WOODSTOCK!!!

August 17, 2019

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There aren’t many doggies who can say they were at the ACTUAL SITE of the infamous WOODSTOCK during its 50-year celebration… but WE CAN! Mummy and Daddy plan on attending the 3 nights of concerts this weekend, but wanted to take us to the actual site in Bethel Woods, New York where it all went down, and then wander around in the darling little town of Woodstock. Mummy was only a little girl when all of this music stuff happened, so she didn’t experience it back in 1969 but she said almost EVERYONE has heard SOMETHING about WOODSTOCK! But just in case you need a refresher course… here are a few interesting facts we have learned:

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WOODSTOCK was a music festival held August 15-18, 1969 and attended by almost 500,000 people! It was scheduled for 3 days but due to rain delays, it actually went thru to the 18th, for a 4th day, with Jimi Hendrix performing the final act at 8:30 in the morning. Only about 30,000 people got to hear him sing because almost everyone else had left by that point. The blue-beaded, white-leather jacket with fringe and red head scarf that he wore, has since been regarded as a defining moment of the 1960’s. WOODSTOCK was billed as “3 Days of Peace & Music” and was held on a 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York, belonging to 49-year-old, Max Yasgur. He was paid $50,000 for the use of his farm for the event. 32 music acts performed outdoors, despite off and on rain, sometimes pouring rain and thunderstorms. WOODSTOCK has been regarded as a pivotal moment in music history. There is a 1970 Academy-Award winning 4-hour, documentary film that depicts the events that happened during the festival.

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WOODSTOCK was initiated thru the efforts of 4 guys: Lang, Kornfeld, Rosenman & Roberts who formed a group called “Woodstock Ventures,” which is how the event got its name, but it was originally called “Aquarian Festival.” The group had problems from the start getting financing for the event and even finding a site. They planned on about 50,000 people attending their music festival and no town wanted to deal with that many people. They were having trouble even getting GROUPS to sign with them until “Creedence Clearwater Revival” signed on with them FIRST… agreeing to play for $10,000 ($68,000 in today’s money) but once they were on-board, other groups started coming in fast!!! Despite the fact that CCR was the catalyst for getting others to sign up, they were given the TERRIBLE start time of 3:00am to play and the group is said to have expressed bitterness over this. John Fogerty was quoted then as saying, “We were ready to rock out and waited and finally it was our turn… there were half million people asleep. These people were out. It was like a part of a Dante scene, just mud. And this is the moment I will never forget as long as I live: A quarter mile away on the other side of this bowl, there was some guy, flicking his Bic, and in the night I hear, ‘Don’t worry John. We’re with you.’ I played the rest if the show for that guy.” Despite the band’s bitter feelings back then, they are back tomorrow night, playing the final night at the 50-year celebration of WOODSTOCK. ?❤️?

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WOODSTOCK was supposed to be a profit-making venture and many tickets were actually SOLD, but it ended up being more of a “free concert” when it became overrun with hundreds of thousands more people than actually bought tickets for the event. Tickets for the 3-day event were $18 in advance and $24 at the gate ($120 and $160 in today’s money). About 186,000 advance tickets were sold and the organizers expected about 200,000 total people to attend. After being banned from several other locations due to crowd size, they found the Yasgur farm and told the Bethel authorities that they only expected about 50,000… but they knew there would be more… just not HOW MANY MORE!!! There was resident opposition with signs posted saying: BUY NO MILK! STOP MAX’S HIPPY MUSIC FESTIVAL! Stop work orders were issued and it wasn’t until 2 weeks before the festival was due to begin that they were lifted!!! The promoters barely had time to complete the required fencing and ticket booths, without which, they would lose any profit… or go into debt! Their other option was to put their remaining money into the STAGE… which still had not been built!!! On the Wednesday before the festival was to start, tens of thousands of people started arriving and the decision was made for them. People arrived by the thousands and those without tickets just trampled over the fences, forcing the organizers to make it a FREE concert for those who arrived with no tickets. Those who paid, simply had a souvenir that would one day be a keepsake!!! The festival left the promoters $1.4 million in debt ($9.6 million in today’s money) but their ownership of the film and recording rights more than compensated for the losses.

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The original stage roof with complex lighting attached, could not be supported by the quickly made stage… so spot-lights were attached to the 60-foot towers that flanked the corners of the stage. There was NO COVER over the shoddy stage, so performers had to perform in rain or shine… some REFUSED to perform in the rain, requiring the organizers to quickly juggle the acts and fill the now-vacant spots with someone who WOULD perform in the rain!!! It became a scheduling nightmare at times! “Melanie” was sent onstage for an UNSCHEDULED performance after “Incredible String Band” declined to perform in a rainstorm (they were moved to the next day) and she ended up being called back for TWO ENCORES!!! Santana played there 50 years ago, and will be playing TONIGHT at the 50-year celebration in Bethel Woods. Their drummer, Michael Shrieve, was only 20 back then and was the youngest musician at the festival.

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The influx of concert-goers to this rural town created a massive traffic jam. Fearing chaos as thousands of people descended on the little community of Bethel, the police did not enforce its codes! Radio and TV description of the traffic jams discouraged people from going to the festival if they had any THOUGHT of even going!!! There was bad weather, little food, limited health care and poor sanitation. Sullivan County declared a state of emergency.  Two people died: one was run over by a tractor  after he had fallen asleep and the tractor driver didn’t know he was there and rolled over him… and another died from insulin use. There were two births: one baby was born in a car, caught in the traffic jam… and another was born in a hospital after the mother was airlifted out by helicopter. And there were 4 miscarriages that were recorded.

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All in all, there was a sense of social harmony with people in bohemian clothing, behavior and attitudes, who helped to make it one of the most enduring events of the century.