woodstock.5: Were you at Woodstock '69? woodstock.5.0: David Gans (tnf) Sat 6 Aug 94 10:29 I wasn't. I coulda gone to Altamont, but I overslept. woodstock.5.1: back to the garden (reva) Sat 6 Aug 94 12:24 I wasn't, either, but I wanted to be. I got stuck in the Woodstock traffic, though, on my way to the other place I was going that weekend. If *you* were there, tell us about it! woodstock.5.2: Howard Rheingold (hlr) Sat 6 Aug 94 12:52 I did tell this story somewhere, didn't I? Archives? I'll go fetch it. Woodstock has DEFINITELY been much groovier to brag about than to be at! It was AMAZING to see all those people, for sure, but the band was on a postage-stamp-sized stage 18 miles away. But bragging about it has taken on a life of its own. Tune into ABC-TV "The Turning Point" on August 10. woodstock.5.3: Howard Rheingold (hlr) Sat 6 Aug 94 13:53 extract archives 23 1 for my woodstock tale woodstock.5.4: David Gans (tnf) Sat 6 Aug 94 23:07 Or better yet, go on over to the archives conference and read it in place. Navigating in the Well is not unlike touring a muse. woodstock.5.5: editorial comment (green) Sat 6 Aug 94 23:33 Was there. woodstock.5.6: editorial comment (green) Sat 6 Aug 94 23:37 some great things weren't in the movie - like the guy who built a room-sized structure of bells and gongs, and gently accompanied the sunset the second morning, waking us up in an incredible way. Walked in, over the torn-down fences, at the precise moment Country Joe began his fish cheer: 500,000 people yelling F.U.C.K. with the grandest glee and certainty at our youth, freedom, and extraordinariness you can imagine. We really were all still innocents. woodstock.5.7: otis (nycjag) Mon 8 Aug 94 07:35 I wasn't there. I am the same age as Woodstock. The festival, not Snoopy's pal. Woulda gone if I were bron a decade earlier woodstock.5.8: Steve Silberman (digaman) Mon 8 Aug 94 14:51 >I am the same age as Woodstock :-) :-) :-) woodstock.5.9: ghost host (mandala) Thu 11 Aug 94 00:13 I was nearby at Stockbridge, MA (home of Alice's Restaurant and Officer Obie) working at the local theater, which kept me from going, although I did get to see some of the bands at Tanglewood on their way there during the days before. I wasn't much into rock music then and had only heard of the Grateful Dead in the lyrics to a song from Hair. Several weeks later Iater I was working on the stage crew at the Fillmore East as a lot of the groups came through again after Woodstock. By then I was into rock music a lot, the bus came by and I got on, and the rest is history! I also got to see the rushes for the film at a Thanksgiving dinner Bill Graham threw at the Fillmore East, after which we went to see Ike&Tina and the Stones @ MSG! Those were the daze... woodstock.5.10: David Gans (tnf) Thu 11 Aug 94 00:26 Hair! woodstock.5.11: W Spirit (wstock4) Thu 11 Aug 94 12:07 I was at Woodstock '69 alast night setting up they were doing a soundcheck with Suite with Suit wot with Suite Judy Bue Eyesl Blue Eyes . Deja VU! woodstock.5.12: otis (nycjag) Thu 11 Aug 94 12:11 I'll say! woodstock.5.13: ju[D[DJuan colon (wstock4) Thu 11 Aug 94 12:22 IK I didnt come to wood stock in 69 because i wasnt even born yet but now im here ewe working as security. Its great ov er over here the people are graeteat well im laeving now so peace and love/.e e woodstock.5.14: gail williams (gail) Thu 11 Aug 94 12:30 whee! woodstock.5.15: Much 2 young for Woodstock 1 (isaac) Thu 11 Aug 94 13:11 I didn't come in '69 because I wouldn't be born for eleven more years! This conf sure makes me feel *young* (well I am, but still...) woodstock.5.16: Mad Hatter (airman) Thu 11 Aug 94 13:20 In spirit, yes. woodstock.5.17: The Next Generation (mglito) Thu 11 Aug 94 13:26 I was concieved during or before Woodstock (but on a different coast). This has always had some irrational (but somewhat mystical) significance for me. :-) woodstock.5.18: on the other side of the sun (miga) Thu 11 Aug 94 13:47 Hey, what Juan said! The people here are fun and friendly. We're having a blast! woodstock.5.19: Sleep in the Stars (btwind) Thu 11 Aug 94 14:18 Nope, I was 3 years old. I probobly spent the weekend sleeping with my favorite blanket and playing with my favorite toys! woodstock.5.20: (ernie) Thu 11 Aug 94 14:35 I was at Boy Scout camp about 10 miles to the west. It was Parent's Weekend, and it took them eight hours to drive up fro Long Island. woodstock.5.21: we (justride) Thu 11 Aug 94 14:37 Talk about bein' prepared. :^) woodstock.5.22: Hoover Chan (hchan) Thu 11 Aug 94 15:50 I wasn't there, but Woodstock definitely was a punctuation mark in time for me. woodstock.5.23: Barbara Gersh (barbg) Thu 11 Aug 94 15:54 I made it as far as 20 miles or so north of Rockland County, but the driver of our car wisely decided that sitting in a traffic jam for 3 days would not be fun, so we lit another doobie and headed back to NYC. Had a great weekend anyway! woodstock.5.24: naga bobby (bobby) Thu 11 Aug 94 17:28woodstock.5.25: Jennifer Powell (jnfr) Thu 11 Aug 94 17:42 I was 16 in '69, and did not go to Woodstock. But like hchan, is was a punctuation/exclamation point for me. woodstock.5.26: hi (wstock3) Thu 11 Aug 94 17:54 It was farout better than the movie yet the movie was quite accurate - this was my baptism into what I am today thank you my family and I truely love you all signed Rainbow Jai woodstock.5.27: editorial comment (green) Thu 11 Aug 94 18:09 I was 21. woodstock.5.28: Alan Feldstein (fiddle) Thu 11 Aug 94 18:31 I was there (as well as Altamont and Monterey)..I worked at a summer camp in close proximity and was probably one of the few people to go, leave and return during the festival..missed part of Saturday's show, though.. woodstock.5.29: Venus de Tofu (pamela) Thu 11 Aug 94 18:57 I was driving my in-laws-tbe to one of the nearby hotels for their vacation. We kept wanting to pull off the road and join the Woodstockers, but we had to get e old folks settled first. By that time.... woodstock.5.30: Davis McPherson (davism) Thu 11 Aug 94 22:02 i was 12 i wasnt there..my brother in law was..his sister my wife was not allowed to go ...i remember the tv coverage but that's it... everything else i know came later from the movie, album books... woodstock.5.31: gopod for a day (jbk) Thu 11 Aug 94 22:25 I was 15 at summer camp on Bear Mt. N.Y. Didn't make it. But a coupla kids went AWOL and hitched there. Became the stuff of legend! woodstock.5.32: Without a warning... (ellen) Thu 11 Aug 94 23:10 I almost went, then decided to stay in NYC for a party. My sister was there. She mostly talked about the mud and her inability to get close enough to hear the music. Our cousin was part of the Art Fair (was that what it was called?). He brought a bunch of Indian and Nepali stuff he'd collected in his travels. Mirror cloth and such, very cool. woodstock.5.33: we (justride) Fri 12 Aug 94 08:02 Hey, jbk, what summer camp in Bear Mt.? I went to Leah on Tiorati from '71 to '82. Our counselors bailed on us in the middle of an overnight to got Watkins Geln in '73. :^) uh, Glen. woodstock.5.34: Bob Ulius (rebop) Fri 12 Aug 94 08:16 I was 21. We were travelling to explore America with a yellow cab-over camper, purple '65 GTO, Honda 305 Super Hawk and a white, 1949 Buick Hearse named Nancy, 10 people , 4 cats and a dog. We wre in Columbia Missouri and heard about two pop festivals...one in Woodstock and one in Aspen Colorado. We took a left. It was cancelled because of Woodstock 8^( woodstock.5.35: Papa Chubby (ikoman) Fri 12 Aug 94 08:23 I was ten years old and listening to Aoxomoxoa to the point that the school counselor wondered in September whether I might need professional help. Knew about Woodstock, but because of my age and location (Phoenix, AZ) has no hope of attending. woodstock.5.36: gopod for a day (jbk) Fri 12 Aug 94 08:51 justride - we had this discussion when you were kind enough to hook me up with , who, as I did, went to Homestead. woodstock.5.37: we (justride) Fri 12 Aug 94 09:04 I thought that we might have, but I wasn't sure. My mind's a sieve. I'm sort of a broken record, I realize. :^) Shea, Tiorati, McSorley's, shows, Shea, Tiorati, McSorley's, shows. Ain't no place I'd rather be. I've actually toyed with the idea of putting that on the back of a shirt or something. woodstock.5.38: Old Fart Rock and Roll (mikejs) Fri 12 Aug 94 09:12 I was 15 living in Massachusetts. Parents wouldn't let me go. Had a lot of friends who did. After Woodstock it was pretty much near impossible to get a rock and roll festival approved in the Northeast. No community would touch it. Bought the album...went to the movie. Liked them. The 1994 festival should not be called Woodstock II. I like new identities...not marketing ploys. woodstock.5.39: yo dude. (wstock1) Fri 12 Aug 94 09:21 why don't you like woodstock II to be called woodstocvk II woodstock.5.40: erinita (wstock2) Fri 12 Aug 94 09:23 i agree about not calling it woodstock II; we don't need to ride on anybody's coattails... did you see how they're saying our generation is finally getting it's own identity (supposedly!!) from the saugerties concert.. of course it's only the old foagies who need to label the shit out of us.. woodstock.5.41: Old Fart Rock and Roll (mikejs) Fri 12 Aug 94 09:31 I agree with erinita. woodstock.5.42: yo dude (wstock1) Fri 12 Aug 94 09:45 is anyone out there going to school in washington dc, because i want you to send me your e-mai address woodstock.5.43: had to work that weekend (tigereye) Fri 12 Aug 94 09:49 I had to work in the post office that weekend -- I had a good summer job to make money to go to college in upstate New York. woodstock.5.44: slow bill (pisaruck) Fri 12 Aug 94 09:58 in eigth grade then just startin' to rock 'n roll. woodstock.5.45: yo dude (wstock3) Fri 12 Aug 94 10:11 my first woodstock was like a trip to the moon, or at least I felt that far away from home. My nine friends and I hitched a ride from buenas aires all the way up to brazil. we were just in time for carnival so we drank and made merry for two straight nights, but then it was time to find a ride to mexico, which is where our next ride was suppose to meet us. it took us 3 weeks to make it to mexico, but the rebels didn't help matters much. I had to sell, or i should say give my grandmothers volkswagen to a band of peruvian chichuas who smelled like they took a bath in urine. OH Peru you do smell. Well we finally made it to texas in only 4 hours, boy, carlos sure does drive fast, but that only made us all the more happier to make it back to the states. judy garland was playing in the local tavern in iowa, what a trip that was. I think it was a local but I could of sworn it was ronald reagan in drag. After iowa me and my commrades went off to kansas, shaved heads and all, I just hate that iowa heat. Oh we did make it to woodstock, but we missed the concert by a week. hey were did all the people go to. but I didn't have to pay. woodstock.5.46: (ernie) Fri 12 Aug 94 10:16 Far out! woodstock.5.47: on the other side of the sun (miga) Fri 12 Aug 94 11:18 Yeah! I gotta say I agree with erinita too... suggesting that this generation is getting it's identity from something that is based on the previous one's identity is, hmmm, kind of strange. Great stories in here! woodstock.5.48: Davis McPherson (davism) Fri 12 Aug 94 11:22 yo dude! what a trip... woodstock.5.49: Jennifer Powell (jnfr) Fri 12 Aug 94 11:34 geez tigereye, I was working for the post office also...a summer internship, paid good for a 16-year-old...in Toledo of course. woodstock.5.50: otis (nycjag) Fri 12 Aug 94 11:40 I know. People need to label stuff so that they can understand. People without brainds that is. Let's categorize and comartmentalize. Put everything in order! There isn't that better now? woodstock.5.51: just an old hippie (tigereye) Fri 12 Aug 94 11:46 The post office was a good gig in those days, jnfr! woodstock.5.52: wasn't there, but was alive (jrc) Fri 12 Aug 94 12:13 i was on the West Coast, far too loaded to actually give a shit. woodstock.5.53: hox (wstock4) Fri 12 Aug 94 12:23 i was three and enjoying my new life in middle america r r ok woodstock.5.54: Post N. Steiner (rb1229) Fri 12 Aug 94 12:28 I was close by but not there. My first year at camp at Racquette Lake. All my counselors went. They trained me well. woodstock.5.55: Fuzzy Logic (phred) Fri 12 Aug 94 14:14 I was 14 and on vacation with my family in Austin, Quebec, on the shores of Lake Memphramagog. Since we used the Thruway to get there from DC we were interested to hear on the radio about this huge festival that was tying up traffic on all the roads. But the CBC wasn't making all that big a deal about it, seeing as it was in "the States." woodstock.5.56: David Gans (tnf) Fri 12 Aug 94 14:16 I OD'd on Memphramagog and spent that weekend in the ICU. woodstock.5.57: John Cavanagh (jcav) Fri 12 Aug 94 16:08 Yeah I was there, 17 in '69 and went early to make sure I could get in mostly I remember the set when Crosby Stills & nash were playing around dusk and most of the buildings were kinda of tilting in the mud so when you entered for instance an abandoned "liberated" food stand it was similar to entering a room in a fun house that has been tilted on end to throw off your sense of gravity and in one corner would be a dude smoking opium with a snake wrapped around his arm or someone head to toe covered in mud butt-naked beyond that would stroll by grinning... the press always makes a big deal of the peace&love aspect and the mud but truth is that the sun was much worse to contend with because it was so hard to keep yourself from dehydrating in the open field and a lot of the peace&love attitude was generated by a need to survive. That and about 250 mics...:)...OH I loved it so...the best experience I had at any concert from those times...stayed till the bitter end. Everyone I went there with ended up dead, divorced, or crazy...and I made 2 out of 3 of those!! Enjoy it all..All of it!! woodstock.5.58: yo dude (wstock1) Fri 12 Aug 94 16:27 I think the trip back home was even more fun than the one on the way to Woodstock. Carlos agreed to meet us at the Kentucky border and drive us, or should I say jet rocket us, back to Argentina. I brought a 34 gallon jug, bath tub if you're in Kentucky, of gin because as you already know, I hate that Iowa heat. You'll be hearing from me soon. I never made it back to Argentina, but I hear its now run my some later called Evita? woodstock.5.59: Thou art that that thou art (raemo) Fri 12 Aug 94 21:57 Nope. I never got there. Too young I guess. I was holed in behind the wall of the foretress which was the Marine Caorps base we lived on while my dad was in Viet Nam. *IF* I could-a, I would-a. Bet your butt on that. Being a "brat" during those times was *hard* We might as well have been aliens-or something. We didn't even get news of Woodstock until AFTER the fucking movie was released and was censored on the base. We couldn't see it because it was considered a "detriment to moral". The parents had teams of "spooks" who stood in front of the theaters and made sure that kids from the base didn't sneak in to see the movie when it was playing in town. It was weird. I remember reading _1984_ that same summer.... woodstock.5.60: linn (wstock5) Fri 12 Aug 94 22:03 i had tickets to go to woodstock for FREE i just turned 15 years old and my parents wouldn't let me go so for once i listened to them and i regret it to this day i'm still a hippie and i still believe that if everyone would just create peace and love in their lives it would spread throughout the world I Hope woodstock.5.61: Howard Rheingold (hlr) Fri 12 Aug 94 23:42 We didn't have tickets, and weren't planning to go. We had just planned to visit our friends that weekend. They lived in New Paltz, which was pretty near. In fact, they said they knew a back road and we could avoid all the traffic jams. We figured we'd find a ticket. We arrived for the Mud. woodstock.5.62: clueless (rabbit) Sat 13 Aug 94 08:57 Re #56 >I O'd on Memphramagog... Had to do a double-take on that one (tnf). I thought it was some kind of new designer drug or something!! ;^0) ;^0) woodstock.5.63: David Gans (tnf) Sat 13 Aug 94 09:03 Just riffin'. woodstock.5.64: noel (wstock1) Sat 13 Aug 94 11:13 greetings, from woodstock we are in the process of crowning thr title of miss. in-for ma tion love and kisses noel woodstock.5.65: Staccato (wstock1) Sat 13 Aug 94 11:18 hello Adam and Leslie from Ken at Wdstk.94 woodstock.5.66: losefast, (winslow) Sat 13 Aug 94 12:53 Nope, I wasn't thar either, but I was close and it's vibe reached the cabin where I vacationed with family. I was 13, and there was so much going on that summer that it was hard not to feel that history was *now*. The moon landing was a big deal for me, as I followed the space idealism, and the Mets, my team through thin and thinner, had a shot at the pennant. Then suddenly cousins came back from Woodstock, and I knew there was even more history in progress. My. woodstock.5.67: GRANDPA WOODSTOCK (wstock3) Sat 13 Aug 94 18:36 there in 69 and here in94 stikk the greatest thing in the world hh woodstock.5.68: Alan Turner (arturner) Sat 13 Aug 94 19:16 very cool, grandpa woodstock! woodstock.5.69: wonderboy (wstock3) Sat 13 Aug 94 22:17 I fried so hard last night on great shrooms help r r woodstock.5.70: 8/15/65--> (matneo) Sat 13 Aug 94 22:56 aaaand a 1234 matneo was sittin in his highchair eating steamed clams at Cornell's restaurant in Schenectady caused that's where he likes to have his Birthday party woodstock.5.71: (ernie) Sat 13 Aug 94 23:36 mmmm, steamed clams woodstock.5.72: Stephen Grant Perrino - The F Minor Co. (fminor) Sun 14 Aug 94 11:52 quite likely and then some . well, here at rpi, working away there's an older fellow at the next terminal with less grey hair than I have, qite vocal and interested in the fact that we (the well) have a pressence there say's that he was, and I believe him. I said wait wait wait here's a topic for you, comon, you should put something in... he has since shut up. perhaps he reads more loa tzu than I do... as for I, being almost 34, viewed my older brother, battle dad for permition to go, which he did not get. I later the same day saw him and andy get into andy's ferrarri and did'nt see him again for a few days. this also is the same brother that took me to my first Grateful Dead performance at the Boston Garden two years later. yes, as a matter of fact andy was there too. behave yourselves... woodstock.5.73: Erika Whiteway (outrider) Sun 14 Aug 94 12:15 I was growing up in Berkeley, was 15 in '69 and I don't remember knowing anything about Woodstock until Altamont, when everyone was calling it "woodstock West". Tried to go to Altamont, but stuck in traffic....as for Woodstock and the '60's, what Wavy syas: "If you remember the '60s then you weren't there." So that's my excuse for not knowing about WS. The movie was cool though... woodstock.5.74: virtual participation (shrew) Sun 14 Aug 94 12:51 I was 9 in 69 in the backwoods of South Dakota, if anyone had mentioned Woodstock we would have thought they were talking about the place where they were storing their fireplace wood in preparation for winter... But I had great 60's babysitters ! woodstock.5.75: Mark Dziga (zig)... married to her -> (flanagan) Sun 14 Aug 94 23:38 I grew up in Cochecton NY which is about ten miles from Bethel. I was 6 1/2 in the summer of 69 and on that friday my mom drove me , my brother(who was 3 1/2) and my grandmother to Monticello so I could get my weekly allergy shot. 17B was one way from Monticello to Bethel so we had to drive on the shoulder. On the way there the windows were up and the doors locked. On the way back my mom loosened up and invited some weary backpackers to ride on the car. We had three on the trunk and about four on the hood of this black '66 Cadillac. My grandmother only spoke Polish but she smiled alot. I really thought the crowds were cool and tried to take it all in. The next Thursday we went to Yasgur's farm market and the place was a wreck. I'm very proud of my Woodstock heritage and love to celebrate the anniversary every year. just ask flanagan... woodstock.5.76: We must be in HEAVEN, man! (tnf) Mon 15 Aug 94 09:04 Great story, Mark! woodstock.5.77: Jennine Sison (jennine) Wed 17 Aug 94 13:02 I was 11 in '69. However, my uncle lived (and still does) in White Lake N.Y. and was a neighbor of Max Yasgur's. My parents first met at the swimming hole on that site (with clothes on, most probably:) in 1939. So, my family had always spent a lot of time upstate and my 17 year old brother was particulary pissed when my parents would -not- give him permission to go to Woodstock. I did get to see some *great* home movies of the festival taken by another neighbor! woodstock.5.78: we (justride) Wed 17 Aug 94 13:46
See the main Woodstock project page for more
of the backstory.
Italic footnote comments made February 2001.
Copyright 1994, 2001 The WELL. All rights reserved.