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Peace, love…. and no thanks.

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It’s been a long running joke in our marriage that my husband went to Woodstock ….

(Yes, the original. And yes, he’s that old)

Took a look around, and left.

 

 

Left!

Left the greatest live musical event in history!

 

 

 

I know, that was my reaction too.

The joke is,  had I known this disturbing piece of information before we got married… it would have been a deal breaker.

In August of 1969, when the counter culture was doing this?

 

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And listening to this?

 

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I was…

 

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Yeah. Walking the dog with some sassy red kicks.

Needless to say, I was too young to attend.

So years later, when I heard my beloved other half say Woodstock  “wasn’t his scene”, and that he had hitch hiked to New York that August, joined the throngs of hippies walking to the concert, “saw a bunch of half naked people dancing and smoking dope” and decided to leave?

 

 

A little piece of me died.

I would have killed to be there. Rain, mud et al.

In my  hippie days of the late 70’s, the closest I got was following the Dead around New England… or going to the Claremont Music Festival in New Hampshire. We camped out, we smoked weed, it rained… but it still wasn’t Woodstock.

And now, in August 2019 on the 50th anniversary? There’s another Woodstock brewing.

I was thrilled!

The husband even agreed to go!

 

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(Probably just to shut me up about the first one, but who cares!)

And then I saw the list of performers.

 

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And while a few of the original artists will be there…. Santana, Fogerty from CCR, Country Joe McDonald and David Crosby  (no, I’m not counting Dead and Company with John Mayer. Please! Without Jerry, they’re not the Dead)…. scanning the list made me want to cry.

Soccer Mommy? Pussy Riot? Amigo the Devil?

Damn. I must be old, because I don’t know half of these groups. And while I love the Black Keys, Dawes, The Lumineers, and a handful of others? My need for more classic rock, folk or blues from back in the day makes me think to hell with it. You can’t go home again.

And apparently you can’t go back to Max Yasgur’s farm either because the event is being held 150 miles away in Watkins Glen.

At the race track.

With a limited amount of tickets because they’re worried about traffic jams.

Traffic jams?

Good god.

There’s even an app.

 

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Peace, love and music?

I doubt it. The Millennials have taken over and it will probably be merchandised to within an inch of it’s life and have more to do with profit than peace and brotherhood.

Sigh…

Sorry husband. It looks like you’re still going to have to take my crap about leaving the first one.

And rightfully so.

 

 

 

 

 

51 thoughts on “Peace, love…. and no thanks.”

  1. There are a few inspired choices on the list of artists, but for the most part, it doesn’t read like “Woodstock” to me either. Sigh. Freaking young people. LOL

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    1. What are ya gonna do? You know they’re going to spend more time on the Twitter and the Snapchat than watching the concert anyway.
      Now excuse me while I go run the neighborhoods kids off my lawn…
      😉

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  3. I worked with a woman who did the same thing as your husband. She went to Woodstock, saw it was a mess, and turned around to drive back home. I thought her story unique. I wish the new Woodstock well, but you won’t see me there. Too old for such events now, am I.

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    1. I was hoping the new one would be a blending of generations… original concert goers revisiting the experience, joining young people trying it for the first time. Somehow it doesn’t feel that way.
      And hey- if my husband’s not too old? Neither are you!!

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  6. Everything is about m-on-e-y these days.

    Life wasn’t perfect back then, but it was better in some ways.

    At the time, I wasn’t even old enough to walk the dog, so yeah, I missed it too.

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  8. Kudos to your husband ~> he recognized it was not his scene and left. He didn’t stay for FOMO reasons. He ran counter to the counter culture and recognized it.

    I expect I would have left too ~ music and weed are great on a sunny day but in the rain with throngs of dirty naked people. Nah.

    As for this year’s line-up ~> No Thanks.

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    1. It didn’t take him long to recognize they weren’t his people…. but no. I won’t give him kudos! It was Woodstock, he should have stayed. If only for research purposes.
      What sane 22 year old man walks away from naked dancing women?
      Answer… my husband.

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  9. I am right there with your husband. In the summer of ’69, a friend tried to talk me into going to Woodstock. I wanted to see the Pacific instead. Still thinking of those phosphorescent waves crashing on the shore of Big Sur, much better than a crowd.. 🙂

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  10. … and if the politicians catch a whiff of this? They’ll be worse that the merchants.
    It was too far away for me and my beat up ’49 Ford. But I did catch the Monterrey Jazz Festival, and it was pretty good, but not much nekkedness …

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  11. The original Woodstock was a once in a lifetime kind of thing. Complete serendipity and a product of its time. To try to replicate it seems pointless. I would have to give my hubby a hard time too for leaving. I was just a little bit too young for the original.

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  13. I hope everyone’s already half stoned when Miley Cyrus starts twerking on the Woodstock stage…

    I remember the 1994 25th anniversary Woodstock was widely criticized for overly commercialized. I’d imagine this one will be even worse… especially since it’ll be targeted at millennials for whom the hippie and 60’s counterculture are stereotypes of a time they didn’t live through…

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  15. LOL @ the running joke in your family about your husband leaving Woodstock. It’s a good thing you didn’t have this information before you said “I do” because look how long your marriage has lasted thus far. Lack of knowledge is power right here. 😁

    Yeah, I agree this line up is not appealing. I don’t know 2/3rds of these groups. Who are these people??? I think I’m like a decade younger than you and I have no idea who they are. Yep, the millennials have definitely taken over.

    Good luck to them.

    P.S. Had no idea John Mayer was now lead man for the “Grateful Dead”? How TF did that happen?!

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  16. Pingback: Woodstock revisited. | River's world…..

  18. So, you were a third class petty officer when it happened. Your husband obviously didn’t mind. I never got to see the Grateful Dead but I have seen Phil Lesh and friends a couple times as well as Ratdog, Bob Weir’s band. Dead and Company will never be the Dead, but I don’t really think they’re trying. Most of the players were either part of the band or closely connected to it. John Mayer is an incredible guitar player, check out “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room”. I really doubt he thinks he can play like Jerry. Either way, He ain’t stealin’ my face.

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      1. He’s really not and I’m sure he would agree. In his Guitar Player interview, he came off as pretty humble. Before him, there was a guy named Jimmy Herring who is an absolute genius, but no Jerry Garcia and he’ll tell you.

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