Woodstock

DanHolohan

It began 50 years ago today. My buddies and I talked about going, but we heard it was going to rain so we all figured it wouldn't be much fun.

Jeez.

How about you?

Keith M

I was too young.

SeanBeans

I remember watching Woodstock 99’ on pay per view -___-

Steve Minnich

I wanted to go but my mom wouldn't let me. I was 9.

DanHolohan

😂

DanHolohan

Erin just shared this beautiful story with me:
https://people.com/human-interest/couple-who-met-at-woodstock-finds-photo-50-years-later/

HVACNUT

I was 2 at the time but man I'm sorry I wasn't old enough.
Today is the birthday of my eldest,16, and he loves Jimi so even Stephen.
Howard replayed an interview today from '16 with Neil Young. Good stuff.

DanHolohan

Happy birthday to the lad!

JUGHNE

On 8-15-69 I received my new draft card with an II-A rating.
That was mainly on my and many others minds at the time.
But eventually less than a year later there was a letter from the POTUS that started out with: Greeting: you are hereby ordered for induction into the Armed Forces........etc. And he never even signed it!
I did avoid the draft by joining the Air Force for 4 years.

I did later enjoy Woodstock thru the movie and LP cuts.

Steve Minnich

Joni Mitchell wrote the song Woodstock but wasn’t actually in attendance. She had a TV appearance the following night and David Geffen didn’t want to risk her missing it.

JUGHNE

But she was at the Mermaid Cafe in the village of Matala on the island of Crete. I missed her by a few years but visited the place a few times as it was only a couple hours away from where I ended up as a result of the draft.....39 months on the island.

MikeL_2

I was a little young ( 15 ) for Woodstock, but did make it to the Watkins Glen summer jam in 1973 - it was an amazing experience.
We sat in 4 lane one way traffic on a 2 lane road on the outskirts of the tiny hamlet of Watkins Glen for 6 hours; we eventually managed to pull our car off into a restaurant parking lot, but others weren't as lucky; many cars, trucks, & tractor trailers were gridlocked for 3 days. We walked 4 or 5 miles to the racetrack where an army of Hells Angel's tore down the perimeter chain link fence; no need for entry tickets.
We took our place at the rear of the crowd about 50 yards from the stage as darkness fell. At daybreak we woke to a sea of people; we were trapped in the middle.
I waited 3 hours in line in the blazing sun to fill our 2 gallon water jug at an area where several wells had been drilled. Some enterprising profiteers were selling beer 6 packs for 20 bucks; bread loaves were 5.
The portajohns were in a line as far as you could see in each direction, each one filled to overflowing; not a fun discovery after an hour wait in line.
The music was fantastic and loud; I wish I had a camera for pictures of the mass of dancers balanced on top of the portajohns.......

.

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)

I passed up several chances to go with friends, but have never regretted not going. They all enjoyed the event, but starved due to no food, getting in and out was a bear, and it was a rain-soaked mud fest. One friend borrowed his (very strict straight-laced) dad's car, which broke down 1/3 of the way there, so he drifted off to the side of the road, got out, and abandoned the car to hitchhike to the festival. His dad damn near killed him! Today it is he who is the conservative straight-laced corporate lawyer - go figure.

GW

My parents were going to go, I was in diapers, they turned around when they saw the traffic

Edit, I was almost three, maybe I wasn’t in diapers, don’t recall

Edit again, I forgot I had a little brother, HE was in diapers

DanHolohan

I'm getting ready to be in diapers. Again. ;-)

hot_rod

Where is Paul Pollets? He has the best Woodstock story

Steve Minnich

There’s a really good Netflix documentary on Woodstock. Lots of footage I’ve never seen.

Paul Pollets

I have a few stories, to be sure. The festival was originally to be held adjacent to my home town, in the Town of Wallkill, at exit 120 on rt. 17. The permit was pulled 2 weeks before the date due to extreme local paranoia of the potential crowd size, hippies, drugs and rock n roll. My friends and I graduated that year and signed up to get jobs as "security". We were so excited to have such an event so close. We went up to Bethel a few days before the event and set up camp near the pond, so we would have access to water and bathing. When the fences were not completed, our "security" jobs disappeared. The best story...on Sat. morning, my BFF and I were hanging out where the Greatful Dead had set up camp and set up a small stage with generator power. After listening to them play and jam for a few hrs, and imbibing the local harvest and spiked wine, we decided to go back to the main concert site. As we walked east on Hurd Rd. I realized there were more people on the road then NYC at peak rush hr, we passed the first aid tents. My friend said to me "there's a woman waving at us". I looked and sure enough, there was a woman in a nurse's uniform waiving at us. As we got closer...it was my mother! They flew in 6 nurses from Middletown by helicopter to assist the injured. My eyeballs were hanging out of my skull on springs and my tongue couldn't or wouldn't move. As we were lectured on what not to do or take, I somehow managed to find the smallest degree of sobriety to avoid serious confrontation. I do remember her saying to keep my shoes on. It was wet, muddy, but a cultural revolution was born. We took a shortcut to get home through Cuddebackville and avoided the traffic jams. Left all the camping gear and tent on site, it was ruined and not salvageable.

Steve Minnich

@Paul Pollets Did you stick around for Jimi? I think he played the last day?

Paul Pollets

I did not stay for Jimi, I left Sunday afternoon.

JohnNY

Great story, Paul. I was born January of '69 so I had to settle for coming of age in the '80s. Punk and New Wave were my things.

Dave0176

I was born 6 years later, however my dad said he made it to upstate NY and the traffic was so bad that after a few hours they turned and headed back to Jersey. He has said he didn’t regret it.