Summer of 69'

Summer of Love

It was the year 1969 - Sesame Street debuted on PBS, the Boeing 747 made it's first public flight, Celtics beat the Lakers in the NBA championship, 3,000 lbs. of bombs were dropped in Vietnam in the month of April, NY Mets win the World Series, James Earl Ray is convicted of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Senator Ted Kennedy involved in Chappaquiddick, Edwin Adrin and Neal Armstrong land on the moon, top movies were Easy Rider, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Midnight Cowboy, Richard Burton buys wife Elizabeth Taylor a 69 carat bauble, and Charles Manson family kills several in Tate/LaBianca murder spree.

I on the other hand was all about my second-hand baby blue Schwinn purchased from the Avon lady. I hadn't quite gotten cool enough for a 10-speed; that didn't come until High School. I would ride that Schwinn to the local radio/television store to purchase the latest 45's. I thought the Beatles and the Stones were too old. This was the music that was playing on my stereo;

"Crimson & Clover" - Tommy James & The Shondells; "Dizzy" - Tommy Roe" "Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In" - The 5th Dimension "Love Theme from Romeo & Juliette" - Henry Mancini "Sugar, Sugar" - The Archies

That was the summer before I entered the 7th grade - focused on my fears of remembering my Jr. high locker combo and the nightmare of changing class rooms without being late at the bell. "Should I have a mirror in my locker; will I get a ride to the local fair to see the cute boys of the FFA (Future Farmers of America) showing their prized cow?" - these were the things that weighed heavy on my mind. Little did I know how cool the summer of 69' would be ~

What was the theme of the festival?

3 Days of Peace and Music. The festival was also called "An Aquarian Exposition".

"Good morning, what we have in mind is breakfast in bed for 40,000"




Beatniks, hippies, flower children and rock legends gathered together not in
Woodstock, but in the little town of Bethel, rural New York State.

Any decent flower child worth their name was there to protest against the
Vietnam war abroad and racial tension at home.

The organizers played down the numbers they anticipated, telling the authorities they expected 50,000, while selling 186,000 tickets in advance (costing six dollars for each day) and planning for 200,000. In the end 500,000 attended. Another million had to turn back because of traffic. It was originally advertised as 'A Weekend in the Country.'Hearing there was a shortage of food, a Jewish community centre made sandwiches with 200 loaves of bread, 40 pounds of meat cuts and two gallons of pickles, which were distributed by nuns.

Which band didn't perform at Woodstock, because they were stuck at the airport?

Iron Butterfly -stuck at the airport, their manager demanded helicopters and special
arrangements just for them. But they didn't get the helicopters.

While most acts reveled in having appeared there, sitar player Ravi Shankar
found it a 'terrifying experience' and said the crowd in the mud reminded
him of the water buffaloes at home in India.

During the downpour there were fears some artists would get electrocuted.
Alvin Lee, of Ten Years After, was warned of the risk as it was still raining when
his turn came to go on. 'Oh come on, if I get electrocuted at Woodstock
we'll sell lots of records,' he said.

No incidents of violence occurred at the Woodstock festival.

Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix played the National Anthem during
his set, and went into "Purple Haze".

The Jeff Beck Group, featuring Rod Stewart & Ronnie Wood, were booked to play, but they
split acrimoniously on the eve of their Woodstock appearance

As an unknown and unproven business concern, the organizers, Woodstock Ventures, had to pay inflated sums to get the top rockers to sign up. Jefferson Airplane were the first, paid $10,000, double their usual fee. Even hippie band The Grateful Dead demanded cash in hand before they would play, as did Janis Joplin and The Who.

Melanie Safka (remember 'I've got a brand new pair of roller skates'?) failed to
get a performer's pass and had to sing her song, Beautiful People,
to the security guards to get backstage.

The Washington Post made some interesting observations about the huge traffic jam that kept many away from the festival. In the August 16 edition of the paper, reporter B.J. Phillips notes that, “it was the most patient traffic jam” that the Catskills had ever seen. Phillips also states in his article that,“there was nothing to do about it, except perhaps park and walk, so they broke out guitars and drums and tambourines, sat on the hoods, trunks, and roofs of cars and tried to make the best of it.”

John Lennon told organizers he had wanted to be a part of Woodstock, but he was in
Canada and the U.S. government had refused him an entry visa.

What performer became instantly famous after encouraging the crowd
to recite the following line, "Gimme an F"?
Country Joe McDonald. Country Joe's bawdy cheer is legendary. His song,
"Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag" became an anthem for the anti-war movement.

The British artist who really made his mark was Joe Cocker, whose soulful rendition of
The Beatles song With A Little Help From My Friends was one of the greatest performances.

Woodstock had 5,162 medical cases, according to a state Health Department report released October 4, 1969. The report listed 797 documented instances of drug abuse. No births were recorded in the festival medical tent, but Dr. Abruzzi told the Health Department there were eight miscarriages. The report lists two deaths by drug overdose and the death of Raymond Mizak run over while sleeping accidentally by a tractor picking up garbage.

Joni Mitchell wrote the festival's eponymous song, with the lyrics 'We are stardust we are golden', from what she heard of the event from then-boyfriend Graham Nash, ex-Hollies and one quarter of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. But she never made it to Woodstock. Taking the advice of her manager, she chose to guest on the Dick Cavett Show and then watched the festival unfold on TV, tears streaming down her face.

Organizers at Woodstock Ventures were at least $1.3m in debt afterward. It took
more than a decade for backers to recoup money, through audio and recording rights.

Actor and country singer Roy Rogers - billed as King of the Cowboys for his western movies - was asked to close the show, singing his trademark song, Happy Trails To You. But Rogers' manager vetoed it, and years later Rogers admitted: 'I would have been booed off stage by all those god dam hippies.

- Band's on board -

Joan Baez The Band Blood, Sweat and Tears Paul Butterfield Blues Band Canned Heat Joe Cocker Country Joe and the Fish Creedence Clearwater Revival Crosby, Stills and Nash and Young Grateful Dead Arlo Guthrie Tim Hardin

Richie Havens Jimi Hendrix Incredible String Band Jefferson Airplane Janis Joplin Keef Hartley Band Melanie Mountain Quill Santana John Sebastian

Sha-Na-Na Ravi Shankar Sly and the Family Stone Bert Sommer Sweetwater Ten Years After The Who Johnny Winter

ARTIST'S PAYCHECKS

Fees paid to bands that played the Woodstock Music & Art Fair in 1969, from organizer Michael Lang's book The Road to Woodstock: Jimi Hendrix: $32,000 The Band: $15,000 Janis Joplin: $15,000 Canned Heat: $12,500 Joan Baez: $10,000 Creedence Clearwater Revival: $10,000 Crosby, Stills & Nash: $10,000 Jefferson Airplane: $10,000 Grateful Dead $7,500 Richie Havens: $6,000 Arlo Guthrie: $5,000 Incredible String Band: $4,500 Ravi Shankar: $4,500 Tim Hardin: $2,000 Santana: $1,500

Where were you, in the summer of 1969? Not even the Scottish husband was born yet...UGH

{go forth & live responsibly}
with a little help from your friends

credits belong to: www.poughkeepsiejournal.com; www.dailymail.co.uk; funtrivia.com; usatoday.com, dan garson, woodstock69.c0m, randomanything.com, cbsnews.com; lisa law, davedubrow.com; boredtown.com;davidyonke.com; newsday.com; timeoutchicago.com; smh.com.au; genisis-publications.com; gallerym.com; 30daysout.giles.woodstock.com; santana-woodstockgibson.com; a.about.com; missamericanpie.co. uk; vinylrecords.ch; southernohiou.edu.; icmedia.typepad.com; bergoiatia.org;www.lunch.com