I graduated from HS in '69 and was preparing to go off to college when Woodstock happened. I lived on the opposite coast, so I had not heard of the festival until it got reported on the news. The news reports at the time portrayed it as something of a calamity due to the traffic jams and rain.
Out in Oregon we had our own mini-Woodstocks in the form of the Bullfrog Festivals that I think started in 1969. The following year The American Legion was scheduled to have their national meeting in Portland, and there were rumors that thousands of hippies from Eugene and Berkeley were going to descend on Portland to protest and riot. And so to prevent that the Republican governor of Oregon proposed that the state stage a rock festival at the same time to distract the hippies away from Portland. And it worked. The festival was called Vortex I: A Biodegradable Festival of Life and it was a big success. The festival was great and the riots never happened in Portland. To the best of my knowledge this is the only rock show ever put on by a state government and paid for by the taxpayers.
@JHS and @emilybee I am from Watkins Glen and remember Summer Jam for having a bunch of people camped all over town and walking to the track. I was maybe five or six. We had a bunch of people camping out all over our yard. My dad let them use our basement bathroom, call their parents collect and take food from the garden as long as they didn’t leave a mess. When they left, ours was one of the few places in town that didn’t have a bunch of garbage left behind.
Who knows, maybe you walked by our house on the way to the concert, lol.
I was five that summer but I’m so glad I found the show last night! I’m always been fascinated with stories about Woodstock, even though I never would have gone if I had been older. There is a movie Taking Woodstock, Ang Lee directed but it didn’t have great reviews. I really enjoyed the movie, I’ve seen it more than once and there are actors you will recognize (Liev Schreuber comes to mind).
I was waitressing in Cambridge that summer. The Newport jazz festival was the weekend before. Another waitress offered to cover for me for Newport, if I’d do the same for Woodstock.
I was 7, and lived near San Francisco, which had its own interesting things going on. I remember going down to Haight and Ashbury (spelling?) and seeing the “flower children”). My uncle played guitar with Santana, Janis Joplin, and I can’t remeber who else when they were teens.
@3sonsmom There are two different movies. Taking Woodstock is an Ang Lee movie from 10 years ago – both movies were released in connection with anniversaries – that focuses on a family that owns a motel near the festival site, and the involvement of their young-adult children with the promoters. The other movie is 20 years old – A Walk On The Moon, with Liev Schreiber, Viggo Mortensen, Diane Lane, and Anna Pacquin – and involves a youngish wife in a very conventional marriage taking a little walk on the wild side (Mortensen plays the wild side) including sneaking off to Woodstock. They are both perfectly enjoyable movies!
@chb088, lots of us have kids in college, in grad school, and kids who are completely finished. My two girls are in grad school, and I still come here because I find many of the discussions to be very interesting, and over all, feel that CC is a “safe” place (due to moderation and rules about civility) to discuss not only college, but life in general.
I was 14, a hippie wannabe, and went to Woodstock with my older cousin, who had just gotten a car for his 18th birthday. We both loved rock music and thought we’d be there for part of one day. LOL We returned home a few days later and were actually stopped on the way home by a cop – our parents had reported us missing (they thought we went to the mall or something, I can’t remember exactly what we had told them…) We were grounded for a very, very long time (and he lost use of that car…), but it was totally worth it. What an experience! Best weekend of my life.
I was 16, but I don’t think I was really aware of it until it was over. I remember seeing a bunch of musicians who had just been there performing on the TV, Janis Joplin in particular, maybe Crosby, Stills and Nash. Perhaps The Smothers Brothers Comedy Show/hour? (ETA: they were cancelled before Woodstock so it must have been someone else…Dick Cavett? The SBCH was a truly great show. Just look at the roster of performers and writers.)
@1214mom
Very cool! Gregg Rolie of Journey played guitar with both Janis Joplin and Santana. Maybe there were others, but that’s probably a short list.
“(ETA: they were cancelled before Woodstock so it must have been someone else…Dick Cavett?”
It was the Dick Cavett Show. That show also had Jefferson Airplane and Joni Mitchell. Joni played and sang on that Dick Cavett Show but did not play at Woodstock itself. Her manager advised her not to go lest, due to chaos and blocked roads, she miss some other gig she had booked. Not going and performing at Woodstock became one of the great regrets of her life.
I was nearly 14 … and my husband was 15. He remembers very clearly the NYS Thruway being shut down. I think maybe his father was horrified at all those hippies causing all that commotion. What I remember from 1969 was dress codes being shot down and wearing pants (the horrors) to school, the moon walk, Pony Club ratings and rallies (a very big deal in my world), my brother competing in the Soap Box Derby in Akron … so long ago!
I only remember a little of the reporting of the concert (do remember the moon landing), but the next summer I was with my very cool cousins who drove a Barracuda convertible and had an 8-track player. They’d play the Woodstock double album (8track) extremely loud as we drove around town. They always take out the tape when it got to the ‘Give me an F’ part and save it until they saw some boys and then pop it and and crank it up.
Big fun for this 11 year old hanging out with 16 year olds.
I was 10. I remember Woodstock happening because my family was a watch the evening news and read several papers a day kind of family, but there was no way I was getting there. Later, I met a kid who had gone there with their progressive summer camp at the age of 12. As an adult, I realized that I would have hated Woodstock, because I can’t stand mud or the country or being barefoot. The album was the better choice for me.
@twoinanddone: My BFF and I played that album constantly. Our moms would ask “who is that again?” “That’s Country Joe and The Fish.” “Oh, yes. And what are they and the crowd spelling?” “Um… Luck, Mom. they’re spelling Luck. Like, so much luck to make that festival happen!” LOL.
@JHS Yes, Taking Woodstock with Liev Schreiber. And A Walk on the Moon (also with Liev) but Diane Lane and Viggo were amazing. I watched it not knowing the story and loved it, great music, one of my favorite Diane roles.
