"WOODSTOCK"

[DannyMc]

I was watching Woodstock on television last night , so many people , so many bands and just the time in history when it happened , I wish I could have been there ............ Have any of you the memories of this time and place ? .......... PS , what are your feelings on a get together like that ?

 

[Tickleslave07]

To tell the truth Danny that first Woodstock
was a once in a lifetime thing that sadly won't ever happen
again.

 

[Bugman]

I was not there,but i remember the times well.Vietnam was raging,JFK RFK and MLK Jr. were dead,cut down by assians.The moon landing in July of that year,we watched it live on TV.Janis Joplin and Jimmy Hendrix would soon be dead.

Home computers and cell phones were the stuff of science fiction.Just having a color TV was not that common,and if it had a *remote control* it was connected to the TV by a cord.FM radio was almost unheard of,let alone 8 tracks or casset tapes.

Sorry for getting so mauldin,in most ways things are better now,but it was in many ways it was a simpler time and place....

 

[Saeria]

I don't think woodstock could happen again either. I'm too young to have been around then, in fact my parents were still in their mid teens, but i was rather interested in the whole hippie subculture growing up. I must have watched the woodstock videos a thousand times and listened to the woodstock double disc vinyl set just as many times and as i listened and watched, i could easily see that it was just different then. Woodstock '94 was seen as quite the disaster. I seriously doubt a huge group of people could ever again congregate a field, trip 'till their brains bust, and have fun no matter what weather or conflicts took place. That's just my take on it.

 

[ChosenofMystra]

Obviously I was born long after the events unfolded. However, I have seen footage of it and would have given anything to have been part of it.

 

[Bugman]

Obviously I was born long after the events unfolded. However, I have seen footage of it and would have given anything to have been part of it.

Ok,now i'm sorry but i'm going to burst the bubble here.I did know some people who were there.Traffic jams beyond beliefe.Ankle deep mud.Little if any sanitary facalities.Drug and alcohol overdoses.Heat stroke.Dehydration.It looks great on the old clips you see,and the music was incredible,but it was not the hippie paradise that its presented to be.Was it worth it?That depends i guess.Could it ever happen again?No,it could not,it was a very different world then.

 

[ChosenofMystra]

Ok,now i'm sorry but i'm going to burst the bubble here.I did know some people who were there.Traffic jams beyond beliefe.Ankle deep mud.Little if any sanitary facalities.Drug and alcohol overdoses.Heat stroke.Dehydration.It looks great on the old clips you see,and the music was incredible,but it was not the hippie paradise that its presented to be.Was it worth it?That depends i guess.Could it ever happen again?No,it could not,it was a very different world then.

Oh I'm well aware of all the negativities that occured my friend. I'm not naive 🙂

Even still, just being able to say you were THERE, to experiance a once in a lifetime event like that firsthand, sharing that moment with thousands of others....man oh man it would be something to remember

 

[Capnmad]

It looks great on the old clips you see,and the music was incredible,but it was not the hippie paradise that its presented to be.Was it worth it?That depends i guess.Could it ever happen again?No,it could not,it was a very different world then.

I disagree that it could never happen again, but hippie paradises have a remarkably short half-life, largely because of failures in management that seem a feature of most movements tied even in part to anarchy.

Consider the Summer of Love. While the Diggers tried to provide structure and meet the needs of people seeking the hippie lifestyle, offering free food, "Free Stores", a survival course of sorts, and medical services, ultimately they became overwhelmed. Haight-Ashbury became awash with people, and unmanageable. First came the hippies, then the wannabe hippies and weekend hippies with no sense of committment, then the opportunists and finally, the tourists.

As is typical with human behavior, most eventually sought the path of greatest convenience that still reaped the desired benefits. The selflessness and charity that characterized the Diggers was subsumed with the broader population's more selfish desires for "mind-expansion" and experience-seeking. They didn't want to step up and help preserve the lifestyle. They wanted it to be given to them. They took to heart that living free was an entitlement, but failed to recognize the sacrifice others were making to make that possible, and simply took advantage of what was offered, often without giving back. Ultimately, it became hollow -- a parody of what it once was. And as the opportunists introduced harder drugs under the premise of "mind-expansion", and runaway teens flocked to SF to escape their parents, the environment was ripe for exploitation and abuse.

Woodstock had its high points as well, but also some pretty significant low points due to failures of management. Inability to properly manage events is the death of any great "happening", hippie or otherwise.

 

[Bugman]

Oh I'm well aware of all the negativities that occured my friend. I'm not naive

Do i wish i had been there?HELL YES i do.😀

 

[asutickler]

PS , what are your feelings on a get together like that ?

With that many dirty hippies crammed into one place, the smell must have been just awful...


I kid, I kid!


Sort of. 😛

 

[Saeria]

With that many dirty hippies crammed into one place, the smell must have been just awful...


I kid, I kid!


Sort of. 😛

Haha that's not to say that doesn't happen today. I've been there man, and it does kinda smell funky... and for some reason dreads, pit hair, and sarongs are REALLY popular among "modern day hippies".

 

[DannyMc]

As the world has been and still is now , there are the high points and the lows , Woodstock and it's management were overwhelmed , 400,000 plus was not expected . Drugs and alcohol , well what can you say , it was the times and bound to happen . Many people and many good stories to be brought out from such a gathering . Overall , under the curcumstances , it was one hell of a good ride , a time those people will never forget ....................

 

[Bugman]

it was one hell of a good ride , a time those people will never forget ....................

True Danny,for the ones that can remember being there.

 

[Dussicar]

I was watching Woodstock on television last night , so many people , so many bands and just the time in history when it happened , I wish I could have been there ............ Have any of you the memories of this time and place ? .......... PS , what are your feelings on a get together like that ?

Nice place to visit. Wouldn't want to be there.

Though a piece of your American history, I can honestly say that if I was living in that country and in that time period, I would opt not to go.

I hate large crowds.

Especially ones that smell...