The Press Release:
The Museum at Bethel Woods, the National Register Historic Site of the 1969 Woodstock Music & Art Fair, is working on compiling an archive of oral histories of Woodstock from the people who experienced it firsthand. The Museum is asking festival alumni to connect and arrange for their stories to be heard and recorded. The goal is for these combined narratives to tell the untold story of the festival, preserving them for generations to come.
“Realizing the average age of Woodstock attendees is 75 years old, now is the time to find the lost stories of the festival and save their place in history,” said Neal V. Hitch, Senior Curator, The Museum at Bethel Woods. “In order for the impact of Woodstock to be felt 100 years from now, collecting oral histories of this iconic festival is critical. It is our goal to find as many attendees as possible and document their firsthand experiences, which will also inspire the next generation of young artists, musicians, and music lovers.” Continue reading Preserving Memories of The Woodstock Music & Art Fair→
2019 marked the 50th Anniversary of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Festival and we toasted the event in one of our Music Milestone posts that you can examine HERE when you have a chance. Though the plans for a 50th Anniversary Festival proved disastrous, the original site of the festival has just released some pretty cool information. You can see the press release below the poster for that original three days of history.
The Press Release:
Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, located in Bethel, NY at the historic site of the greatest festival of all time, is asking those who attended Woodstock over 50 years ago to join the Alumni Registry.
The Alumni Registry keeps the spirit of Woodstock alive through the stories and memories of the people who were there. The information provided from participants near and far is added to the permanent Museum archive, where it will serve as a useful research tool for visitors and scholars as they seek to learn more about the festival and its participants. The testimonies allow visitors to enrich their understanding of the event and its continued impact. Registry alumni will have the opportunity to receive information about special events and programs designed especially for them. Continue reading Bethel Woods Invites Woodstock Attendees To Join Alumni Registry→
If you’re finding yourself in a bit of a peaceful vibe and thinking of songs from yesteryear today, it’s probably due to the fact that on this day some 50 years ago that the “Woodstock Music and Art Fair” took place up in Bethel NY on Max Yasgur’s farm. Yeah, despite the name, the event was about 45 miles away from the town of Woodstock but that no longer seems to matter. The very well documented affair started out as a pay to enter thing but as the masses began to assemble after lengthy pilgrimages up the highways of New York State they just let anyone who arrived in for free. When it all came down to it there were about 400K in attendance. In honor of the music festivals milestone 50th year, I’ve culled together some topical images and information about who played on what day but left it at that since so much of the logistics and more are easily learned via the official Wiki which is linked down below.
It was only a few short days ago that the world learned that the Woodstock 50 event would not even be held in the state where it began and instead be further down the East Coast in Maryland but now according to the folks at TMZ it has been cancelled in full. According to a statement to the Entertainment Resource by Greg Peck, a principal of Woodstock 50;
“The unfortunate dispute with our financial partner and the resulting legal proceedings set us off course at a critical juncture, throwing a wrench in our plans and forcing us to find an alternate venue to Watkins Glen.” The timing meant we had few choices where our artists would be able to perform. We worked hard to find a way to produce a proper tribute—and some great artists came aboard over the last week to support Woodstock 50—but time simply ran short.”
PiercingMetal Thoughts: So that’s all folks. Considering the stuff we’ve shared about this already it’s not a surprise that its come down to being cancelled. As I stated, I wasn’t even remotely planning on going since it was logistically difficult for me and had 0% Hard Rock and Metal bands. I mean it would have been fun to cover some of the groups for The Chronicles of Piercing Ken but I didn’t begin to look into that. Repeating an event like Woodstock from 1969 is probably not an easy feat in today’s world and let’s not forget that the original festival was a bit of a disaster as well.
It’s been a little bit since I discussed the problematic “Woodstock 50” Festival, which is an event that was aimed at celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the famous three day concert that was held at Yasgur’s Farm in Woodstock, NY back in 1969. As you can see, a new banner graphic has been revealed as of just the other day and with that comes some additional information.
Let’s recap the events thus far. The first news was that the financial group behind the event had cancelled it (seen HERE) but then founder Michael Lang said that the show would go on (seen HERE). Then as an almost final nail in the concert coffin, the event space itself said “Nope, You Can’t Do It Here!” (seen HERE). At this point they pitched the reasonably close to Watkins Glen area of Vernon NY. Mind you, both of these locations are more than a four hour drive from NYC if anyone was thinking of going. The town of Vernon said “Nope” as they felt it was going to be a chaos of people and then the last word I read thanks to some other online resources was that the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD was going to host the event. Talk about a relocation. Before I continue with more thoughts on this, here are the rundown of artists that have either pulled out or have been released from the performance contract. Continue reading The Continuing Convoluted Chaos Of “Woodstock 50”→
