Gimmee an F....50 years... really??
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Hard to believe this is the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival.
Unfortunately I was a bit young (14) to make the trek, but I would have LOVED to be there.
Any (older) mehtizens have any memories of that event?
The closest I got was buying the triple album from Columbia House. I did however just about wear those grooves out over the years
- 18 comments, 97 replies
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Took place 3 weeks before I was born. At least I know I’m not a result of it.
@cinoclav I don’t know… that would have been kind of a cool backstory!
@chienfou True dat.
@chienfou @cinoclav 3 weeks? close enough for your story you’ll tell the grandkids. They won’t look it up…kids these days.
@cinoclav As a Sturgis baby I can say it’s not so bad…I exist, doesn’t really matter why imo.
@therealjrn I guess someone’s grandkids anyway. I don’t have any kids and I don’t really see that happening in my future.
@cinoclav took place right around when I was conceived. Too bad my parents weren’t there
@moonhat Only you and they know that…
@cinoclav @moonhat Hmmm, I’m not sure you understand just how conception works.
@cinoclav That’s some funny stuff there! (PS: Let’s just say that I know what my Dad & Mom were doing during the “Summer of Love” 1967…I was born March 1968.)
I admit that I could have gone, but didn’t go. I hate crowds. I have always hated crowds. I was pretty political in those days, and there were just more important things to be doing.
I used to laugh about Woodstock; if the number of people that said they were there had actually been there, the east coast would have crumbled, and fallen into the ocean. I’d have like to see some of the acts and their performances, but not with 399,000 of my best friends. No thanks.
I’ve been to a few concerts over the years. Each time it was because someone I cared about really wanted to go, and I cared enough about them to join them. Nowadays I only go to concerts that are classical music, played by professionals. I have two seats at the symphony, so that I can have at least one side that doesn’t have a person in it.
Well, I can see that I’m starting to ramble. Must be time to go fix dinner. Salmon and Asparagus, and maybe a sliced carrot on the side (I love raw carrots). Nice glass of wine on the side… I’ll toast you all, this evening.
XXOO
@Shrdlu You’re peculiar and I love that about you.
@Shrdlu This week I went to a fundraiser, a concert organized by a cellist, titled ‘Schubert, Swan, and South Pacific’. About half the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra played. Gavotte with Two Elephants turned out to be a double bass and cello duet, ‘This Nearly Was Mine’ featured a pretty good baritone, etc. I love sitting 20 feet from musicians, and that wouldn’t have happened at Woodstock. This was better. So was the reception.
@cinoclav @OldCatLady I love you both. The asparagus was wonderful (salmon is usually wonderful, so that doesn’t count). The concert sounds like I’d have enjoyed it, and South Pacific is worthwhile all on its own. I’m on the board of a symphony, and sometimes I want to hit the wall with my head, multiple times, trying to decide why I’m working, and paying for the privilege there of.
Then I go to a performance, and all is well. I do love music.
@OldCatLady I had no idea we were neighbors. Hello, neighbor. I need to get my head out of the clouds & start paying attention to local events. South Pacific has always been one of my favorites. Your event sounds like a lovely evening.
I do wish my husband enjoyed music as much as I.
After he made Lieutenant centuries ago, I would often tell him, " Lieu-tellen, you sexy man." I don’t think he ever caught the reference. I haven’t seen the movie in years, but I’m betting I still know every word. “This Nearly Was Mine” will probably be stuck in my head all day, and that’s not a bad thing, so thank you .
Of the things I am grateful to my grandmother for, one is a very early introduction to Rodgers & Hammerstein and Lerner & Loewe musicals. Her first gift to me as a child was the soundtrack to My Fair Lady. Most kids run around singing “This Old Man.” Weirdo me would sing “Just You Wait.”
I’m thinking today might be a good day to dig up the old soundtracks, fire up the stereo, and with this cold see if I can hit those low notes. “…There is absolutely nothing like the frame…
Of a dame.”
@Shrdlu haha… sounds like me. Used to be a hippie freak and go to all rock concerts. Now, I hold season ticket to the symphony. lol. Got to meet Itzhak Perlman tho!
@lseeber @Shrdlu @OldCatLady @LaVikinga
I have a special place in my heart for *South Pacific".
I love the music/lyrics/book. The whole thing.
/youtube wash that man right out of my hair
/youtube this nearly was mine
And …
My parents were both at a post-college society way-luxe deb party a few years after WWII.
They were both enough part of that $-society crowd to get invites, but mom was middle-class and dad not even that: he was only in because he had joined a frat in college.
And they were introduced to each other as the band started up Some Enchanted Evening.
And Dad asked Mom to dance.
Mom always remembered that she was in a greenish-seafoam-color dress.
They were in love with each other for the whole of each of their lives. So it’s a pretty good story, and they both cherished the memory.
/youtube South Pacific Some Enchanted Evening
@f00l @lseeber @OldCatLady @Shrdlu
Aaaand now I have tears in my eyes.
@LaVikinga @OldCatLady
When we were kids (pre-elementary-school) my parents installed a whole house intercom system. It connected to a sound system. My mom was in love with musicals and played them all day.
My Fair Lady
South Pacific
The Mikado
The Music Man
HMS Pinafore
Camelot
West Story
Flower Drum Song
Sound of Music
Oliver
Cabaret
Etc
You know how kids pick things up. So my brothers and I can still recite many of the lyrics without giving it a thought.
And I still love them.
/youtube Mr fair lady I’m getting married in the morning
@f00l I was well into adulthood before I finally was able to see “West Side Story,” and wasn’t really familiar with any of the score except for “Somewhere.” This is one of my favorite versions of it.
@LaVikinga
We have a local Buckminster Fuller-designed geodesic “theater in the round” that does more musicals than anything else. Cheap Tix back then. My parents took us to all that, over and over again.
/youtube hello young lovers
I’ve always loved this song
/youtube goodnight my someone
What are some of your favs?
@LaVikinga Happening tonight: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10219985736619760&id=1413295783
@OldCatLady The link doesn’t quite work for me. I have to have a facebook account in order to see it.
@LaVikinga Sorry.
@f00l @LaVikinga @OldCatLady @Shrdlu That is a really cool story!
I also was a tad too young. Got the albums tho also. Then Watkins Glen happened and I did consider going to that. Was def old enough then but can’t remember why I didn’t. It had to have been awful important tho to keep me outta that one since it wasn’t all that far for me to go at the time and I rarely missed any decent concerts that came around.
@lseeber I was living in St Louis and then Boulder around the late 60s early 70s (except for a short time in France in 73) so didn’t have very good access and on limited budget so never made it to any of the really big festivals.
I did see the Rolling Thunder Review when Bob Dylan, Joan Baez. Kinky Friedman et al were in Fort Collins CO on May 23rd 1976 (which yielded the Hard Rain live album and an NBC special…) That was a great stadium show.
@chienfou Oh man! In my eyes (or ears as the case may be) The Rolling Thunder Review is right up there with the others. A historical legacy of it’s own.
I wasn’t a huge Dillon fan at the time but Hard Rain and Tangled Up In Blue were 2 of my favs at the time. Baez to me is always Diamonds & Rust.
And Joni Mitchell! Best story teller. But her best stuff never made it to the radio line ups.
Some great names in the bands too.
I was in Ct but about 15 mins away from the NY line. Most of my youthful bar hopping was done in upstate.
@lseeber Cool. I remember (vaguely … thru the haze of time and the pot haze of the time) that is was an amazing concert. We were seated on a blanket on the grass/stadium floor and there were several of us who were all living in Boulder at the time. We all worked together at the same pizza parlor and how the hell we all managed to be off at the same time is a wonder in itself.
My ‘work outside’ MP3 player currently has a bunch of Dylan songs on it, As well at Annie Lennox, Joan Baez, Tom Petty, Billy Joel, David Gray, Counting Crows and several others (8mb Sansa clip player). I thought I toasted it the other day when I was listening to it while doing some tile repair around the pool… all was going well until I decided to check the underside of the work edge for excess grout, by stepping into the shallow end of the pool while it was in my swim trunk pocket. It spent the next 3 days in a 4oz mason jar full of uncooked brown rice sitting in my parked car in the Alabama sun. When I tried to turn it on… nothing… but thankfully when I plugged it in to charge it fired right up. God I love that player…
@chienfou @lseeber
Some decent choices there
/youtube Joan Baez Woodstock
@chienfou Good thing on the MP3. My husband grew a music collection of over 3000 songs I’ve got all on a file. Probably 10 or less from the past 20 yrs or so, the rest from 50s- early 80s mostly. Quite eclectic.
I recall Boulder back then as being one of the Mecca’s for the hippie culture. West coast obv, Taos, NM and anywhere in Vermont seemed to be the places to congregate.
I have a bunch of Dylan stuff now. I like a lot of his stuff better now than I did then. Probably more for nostalgia sake.
I really like his son better tho, lol.
About 2 weeks ago my daughter called to tell me that she had just visited Bob’s home when he was younger in MN (she lives up there). Hibbing, I think. She said the entire town is all Dylan-esque!
(and I have no idea why I spelled his name that way in previous posts. I know better!)
But that is very cool that you got to see them all!
@lseeber I actually lived in Hibbing in '79. It’s a pretty cool town with interesting history. Seems in 1919 or so the north part of the town (188 buildings) was moved about 2 miles so they could mine under the area previously occupied. In 1935 they just condemned the houses and took the land for that expansion of the iron mine. Times change…
@chienfou I actually did read something about that somewhere along the line. I once lived in MN for a short while myself so it was probably then. Apparently they’ve gone all Dylan now.
Dontcha mean… the times, they are a changin’ ? lol
@lseeber
I was the first manager and used to run the Hardee’s there (we had the busiest store in the US at one point). We were the official food supplier for the mine staff when they went overtime… we would prepare a couple of hundred meals for them as part of their contracted compensation if they went over a certain # of hours… Life was good!
@chienfou Wow… Hibbing, MN had the busiest Hardee’s!!! Go figure. Hungry miners!
@lseeber yeah, we were a million dollar a month store … Go figure!
At the time we were the only game in town as far as big name national chain
WXPN is broadcasting the whole thing as it happened live:
https://thekey.xpn.org/2019/08/14/xpnstock-schedule/
@dashcloud Local Penn station! Just in time to catch Santana. Good stuff.
@cinoclav @dashcloud
“Alexa, play radio station WXPN please”
And Jingo, there it is!
@cinoclav @dashcloud @therealjrn Dammit… what was I thinking to schedule a double from 7am to 11pm today??? Not sure the ER is ready for the line-up as scheduled! Tomorrow is out too… Sigh…
Maybe I can dust off that triple album (or at least a digital facsimile…)
@chienfou Not that bad for me but I’m doing a 7-7 today. I’ll listen to it on the way down the shore when I get out of here!
@chienfou @cinoclav @dashcloud I’m hoping for a rebroadcast or a recording of this three-day event from WXPN.
@chienfou @cinoclav @therealjrn You can always tape the thing using VLC- https://www.vlchelp.com/record-online-radio-streams-mp3/ (check the box that says “Display locally” if you want it to also play while recording).
@chienfou @cinoclav @dashcloud @therealjrn So… Is cannabis legal where you are? 'Cause it is here. Just saying.
@chienfou @cinoclav @dashcloud Yeah, I’ve recorded with VLC but I didn’t start listening until the thing is half-way over. I didn’t know about it until this afternoon.
@cinoclav @dashcloud @OldCatLady @therealjrn
Not in Ala-Dam-A… plus the nursing board is a stickler about that kind of shit…
@cinoclav @dashcloud @therealjrn
I love VLC and would dearly LOVE to have a copy of that. If you can find one in it’s entirety let me know and I will gladly send an empty USB drive with a SASE and something for your efforts… we can negotiate that thru a whisper if needed.
I would’ve loved to have been there, but I was busy being born.
Being the 50th anniversary of both the festival and myself, I thought about taking a road trip out to Bethel, NY - there’s a performing arts center there now and Ringo Starr and his All-Star band are playing out there this weekend… That’d be fun, but it’d be about a 5 hour ride for me, each way - too long for a day trip and I really don’t want to stay overnight.
Maybe I’ll get out there for our 60th.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
edit: Just went back and checked the schedule and there’s 3 great shows this weekend…
Ringo is tonight, Santana and the Doobie Bros tomorrow and John Fogerty w/ Tedeschi Trucks on Sunday.
If I had to pick one, I think I’d like to see Fogerty and Tedeschi Trucks - I’ve seen Santana many times.
Best thing would’ve been to go to all 3 shows.
Oh well.
@DennisG2014 Tedeschi Trucks is worth seeing!
@DennisG2014 Almost forgot since we had discussed our close birthdays.
/giphy Happy Birthday!
@cinoclav Hey thanks!
And I very much appreciate the Bachelor Party gif - a classic of our time.
@DennisG2014 I actually refreshed a few times until that one came up. It just felt right.
@DennisG2014 My first concert ever back in early 70s was … Santana, Mountain, Deep Purple and Allman Bros. It was great! Cost $16!!
/youtube busy being born busy dying
I was a schoolkid and a few thousand miles away from Woodstock. We played with the idea of hitchhiking, but our parents would have believed we had been kidnapped. We couldn’t do that to them… And we were just toying with the idea.
I didn’t mind rock crowds in those days, got energized off the crowd vibes. But for the past 25-30 years or so …
No.
Unless w friends and they really want to.
Exception for the Stones, if I can get “friend tickets”.
Classical concerts, small club jazz, tiny club great anything: v much yes, altho I much hate going out. I have to be dragged. Then once I’m there…
/giphy musical bliss
/youtube Coltrane Ascension
This is a sweet story:
The Couple in This Famous Woodstock Album Cover Photo Is Still Together 50 Years Later
https://time.com/5644827/woodstock-photo-couple/?amp=true
@f00l I saw this story on my TV. They’re a really sweet couple.
I want to know what happened to the naked mud people of Woodstock.
@f00l
The time story comes with lots of Woodstock pix.
@therealjrn
Most of them likely turned out normal. Some of them prob slowly transformed into hideous corporate raiders or Ponzi scheme artists.
: (
@f00l @therealjrn some of them advertised freedom rock for time life music in the 80’s!
@therealjrn @tinamarie1974
That’s a good one.
@f00l @therealjrn Right?!??!?! My cousins and I use to giggle and re-inact it all the time. Love that!
@f00l @therealjrn @tinamarie1974
I’m proud to say I recognize and could quote the lyrics to virtually all of those and owned the albums they came from on 75% or more…
@chienfou @f00l @therealjrn it is a little before my time, but I know the lyrics as well. It is great music!
The musical theater side-topic got active. But I get that’s ok.
/youtube wont get fooled again
/youtube everybody must get stoned
/youtube country Joe and the fish woodstock
Ah, yes, The Viet Nam Song.
I am now going to go out in the sun, and think of other things, for a while. It’s either that, or lay down and cry for a few hours. So many people I know (or knew, really) didn’t come back from Viet Nam, or came back in pieces, or in a body bag.
/youtube War, What is it Good For
@Shrdlu
I was a bit young to lose friends. College deferments and the draft lottery meant that the people I knew got offered alternatives.
The people I later met who had gone to 'nam were much like those from WWII and those whose families had been thru the Holocaust:. They didn’t want to talk about it.
Michael Herr, Dispatches
@f00l
Always loved that pic and that the title of that album was “Who’s Next”.
BTW… the song is Baba O’Reilly… but you probably knew that!
@chienfou
I remember that sometimes.
It does seem that the message got lost somewhere along the way…
When I looked up the set list and order of the acts I could easily pick out the tracks featured on that iconic triple album. Still listen to it every now and then and wish I had been a bit older (and prescient).
I think a lot of what I know about Woodstock is from the reporting on the chaos that it became due to the sheer numbers, the bad weather, and the woefully under prepared infra-structure (toilets, food, medical staff etc.) I don’t think it was even on my radar before the event. Yet, it ranks as one of the largest, peaceful gatherings ever.
For a long time I had a hand-painted dove/guitar painted on my motorcycle helmet.
@chienfou You totally rock!
@OldCatLady … back in the day …
(edited for size)
@chienfou @OldCatLady I would not have run away!
@lseeber @OldCatLady Thanks. Neither did my wife of 40+ years. I did cut my hair some before I met her (retired military) Dad though. Of course, we were already married then.
After our first visit he told her that if it didn’t work out he was keeping me and she was on her own… She stuck it out!
@chienfou @OldCatLady Ha… that’s precisely what my dad told my husband back then. If it didn’t work out, they were keeping him.
My husband actually kept his ponytail until he was 55. He had been military for 10 yrs and after that wouldn’t cut his hair or shave off the beard.
@lseeber @OldCatLady …until the ponytail part I was starting to wonder if my wife had a meh account I didn’t know about.
@chienfou @OldCatLady haha…she might… but I ain’t her! lol. I’ve run into that in other places… thought for sure had to be my husband pulling one on me.
/youtube hendrix star spangled banner
Used to torture the parental units with this
They never understood it
@f00l he didn’t play Little Wing at Woodstock, but it’s my favorite so I’m posting it anyway. Here’s a live version I haven’t heard before:
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/jimi-hendrix/1969/max-yasgurs-farm-bethel-ny-13d6b511.html
@therealjrn fascinating.
@therealjrn Is that the payout for the gig? Not at all the order I would have thought…
@chienfou Pretty different huh with our vantage point 50 years later.
@therealjrn Yeah, Jimmy getting almost 3x the Who payout is a surprise…
@chienfou @therealjrn
Re payouts: different daze.
I once saw Led Zep from the middle section 5th row of the local convention center.
Tix were $5. Front and second rows were $10 I think.
(We woulda spent the big bucks, but were too far back in the ticket line.)
I couldn’t hear properly for about 3 days after.
I thought that was kinda cool. Just a stupid kid, huh?
Robert Plant wore pants so tight that it seemed impossible that he was even able to get into them.
/giphy stairway to heaven
@chienfou @f00l the legend of the Plant Pants
OK, Day three.
Thanks to all for playing along with this post. It’s been fun to go back to that time, that feeling. I feel like a lot of the meh crowd would have been fun to party with at Woodstock !
@chienfou we have our drug regimens locked and loaded, plus we shake our groove thangs like tomorrow’s piñata
@chienfou
/youtube Woodstock Judy Blue Eyes
And from another topic recently
/youtube Joanie Mitchell Woodstock
@f00l whoa… not a very good facelift on that one…
@chienfou Just so you know. That video was filmed more than 50 years ago. Did you actually watch it? She was wearing no makeup, and, while I admit that she’s not my favorite singer, she’s one of my favorite song writers. She didn’t go to Woodstock, but recorded the song about it while it was still in progress (or shortly thereafter).
Yeah, Joni always had the serious cheekbones, though. She aged reasonably well, even though her skin showed the effects of smoking.
/youtube Big Yellow Taxi Joni Mitchell
@chienfou @Shrdlu
Good grief I had forgotten how to spell her first name. Even tho once upon a time I owned so many of her albums, back when I owned albums.
(All the 2000+ albums lost in a storage fire).
: (
Google/YouTube and the built in autocorrection and swipe kbs and all that - all tempting me to get incredibly stupid and sloppy about details. And I seem to be yeilding to temptation.
Is that sort of stupidity the way forward or the way backward?
Whichever of those outcomes is more likely; I fear that sort of stupidity is my way. (Thanks, Frank).
/youtube my way
/youtube Joni Mitchell clouds
@Shrdlu
Mea Culpa, I skipped over it in my rush to get ready for work… Guess it was just bad lighting. That being said, I LOVE Joni’s work and she is one of the ‘stations’ on my Pandora account.
@f00l @Shrdlu
Mine got flooded out in storage and didn’t get dried out well enough to keep the liners from bonding to the discs, getting moldy etc. I ultimately made the decision to bail and get rid of them since the thought of cleaning them was too much. I was sad for quite a while.
@Shrdlu I’ve always loved that song (Big Yellow Taxi). Her adorable laugh at the end is like a cherry on top.
Jimi played, and it was over. I’ve been listening to the Philly PBS station. They have great programming.
I’ve been humming and earworming This Nearly Was Mine all weekend.
This is a good earworm. I’m keeping it.
Even tho I suspect it’s not on the Woodstock soundtrack.
Sinatra
Goulet
@f00l I’d rather hear it sung by a master (his is the voice you hear in the film version):
(Worth reading about him as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Tozzi)
@Shrdlu
What a voice. Wow.
I’ve been trolling YouTube off and on today today checking out different versions. I hadn’t played that one yet.
I love Goulet and his voice but he can be a bit predictable sometimes doing showtimes without a jazz interpretation. Tho he’s hard to beat on If Ever I Would Leave You
Sinatra on this song is quite nice to listen to; but he also blows it a little. He performs at a normal speed for the song, but given his unique vocal style, he should have gone a tiny bit faster. It drags at moments. Sinatra often is best with slightly stripped unconventional arrangements and pacing. He didn’t do that for this song.
The only one I like as well as the Tozzi version you provided is (as linked earlier in the topic) sung by Brian Stokes Michell. He’s a Broadway performer, not operatic. But what a gorgeous baritone he has. And he pours full emotion along with vocal power.
Here is the link again.
I have to forgive YouTube for so many failings. Because music.
Is Rex Harrison, who never trained as a singer, not perfect in this next vid moment?
/youtube my fair lady accustomed to her face
Harrison was enough “not a singer” that the only way he could do the recordings for the cast albums and later for the film was to put on full costume on a soundstage fully dressed as a theater or film set. Then he had to act out the performance in order to get a recording for the song. I don’t know how this worked when he sang with others such as Andrews - whether she also acted, or just was conventionally miked for a recording and sang her part that way.
Thanks to one and all for the great thread to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Woodstock.
Thanks also for the side thread on Broadway showtunes/classic numbers. It was fun to follow that as well.
As someone that loves music, there isn’t much that I don’t listen to and enjoy
@chienfou
Have the vandals taken the handles yet (in the re-play)?
Subterranean Homesick Blues
@f00l perhaps he meant these guys:
taking the Handels…
If you guys haven’t seen the new PBS documentary 'Woodstock Three Days that Defined a Generation"… it is worth the view.
@readnj I’ll have to check that out… thanks.
@readnj
From the “American Experience” series?
I didn’t find it in full in YouTube. Any idea what site is streaming it?
@f00l Not sure, I watched it on demand on Comcast. It is part of the PBS series The American Experience.
@f00l Try this
https://www.pbs.org/video/woodstock-kshqlw/
@readnj
Much thx.
Obviously my head was vacant this am, since I didn’t even check PBS.
@readnj Not sure if it’s the same one (it must be) but I just watched a PBS Woodstock doc on Netflix.
It was pretty good.
Max Yasgur was a pretty amazing dude, along with most of the people of Bethel.
I hope I live to see a day when people are capable of caring about each other to such a degree again, regardless of differences.
@DennisG2014
https://apple.news/Amsefdl7WSsSbQLETjGfg2w
Max Yasgur Rented Out His Farm for Woodstock. His Neighbors Sued Him
(Time Magazine)
@DennisG2014
https://www.pinterest.com/amp/pin/133841420151096933/
Yasgur Obit in Rolling Stone
https://www.nytimes.com/1973/02/10/archives/max-yasgur-dies-woodstock-festival-was-on-his-farm-undaunted-by.html
Obit NYT
More Woodstock coverage from Rolling Stone
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/woodstock-it-was-like-balling-for-the-first-time-229092/amp/
Remembering the festival from across 50 years
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/woodstock-69-david-fricke-rock-roll-memories-854809/amp/
@f00l Most of that is covered in the PBS doc, including the signs calling for boycott of Yasgur’s milk.
It gave the impression, though, that when the shit hit the fan, so to speak, many if not most of them pitched in to help the ‘kids’ - donating canned goods and other food items, with one guy who went around hitting up all his poultry-farming neighbors, collecting thousands and thousands of eggs that were donated to the festival.
There seemed to be a sentiment that even though they didn’t support the counterculture or like having hundreds of thousands of them in their town, that it was still their duty as human beings to help their fellow humans in need.
It’s that kind of sentiment that seems lacking today.
These days people seem to take pleasure in the hardships of those on the opposite side of the political spectrum - that they’re somehow getting what they deserve.
Yasgur’s generosity towards these young people whose beliefs were so different to his own was and is something very rare and special. One gets the impression that both Yasgur and the festival goers had a pretty profound impact on each other.
The huge sea of people gave him a standing ovation when he took to the stage, and, though I forget the exact words, he spoke highly of them and what they had all accomplished and said that they had proven something to the world.
@DennisG2014
There were some serious virtues to that time which seem to have waned.
I hope we get back somewhat in that direction someday.
@DennisG2014 @f00l
Actually, that was part of the motivation I have had for making sure Woodstock is remembered in my little corner of the world.
Until we get back to the concept of being “united” states we will continue to have way too much polarization and negativity in the public forum. The prevalence of the “we vs them” attitude will be the end of us all if we don’t get our shit together.
From Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Hunter S Thompson
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very heaven!—
These lines always seemed to fit my experience of the counterculture: the music and arts, the <anticipated> growing influence of science, the changes in media and communications, the politics of <naive> hope, the personal generosity, the increased access to computers and digital devices, the <again naive> “expansion of consciousness”.
What went wrong with all that promise is worthy of tomes and songs; but self-absorbed lifestyles and young people not understanding the diff between nice ideas and deep/permanent social changes might start the exploration.
/youtube for what it’s worth
The French Revolution as It Appeared to Enthusiasts at Its Commencement
BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
*Oh! pleasant exercise of hope and joy!
For mighty were the auxiliars which then stood
Upon our side, we who were strong in love!
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very heaven!— Oh! times,
In which the meagre, stale, forbidding ways
Of custom, law, and statute, took at once
The attraction of a country in romance!
When Reason seemed the most to assert her rights,
When most intent on making of herself
A prime Enchantress—to assist the work
Which then was going forward in her name!
Not favoured spots alone, but the whole earth,
The beauty wore of promise, that which sets
(As at some moment might not be unfelt
Among the bowers of paradise itself )
The budding rose above the rose full blown.
What temper at the prospect did not wake
To happiness unthought of? The inert
Were roused, and lively natures rapt away!
They who had fed their childhood upon dreams,
The playfellows of fancy, who had made
All powers of swiftness, subtilty, and strength
Their ministers,—who in lordly wise had stirred
Among the grandest objects of the sense,
And dealt with whatsoever they found there
As if they had within some lurking right
To wield it;—they, too, who, of gentle mood,
Had watched all gentle motions, and to these
Had fitted their own thoughts, schemers more wild,
And in the region of their peaceful selves;—
Now was it that both found, the meek and lofty
Did both find, helpers to their heart’s desire,
And stuff at hand, plastic as they could wish;
Were called upon to exercise their skill,
Not in Utopia, subterranean fields,
Or some secreted island, Heaven knows where!
But in the very world, which is the world
Of all of us,—the place where in the end
We find our happiness, or not at all!
/youtube fortunate son
Re Wordsworth
/youtube CSNY Ohio
/giphy proxy wars
/youtube Gimme Shelter