Popular Searches
Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
Share
Local man (kind of) remembers Woodstock
  
|
By Francesca Olsen
Hudson-Catskill Newspapers
HUDSON — It was hot, and muddy. There were drugs involved, and also music. It was 1969. After awhile, tickets became useless as people kept coming, and coming, and coming.
Hudson resident Rob Caldwell was there — and he bought tickets to the event. He was 18 at the time, and the tickets, he said, were $18, breaking down to six dollars a day for the 20th century’s most memorable and iconic concert.
“I wasn’t pissed when they said ‘it’s a free concert’,” he said, adding that they still would have been ripping tickets today if the staff at Woodstock had managed to keep track of who had a ticket and who didn’t.
“Everybody was very psyched. There was a lot of preparation. There was a lot of stupidity,” said Caldwell.
Caldwell arranged to meet his friends at the concert site at Yasgur’s Farm in Bethel. One friend made an especially intricate “God’s eye” (popsicle sticks or larger sticks with yarn woven around them in the shape of a diamond) and gave directions to the rest of the group to look among the crowd for it later.
“There had never been a concert like that,” Caldwell said, “we made no plans except for the God’s eye.” When they arrived, Caldwell recalled seeing a hilltop with “80,000 God’s eyes.”
Caldwell had been living at a hippie commune in Putnam County and made the drive up to Bethel from there. “We knew it was going to be big. It was almost everybody that you wanted to see,” he said.
They drove up the Thruway with everyone else. “Suddenly, it just stopped, and you’re parked in the middle of the Thruway — there was nowhere to go,” he said. It took him between 12 and 15 hours to make it to Bethel.
More than 400,000 people came to Woodstock, and many people who attended the concert say the crowd was as critical a part of the ambiance as the music — that people were friendly, giving, there for “positive vibes” and to have a good time.
“Everybody liked each other,” said Caldwell. “The thing about it was, I don’t remember seeing anybody pissed off.”
“The bad part of the drug culture hadn’t really taken hold yet,” Caldwell said. “That’s part of why everyone was so nice to each other.”
Caldwell saw Richie Havens open the show — and he could see the stage from where he was standing. “I did see him. I did see what color his clothes were. The sound was good enough.”
The drugs, Caldwell said, were undeniably part of the allure for the teeming masses. “We really thought we were building a new culture, and the entire thing fed off of that,” he said. Mostly people gave drugs away; someone would light a joint and pass it into the crowd, Caldwell said. “We really did feel that we were starting something new. We felt our ethos was on such a high level.”
Tensions surrounding the ongoing Vietnam War are also a legendary part of the era that can’t be overlooked. When he got his draft card, Caldwell said, “I didn’t know what I was going to do!” He eventually was medically excused from the draft.
There’s no comparing Vietnam to the two wars America is now currently fighting, Caldwell said, because there is no draft. He said he thought today’s young hipsters would be “a little more activist” if it was certain they would have to fight for their nation through the draft.
By Saturday, there was no way to really focus on the stage. “I just gave up completely trying to see the stage — everybody just sort of listened.”
When asked if he would see the Woodstock movie in theaters now, Caldwell said, “I think I will because I know some of the people in it, and I like them.” But as far as it has to do with relation to his own life and experience, “I’m doubtful.”
Caldwell, who owns Musica, a music store in Hudson, said he didn’t think a concert like Woodstock would ever happen again because of legal changes, cultural changes, and changes in the way music is produced and consumed. “Music is being taken back by the people now,” he said. “There’s fantastic music all over the place, and none of it’s commercial. The industry is this big, giant dinosaur that’s just imploding, and it’s nice to see.”
Today, the site of Woodstock is owned by billionaire Alan Gerry, who started a not-for-profit foundation to run a museum and concert venue in the 1990s. Concerts are regularly scheduled, with performers taking to the original stage — but the audience sits in a 4800-seat amphitheater. Richie Havens and other performers will return to the site for the 40th anniversary of that weekend. To some, this might seem like commercialization of counterculture, but to Caldwell, the 60s are long over. He pinpointed the moment he knew.
Caldwell had been living in San Francisco, and some casual friends drove across the country from New York to join in the love. He remembers them telling him “we thought we’d come out and party with you.”
“That was the first time I’ve ever heard ‘party’ used as a verb. It made my skin crawl,” he said. “Between that and Merv Griffin’s hair touching his ears, I knew the revolution was over, and we had lost, big time.”
To reach reporter Francesca Olsen call 518-828-1616, ext. 2272, or e-mail folsen@registerstar.com. To comment directly on this story, visit www.registerstar.com.
Hudson resident Rob Caldwell was there — and he bought tickets to the event. He was 18 at the time, and the tickets, he said, were $18, breaking down to six dollars a day for the 20th century’s most memorable and iconic concert.
“I wasn’t pissed when they said ‘it’s a free concert’,” he said, adding that they still would have been ripping tickets today if the staff at Woodstock had managed to keep track of who had a ticket and who didn’t.
“Everybody was very psyched. There was a lot of preparation. There was a lot of stupidity,” said Caldwell.
Caldwell arranged to meet his friends at the concert site at Yasgur’s Farm in Bethel. One friend made an especially intricate “God’s eye” (popsicle sticks or larger sticks with yarn woven around them in the shape of a diamond) and gave directions to the rest of the group to look among the crowd for it later.
“There had never been a concert like that,” Caldwell said, “we made no plans except for the God’s eye.” When they arrived, Caldwell recalled seeing a hilltop with “80,000 God’s eyes.”
Caldwell had been living at a hippie commune in Putnam County and made the drive up to Bethel from there. “We knew it was going to be big. It was almost everybody that you wanted to see,” he said.
They drove up the Thruway with everyone else. “Suddenly, it just stopped, and you’re parked in the middle of the Thruway — there was nowhere to go,” he said. It took him between 12 and 15 hours to make it to Bethel.
More than 400,000 people came to Woodstock, and many people who attended the concert say the crowd was as critical a part of the ambiance as the music — that people were friendly, giving, there for “positive vibes” and to have a good time.
“Everybody liked each other,” said Caldwell. “The thing about it was, I don’t remember seeing anybody pissed off.”
“The bad part of the drug culture hadn’t really taken hold yet,” Caldwell said. “That’s part of why everyone was so nice to each other.”
Caldwell saw Richie Havens open the show — and he could see the stage from where he was standing. “I did see him. I did see what color his clothes were. The sound was good enough.”
The drugs, Caldwell said, were undeniably part of the allure for the teeming masses. “We really thought we were building a new culture, and the entire thing fed off of that,” he said. Mostly people gave drugs away; someone would light a joint and pass it into the crowd, Caldwell said. “We really did feel that we were starting something new. We felt our ethos was on such a high level.”
Tensions surrounding the ongoing Vietnam War are also a legendary part of the era that can’t be overlooked. When he got his draft card, Caldwell said, “I didn’t know what I was going to do!” He eventually was medically excused from the draft.
There’s no comparing Vietnam to the two wars America is now currently fighting, Caldwell said, because there is no draft. He said he thought today’s young hipsters would be “a little more activist” if it was certain they would have to fight for their nation through the draft.
By Saturday, there was no way to really focus on the stage. “I just gave up completely trying to see the stage — everybody just sort of listened.”
When asked if he would see the Woodstock movie in theaters now, Caldwell said, “I think I will because I know some of the people in it, and I like them.” But as far as it has to do with relation to his own life and experience, “I’m doubtful.”
Caldwell, who owns Musica, a music store in Hudson, said he didn’t think a concert like Woodstock would ever happen again because of legal changes, cultural changes, and changes in the way music is produced and consumed. “Music is being taken back by the people now,” he said. “There’s fantastic music all over the place, and none of it’s commercial. The industry is this big, giant dinosaur that’s just imploding, and it’s nice to see.”
Today, the site of Woodstock is owned by billionaire Alan Gerry, who started a not-for-profit foundation to run a museum and concert venue in the 1990s. Concerts are regularly scheduled, with performers taking to the original stage — but the audience sits in a 4800-seat amphitheater. Richie Havens and other performers will return to the site for the 40th anniversary of that weekend. To some, this might seem like commercialization of counterculture, but to Caldwell, the 60s are long over. He pinpointed the moment he knew.
Caldwell had been living in San Francisco, and some casual friends drove across the country from New York to join in the love. He remembers them telling him “we thought we’d come out and party with you.”
“That was the first time I’ve ever heard ‘party’ used as a verb. It made my skin crawl,” he said. “Between that and Merv Griffin’s hair touching his ears, I knew the revolution was over, and we had lost, big time.”
To reach reporter Francesca Olsen call 518-828-1616, ext. 2272, or e-mail folsen@registerstar.com. To comment directly on this story, visit www.registerstar.com.
Share this Article
 |
 |
|
| Funds to continue support of small business development | Fairview Ave. expansion misses out on federal funds |
Article Rating
Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of registerstar.com.
You must register with a valid email to post comments. Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here: |
Become a Registered User |
