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Essays on the history of Woodstock
Woodstock music festival
Woodstock music festival
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When the word "Woodstock" is mentioned, what do you think of? Perhaps you think of the little yellow bird from the Peanuts cartoons, or maybe you think of a small town in New York. However, you also might know that Woodstock was the largest and most famous of all rock festivals.
The Woodstock Music & Art Festival took place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, August 15th, 16th, and 17th, 1969. As you can imagine, a concert like Woodstock would have had to be planned very carefully. It didn’t just happen.
Four young partners Michael Lang, the manager of a rock band, Artie Kornfeld, and executive of Capital Records, and two venture capitalists, John Roberts and Joel Rosenman, created Woodstock. Their original plan had been to build a recording studio in Woodstock, a small town in the Catskill Mountains, which had become a rock center. To promote the idea of the studio, the four partners decided to stage a concert, which they called Woodstock. Naming it after the town in which it was originally going to take place in.
It started out as a moneymaking venture a rock concert, pure and simple. An attempt to duplicate or maybe even surpass the success of Monterey Pop, which attracted 50,000 people two years earlier. The Woodstock Festival was expected to attract 50,000 to 100,000 people.
In the town of Woodstock, local residents became fearful about the possibility of a hippie invasion. The location was changed from the village of Woodstock, to the town of Wallkill, then finally to a farm at White Lake in the town of Bethel. The name was retained. They rented a 70 acre field from a prominent local dairy farmer, Max Yasgur, who owned land about 48 miles from Woodstock, in Bethel.
Days before the festival, Upstate New York was ready. The city, county and state officials knew what to expect, and felt confident in their abilities to handle traffic, crowd control, sanitation, medical emergencies, and any unexpected problems.
Finally, the day before the official opening, traffic jams up to 20 miles long blocked most roads leading to the area. On August 15th, the first day, the management was unable to monitor the estimated 400,000 or more people, and decided to abandon attempts at ticket taking because hundreds of thousands of people simply climbed over fences. For three days, the small town of Bethel, was the state’s third-largest city, with an estimated population range between 300,000 and 400,000 people.
The Grateful Dead did their first show at Magoo's pizza on May 5th, 1965. During this time they were known as the Warlocks. They realized after a while that there was another band named Warlocks. After they changed their name from the Warlocks to the Grateful dead, they played in San Jose, California. The place was called Ken Kesey's Acid Tests. The first show ever recorded was by a fan at Fillmore Auditorium on January 8, 1966.
...g force. One thing that I am certain of is that Woodstock, like any icon, should have never been duplicated. They attempted this in 1994 and again in 1999. Sequels never measure up to the original. People even try to imitate icons with no success. Madonna and Anna Nicole Smith both tried to be Marilyn Monroe, but there is only one Marilyn. To be able to recreate Woodstock, you would also have to be able to recreate Vietnam, The Civil Rights Movement, and the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. The fact that Woodstock can’t be copied is what makes it an Icon. I only wish that I could have been there.
Further evidence is shown when the author states, “When I was in college: to call myself a Hispanic” (Rodriguez 72-73). In the early 1970s, the President Nixon established the responsibility to identify Americans by race: black, white, Asian, Indian, and Hispanic. Then, he realized that he was classified as Hispanic by the government when he was in college. This evidence is significance for convincing Rodriguez’s argument because it demonstrates that he doesn’t identify himself by race, and he doesn’t believe that he is Hispanic, even if someone defines him as Hispanic; moreover, he opposes classifying people by race. In “Blaxican”, there are some persuasive writing skills that are used to convince the idea that people shouldn’t classify themselves by race, and they have their own identity to classify themselves based on the assimilated
Initially, Woodstock was simply going to be a concert for people to attend and enjoy, free of repression and the outside war zones. Unexpectedly, an estimated 500,000 people were at the gates waiting two days before the concert even started (Evans 65). Woodstock was not anticipated to have such an infinite amount of people, but once word spread about the serene music extravaganza, it would be impossible to miss out. The majority of the people attending, were present those three days to protest the gruesome effects caused by war. Many people wanted to revolt against the Vietnam War and racial tension vastly developing across the nation (64). Once the festival began, all of the attendees realized that they united for the same message of openness, peace, and cultural expression that could not be asserted anywhere else. “This new counterculture suggested a new model for an alternative society which many felt would be synthesized and expressed most completely at the three days of peace and music that was to be at the Woodstock festival” (14). Woodstock was no longer solely for entertainment, but transformed into a defining moment when American youth and music had the power to influence the way the nation and the world was
The so-called mastermind of the festival was Mick Jagger. He decided to employ the Hells Angels as security since he had previously had good luck with them while doing a free concert in London. Also the Grateful Dead had acquired the help of the Hells Angels before and all went off without a hitch. There was something different about these angels; “ they were notorious for their violent nature and their excessive drug use.” (Remember A Day: Altamont) with this in mind, Rolling Stones road manager, Sam Culter, decided to do his part to maybe calm down the angels. So he bought them $500 in beer (wh...
400,000 people, 32 bands, and 3 days of Peace, love and Rock and Roll (Gerdes, Louise). Woodstock was a free 3 day concert held in Max Yasgur's 600 acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York (Statement on the Historical and Cultural Significance of the 1969 Woodstock Festival Site). What was first made to be a recording studio for the community of Woodstock became an iconic American image (Gerdes, Louise 16). Woodstock was a defining moment in American history because it influenced counter culture and changed the lives of the younger generation that we see today.
I conform to Rodriguez ideologies that to succeed in a world controlled by those who spoke English, to succeed in the public arena, Rodriguez learned that he had to choose the English language over the Spanish language that was spoken within his home. I am also the son of immigrants, who was alienated from my Mexican heritage. However, I agree that we are all immigrants and that Latin American culture will not disappear as long as Latin American people immigrate to the United States. Similar, to Rodriguez I was also a “sellout,” when embracing my race in the presence of other students, because I spoke in English, rather than, Spanish at school. I was against the bilingual education of my intellectual development to make it to college. For example, I acted as if I did not know the Spanish language so I was not speaking my “mother tongue.” The public language of English over the private language of Spanish was a theory of Rodriguez novel that applied to my life when trying to make it out of high school into a university.
In 1969 one of the biggest concerts ever was held in a field on a farm in Bethel, New York. The concert was three days long starting on a Friday August 15th around 5pm. Many well known artist performed on the stage that was almost not even built in time. Hundred thousands of people showed up, around 50,000 people were there days before the three day concert was supposed to start.
They wanted to create their own music studio but did not have the money. In order to get enough money for the studio, they decided to make a concert name “Woodstock”. To establish this concert, they went through many court cases, the main one being a case in the Supreme Court that favored for the festival to eventually happen. In order to make their money back, they needed to make at least two million dollars just to pay for all of their expenses. This is said by rock journalist Simon Warner when he explains the financial situation of Woodstock Ventures, “[A]dvance ticket sales had generated $1.3 million and first day sales of $140,000 had raised the total to 1.5 million, expenses would run close to 2 million,” (Beyond the Myth: A deeper look at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, http://www.woodstockpreservation.org). In the end, they only ended up making about one and a half million dollars from Woodstock. This was not enough money to start up a music studio or pay off what they owed for having the concert. Woodstock Ventures ended up being bankrupt. Woodstock of 1969 was an economic
Many large concerts have occurred in the United States, but none have been as symbolic as the three-day music and art fest that touted the slogans of peace and love. This event was identified as such as a result of the peace movement and the emergence of the flower children. Woodstock Music Festival took place near Woodstock New York on August 15, 16, and 17, 1969, and became a symbol of the 1960s American counterculture.
Two New York venture capitalists, John Roberts and Joel Rosenman, placed an ad in the New York Times seeking investment opportunities and business propositions. The ad caught the attention of Artie Cornfield and Michael Lang, a self-identified hippie rock promoter. They were convinced that a new studio in Woodstock, New York, would attract their business as well as musicians from all over the country. Together, Cornfield and Lang decided to host a small concert in Woodstock to gather enough money to build a new recording studio (History Channel).
"All Nature is but Art: Woodstock Music and Art Fair." Vogue. December 1969:194-201. "Big Woodstock Rock Trip." Time. August 1969:14b-22. Ewen, David. All the Years of Popular Music. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc.,1977. Fass, Don. "The Sixties." http://www.sixties.net (19 March 1999). Frike, David. "Minor Epiphanies and Momentary Bummers." Rolling Stone. August 1989:62-91. Grunwald, Henry. "Youth Trip." This Fabulous Century: 1960-1970. 1986 ed. Hertsgard, Mark. A Day in the Life: The Music and Artistry of the Beatles. New York: Dell Publishing Groups Inc.,1995. Huges, Rupert. Music Lover’s Encyclopedia. New York: Doubleday Inc.,1984. "Rock Audience Moves to Dusk-to-Dawn Rhythms." New York Times. 18 August 1969:25. "Tired Rock Fans Begin Exodus From Music Fair." New York Times. 20 August 1969:1-3. "What Happened in the Sixties?." http://www.bbhq.com/sixties2.htm (19 March 1999). "Woodstock: Dawn of the Bigtime." Economist. August 1989:75. "Woodstock Music and Art Fair." Newsweek. August 1969:88. "Woodstock: Peace Mecca." Billboard. August 1969:1,10.
After 15 minutes people were starting to get frustrated because nothing was happening. It is a good thing. Suddenly there was activity onstage and the lights dimmed. the first support band, Slam Cartel, came on. The mosh pit went wild.
Believe it or not The Coachella Music and Arts Festival started out as a protest in 1993. The band Pearl Jam protested against Ticketmaster and all the auditoriums they controlled in Southern California in November of 1993. They chose to host in their concert at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. It wouldn't be until six years later that the festival would be founded by Paul Tollett with help from Goldenvoice, a promoting company and brings thousands of fans out to the Colorado Desert of the very first Coachella Music Festival in 1999. The debut of Coachella was headlined by acts like Beck, The Chemical Brothers, and Rage Against the Machine and was amazing and went quite well for being first run. The first festival as it was could not compare to the ones that followed with even more attractions. In fact the first Coachella Music Festival was held in October and only at the two day event and there was no on site camping due to the madness at Woodstock'99. Many other things happen during and after the first festival including 1999 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival taking $800,000 hit on the inaugural event. That Paul Tollet mentioned in his interview with Billborads Mitchell Peters. They also It was not...
Woodstock was a three day music festival famously known for “peace and music” it happened August 15 to August 18, 1969 It was held at a 600 acre farm Bethel, New York in the Catskill Mountains. The festival created massive traffic jams and extreme shortages of food, water, and medical and sanitary facilities, it is still known today to be one of the biggest concerts in history. Woodstock drew 400,000 young people including a man named TJ Eck who was 28 at the time and had a thrive for music, Woodstock was the perfect place for him. “I decided to go to Woodstock as I had been a rock and roll keyboardist and singer, and from what I had heard, this was going to be a real "happening", as they used to say. Many of the performers that were supposed to be there were top notch.” He was very iffy on going though since at the time he had a two year old daughter who needed constant attention but his wife insisted that it would be a great experience. So “I piled into Bob's station wagon to drive up to "Yasgurs Farm" in NY state.” and they were on their way!