My City August 2022
MYAFTERTHOUGHT
WOODSTOCK A TIME FOR PEACE & L VE BY PETER HINTERMAN
In August of 1969, over 450,000 people from all walks of life met at a small dairy farm in Bethel, New York for a music festival billed as “three days of peace and music.”No one who attended – not the audience, pro moters or musicians – could have anticipated it becoming a dening moment in the history of a generation.e festival was besotted with problems, from trac jams to tumultuous rainstorms and shoddy equipment; but that never dampened the spirit of peace, love and harmony radiated by the audience. In a time of political and social strife,Woodstock was an example of unity and hope. In 1969, the Vietnam War was in full swing and the ght for Civil Rights was ongoing. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated only a year earlier. e country was in conict with protests and count er-protests taking place in Washington, D.C. and across the country. It was turmoil.e Woodstock Music & Arts Festival and the peace and love of those attending ended up dening the decade as not one of hate and conict but of peace, understanding and the promise of what the world could be if people simply embraced one another. In addition, in the very same summer, the Harlem Cultural Festival would dene the very same
sentiment for African-Americans in equal magnitude. e original Woodstock performance lineup fea tured new and established musicians including e Who, Jeerson Airplane, Country Joe and the Fish, Santana, Richie Havens, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Creedence Clearwater Revival,e Grateful Dead, Joe Cocker,e Band, Jimi Hendrix and others. Every mu sician gave it their all with Richie Havens opening the festival with a three-hour set due to other artists being held up in trac. He played every song he knew, even inventing some on the spot. Hendrix closed the festival at 8am on Monday, August 18 playing more than three hours to the crowd of 30,000 still in attendance. It was a free festival born of understanding, acceptance and love that may never be rivaled. In times of uncertainty and strife, it’s easy to get caught up in all the negativity – the fear, the hate, the anguish. It’s much harder to let it all go and embrace the opposite. Never forget the reason we are here: to enjoy ourselves and those around us in the short span of time we are given on Earth. Cherish our planet and protect it, embrace and protect each other, nd and experience love and of course, enjoy the music. ®
Iraida Bearlala / stock.adobe.com lauritta / stock.adobe.com
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