Woodstock
September 13, 2019
August 15th has come and gone but the memories of what happened in upstate New York on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm 50 years ago is fresh on many people’s minds. Not the adventurous soul that would have hitched a ride to be there, I had no choice but to answer my rich uncle’s call to basic training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, during that time.
Woodstock, an event that united a generation during a time of protest and, as quoted in AARP The Magazine, “Left a nation drenched in new ideas about love, peace and the power of music.” Rock and roll was here to stay and as the Beatles moved from the era of mainstream music to experimentation with sitars, psychedelia, and a guru named Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the world’s youth were along for the ride.
The organizers thought they could contain 50,000 people with chain link fences. The $18 tickets became moot as the rain and the fences came down. Witnesses referred to the traffic jams as “Hippie Gridlock” and a new pick-up line was coined: “Hop in, I know a shortcut!”
Protest songs by Hendricks; Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young; and Country Joe and the Fish made music sweet to the ears of the crowd and Joe Cocker brought them to their feet with his rendition of the Beatles’ hit “I get by with a little help from my friends.”
God willing, there will be another “summer of peace, love and music.” I hope it’s not too late.
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