This week, on August 15 in 1969, a Friday, the “Woodstock Music & Art Fair” began in Bethel, New York. Of course, today we remember the festival with simply the name “Woodstock.”
I took the above photo in 2007 after making a pilgrimage to the site. At the time of my visit, there was not much to commemorate the site beyond the large plaque. But there also was a man who had attended the concert who came on his own to tell stories to eager tourists like me. It was cool. The owners of the site finally did build a museum though.
Back in 1969, the musical performances started at 5:07 p.m. when Richie Havens took the stage. After he performed his set, the crowd kept calling him back for more, so that he finally had to resort to improvising a song based on the old spiritual, “Motherless Child.” Thus, he closed his set with his iconic performance of the much-improvised “Freedom (Motherless Child).” He later explained, “When you see me in the movie tuning my guitar and strumming, I was actually trying to figure out what else I could possibly play! I looked out at all of those faces in front of me and the word ‘freedom’ came to mind.”
At one point during the song, he apparently foresaw the use of cell phones in the future when he sang, “I got a telephone in my bosom / And I can call him up from my heart.” What a great way to begin the advertised “3 Days of Peace & Music.” In this video below, Havens looks back on Woodstock forty years after the event.
Do you wish you were at Woodstock in 1969? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)