From the article: Witness to Woodstock
You didn't have to be at the original Woodstock festival in 1969 for it to have had an impact on your life. Tell us what Woodstock meant to you. Share your memories
My parents Electra 225 on Yasgurs Farm
- Me and my two friends drove my parents new car onto Yasgurs Farm and had the best time of our lives (including the brown acid!) It was very hot on that second morning so we put our shorts on and headed out through the magic forest to the lake, when we got there everyone was naked...it was the 1st time we'd ever seen mass nudity!...so we stripped down and joined the fun. It is truly indescribable! When the Maharishi came out on stage and said something like" This is the age of Aquarius, it all begins here"...I remember looking back behind me (as we were within 300 feet of the stage) and the sea of people went over the hill and I felt at that moment like I was in the middle of something very important. Because of Woodstock I write songs and play guitar everyday and although the subject matter has changed slightly I still write songs solely about love. Oh, by the way, my parents new car made it all the way to Woodstock and back home to our driveway in Yougstown N.Y. without a scratch.
- —Guest norm weintraub
Woodstock got me here
- I was only 11 in 1969. Glued to my radio listening to Pete Fornatale on WNEW-FM in New York giving updates of Woodstock that weekend. I remember thinking I want to be on the radio like Pete when I grow-up playing cool music and being part of events like Woodstock. 40 years later, I have my own syndicated radio show called FM Odyssey and just finished my Woodstock special with my now best friend Pete Fornatale and was at the 40th Woodstock Anniversary concert on 8/15/09. 40 years ago who would have thought! Fred Migliore
- —FredFMO
I was there!!
- In 1969 I went to Woodstock while on my honeymoon. I had read about it as an "arts festival" and bought tickets (no one else did, it seems) and even had a hotel booked for the event. It was a sea of people like nothing I had ever seen before and aside from the amazing music it was hot, muddy and smelly. The loudspeaker messages warning of bad acid and other dangers did not make this a totally "peace and love" event for me. I am very grateful to have been there and the memories of Woodstock have lasted longer than the marriage!!
- —Guest Marion
...was there
- ....40 years ago this past weekend I was at Woodstock..it was a great time, we hitch-hiked from Marblehead, Mass to upstate New York, no tickets to get in but by the time we got there the fences were down.. I remember fine music, a lot of mud and many thousands of people...running out of food but getting some for free...even free beer for awhile ! .....it took about an hour to work yourself up to the front stage, the music was amazing...some of the highlights were Jimi Hendrix, The Who, and Santana blew everyone away.....just a fine time by all...I don't remember a whole lot more though...I had just turned nineteen years old... arrived there with my jean jacket, shirts, boots, jeans...and left there with no underwear and only my pants...hitch-hiked to Florida...haha, those were the days !
- —jbragan
sent to the Gulag
- Unfortunately, in 1969 the Canadian Military sent me to the high arctic where we were 2000 miles away from the closest tree or road or women and our only entertainment was listening to an Eskimo radio station playing tribal music, what's this about Woodstock?
- —Guest kj
Being There
- I was one of the many who couldn't be there in person, but was very much there in spirit. If I hadn't been unemployed at the time, I would have found a way to get there. It meant so much to know that a whole lot of people who looked, thought and acted like me were there carrying the message of peace and love during a time when there wasn't much of either. It means just as much to me today as it did then. Watching and listening to the performances almost makes me feel like I was there.
- —Guest exrocker1
Woodstock changed my life
- There I was a 17 year old from LI in the center of Woodstock. The most life changing experience of a lifetime. I needed to find peace in the crazy world we were living in. I too walked up Route 17 to find it all. I was with a friend from high school. We paid full price for 3 days of the best music we ever heard, seeing the best of the best artists, in the rain and mud. But, watching the sun rise behide Joe Cocca was awesome. A half a million strong the annuncer said. A TV station was there and just as he was about to film the group I was in someone stood up and said "My name is Bill, F _ _ _ You!". So the camera turned off and for years I have been examining pictures of Woodstock to see if I could find myself in them. I did not have a camera with me, so I have no pictures. I just want to validate the fact that I was at the greatest music festival of all time. People always ask me what it was like. One word; undescribable. I wonder where the baby that was born is today.
- —Guest lizzylou
" A RECONING -- SOLAR/CONVERGANCE"
- THIS WAS A YEAR AFTER THE 1/st ATLANTA INTERNATIONAL POP FESTIVAL(Held at ATLANTA INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY: No. OF MACON GA.). THE EARLIER Occurance Came To MANY in THE SOUTH-EASTERN U.S. as a "NEVER --BEFORE OCCURANCE" That SCHEDULED ITSELF OVER THE ---3/rd, 4/th,&5/th 0f JULY, 1968! ( A 3 DAY FESTIVAL... )That PRE-DATED tha ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL, In THE So. ENGLISH SOLENT, THE MIAMI INTERNATIONAL and TEXAS INTERNATIONAL FESTIVALS of the FOLLOWING SEASON) . HOWEVER...NOT MAR-DE-SOL- Which WAS HELD in PUERTO RICO (Approx. ONE YEAR LATER).in(1970). THE ENTIRE EVENT OCCURING IN BETH-EL/WHITE LAKE .N.Y.AUGUST of 1969-- 15/th,16/th,17/th, (18/th...JIMI HENDRIXs' A.M PERFORMANCE 1969.) THIS WAS A MAJOR OCCURANCE/EVENT that will ALWAYS be Attached "to THE 'SUMMER of LOVE" and the ANTI -WAR MOVEMENTS that so CHARACTERIZED the LATE 1960s. The MAGNAMITY MAY NEVER BE RECORDED By THE MEDIA, WORLD--WIDE WEB, or ANY VOLUME on "MASS COMMUNICATION" THE WOODSTOCK AQUARIAN MUSIC AND ART
- —starfighter7
Memories of Woodstock
- I think Woodstock is always going to fascinate people due to the fact that it was 3 days of peace and love. Just music and camaraderie. That could never be accomplished today in my opinion. I was too young to attend Woodstock but my older brother was there. I can remember looking for him whenever they showed clips on TV at that time.
- —Guest lnmyownwrite
Woodstock
- I wasn't there, but in the 1980's met someone who had attended and felt like I now knew a celebrity.
- —Guest emelesem@aol.com
