30 June, 2009

woodstock 2009















9 comments:

MamaFlo said...

I was a young teenager at the time of Woodstock but it's influence touched me and definitely the music touched everyone.

suz said...

that must have been some concert. but i'll be honest, watching bits of it on the tv, left me scared -- yet intrigued.
:-)

earthtoholly said...

Wow. A neat post, David.

Do I see some symbolism in your first photo? The dandelions, like the crux of Woodstock... happenin', going, gone. I hope not...

dzk said...

Debra - Thank you for commenting. We went to yasgur's farm on Sunday. It was incredible. There is a museum there now that brings you right back to that weekend. I was a teenager at the time too. I'm going to write some more about the time and the place. I tried to last night but wasn't feeling very articulate. It was, almost, too emotional a visit. It's been forty years. They pass too, too fast.

Suz - it was a bit scary. The concert footage at the museum is unlike any I have ever seen in the movie or in documentaries. It strikes me as one of the last authentically counter-cultural events in rock music history. My mother listened to Lawrence Welk. I listened to the Who. My son (12 years old) is upstairs right now singing My Generation (I hope I die before I get old). Jilly Nines wants to see the Beatles in concert. We haven't had the heart to tell her yet that, it will be, sort of impossible. Beatlemania notwithstanding.

Holly - Thank you. There were 3 dandelions in the middle of this gigantic 70 acre field on yasgur's farm yesterday. I thought of your blog as I was listening to the Jefferson Airplane playing in the museum theater. Grace Slick, I had forgotten, was signing a 'wake up, it's morning' song - just improvising it. We lived and live about 80 miles from the concert site.

I pretty much only write about chaos and disappointment. Everything that isn't already gone, is going. I have a wonderful life - my muse (if I have one, is a dark soul). I'd more likely worked in a coal mine than a diamond mine.

Let me know, if you have a chance, what you think of the next posting.

Thanks everyone for the comments.

me again. said...

oh - I forgot to say that if you look closely at that dandelion picture you'll see the small image of a child. That would be someone you all know pretty well if you read the half life of linoleum. i don't read it (only the comments).

Charity Joy Bell Childs said...

Woodstock is dead!!!!?????

koe whitton-williams said...

Charity - no. it's very alive and very well. The site where the concert took place is a magical spot in upstate New York. These photographs are from the site.

Erik said...

Freedom! http://search4beauty.blogspot.com/2008/11/morning-music-richie-havens.html

koe whitton-williams said...

Erik - Thank you. I never knew that Richie Havens improvised that song at woodstock. It was such an amazing performance. If you have a chance - especially with the way you look at the world - go to yasgur's farm. It's amazing.