Where Are They Now?

   More than 40 years have passed since 30 talented artists performed at the legendary rock festival of Woodstock. For some, it was a gate opening to new careers. For others, it was a regular gig, except this time they were presenting in front of a crow of 500,000 blissful individuals. "Some are gone, some have faded into history, and some are alive, well, and still making music" (White). Nevertheless, all of them were part of Woodstock, an event that forever changed their lives. Check out more of how every single performer was changed by Woodstock at: http://classicrock.about.com/od/tourschedules/tp/woodstock_wherenow.htm
   If not for Woodstock, would have some artists never been recognized in history?  

White, Dave. "Where Are They  Now."About.com.

The Revolutionary '60s

   The 1960s, an epoch of revolutionary actions for common human rights (freedom) and peace. To begin with, America joined the Vietnam War, when Congress authorized the president to take all necessary actions to protect American soldiers from the communist Viet Cong. Soldiers were beginning to get recruited and sent to the battlefield without excuses (unless you suffered from a medical condition). This lead to massive riots in cities all around America that searched only for peace and freedom, imploring them to send their loved ones back home and put an end to the violence. In addition, the fight for civil rights spread like wildfire across the nation. African American have had it, they wanted to have common human rights and were finally fighting for this with their lives. Ironically, it all began with four black students who refused to move their seats in lunch because of their color. Then of course, bigger and bigger black communities were influenced by small rebellious actions such as this one, leading to whole crowds protesting and clogging segregated stores all over the upper South. Just like Mr.Dryden tells General Murray in the movie Lawrence of Arabia, "Big things have small beginnings, sir." Many other racial groups sought freedom and equality as well. An extremely famous incident which I mentioned in one of my previous blogs, was the Stonewall Inn rebellion, in which homosexuals formed riots and went out to the streets, yelling out from the depths of their lungs, "The word is out. We have had it with oppression!" In the end, the 1960s was the perfect era for Woodstock to happen because people finally spoke out and fought for freedom. "Man is free at the moment he wishes to be" (Voltaire).

   Can too much freedom be harmful to mankind?

"The 1960s." History .

More Than A Concert

   40 shifting years have passed since Woodstock, people still remember it, but not as vividly as for those who were actually present; forever touched by the dovish festival. Today's generations only recalls the festival as being a sort of massive wild party, but it was much more than that, it was a legendary movement of peace and music. "For decades, our boomer elders have wielded that muddy weekend at Max Yasgur's farm as a signature accomplishment. To have not been alive during Woodstock, we're told, was to have missed the freest moment in American history" (Tylangiel, 2009). Also, performances by some of the most iconic musicians of the era, including Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Sha Na Na, Crosby, Santana, and many others, make Woodstock even harder to forget. But word says that the most impressive performance in that wooden stage, sitting victoriously at the bottom of the hills of people, was none other than Joe Cocker. The final sentences of the article give out evidence of it, "But Joe Cocker was the real king of Woodstock. We think of him now as a series of tics and growls, but his seven-minute version of "With A Little Help From My Friends" begins in complete control, slowly building until halfway through, when his sweet-voiced backup singers ask, "Do you need anybody?" Cocker responds ... well, it's hard to describe exactly what he howls. But there's no happier sound" (Tyrangiel, 2009). Just as Tyrangiel wrote in his final words, no matter how long people get together to listen music, there won't be another moment when singer, song, and audience merge so completely.

   Would've the presence of absent, yet modernly notable bands such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan (who all three declined their participation in Woodstock), made todays unretentive generation retentive of Woodstock?

Tyrangiel, Josh. "Woodstock: How Does It Sound 40 Years Later?." Time Magazine Arts. 24 August 2009.

Woodstock So Far

   My research project on Woodstock has so far been overwhelmingly interesting and intrinsically motivating for me. Therefore my passion for music and interest in Woodstock increase everyday after reading or watching videos about it. I have also gained some insight on my own reflection questions thanks to comments that other Blogger users left for me to contemplate upon. I look forward to the continuation of this exciting project and gain an even deeper knowledge of Woodstock and its memorable; symbolic meaning. 

   Why can't we no longer feel that love and peace that were felt in the audience of Woodstock 43 years ago? 

My Woodstock Findings

   Throughout my research for the completion of my Woodstock Wiki, I came upon some interesting facts I've never seen or heard of before. First of all, I learned about the deep gratefulness the people of Woodstock had for Max Yasgur and his family. After all, he was the one that allowed Michael Lang to use his fifteen acre field for the festival's stage and along with some agricultural work, Yasgur created a massive hill on the field, with the stage being right on the bottom of the hill, so that people could see the arena and its performers from far distances. If it wasn't for the Yasgur's hard labor and tolerance, Woodstock may had never happened. Additionally, I was able to gather up some pictures taken days before the festival that show the stage's construction, the Yasgur's farm, and the fifteen acre field before the modifications were made. There are also pictures that show the harsh conditions fans were living up to thanks to the weather. The green hills turned into muddy slopes that were hygienically unsatisfying for anyone, but you can still see those smiles in people's faces; they are focused on the love and music. And last but not least, I discovered the whole list of artists that performed at Woodstock! A total of 32 musicians played they're instruments in front of that stage, and a few who were supposed to play weren't able to do so due to the traffic and jamming of highways on the way to the festival's location. Some of the most legendary acts, and part of my favorite artists, were Jimi Hendrix, Jannis Joplin, Grateful Dead, The Who, Santana, and Joe Cocker. In the end, Woodstock, the event of a lifetime, changed history as we know it today and has give me a better understanding of its true meaning.

   In the way society is being led to, will symbolic events of such great magnitude like Woodstock be lost in oblivion? If so, will society become incomprehensible of what peace and love really stand for?

Wiki: https://sites.google.com/site/woodstockmusicartfestival0696/

Woodstock On Tape

   The video of The History of the Woodstock shows basically all of the accumulated information written on my previous blogs. The only difference is that now instead of imagining Woodstock through words, you can now see the festival itself. The video, which is made up of accumulated tapes of Woodstock, emanates a similar feeling of what it was really like to be present amongst the crowds on those three sunny, and later rainy days of August, 1969. In addition, the established background knowledge of the Vietnam War and the cilvil rights movements in the video, demonstrates how easy peace flourished during the 1960's and how the people had had simply enough of these intolerable, yet ignored issues.

   Why is Woodstock discounted from history books when it was actually a turning event of the twentieth century?

                                      

"The History of the Woodstock Festival."YouTube. 2009

Taking Woodstock

   The book Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert and a Life, written by Elliot Tiber, tells about Tiber's involvement, as a young gay man, with the riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York City, and his key role in bringing the Woodstock festival to Bethel, New York. It begins with the description of Tiber's life before Woodstock, which involves his family background, his years in college, his double-life (pretending to straight during his weekends helping his parents in Bethel, while living an openly gay life in New York City), and his actions in the riots of the Stonewall Inn that marked the start of the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world. Later on, Tiber, who became the head of the chamber of commerce of his sponsored rock festival, finds out that the town of Walkill, where the festival was originally going to be held at, rejected the its production. He then immediately phones his partner Michael Lang after finding a fifteen acre field that could hold the festival. The land was owned by the Yasgur family, which most hospitably offered Tiber and his crew a place to sleep by a motel they owned as well. After countless conferences held in the motel, Woodstock began rockin'! Most ironically, Tiber only went to the actual festival once, during which he had an LCD trip, and described how the entire experience of Woodstock changed his life.

   Did the riot in favor of gay rights at the Stonewall Inn somehow made Tiber more devoted in the completion of Woodstock to demonstrate the world that love neglects sexual orientation, both gender role and gender identity, ethnicity, and many others?

Tiber, Elliot, Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert and a Life, SquareOne Publishers, 2007

Even Against The Odds

   Those "Three Days of August" (Woodstock) proved the world wrong of the expected outcome of the "crazy" festival. Even if there were 400,000 people gathered in those muddy hills of August, not even a single crime, rape, or any other type of violence occur. The young and underestimated generation took down every schema made by "the adults." Instead of behaving like the usually rebel and uncontrolled juvenile, the Woodstock crowd was a calm, peaceful one. As mentioned in the article, "As they walked back to their campsites in the crowded dark, they refrained from pushing or shoving. And almost every adult they encountered said they were remarkably polite" (Collins). Even if no crimes were committed, deaths from overdose and other drug-related causes did occur during the festival. But the whole point of this article is that even in that rainy, windy weather, the expected violence to surge in the crowd, and all of the odds accumulated against Woodstock, peace and music, along with the jolly feelings produced by them, cheered the heart of every single person present during those three unforgettable days.
   Even if the "hippie era" has long passed, can a modern day festival of such magnitude run along as smoothly and peacefully as Woodstock did in 1969?

Collins, Gail. "Three Days in August." New York Times. (2009): n. page. 0.

A Day To Be Remembered

   Woodstock was like a completely distant world from the one we know. All the trouble of the real world was erased of people's minds. There were no worries or remorses; only happiness. Even those who weren't "hippies" were caught into that powerful joy coming from the music and people alike. "It was a sea of humanity," Bobbi said. All around the nation, people came swarming into the streets and on their way to the green hills of Catskills country. Even today, those who experienced that once in a lifetime event called Woodstock, continue to remember that rainy yet sunny day of August 15, 1969 with vivid memory; reviving all of those emotions felt on that day just by looking at photos like the iconic one taken by Uzzle. In depth, Woodstock opened up the curtains of humanity's blissful emotions with love and music.

   Would events such as Woodstock decrease wars and violence throughout the globe if done once again? 

Dumas, Timothy . "A Woodstock Moment - 40 Years Later." Smithsonian. 13 August 2009

Why Woodstock?

   I chose this topic for the fact that I love music and I think Woodstock was one of the greatest musical, and cultural events that have ever been done.

   Why was Woodstock such an important, symbolic event and is still widely remembered?