The Bethel site



woodstock.49: The Bethel site



woodstock.49.0: Alan Turner (arturner)  Fri 12 Aug 94 21:11

 It's cancelled.  But people are showing up anyway.


woodstock.49.1: Gerard Van_der_Leun (boswell)  Fri 12 Aug 94 21:44

 
 
 
 	That's a very good sign. Would all you folks
 	just stay where you are?
 


woodstock.49.2: cerise (wstock2)  Fri 12 Aug 94 23:34

 
 It's too late, the Bethel raid has already been announced.


woodstock.49.3: Sebastian Mendler (smendler)  Sat 13 Aug 94 09:36

 Yeah, already about 2-3K according to my brother-in-law who
 works for the DOT.  A temporary stage was donated by a local
 promotion company, and rumor has it that some of the diehards
 who were scheduled for the Bethel gig (R. Havens, Melanie,
 et al.) will be performing gratis.  Might be a good place for
 Saugerties overflow to go. :-)
 
 There's also another event near Yasgur's Farm, called Freedomfest.
 
 I'm heading up to Bethel myself in just a few minutes.  If I
 get home tonight, I'll post a report.  


woodstock.49.4: Tom Mandel (mandel)  Sat 13 Aug 94 10:28

 
 This is the really hip one to be at.


woodstock.49.5: JT (wstock2)  Sat 13 Aug 94 10:34

 
 
  Not the "hip" one, just the less challenging one for the politically
 active.


woodstock.49.6: Conceived at Woodstock? NOT! (mglito)  Sat 13 Aug 94 13:54

 It'll be interesting to hear who played...


woodstock.49.7: xprn81a@prodigy (wstock2)  Sat 13 Aug 94 15:58

 who'se supposed to be there?


woodstock.49.8: Sebastian Mendler (smendler)  Sat 13 Aug 94 20:14

 
 Whew.  Just got back a few minutes ago (and just got out of the
 shower :-) ).  I arrived at 3:30, and the rain hit a few minutes
 later--so we stayed in our car till it slacked off a bit.  A 20-30
 minute walk got us on site--at the time it looked like about
 5-6 K.  By the time I left at dusk, I'd have said 7-8K, but as I
 write this, WTZA-TV is saying 20K.
 
 It was a "mellow" crowd, as they used to say.  The biggest attractions
 early in the day were the mudslide (down a hillside overlooking the stage,
 with extra points given for style) and the marker commemorating the
 original concert (I saw one group that looked like 4 generations
 of a family posing for a picture).  Local musicians were playing
 on a makeshift stage (one fellow played "The Star-Spangled Banner"
 a la Hendrix--on harmonica), while a few yards away, carpenters worked
 feverishly at alarger stage, apparently for the heavy hitters yet to come.
 Rumors of a Stones appearance were rife; the Pearl Jam rumors seemed
 to have a little more sense to them.  The large stage was still being
 worked on as I left.
 
 Two weddings occurred on stage.
 
 The drugs of choice appeared to be alcohol and nicotine--I only saw
 a few people with marijuana--but the most visible intoxicant, thanks
 to the large brightly colored balloons used as delivery vehicles,
 was nitrous oxide.  About three separate sites were filling balloons as
 quickly as they could.
 
 The worst disturbance that I saw was on the way out--apparently, an
 adjoining landowner had let many vehicles park on his land--and then
 got a permit to charge them all $20 for parking.  People got pretty
 upset, as the tow trucks started pulling vehicles out of the lot.
 My companion said the guy reminded him of one of the characters from
 "Laverne and Shirley"--Squiggy, was it?
 
 
 Anyway, everyone seems to be having a good time.  They were still
 flocking in when I left at dusk, and may stay there for quite some time.


woodstock.49.9: [35m[5mfar out[0m (flanagan)  Sat 13 Aug 94 20:31

 
 
 thanks for that  great report!  are you going back tomorrow to see 
 what's going on there next, sebastian?  i gotta know!
 


woodstock.49.10: Sebastian Mendler (smendler)  Sun 14 Aug 94 05:30

 No, sorry--got them grownup responsibility blues (I was given a day
 off yesterday--we've got a fifteen-month old who's a handful :-).
 
 Actually, I saw *lots* of kids yesterday, and infants down to 4 mo.
 At 37, I think I was in the upper quartile age-wise.  Interesting mix
 of middle- and working-class folks, buncha bikers ("Show two for a
 brew!"), genuine hippies, and just plain people.  At least one
 cult, several hustlers of various kinds, and almost *no* media.
 
 My friend Ed, however, is probably going back.  I may
 be able to get a report from him.  At minimum, I can pass
 along some of the stuff from local media.


woodstock.49.11: Sebastian Mendler (smendler)  Sun 14 Aug 94 09:03

 "Over in Saugerties they are the Pepsi Generation... I am an
 uncola person, and this is the unconcert."--Melanie
 
 Reports indicate that Arlo Guthrie, Melanie, Richie Havens, and
 several of the other performers originally scheduled for Bethel '94
 are indeed going to show up anyway.
 
 I think the upshot is this: concentrate on making money, rather than
 on throwing a good party, and you'll do neither.  Focus on throwing
 a good party, and you might make some money as well...


woodstock.49.12: gimme an "F"! (reva)  Sun 14 Aug 94 09:23

 "The unconcert"; very cool.
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Italic footnote comments made February 2001.