Lately I've had more than a little fascination with the music & culture of this era (outside of the jazz genre). I recently watched the Woodstock film (excellent sound on the director's cut, BTW), Miles' Isle of Wight performance and Janis Joplin's "Festival Express". I was only 11 in 1969, but was aware of Woodstock without really understanding the cultural significance. After watching the Woodstock film I think it's amazing that the event came off with so few serious issues given the attendance of 500,000. Two deaths and two births.
No way that something like that could ever happen again. What an amazing time as far as the loss of innocence/coming of age aspect of the culture, you know, a gathering of that many diverse facets of society with so few negative moments. How sad that it really couldn't happen again.
I would be interested to hear of any tales related to these large-scale events either by those who may have actually participated, or observations of those who were simply around at the time. As I said, I was a little young at the time to understand the cultural significance, but for whatever reason I really identified with the whole "hippie" culture (and this while I was in MF IOWA!) and feel it contributed to my eventual appreciation of and obsession with art & jazz and identification with the latter's general underground existence. The people I was hanging out with at the time shared that attitude, kind of an oasis in the middle of a conservative land.
Maybe I'm having a mid-life crisis with this obsession with the 60s/70s. I dunno- maybe I'm just longing for a different time, given our current culture. But I'm betting that there are some here who probably have some first-hand experiences to share. So thank you in advance.
....and Hendrix's set was some crazy good shit!