to perform but declined and went on a promotional tour.

Media coverage and The New York Times

As the only reporter at Woodstock for the first 36 hours or so, Bernard Collier of the New York Times was almost continually pressed by his editors in New York to make the story about the immense traffic jams, the less-than-sanitary conditions, the rampant drug use, the lack of "proper policing", and the presumed dangerousness of so many young people congregating. Collier recalls: "Every major Times editor up to and including executive editor James Reston insisted that the tenor of the story must be a social catastrophe in the making. It was difficult to persuade them that the relative lack of serious mischief and the fascinating cooperation, caring and politeness among so many people was the significant point. I'd to resort to refusing to write the story unless it reflected to a great extent my on-the-scene conviction that 'peace' and 'love' was the actual emphasis, not the preconceived opinions of Manhattan-bound editors. After many acrimonious telephone exchanges, the editors agreed to publish the story as I saw it, and although the nuts-and-bolts matters of gridlock and minor lawbreaking were put close to the lead of the stories, the real flavor of the gathering was permitted to get across. After the first day's Times story appeared on page 1, the event was widely recognized for the amazing and beautiful accident it was."
   After the festival was finished Collier wrote another article about the exodus of fans away from the festival for the New York Times. He speaks of such a peaceful event considering the size of the crowd and listens to Dr. William Abruzzi’s (chief medical officer during the event) opinions that these were beautiful people. The weekend had become an incredible unification of youth. This opinion had seemingly rubbed off on several locals. Bus driver Richard Biccum described them as "good kids in disguise." Alerted to the disturbance, Townshend (who apparently had been too distracted to notice Hoffman ambling onto the platform), snarled at Hoffman, "Fuck off! Fuck off my fucking stage!" He then struck Hoffman with his guitar, sending the interloper tumbling. As the crowd let out an approving roar, Townshend returned to his microphone to add a sarcastic "I can dig it!" Following the conclusion of the next song, the short "Do You Think It's Alright?", Townshend issued a stern warning to those in attendance: "The next fucking person that walks across this stage is gonna get fucking killed, alright? You can laugh, [but] I mean it!"
   Townshend later said he actually agreed with Hoffman on Sinclair's imprisonment, though he insisted he'd have knocked Hoffman off stage regardless of his message. The incident can be heard in its entirety on unedited Woodstock tapes and bootleg CDs of The Who's performance. Additionally, an edited fifteen-second sound bite of the incident can be heard on The Who compilation set Thirty Years of Maximum R&B (Disc 2). The Woodstock documentary also depicts this event.
   In his autobiography, Hoffman, apparently unaware that the confrontation had been captured on audio, attempted to deny that Townshend had been riled into hitting him: "If you ever heard about me in connection with the festival it wasn't for playing Florence Nightingale to the flower children. What you heard was the following: 'Oh, him, yeah, didn't he grab the microphone, try to make a speech when Peter Townshend cracked him over the head with his guitar?' I've seen countless references to the incident, even a mammoth mural of the scene. What I've failed to find was a single photo of the incident. Why? Because it didn't really happen."

The film

The documentary film, Woodstock, was directed by Michael Wadleigh and edited by Thelma Schoonmaker and Martin Scorsese, was released in 1970. Warner Brothers agreed to pay $100,000 for the film. So Wadleigh proceeded to round up a crew of about 100 from the New York scene. With no money to pay the crew he agreed a double or nothing scheme in which double pay was received if it went well whereas they received nothing if it bombed. The plot was simple, like a modern day Canterbury Tale, he strived to make the film as much about the hippies as the music, listening to their feelings about the times, the Vietnam War for example, as well as the views of the townspeople. To him this is what would make the film, not just the music. It received the Academy Award for Documentary Feature. The film has been deemed culturally significant by the United States Library of Congress. In 1994, Woodstock: The Director's Cut was released, expanded to include Janis Joplin as well as additional performances by Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, and Canned Heat not seen in the original version of the film.

Woodstock today

A plaque has been placed at the original site commemorating the festival. The field and the stage area remain preserved in their rural setting. On the field are the remnants of a neon flower and bass from the original concert. In the middle of the field, there's a totem pole with wood carvings of Jimi Hendrix on the bottom, Janis Joplin in the middle, and Jerry Garcia on top. A concert hall has been erected up the hill, and the fields of the old Yasgur farm are still visited by people of all generations.
In 1997, the site of the concert and 1,400 surrounding acres was purchased by Alan Gerry for the purpose of creating the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. The Center opened on July 1, 2006 with a performance of the New York Philharmonic. On August 13, 2006, Crosby Stills Nash & Young performed to 16,000 fans at the new Center — exactly 37 years after their historic performance at Woodstock.
In August 2007, the 103-acre parcel that contains Max Yasgur's former homestead was placed on the market for $8 million by its current owners, Roy Howard and Jeryl Abramson. The home, barn, fieldhouse, and acreage, which are listed by Joshpe Real Estate of New York City, have been the site of frequent Woodstock reunions.(External Link

) The Museum at Bethel Woods is scheduled to open in June 2008. The Museum will contain film and interactive displays, text panels, and artifacts which explore the unique experience of the Woodstock festival, its significance as the culminating event of a decade of radical cultural transformation, and the legacy of the Sixties and Woodstock today.

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