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Essays on the history of Woodstock
Woodstock music festival 1969
Woodstock music festival 1969
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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! Over the 3 days there we...
His future looked promising. In 1960, Carlos' family moved to San Francisco while Carlos stayed in Tijuana for another year to make extra money until his family was settled. However, he soon found himself amid the multicultural atmosphere of San Francisco, with all of its diverse musical styles. It was here that Carlos would find what he had been searching for, as if destiny had brought him to the right place at the right time. For the next five years, Carlos continued to evolve his own unique style of music that would later identify him as one of the most distinctive, innovative musicians of our time. In 1966, the music of Carlos Santana exploded on the streets of San Francisco with the debut performance of the Santana Blues Band. For the next two years, the Santana Blues Band was overwelmed by a wave of popularity that would take them from San Francisco's Fillmore West, to that historical performance in 1969 before 500,000 at the Woodstock Festival in New York.
... around famous band. They were an icon to the U.S by trying to send a message in their music that says drugs aren't bad, to the people. Jerry Garcia was a main part in this band and they wouldn't have been this successful without him. The Grateful Dead made rock and roll history from all of these points.
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.
...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.
The muddiest four days in history were celebrated in a drug-induced haze in Sullivan County, New York (Tiber 1). Music soared through the air and into the ears of the more than 450,000 hippies that were crowded into Max Yasgur's pasture. "What we had here was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence," said Bethel town historian Bert Feldmen. "Dickens said it first: 'it was the best of times, it was the worst of times'. It's an amalgam that will never be reproduced again" (Tiber 1). It also closed the New York State Thruway and created one of the nation's worst traffic jams (Tiber 1). Woodstock, with its rocky beginnings, epitomized the culture of that era through music, drug use, and the thousands of hippies who attended, leaving behind a legacy for future generations.
[1] Within the last few decades, we have generated a great number of “historical” films reaching the American public. With these “historical” films come the question of whether or not the film portrayed history in an accurate manner; if not, why were the facts manipulated the way that they were. Unfortunately, this question is usually answered in the negative, and the audience is left with a fictional account of a factual happening, thereby giving the viewing public mixed messages concerning the issues raised within the film. Film used in this manner can be a dangerous tool in the hands of powerful people with agendas and ulterior motives.
Warped Tour Warped Tour is sometimes billed as the “longest running music festival in the nation”. The vans warped tour has brought thousands of music fans together over a fifteen year period. Warped Tour is known for being amazing and for bringing large crowds to it. Kevin Lyman/ Sierra Lyman are the creators of Warped Tour. The very first tour kicked off on August 4th, 1995.
In the summer of 1969, a music festival called, “Woodstock”, took place for three straight days in Upstate, New York, with thirty-two musical acts playing, and 500,000 people from around the world coming to join this musical, peaceful movement. Woodstock started out being a small concert, created to locally promote peace in the world, by the power of music and its lyrics. Now, Woodstock is still being celebrated over 40 years later. The chaotic political climate that the ‘baby boomers’ were growing up in is most likely the reason for this event becoming of such an importance to the world. The violence of the Vietnam War, protests at Kent State and the Democratic Convention, and the assassinations contributed to an ‘out of control’ world. The fact that so many people came to Woodstock and were able to latch onto the ideals of peace, love, and community became a wonderful, joyous symbol to this generation. This three day music festival represented the ideal for baby boomers during a chaotic political time.
Since the early twentieth century, the role of music contests and festivals has been integral to the growth and development of school band programs, and parallel to this role has been the discussion of the function of competition in these events. In a study of the first national band tournament Holz (1960) asserted that “[The contest] provided the occasion and the reason for the merging of musical, educational, and commercial efforts in a common cause – the simultaneous democratization and artistic improvement of instrumental music in schools”. Joseph E. Maddy, the first full time Supervisor of Music in Rochester, New York, spoke favorably of the early band contests; “The radical changes in instrument manufacturing, band publications, and improved performance standards which occurred would have taken one hundred years had it not been for the contest movement” (Fonder, 1983). Despite the positive responses from Holz and Maddy, Birge (1966) reported, “ Early in the contest movement educators felt that the intensely competitive factor lessened the educational value of the events”. Music educators of this period were also critical of the (1) contest format, (2) eligibility requirements, (3) adjudication procedures, and (4) the emphasis on “winning” (Payne, 1997). The positive and negative traits of these early band contests have been reported by many (Burdett, 1985; Moore. 1972; Hansen, 2004; Holz, 1960; Humphreys, 1981; Whitehill, 1969; Yarberry, 1979), but the role of competition and contests continues to divide the music profession philosophically and serve as a catalyst for debate when discussing their place in music education.
Along with the peak of several movements music began to reach a point of climax. Rock specifically began to flourish in the 1960’s, while expressing the voice of the liberated generation. It is the power of such trends that overall lead to what is known as the greatest music festival of all time: Woodstock Music and Art Fair. The festival started on August 15, 1969 on Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, New York. Appealing to the time period, Woodstock was designed to be Three Days of Peace and Music. However, many argue that it was more than just a musical art fair of peace, but a historically significant event that shifted American culture. While some regard Woodstock as the beginning of a cultural advancement and the end of a naïve era, others view it as ridiculous hippy festival infested with illegal drug usage. Woodstock cost over $2.4 million and attracted over 450,000 people (Tiber, 1). Despite the debate of whether Woodstock produced a positive or negative effect, it is clear that a note worthy impact was made. When discussing the overall impact of Woodstock it is important to look at the influences and creative plan and the positive and negative effects produced from the festival.
Evans, Mike, and Paul Kingsbury. Woodstock: Three Days That Rocked the World. New York: Sterling, 2009. Print.
Rawlinson, J. (2013). Music Festival Tourism Worldwide - International - June 2013. Retrieved 02 28, 2014, from Mintel Report: http://academic.mintel.com/display/643783/
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...
Without warning, the lights went dark. This was the moment I had been waiting for. My adrenaline went through the roof. The time had finally come that I would get to see and hear my first live concert.