Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers).
Given the apparent demographic of the readership of the Wakefield Doctrine, what else would we do a Post on today, other than the anniversary of “three days of filth and harmony” that was the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival? I know I wasn’t there, but given the reports from my contemporaries (at the start of the 1969 school year), the only people that I knew who didn’t attend Woodstock was me and my mother. (And I cannot account for her whereabouts for most of Saturday and a good part of Sunday.)
I’m sure the blogosphere is bursting at it’s digital seams with Posts commemorating this event, seeing how those of us from that era that still have (most) of our faculties are now in possession of the megaphone of the 21st Century, i.e. a blog. Unfortunately for us, the format of this blog does not lend itself to clever word-play relating to our subject. (with the exception of the “filth and harmony” expression, which I will lay claim to, no doubt along with 85% of my contemporaries). But hey let’s try anyway!
….”by the time I got to Woodstock,
I had half my brain still left.”…
Yeah, well maybe I should leave the clever wordplay to someone else, I was there man!
And for the record? The expression “far out” (and) “far out, man” was used as repetitiously as Arlo makes it sound.
Hey out of time (for now).
You know, been thinking about the participation levels around here and I remembered that I recognise that if people are given something for nothing, they tend to place about that value on the thing. So…you want clever Post here?
(….be my guest)
(btw clarks, while not recognised by that name at the time, would have {in fact, did} totally rejected the herd mentality (read: rogerian) as evidenced by the whole peace, love and understanding bullshit.)
So you want more of a Post? Then go ahead and send in the material…(I will paste into a Post-like format)
First up some corraborating information for DownSpring glenn’s Comment:
“In April 1969, newly-minted superstars Creedence Clearwater Revival were the first act to sign a contract for the event, agreeing to play for $10,000. The promoters had experienced difficulty landing big-name groups prior to the Bay Area swamp rockers committing to play. Creedence drummer Doug Clifford later commented “Once Creedence signed, everyone else jumped in line and all the other big acts came on.” Given their 3 a.m. start time and non-inclusion (at Creedence frontman John Fogerty’s insistence) in the Woodstock film, Creedence members have expressed bitterness over their experiences at the famed festival.” (wikipedia 2010)
About clarkscottroger
Fuck the harmony and love. Three days of drugs and indiscriminate sex!! Yippee! A prarie full of big game to feast upon. A predator’s idea of heaven. I was NOT there, man. But, listening to the album and watching the movie, I come to the same conclusion–a very rogerian phenomenon. All that gratuitous connecting and calling everybody man, man. But still, lots of nakedidity and everyone was high all the time. Can’t be all bad. Why was Creedence Clearwater Revival not on the album? Did their set suck? They played there. Best song at Woodstock..hmm? Goin’ Up The Country. And Ten Years After doing Goin’ Home. Any way, got work to do, man. Gotta go. Peace. …..man.
Having been born in that fabulous summer of ’73 (in the desert, on a horse with no name), I don’t have any firsthand recollection of those three days. My generation tried for years to copy at least the spirit and intent of Woodstock, but we we’re too nihilistic to get the thing right. During the ’90’s I’d drive through Woodstock as part of my job. On the first trip I really built it up behind the idea of “Wow! This is where all of those great, enduring bands played before a massive audience.” At the time there was very little sign that anything had ever happened. There were cows and a stop light. Feeling a little nonplussed after having finally made the pilgrimage to Woodstock and seen where cheese comes from, I called my dad and asked what the concert had meant to him. “Hell.” He muttered. ” I thought they were making it up until 1971.” I subscribe to the idea that Woodstock and the moon landing bookended the decade perfectly and that Altamont and every ugly thing that came afterward were the beginning of the ’70’s.
I remember a story told by the (Progenitor) scott about the time he went to see Alvin Lee in the early 70’s…it was in a fairly small venue, a large club as opposed to an arena. While he looked forward to seeing Ten Years After in such a (relatively) intimate setting, the expectations of the audience was something of a let down.
Apparently Mr. Lee’s performance (at Woodstock) of ‘Goin Home’ was so impressive (something I would not dispute), that most of the audience that night wanted to hear him play that song…
Right away, immediately…as in “GOIN HOME!!” a refrain taken up by a significant percentage of the audience…cheerfully-insistantly-interjected between every song, or perhaps every pause in whatever song old Alvin might be playing at the time. (I can hear it now….”I’d love to change the wor”GOIN HOME”!!!)
Needless to say, Mr. Lee did not appear happy that there was a Woodstock song that the crowd needed to hear (RIGHT NOW) and (according to scott) when he finally played the constantly requested song, he made the interesting artistic choice, when ending the song of leaving his guitar leaning against the amp with everything left on ’10’.
…”play them blues for you”…