Late Night: 40 Years Ago This Week

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Sun Aug 09, 2009 at 09:01:30 PM EST
Tags: woodstock (all tags)

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It's been 40 years since the summer of '69. The year of Charles Manson and the Sharon Tate/LaBianca Murders.

The summer of Woodstock: Check out The Woodstock Memories Project, a gallery of photos, memories, news articles and more by the Poughkeepsie Journal and Footnote.com. Some previously unreleased performances are here.

A few more favorites below:

Still looking for a good version of Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart" and Jefferson Airplane's "Volunteers."

What were your favorite Woodstock performances? Does anyone else remember the summer of '69? (Bryan Adams here.)

And if you'd rather talk about something else, feel free, this is an open thread.

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Late Night: 40 Years Ago This Week | 15 comments (15 topical)

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good post (5.00 / 0) (#1)
by jharp on Sun Aug 09, 2009 at 09:32:58 PM EST

Good post. I watched and enjoyed the entire piece.

And thank you kindly for reminding me of two things I meant to not forget, yet I had.

40 years ago this summer my folks took us to Peter Paul and Mary at Blossom Music Center (ohio) and later that year to Los Angeles to arrive on the night of the Manson murders.

Waiting for Ang Lee's movie re (5.00 / 1) (#7)
by oculus on Mon Aug 10, 2009 at 12:17:48 AM EST

Woodstock. Saw the initial movie in A-squared at the drive-in in the winter with a speaker in each window.

I was there (5.00 / 2) (#9)
by polizeros on Mon Aug 10, 2009 at 04:23:35 AM EST

Joe Cocker was mostly an unknown then, blew everyone away.

It was an amazing weekend, we knew the whole world was watching.

Traffic was backed up for miles at the freeway offramps getting there. No one cared, just rolled joints and waited.

500,000 people in a field with no cops and it was completely peaceful.

Some of the big names (5.00 / 0) (#12)
by brodie on Mon Aug 10, 2009 at 08:57:40 AM EST

did well, and others either didn't or didn't make smart decisions.

The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Joan Baez and Jimi Hendrix all performed well. CS&N had a creditable set.

Janis Joplin's voice was very raspy, and apparently she was in no condition to go on stage. I think later she got very angry at her manager for allowing her to go on.

Joni Mitchell let her manager convince her it was more important to remain free to attend Monday night's Dick Cavett Show, which would be her first appearance on US nat'l teevee, instead of risking getting stuck trying to leave the Woodstock site. She dominated that night on Cavett, but I'm sure she was kicking herself later for missing the biggest concert ever.

Hendrix played his famous set, but because his mgr had insisted Jimi close the concert, he didn't go on until dawn on Monday morning -- by which time 3/4 of the crowd had left.

Sympathies should also go out to those artists who did well but who ended up on the cutting room floor when the movie of the concert was edited. Apparently a new 40th anniv dvd was recently released that features some of these lost performances.

anyone remember Melanie? (5.00 / 1) (#13)
by Lil on Mon Aug 10, 2009 at 10:52:48 AM EST

: "Candles in Rain" (5.00 / 1) (#14)
by sj on Mon Aug 10, 2009 at 11:56:39 AM EST

She inspired the tradition of holding candles or matches at concerts.
Now it's cell phones...

[ Parent ]

Summer of '69 - in Seattle (none / 0) (#2)
by Carolyn in Baltimore on Sun Aug 09, 2009 at 09:58:08 PM EST

My Dad worked in Seattle that summer. I was 16. I was on Mt Rainier for the moon landing. I missed Woodstock (my bf and many friends went and got rained on) but I went to the the Seattle Rock Festival - just as good I think, and less rain. I still remember Jim Morrison teasing us (oh yes!) and Ike and Tina Turner.
And I went to a Blind Faith concert.

Great summer......except for sharing a room with my sister.

: July 20, '69...yup. (5.00 / 1) (#6)
by oldpro on Sun Aug 09, 2009 at 11:47:00 PM EST

I was on the golf course...7th tee, when someone came running out of the cluhouse shouting that LM Eagle had landed on the surface of the moon.
We all ran home to watch without finishing the round!
Something upbeat, Apollo 11, after a gawdawful 1968 from which I thought I might never recover. It took a long time, though.

[ Parent ]

joan baez (none / 0) (#3)
by jharp on Sun Aug 09, 2009 at 10:04:20 PM EST

Found this and never much cared for the song but this was beautiful.

And the comments. Wow! Some folks are taking that "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" way too serious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnS9M03F-fA&feature=related

But that's not Woodstock (none / 0) (#4)
by bselznick on Sun Aug 09, 2009 at 10:22:23 PM EST

The comments up on YouTube make it really clear that this is from the Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour, great album by the way. This is obviously at an indoor venue, and I love Leon Russell's hat.

: good catch (none / 0) (#5)
by Jeralyn on Sun Aug 09, 2009 at 10:28:46 PM EST

I just swapped that one out and put in the Woodstock one.

[ Parent ]

Great memories (none / 0) (#8)
by Mikeb302000 on Mon Aug 10, 2009 at 12:43:53 AM EST

I was 16 that year and just beginning to spread my wings.

As well as being one of the.... (none / 0) (#10)
by kdog on Mon Aug 10, 2009 at 08:45:02 AM EST

greatest concert bills ever assembled and the incredible footprint on music history aside, the truly important lasting legacy of Woodstock was, to me, as polizeros said...

It was the greatest experiment with anarchy I've ever heard of, and anarchy passed with flying colors...each individual governing themselves in peace and harmony.

: And I thought... (none / 0) (#11)
by kdog on Mon Aug 10, 2009 at 08:46:29 AM EST

Ten Years After really shredded their set...Santana too.

[ Parent ]

I was there.. (none / 0) (#15)
by pcpablo on Mon Aug 10, 2009 at 12:15:50 PM EST

..but to tell you the truth, I remember little. Spent much of my time in a haze. The one thing I do remember is the morning Hendrix. Most everyone had left, so down front center was a piece of cake.
I had seen him twice before, once the original lineup, and once at the Fillmore East with Buddy Miles and Billy Cox. At Wodstock he had a much larger band, and was just starting to stretch out, but unfortunatly....
Know how I'm celebrating the rush of 40 years?
I'm selling my former waterlogged tickets on Ebay!
All things must pass!