Woodstock
 

Were you one of an estimated 500,000 people that attended a 3 day festival of love, peace and music Aug. '69? It has been written up as the best party ever on Planet Earth. I'm not sure. Remember being very soggey but I doubt anyone who was at Woodstock was ever quite the same afterwards. I am looking for fellow villagers to participate in a discussion group on Tues. Sept.21 at Chula Vista 7p.m.

No. That gathering always stood for an extreme take on life to me.

I really rankle when someone refers to our age group as aging hippies.

Me too, Gracie. We only had a handful of hippies in our whole town. If they totaled every person who claimed he was at Woodstock, there would have been over 50 million people at that event.:loco:

We were heading out from Cleveland when we heard the NY Thruway was closed so we turned around. I still wish we had tried to make it. I always regretted not hearing Joe Cocker or seeing Peter Townsend.

Hate to inform you
 

that there were lots of people there who hadn't dropped out,etc. I wasn't there but I know plenty of folks who were, many of whom went on to do quite well in their careers. Most were college students at the time.

DITTO...........from Brooklyn, we left too late and the traffic was horrendous............former hippie and damned proud of it!!!

Thank you!!!!:BigApplause:

P.S..............Imagine long hair and no drugs !

Went for the music...
 

3 of us young people from work (early 20's post college computer workers) decided to go because of the great group of performers advertised. Not hippies but music lovers. We even had tickets!

Left New Haven Friday after lunch and drove the backroads in without hitting much heavy traffic. Stayed off the highways. Pulled into our field (farmers had their fields open for campers) and we walked the 1/2 mile to the hill.

My most indelible memory of the weekend was walking up that road and hearing Richie Havens playing "Freedom" to open the show. Got to the Main gate to find all the fences were down...no tickets needed.

We had plenty of food, plenty of water and a great tent set up in the field so never felt in jeopardy.

I ended this great weekend by leaving Sunday morning, got home and cleaned up and caught the 1st Giants / Jets pre-season football game ever held at Yale Bowl.

Great music, great weekend!!!

Went to Woodstock with two of my college fraternity brothers, working in Atlantic City,NJ that summer as waiters.AC was a great place for college kids to work and party in the summer, and many went to Woodstock.They did a 25 year anniversary Woodstock special in our local newspaper, big article with lots of pictures and interviews. By looking at the pictures, you could see why i am often mistaken for George Clooney...........................or is that Mickey Rooney, i forget???????

:confused::thumbup::icon_wink:

I didn't make Woodstock, but did make the Monterey Pop Festival. It seemed a great way to kick off the summer after a grueling year at UCLA. Had never heard of most of the groups that were playing, but what an impact they had on me! To this day, Janis can send shivers down my spine. I cannot hear Jimi without seeing him smash his guitar in my mind. The Who, Otis Redding, Ravi Shankar ... I do remember being disappointed that Dionne Warwick (she was shown on posters as one of the acts) didn't show.

Many who saw this festival did become hippies. Many of us did not. The peace and love, the gentleness of that crowd was a beautiful thing to see but not expected. I did not drop out; neither did five of my friends who went with me, one did. I certainly didn't tune out. I did inhale. For me, it was the music. Always has been, always was. I did skip Altamont -- college was over and life was beginning (good thing, I guess).

In my defense, Shirley..I was born timid. I am a chicken, a sissy and at that time I was a hard working young married mother. If I had been single, I wouldn't have driven all that way from Ohio to listen to music. I was way too serious and way too tight and way too afraid.

I thought of hippies as people who tried to avoid serving in the military and who used drugs. I drank beer. I didn't smoke pot.

There is the other definition of hippie as a person who was gentle and kind and loved music.

What do the readers think as their definition of hippie????

I did not wish to insult you or anyone.

We all grow up with ideas and they may be wrong.

The movie from Monterey was on cable last night. Great film that brought back many memories. Janis Joplin was incredible, and her performance propelled her to stardom.

By the time we got to Woodstock...
 

Not really. Wasn't there. But, I've looked at Woodstock from "Both Sides Now".

Horrific. Magnificent. Outrageous. Historic. Extraordinary.

Thank God for the wordsmiths. They enable those of us who flounder with thoughts they can't express.

Beautiful P.

This is the dawning of my education.

Peace to you.