Woodstock Muddies
3:34:02 AM 07.01.09

Woodstock - a family affair!

The latrines overflowed in Rome during Woodstock 1999 ...

I drove up there with my 2 kids, they were 13 and 15 at the time. It was Rachel who observed that in 1969, the watchword was "don't take the brown acid," while in 1999 it was "don't drink the brown water!"

The two stages threw us, as it was often hard to decide which one to stay at! We saw Metallica, Megadeath, Godsmack, Kid Rock .....so many good acts!

I know they will NEVER forget the experience!

Long before the kids were a glint in my eye, I WORKED at the 1969 festival. I don't remember if it was Kip Cohen, or Chip Monck, but one of them recruited any of the Fillmore East employees that were available. (I was the doorman.)

1999 was brutally hot, 1969 was brutally wet. Both festivals had plenty of mud, but the 1999 festival has a tent that was full of cool mist, and we visited it several times.

At the first festival, traffic was gridlocked 2 days before the event started, but 30 years later, I was actually able to leave the campsite, drive into town, and go shopping!

As good as the music was in 1999, it couldn't compare to the first gathering. The lineup for 2009 sounds very promising! (But there is no truth to the rumor that Herman's Hermits will release "Mrs. Brown, you've got a lovely walker" next month!)

Memories? The "Hog Farm", Hugh Romney, Filet Mingon but no bread, HENDRICS (!), skinny-dipping in the rain, being part of the third largest city in New York State, and everybody realizing that we were making history, PEACEFULLY!

I am looking forward to making new memories at the 2009 festival, and hope that you can find a way to make me part of it ... the $600 that I get from Social Security every month sure doesn't last very long!

What a long, strange trip it's been!

Allen Singer (A.Singer@juno.com)

13 Votes

Comments

1 Comments
Artful_Dodger July 3, 2009, 9:15 pm
The watch words for the "69 concert, were PEACE and Love and togetherness.
Not that many people took any brown acid. The acid head selling the brown acid in the woods, on "High Way" would have had to have 10's of thousands of hits for sale, and I'm sure he didn't. The people that did buy it, were likely just not prepared for tripping in the rain and mud, closed in by a sea of humanity, and freaked out, and ran screaming and crying like babies, thinking it was the end of the world. Well, it wasn't was it.

Post a Comment

You aren't logged in. You need to enter your username and password to post a comment.
Username:
Password:

Original Poster
Woodstock poster on sale
Special Offer
0 new stories today