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Woodstock Music Festival Of 1969 Tribute
Woodstock 1969
The 60′s were a turbulent decade. The assassination of JFK kept us fixated on the TV for days and gave us an insecurity that other decades had not felt before.
Those of us growing into our own during the 60′s were also very much affected by the war in Vietnam. We would all watch the "war lotto" to see which of our friends and loved ones would go across the world to fight in a country that we had not even known had existed.
For me, like other teens my age, the lotto was especially painful as I had a brother that was just 2 years older than I was and I wasn’t ready to let him or my other friends leave our safe, secure Long Island town.
The 60′s was also showing pains from the growing racial issues that faced us all. Segregation, desegregation, marches on Washington. We all needed to become equals.
Many families were separated by what has been termed the "generation gap". Parents not knowing what their children were doing and children learning not to trust anyone over 30.
There was confusion and mis-trust between the "straight" and the "heads", music was going in directions that most didn’t understand.
The world was spinning out of control and we were all angry about something.
Then for 3 days in 1969 the world stood still
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April 2nd, 2009 at 3:37 am
Happy 40th birthday Woodstock baby, if you exist
John Sebastian
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY: American singer John Sebastian made the famous Woodstock cry ‘Some cat’s old lady just had a baby’, almost 40-years ago.
Happy 40th birthday Woodstock baby, if you exist
GROOVE ME, BABY: The Woodstock 1969 poster was designed by Arnold Skolnick.
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Welcome to middle age, Woodstock Baby – if you’re really out there.
The babies reportedly born at the Woodstock festival 40 years ago remain the most enduring mystery from that chaotic weekend that defined a generation. Depending on the source, there was one birth on that patch of upstate New York farmland between August 15-17, 1969. Or two. Or three. Or none.
There is some tantalising evidence. Singer John Sebastian is captured on film announcing that some cat’s old lady just had a baby, a kid destined to be far out. A couple of surviving eyewitnesses say there were births. The concert’s medical director told reporters at the scene there were two births: one at a local hospital after the mother was flown out by helicopter; the other in a car caught in the epic traffic jam outside the site crowded with more than 400,000 people.
But no one has come forward with a credible public claim of giving birth to a Woodstock baby or being born there. No one has produced proof that it happened. If babies were born at Woodstock, they have lived their lives ignoring – or unaware of – the fact that reporters and researchers have been on their trail for decades.
“I’ve searched, I’ve spoken to the doctors and nurses from the main hospitals that were there,” said Myron Gittell, who wrote the new medical history, Woodstock ’69: Three Days of Peace, Music, and Medical Care.
Like many before him, he found nothing.
“Almost statistically, you’d think if there are a half-million people, and half of them were women, and 95 per cent of them were of childbearing age, and fertile, and active. Just statistically, someone would have had to pop a baby.”
Problem is: No one has been able to dig up a birth record.
Rita Sheehan, town clerk for Bethel, which hosted the concert, said there is no local birth certificate on record. Still, it’s possible the birth was recorded in one of the surrounding towns. Gittell says there were births recorded in neighbouring towns in that period, but the records are sealed under state privacy laws. There’s no way to check whether the birth mothers were locals or out-of-towners (the likely pool of Woodstock Mums).
That leaves a few eyewitness accounts, like that of Gladys Devaney, who was a member of the volunteer ambulance corps in nearby Liberty. She answered an ambulance call to a tent at the festival and saw a young woman in labour. Her overriding concern then was that other medical workers took her stretcher as they rushed the woman away. But Devaney knew labour when she saw it.
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“I heard her screaming,” Devaney said. “I didn’t get a good look at her, she was thrashing.”
Devaney never found out whether they took the young woman to a waiting helicopter or somewhere else.
Elliot Tiber, the subject of Ang Lee’s new movie, Taking Woodstock, tops Devaney. He says he helped deliver a baby that weekend.
Tiber, who has a reputation for being a raconteur, said the woman gave birth at his parents’ hotel near the site, which – like the entire area that weekend – was mobbed. The woman wore a leather jacket, came in on a motorcycle and just flopped down.
“I see she’s starting to give birth,” Tiber recalled. “It was like the quote from Gone With the Wind: ‘I don’t know nothing about birthing no babies, Miss Scarlett’. . . I was screaming, just screaming. Everybody was standing around stoned saying, ‘Yeah, groovy!’ They thought it was cool.”
Tiber said the baby was taken away, though the mother came by in a cab a few weeks later with her baby in a blanket. He didn’t get any names. He never heard from them again.
After four decades, the Woodstock baby trail has gotten colder. The young people who packed into Woodstock are retirement age now. A number of the emergency and medical workers involved, including the concert’s medical director, Dr William Abruzzi, are dead. And if a baby was born onsite, there are curious gaps in the record.
Press accounts at the time mentioning the births did not provide names. Abruzzi wrote an exhaustive account of the event in which he tallied six pages of medical incidents over the three days (11 rat bites, 16 peptic ulcers, 707 drug overdoses, among them). The paper, now in the collection of the Museum at Bethel Woods, the onsite museum, does not mention a single childbirth.
“It could be one of those myths that grow out of major events,” said Bethel museum Director Wade Lawrence. “It could be like the story of the New York State Thruway being closed. It wasn’t.”
Maybe the best argument against a Woodstock baby is that no one in the past four decades has stepped forward to publicly and credibly claim they were born or gave birth at Woodstock. There is a theory that neither mother nor child particularly want Woodstock to define their lives, and have chosen to keep their distinction a private matter
August 17th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
DAY ONE – August 15, 1969
1. Richie Havens
1. High Flyin’ Bird
2. Unknown Song (might be “Minstrel From Gault”)
3. I Can’t Make It Anymore
4. Handsome Johnny
5. With a Little Help from My Friends
6. Strawberry Fields Forever
7. Hey Jude
8. Motherless Child (a.k.a. “Freedom”)
2. Swami Satchidananda 3. Country Joe McDonald
1. I Find Myself Missing You
2. Rockin’ All Around The World
3. Flyin’ High All Over The World
4. Seen A Rocket
5. Fish Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixing-To-Die-Rag
4. John B. Sebastian
1. How Have You Been
2. Rainbows All Over Your Blues
3. I Had A Dream
4. Darlin’ Be Home Soon
5. Younger Generation
5. Sweetwater
1. Motherless Child
2. Look Out (???)
3. For Pete’s Sake
4. Day Song
5. What’s Wrong
6. My Crystal Spider
7. Two Worlds (???)
8. Band Introduction
9. Why Oh Why
6. Incredible String Band
1. Invocation
2. The Letter
3. This Moment
4. When You Find Out Who You Are
7. Bert Sommer
1. Jennifer
2. The Road To Travel
3. I Wondered Where You Be
4. She’s Gone
5. Things Are Going My Way
6. And When It’s Over
7. Jeanette
8. America
9. A Note That Read
10. Smile
8. Tim Hardin
1. Misty Roses
2. If I Were A Carpenter
9. Ravi Shankar
1. Raga Puriya-Dhanashri/Gat In Sawarital
2. Tabla Solo In Jhaptal
3. Raga Manj Kmahaj
4. lap Jor
5. Dhun In Kaharwa Tal
10. Melanie
1. Beautiful People
2. Birthday Of The Sun
11. Arlo Guthrie
1. Coming Into Los Angeles
2. Walking Down The Line
3. Amazing Grace
12. Joan Baez
1. Oh Happy Day
2. The Last Thing On My Mind
3. I Shall Be Released
4. Joe Hill
5. Sweet Sir Galahad
6. Hickory Wind
7. Drug Store Truck Driving Man
8. I Live One Day At A Time
9. Sweet Sunny South
10. Warm and Tender Love
11. Swing Low Sweet Chariot
12. We Shall Overcome
iconicon
Wolfgang’s Vault – The Who Memorabilia
DAY TWO – August 16, 1969
1. Quill
1. Driftin’
2. They Live the Life
3. BBY
4. Waitin’ For You
5. Jam
2. Keef Hartley Band
1. Spanish Fly
2. Believe In You
3. Rock Me Baby
4. Medley: Leavin’ Trunk, Halfbreed, Just To Cry, Sinnin’ For You
3. Santana
1. Waiting
2. You Just Don’t Care
3. Savior
4. Jingo
5. Persuasion
6. Soul Sacrifice
7. Fried Neckbones
4. Canned Heat
1. I’m Her Man
2. Going Up the Country
3. A Change Is Gonna Come
4. Leaving This Town
5. The Bear Talks
6. Let’s Work Together
7. Too Many Drivers at the Wheel
8. I Know My Baby
9. Woodstock Boogie
10. On the Road Again
5. Grateful Dead
1. St. Stephen
2. Mama Tried
3. Dark Star
4. High Time
5. Turn On Your Lovelight
6. Mountain
1. Blood Of The Sun
2. Stormy Monday
3. Long Red
4. Who Am I But You And The Sun
5. Beside The Sea
6. For Yasgur’s Farm (then untitled)
7. You And Me
8. Theme From An Imaginary Western
9. Waiting To Take You Away
10. Dreams Of Milk And Honey
11. Blind Man
12. Blue Suede Shoes
13. Southbound Train
7. Creedence Clearwater Revival
1. Born On The Bayou
2. Green River
3. Ninety-Nine And A Half (Won’t Do)
4. Commotion
5. Bootleg
6. Bad Moon Rising
7. Proud Mary
8. I Put A Spell On You
9. Night Time Is The Right Time
10. Keep On Choogin’
11. Suzy Q
8. Sly & The Family Stone
1. M’Lady
2. Sing A Simple Song
3. You Can Make It If You Try
4. Everyday People
5. Dance To The Music
6. Music Lover
7. I Want To Take You Higher
8. Love City
9. Stand!
9. Janis Joplin
1. Raise Your Hand
2. As Good As You’ve Been To This World
3. To Love Somebody
4. Summertime
5. Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)
6. Kosmic Blues
7. Can’t Turn You Loose
8. Work Me Lord
9. Piece Of My Heart
10. Ball and Chain
10. The Who
1. Heaven And Hell
2. I Can’t Explain
3. It’s A Boy
4. 1921
5. Amazing Journey
6. Sparks
7. Eyesight To The Blind
8. Christmas
9. Acid Queen
10. Pinball Wizard
11. (Abbie Hoffmann Incident)
12. Do You Think It’s Alright?
13. Fiddle About
14. There’s A Doctor I’ve Found
15. Go To The Mirror Boy
16. Smash The Mirror
17. I’m Free
18. Tommy’s Holiday Camp
19. We’re Not Gonna Take It
20. See Me Feel Me
21. Summertime Blues
22. Shakin’ All Over
23. My Generation
24. Naked Eye
Woodstock
3 Days of Peace & Music
DVD – Amazon.com
Apparel – Rock concert vintage and retro t-shirts
DAY THREE – August 17, 1969
1. Jefferson Airplane
1. The Other Side of This Life
2. Plastic Fantastic Lover
3. Volunteers
4. Won’t You Try / Saturday Afternoon
5. Eskimo Blue Day
6. Uncle Sam’s Blues
7. Somebody To Love
8. White Rabbit
9. 3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds
2. Joe Cocker
1. Delta Lady
2. Some Things Goin’ On
3. Let’s Go Get Stoned
4. I Shall Be Released
5. With A Little Help From My Friends
3. Country Joe & The Fish
1. Barry’s Caviar Dream
2. Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine
3. Rock And Soul Music
4. Thing Called Love
5. Love Machine
6. Fish Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixing-To-Die-Rag
4. Ten Years After
1. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
2. I Can’t Keep From Crying Sometimes
3. I May Be Wrong, But I Won’t Be Wrong Always
4. Hear Me Calling
5. I’m Going Home
5. The Band
1. Chest Fever
2. Baby Don’t Do It
3. Tears Of Rage
4. We Can Talk
5. Long Black Veil
6. Don’t You Tell Henry
7. Ain’t No More Cane
8. Wheels On Fire
9. Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever
10. The Weight
(After midnight – Monday Morning) – August 18, 1969
6. Blood Sweat And Tears
1. More And More
2. I Love You Baby More Than You Ever Know
3. Spinning Wheel
4. I Stand Accused
5. Something Coming On
7. Johnny Winter
1. Mama, Talk To Your Daughter
2. To Tell The Truth
3. Johnny B Goode
4. Six Feet In The Ground
5. Leland Mississippi Blues/Rock Me Baby
6. Mean Mistreater
7. I Can’t Stand It (With Edgar Winter)
8. Tobacco Road (With Edgar Winter)
9. Mean Town Blues
8. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
(Set One – Acoustic)
1. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
2. Blackbird
3. Helplessly Hoping
4. Guinnevere
5. Marrakesh Express
6. 4 + 20
7. Mr Soul
8. Wonderin’
9. You Don’t Have To Cry
(Set Two – Electric)
10. Pre-road Downs
11. Long Time Gone
12. Bluebird
13. Sea Of Madness
14. Wooden Ships (Encore – Acoustic)
15. Find The Cost Of Freedom
16. 49 bye-byes
9. Paul Butterfield Blues Band
1. Everything’s Gonna Be Alright
2. Driftin’
3. Born Under A Bad Sign
4. All My Love Comin’ Through To You
5. Love March
10. Sha-Na-Na
1. Na Na Theme
2. Jakety Jak
3. Teen Angel
4. Jailhouse Rock
5. Wipe Out
6. Who Wrote The Book Of Love
7. Duke Of Earl
8. At The Hop
9. Na Na Theme
Jimi Hendrix
Live at Woodstock
DVD – Amazon.com
11. Jimi Hendrix (The Gypsy Sun & Rainbows Band)
1. Message To Love
2. Hear My Train A Comin’
3. Spanish Castle Magic
4. Red House
5. Master Mind
6. Here Comes Your Lover Man
7. Foxy Lady
8. Beginning
9. Izabella
10. Gypsy Woman
11. Fire
12. Voodoo Child (slight return)/Stepping Stone
13. Star Spangled Banner
14. Purple Haze
15. Woodstock Improvisation/Villanova Junction
16. Hey Joe
Hendrix insisted on being the final performer and was scheduled to perform Sunday at midnight. He didn’t take the stage until 9 A.M. on Monday morning and played for 2 hours to a dwindling audience.
Jimi Hendrix – Live at Woodstock ’69 – 56:39
Cancelled Acts
1. Jeff Beck Group (The band broke up in July, forcing cancellation)
2. Iron Butterfly (Stuck at the airport, their manager demanded helicopters and special arrangements just for them. Were wired back and told, as impolitely as Western Union would allow, “to get lost”, but in other ‘words’.)
3. Joni Mitchell (Joni’s agent put her on “The Dick Cavett Show” instead)
4. Lighthouse (Feared that it would be a “bad scene”.)
5. Ethan Brown (Arrested for LSD three days before the event.)
Declined Invitations
1. The Beatles (John Lennon said he couldn’t get them together)
2. Led Zeppelin (Got a higher paying gig at the Asbury Park Convention Hall in New Jersey that weekend)
3. Bob Dylan (Turned it down because of his disgust of the hippies hanging around his house)
4. The Byrds (Turned it down because of a melee during their performance at the first Atlanta International Pop Festival, held at the Atlanta International Raceway on July 4 and July 5, 1969)
5. Tommy James & the Shondells (Turned it down because of being misinformed about the size and scope of the event)
6. Jethro Tull (Turned it down because they thought it wouldn’t be a big deal.)
7. The Moody Blues were included in the original posters as performers, but backed out after taking a gig in Paris on the same weekend.
8. Spirit (they had other shows planned and did not want to back out of their commitments; not knowing how big that Woodstock would ultimately become)
9. Mind Garage (Declined because they thought it wouldn’t be a big deal and had a higher paying gig elsewhere)