Is it really 40 years ago?

There's a movie coming out next week in the cinemas here. I read up on the PR and...the folks that put the show on didn't make any money until in the 1990's...so (smartly) they've timed the release of this new flick to coincide with the 40th year stuff going out now as "free advertising". Clever idea...

For me...indeed, 40 years does dim the memory. I just saw (on a TV doco) how YOUNG the rockers looked and how OLD I thought they looked back then. Hey...it was like reviewing the tiny desks in my old grammar school that only seem small, today...

Still...lots of things stand out...most of all, yeah...not one bad vibe even if ya looked for it! I came away from Woodstock actually convinced that "peace on earth" was just around the corner.

Eh. What can I say? I was wrong. :?

Cat

It's true they didn't see any cash for a long time. When the fences came down, it drove the promoters bankrupt, and the creditors got everything - the film, the sound recordings, the works.

Some of those creditors were really sharp people, and they made lemonade out of their lemons. In fact, if the fences hadn't come down, the soundtrack/movie wouldn't have been promoted so heavily - the original promoters didn't have very deep pockets, but some of their investors did.

There was a really good book detailing all the behind the scenes stuff, finances and everything, called "Barefoot in Babylon".

Sharp marketers being what they are, it was published during the 20th anniversary :)

1969 was a huge year in many ways. Woodstock was icing on the cake for me.
Cat, were the same age. I sure wish I could have gone to Woodstock. I watched the TV news reports. I saw a new nation forming with a new national identity.
I graduated high school, started college, saw some men walk on the moon, got my draft card (1-A). too young to vote, too young for a legal drink. I burned my draft card, marched in the streets and thought of going to Canada if they called me up to fight in Nam. those were great days.
old man now that still believes in the Aquarian values.
this last weekend I was up in the northern woods camping next to a beautiful river flowing north into Lake Superior.
on the little radio the local Public radio station played the Woodstock program. Wavy Gravy narrated, telling stories of Woodstock. the show echoed what Cat has written.
it was fun to still by a campfire listening to Sly, Country Joe and the like.
I don't think an event just like Woodstock could happen again. Jefferson Airplane came on stage 18 hours late. things just got stacked up and delayed. Jorma, on interview, said it was hard to get fired up and play. he said an 18 hour delay would be a deal breaker in todays world.

Didn't I read or see somewhere that the crowd had mostly gone by the time Hendrix came out? Always puzzled about that as some folks have called his performance a defining moment for the event.

I was only 4 back then. Only maybe 2 1/2 hours from there in Southern Vermont. I didn't know about it until probably the late 70's. The hippies were out in full force back then. What some younger folks might not understand is that hippies just didn't pick up and disappear into the mist after 1969 was over. We still had plenty of hippies living in our area when I left New England on the day after New Year's day in '82.

There were communes, a college that seemed to cater to them exclusively and tons of young families living the small self-sufficient life style http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windham_College . Uncles and aunts on both sides of the family were part of the scene. My Mother surely would have been had it not been for marrying a NH redneck who is still longing for the days of Eisenhower. Boy oh boy, did he hate hippies. He could not say the word without detection of disdain or vial coming out of his mouth. Funny thing, though, is that he met his 2nd wife through Mother Earth News ads. :shock:

All that brings me to my earliest Woodstock related memory. Watching the documentary some 10 years later as a young teen with my father in the room. I had to fake a certain level of disgust in order for the TV to stay on. I put up quite a show until the Hendrix portion. I could not contain myself and then the lectures started. Almost made it to the end. :)

I still have a few relatives living the modified hippy lifestyle, but they are getting older and their kids certainly have not taken their place. Kind of hard to work gardens when you can't bend over to do so.

old man now that still believes in the Aquarian values.

That's why yer a good bloke, Randy. But isn't is so strange that "the establishment" was something we loathed way back then...but, today...we're it! Hey, we DID change things for the better. I've been wanting to return to The Garden ever since...trying to carve out this sort of vibe here in our rainforest patch tucked in a tad west of Coolangatta. But even today...JUST like then...people just won't let you be.

I'd like to know WHAT HAPPENED TO KARMA IN SONG LYRICS??? What 18 year olds are ready to carry the torch? Maybe THEY need the same Sword Of Damacles (IE: Vietnam) hanging over their heads as we did??? Nah! I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Hey...a song's just starting to rattle around my head bone...so I'm gonna go and chase after some chords while they are still bouncin' around in there! Ah! Nuthin' like the flu to skip yer chores and get on with the better stuff!

Cat