Woodstock Was A Peaceful Pied-Piper Of Change!

Jon Pareles` piece in the New York Times (Sunday, August 9th, Arts & Leisure) on the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, “A Moment Of Muddy Grace,” helped in summarizing the importance of this event. The Longhairs or Hippies, if you prefer, were more isolated, more scattered in local sub-cultural pockets, before that time. Woodstock legitimized the ‘counterculture,’ and maybe even commercialized it an iota. When the movie came out, and especially when it reached the more remote sectors of the nation, it acted like a distant ancestor of the internet, in terms of penetrating the social fabric of America. In Dallas we welcomed the film as a ‘Pied Piper of Change’ in a forest of wolves. The uptightness was lifted, if but for only a fleeting moment. “Well there aint no cure for the summertime blues!”

For me the true legacy of the ‘Hippies’ is Woodstock *(not the Manson Family). That 300,000 young people could assemble for three days straight, celebrating a potpourri (medley) of Peace, Love, & Music exclusively, is a miracle *(biblical, just as Jerry Garcia says in the movie). Woodstock allowed these ideas to endure, not perish from the memory of all Americans. This was a permanent change to America, and still maifests itself today, yet with a morsel of metamorphosis, factoring in natural adaptations in technology. You may want to reflect on the meaning of Woodstock for yourself? & if you can`t see Joe Cocker in his tie-dye shirt waxin` on “I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends,” as the epoch shatterin` performance of the `60s decade, then take a slow boat back to China, GOONFACE! “Following you, I climb the mountain. Let`s Go To The Hop.”

Related posts:

1. ‘Woodstock 3 days of peace and music’ Is Out!
2. Is Rock/Jazz an Oxymoron, Or Not?