Clones of ‘Woodstock’ growing across globe
Fifty years in service is generally sufficient for retirement, isn’t it? Even if not, it is probably enough for awards and reflection.
You know? Yes, we know. However, even the generation of that time is only a part of today’s audience? So, let me tell you that part of the story. Who is a celebrity? You know very much since… ever. Fifty years ago, if you are adult already, (of course, you will know) the festival was invented and organized by four young men: John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie Kornfeld and Michel Lang. That time the eldest was 26.
At the beginning they were two only – Roberts and Roseman. Roberts made an announcement in the few major new newspapers that ‘A young man with unlimited financial resources looks for legal, not banal business proposals.’ He was a heir to the fortune build on back of the pharmacy chains and toothpaste production and for him it was just an investment. Two others, Kornfeld and Lang, who answered the ‘advertisement’, were youth concert organizers. During the first meeting there came along two guys in suits and two hippies but they soon found a common language.
Convince
They suggested they should organize a youth music festival. For a place they planned to begin from Wallkill field, 60 km near Woodstock, Kornfeld city, because ‘many musicians lived there, including such artistes as Bob Dylan and, maybe, it would be possible to convince them to participate in such an event’.
One of the opponents was Roberts’ father. He asked: ‘You rented a field 160 km far from New York and you believe that you get 50 thousand people to listen to rock music? Do you like to put in your own money?’ Daddy was both right and wrong, but it largely depends on the point of view. NB: At the last moment the local authorities refused and threw them out from Wallkill: they didn’t want such event at their place, but 50 thousand tickets had already been sold.
Then our ‘young four’ decided to move the event to the neighboring meadows. One week before the festival opening desperate organizers circled around the area until they saw the hill and from it stretched a view of the fantastic basin, like a natural audience. It was a part of the dairy farm grounds belonging to Max Yazgoor. ‘I do not want to cheat you, boys’, he answered their question of the renting cost. Finally they agreed for $50 thousand.
Their expectations turned out, to be a bit underestimated: attendance reached half of million people. People going to the festival blocked State road. Traffic jam was twenty seven kilometers long according to ‘Washington Post’. It was not only the longest but the most peaceful and quiet traffic jam like ever and everywhere was seen. And believe me that not only because ‘Our Boys’ hired 346 policemen from New York, paying $50 daily and one hundred of local sheriffs and deputies.
One hundred and twenty-five thousand was sold before the event when an uncountable crowd broke through a rickety fence only partially surround the festival area the organizers ‘sinking’ already in the incoming like oceanic inflow crowds, proclaimed entrance free. Even some of the performing participants, like singer Melanie, were prevented from entering the stage area. Before she was allowed to go to the stage she had to present her driving license and to sing to guards the song ‘Beautiful People’ as her very special ID.
Only three female singers (more adequate would be the term: ‘girls singer’, isn’t it?) participated as soloists at the festival: Janis Joplin, Joan Baez and Melanie. The fourth, Jani Mitchell was expected, but her manager, also a female, assured her that it would be better for her career to take to the TV show. After decades she confessed that it was one of her major mistakes in her life. (I can imagine.)
Only on the first day half of million hamburgers and hot dogs we sold for one dollar each and the female volunteers prepared 30 thousand of sandwiches. After the first day nobody was able to count what they made. Finally the total cost of the festival reached $2.4 million. Today it should be multiplied by five! But initially it was planned as a profitable investment.
On the list among the best were the first and – the last positions. The first performer, inaugurating the opening concert was Richie Havens (1941-2013), guitarist and folk singer. He was expected as number 5 in the (planned, not printed!) program but the festival was one, great, total improvisation. His repertoire was not so rich than for encore for the improvised version of ‘Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child’ with repeated word ‘FREEDOM’. It appeared a very good beginning. The song became a world hit and started the syndrome of avalanche.
The last position was already booked earlier. Jimmie Hendrix negotiated a record fee rate (at that time) – $32 thousand and nobody would perform after him. Sometimes being hard costs quite much. His performance was planned for Sunday midnight but finally it started at 9 o’clock Monday morning. That the most legendary performance was watched by 40 thousand people, it means no more than 10 percent of the audience. The festival was already a battle field, full of trash. The organizers said the third day of the festival was accompanied by a monstrous stench.
Hendrix completed his performance at 10 o’clock in the morning. It was watched by only the ‘survivors’. A majority tried to come back home, to work, to studies, just for duty, even the hippies. Looking at old pictures you see that hippies were not a majority of the audience. It was first of all the festival of the ‘normal’, a carnival of average young people. The hippies were few or just over ten percent of the participants. Of course, attention of media was focused on long hair and ethnic fashion of that picturesque group.
Concerts
Now we realize that in that ubiquitous experience there was a feeling of being lost. Even you came with a group of friends after two or three concerts everybody was lost somewhere. Almost at the center of the field there was one tree, sugar maple, which soon turned into an advertising column. On it were nailed the paper plates, distributed by Hog Farm, with an appeal ‘Let us meet here and here…’. Easy to say (rather to write): how it would work in the crowd of 100 thousand having similar idea…
Well, there are always glows and shadows. From our perspective the glows are seen better -‘Peaceful revolt’ of young the generation; ‘Peace’ and ‘Freedom’ were the most often used words at Woodstock radiating from there to the entire generation and the whole country. With time all over the world the anti-war moods got a boost (Vietnam War time) and a feeling of the cold war fatigue. In time it became a legend.
PS. Apparently the legend never dies. Clones of this legend are growing rapidly in all continents but my generation has something to remember.
Editor’s Note: Cezary Owerkowicz is the chairman of the Kuwait Chamber of Philharmonia and talented pianist. He regularly organises concerts by well-known musicians for the benefit of music lovers and to widen the knowledge of music in Kuwait. His e-mail address is: cowerkowicz @yahoo.com and cowerkowicz@hotmail.com