August 13, 1969. My parents said woodstock was a cultural disaster and that there was no chance in hell i was going. Of course I went. I told them my band " The Groovy Smoothies" had a gig in new jersey and I wouldn't be back till Tuesday and they bought it. That night i drove to my buddy John Harrison's and slept there that night. We spent the next day driving from Pittsburgh to the small town of Bethel, New York. We made several stops at mcdonalds on the way there and everyone was talking about woodstock; three days of peace and music.
We got there around 7:30 pm August 14. We couldnt afford a hotel like the upper-class snobs, so we slept in our 1960 Volkswagen Microbus. We woke up real early and got about 40 feet from the stage. Although everybody was tripping on something and by the time Richie Havens took the stage we were too, I realized it was all about the music. Peace, love and music.
Day two. Food was scarce but everyone shared. I had three bites of a girl next to me's sandwich and a doobie for breakfast. Santana, Creedance, Mountain, and Janis all put on great shows but The Who's performance changed my life. I saw the Abbie Hoffman incident and boy was it funny. I still can't beleive Pete didnt kill him. The song that really changed my life was See Me Feel Me. When the sun climbed up over the horizon it was the greatest light show possible, like Rog said in an interview. I didnt sleep that night and slept until Joe Cocker came on the next day.
The next day and a half was amazing also witnessing Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Johnny Winter, Sha Na Na, and Hendrix. He is the greatest guitar player ever. When he broke into the national anthem I couldn't believe what i was hearing. God bless amreica, god bless woodstock.
If you purchase the woodstock directors cut dvd you can actually see me bathing in the lake. I would really appreciate winning these tickets to recreate what I saw 40 years ago.