Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Birthdays. Chicago (the band), and WOODSTOCK 1969-2019!!!!

April 11-14 2019
Central NY
Bethel NY

My eldest son celebrated his 26th Birthday on April 1st. We had a family dinner the following week at Scotch and Sirloin. He works so hard. Its nice to see that he gets a break every once in a while. 


My very yummy dinner.
I am super proud of Nick. He has really matured into an wonderful adult. He works long hours as a welder and he is an artist too.
He was offered to do some art pieces for a gallery in the down state area. I am so impressed.
Thursday evening my husband and I went to see Chicago at Turning Stone resort and casino.
These guys put on an amazing show.











Their music is quite impressive. Have to admit however that I missed Peter!!!!



WOODSTOCK 2019-
On Saturday my girlfriend Kelly and I got up early and headed east towards a little town called Bethel NY.  If you have any awareness of what this town is known for then you also know that it is the 50th anniversary this year. It is also the 50th year of my life. If you are still trying to guess...It is the site of Woodstock 1969. A visit where some of the best musicians of the 60's play together to come as a force of peace and unity has always been on my bucket list. Fitting was that this is also my 50th year of life.
  On our way we had a very yummy breakfast at Denny's. It was nearly a three hour drive.

We eventually got to Bethel and I spotted this guy in a field. I just had to stop and get a picture of the Hippie Muffler Man. Every once and a while I google for odd little stops to check out and anytime I can find something weird or random (like the world largest ball of string or something like that) I try and get a glimpse. https://www.roadsideamerica.com/muffler/trackno.html Link to the Muffler Men.

I know there is a story about these guys and you can actually track where they are located across the USA. I don't know how many there are, but if I can catch one I will make an attempt to take a picture.
How awesome is it that when I was walking back to my car I looked up to see whose farm I happened to be on.....
Do you see what that sign reads. YASGUR.
If you know the story of Woodstock, then this name should surly be familiar. It was Max Yasgur who agreed to be the host location for the infamous three day event.
If Max had not offered his dairy farm to host the event, it is questionable if it ever would have happened. The finding of this location was just under s month before the event was to take place.
Right around the corner from the farm is the site of Woodstock. Below is at the base of the big hill looking up. The rocked area was where the stage once stood. In fact two other locations had been intended to be used for the event. Sagerties NY and Walkill NY. Walkill changed the rules for the show just weeks before and it became a scramble to find a new location.
If you are at all interested in the story of how the event unfolded I recommend the movie Talking Woodstock. Our tour guide informed us that there are multiple reports of how these events unfolded, but the movie offered a pretty good indication of how it all went down. Of course if you want to get a full scope of the music, the movie Woodstock is recommended.
As the story unfolds, Woodstock Ventures (This is where the name of the event came from) invested in a three day art and music festival for the purpose of making money while also connecting with the youth of America. Four men, Michael Lang, Artie Kornfeld, John Roberts and Joel Rosenman coined the event a three day festival of music and peace. 

Below is the site where the stage once sat. Looking upward into the mass number of people must have been incredible. The stage was constructed of wood planks and quickly put together, as were the fences to surround the area intended for the show. The construction would not be completed before the opening day and as a result the $18- a ticket (in advance) show became free. The tiny area of Bethel could not accommodate the number of people who attended the show. Streets were backed up for miles and resembled parking lots.
Below is the monument.



In 1969, there were no cell phone's so if you wanted to get a message to someone you left a note at the Message tree. Paper plates and rocks would be left for friends stating times to meet etc. The tree still stands today.


Kelly and I left our own message.



After viewing the site we headed to the Museum at Bethel woods.
Admission to the museum is $19.69 for adults. I had my student ID so I only had to pay $10-. I didn't plan on this great deal, but they asked if I was a student, and as I currently am I said yes and pulled out my student ID. I love when this happens. The museum is still worth the $19.69 price of admission.
This is the 50th Anniversary year of Woodstock, perhaps you have heard (they are planning two concerts to be held over the actual weekend Aug. 15-17 one at Woodstock and one in Watkins Glen.) in celebration of the 50th they have a special exhibit called We are Golden.
Along the walls of the exhibit they have a readout of each of the bands as ascending from the very first performer to the last.
(Taken from Wiki)

What an incredible line up of acts. I so would have loved to be there. Richie Havens was scheduled to play later in the line up, but due to several of the bands caught in traffic Richie played first. He is said to have made up a song as he was on stage. Richie is also a permanent fixture of the Woodstock site. When he passed away, his ashes and rose petals were scattered across the site.

As you can imagine the people of Bethel were not big supporters of thousands of "hippies" coming into their town and quite a protest transpired. Many people refused to purchase Max's dairy products. Below is an original sign indicating the local's view of the event.

Woodstock festival was never the intended event title instead the producers have envisioned a music and arts fair called An Aquarian Exposition. The intended to have art booths, music and children events much more like a fair then a three day music festival.They also never planned to host a concert, originally they wanted to open a recording studio.  In 1969, the investors paid 3.1 million dollars towards the event. This is equivalent to $15 million today.
Kelly and I got a chance to dress "like a hippie."



The museum offered several enjoyable hands on attractions like this Psychedelic room complete with bean bag chairs.

It is estimated that 400,000 people were at Woodstock. At least one birth and two deaths. (one was an overdose and another was accidentally run over by a tractor.) It is also an event where despite the number of people, there was not one incident of violence. Our tour guide (also an original attender of the event) informed us that every cent that was loaned/given from the supporters during those three days (medial providers/food vendors etc) were paid back in full. 

Jimi Hendricks was the featured performer and his sign on actually prompted some of the other bands. In his contract it was stated no performers would follow him. He played the very last set on Monday morning (a day after the event ended) at 9am. Several thousands of the attendees had left before his infamous Star Spangle banner performance. 

Crosby Stills,  Nash and Young were little known before Woodstock. The live show was one of the first times the band had actually played together. Below is one of the outfits worn in the 60's. 
Many of the delays to the performance was due to problems with the electric and rain. The Grateful Dead is often forgotten as even attending the event and there is no footage of them in  the movie. They played their set in the dark and in the rain. It is said that they were also so high they did not play a good performance, it is also said that they were being electrocuted every time they touched the instruments.
Jefferson Airplane is also one of the bands identified as having a poor set. The band was scheduled to play the last set on Saturday evening. Instead they were the breakfast crew Sunday morning. Hung over and tired, Grace Slick sang Don't you want somebody to Love and White Rabbit poorly.  Even the Who acknowledged that their performance was not one of their best.
Santana, on the other hand, was a fairly unknown band at the time, provided an amazing performance sending their popularity to shore.

Did you know there really is a MAGIC Bus??? Here's one located in the museum. Did you also know that the Merry Pranksters would tour around in a bus like this and offer Electric Kool aid full of LSD? Posters asking if you could pass the ACID test (as printed on this bus) lead to concerts featuring often The Grateful Dead.

Janice Joplin was said to be under the influence of Heroin during her performance at Woodstock, but her voice has been identified as one of the most influential song writer and singer ever. Her life was taken way to soon.

The bug...was a remembered car of the 60's. 

1969 was a year for music, great advances and political change.
After the museum Kelly and I had cocktails at the Catskill Distillery.
I had the Summer of 69 signature cocktail.
The day turned out to be warm and beautiful. We enjoyed sitting on the outside deck.
We also stopped at this cute convenience store.
After we had our fill of tie dye, sunshine and multicolored eye wear, we headed to Monticello for some fun at the Resort World Casino. 

We had a very delicious dinner at the diner. Poutine and French Onion soup. Not a veggie in sight.
Later we played some slots and LOOK...I finally won!!!
Kelly and I stayed in the town of Liberty, NY and stopped in the town of Swan Lake before heading home that Sunday morning. We had to get a glimpse of the Stone Castle of Swan lake. Both Kelly and I were amazed by the number of cottages, and resorts in the area that were run down. It was kind of sad to see.


In all we had a great time. I am already thinking about what will be the next Girls trip. A weekend away from everything was so needed.