Haha, let me introduce you to someone awesome!! If there is anyone who can beat it, I will jump off the building! Of course it is Woodstock!
What is Woodstock
WOODSTOCK Music Festival, the full name of "Woodstock Rock Festival", is currently the most famous series of rock music festivals in the world. It was first held in 1969 with the theme of "peace, anti-war, fraternity and equality". The scale and lineup are unprecedented, and this is also a music festival that has never had the smell of copper, boasting "the combination of music and art." Most of the countless music festivals held since then were intended to implement the Woodstock spirit, actively organize benefit concerts, and at the same time express young people's enthusiasm for music.
The history of Woodstock
The emergence of Woodstock has a lot to do with the background of the time. In the mid-to-late 1960s, post-war ideological trends were very intense, and young people had enough Their opinions were not taken seriously, and they suddenly felt frustrated and escapist. They longed for a world without disputes, peace and equality, eliminating the gap between rich and poor, and anti-establishment. Woodstock came into being, and its unprecedented success made young people People regain their confidence and add a positive and progressive factor to the Woodstock spirit.
In 1969, it has been more than 30 years, and it has left two profound memories for mankind (or Americans). At that time, the former Soviet Union was defeated during the Cold War, and a man named Armstrong landed on the moon for the first time in human history. A place called Woodstock, which cannot be seen on the moon, was held under the slogan `3 Days of Peace & Music` grand music festival. While human beings are cheering for increasingly advanced technology, on the other hand, many people are cheering for music. It is a very interesting year. There have been many rock music festivals held in the United States before the Woodstock Music Festival, but when it comes to football, it reminds people of the World Cup. When it comes to rock music festivals, everyone will definitely mention the Woodstock Music Festival. Why? In 1969, there were many social conflicts inside and outside the United States, such as human rights issues, anti-war demonstrations in response to participation in the Vietnam War, etc., so American society was very chaotic at that time. In the early 1960s, the rebellious spirit of the younger generation was relatively weak. People born after World War II in the baby boom era participated in the so-called "Flower Movement" and were later called hippies. They shout anti-war, love, and peace all day long, but their real meaning is not to actively participate in society, but to avoid people and the passive class pursuing a dream world. Despite this background, four young people funded and planned the Woodstock Music Festival on August 15, 1969.
The name of the music festival comes from the name of the venue where it will be held, Woodstock. However, due to opposition from the local government and residents, the performance was once in crisis of being canceled. However, a man named Max Jasger who lives nearby Provided his own farm, so after many twists and turns the show was finally held as scheduled. During the three days of the Woodstock Music Festival (the actual performance should be considered four days as of the morning of the 18th), Woodstock gathered hundreds of thousands (actually probably more than 450,000) viewers to enjoy the performances together, and the performances for a few days were their own. The Republic of China and the liberated areas. The government at the time was very dissatisfied with this event, and the public opinion was not very good. However, the hippie-dominated audience did not have any accidents despite the harsh weather and environment. Instead, they enjoyed their own little world. Compared with the recent chaotic Woodstock show, we can vaguely guess the worldview of the audience at that time. Many of the most famous artists of the time participated in the performances.
Jimi Hendrix received cheers from the audience because he sang music that mocked the United States, and Janis Joplin's passionate singing also left a deep impression on the audience.
Everyone can hear the beautiful harmonies of Crosby, Stills & Nash and Neil Young and the heroic singing voice of folk queen Joan Baez, and the mellow singing voice of black folk can also be heard from the live sound. The performance included the early soft psychedelic songs of the Grateful Dead, which Americans love so much, as well as the early debut songs of Jefferson Airplane. Melanie couldn't help but say that, and Ten Years After and The Who, who came all the way from the UK to attend, became even more famous after the performance. The live performance album, later sold as 3 LPs (2 CDs), felt like Joe Cocker singing the Beatles' "With a little help from my friend" in his full self, breathing with the audience and directly reflecting Woodstock The atmosphere of a music festival is combined with all styles of rock music such as Mountain, CCR, Canned Heat, Santana, Iron Butterfly, Sly & The Family Stone, etc. However, after the short three days of proposing music and peace, everyone slowly returned to their previous lives. This may also be the regret left by the Woodstock Music Festival. Although many people thought this performance was boring at the time, it left a mythical memory for that generation and the next generation. This may be because the organizer's simple purpose gained everyone's approval. It has no commercial purpose and unfolds in a radical world view, so in 3 days everyone felt the free world of the purest rock and roll.
Original of Woodstock Music Festival
Thirty years ago, the last group of dirt-covered young people evacuated the muddy pasture of MAX YASGUR , which heralded the end of one of the most unusual music festivals in history. At the same time, the debate over its historical significance also began. Sincere "believers" call it the pinnacle of an era and believe that it has made a huge contribution to the liberation of human thought; while "nitpickers" regard it as the funny end of an innocent era.
The Woodstock Music and Art Fair (WOODSTOCK MUSIC AND ART FAIR) held in 1969 attracted 450,000 spectators. In four days, they created a hippie independent kingdom on their ranch in SULLIVAN COUNTY. Here, the world of human perception is completely opened, drug use is legal, and sex is free. The music festival officially started at 5:07 pm on August 15th of that year and lasted until the morning of August 18th. It caused the worst traffic jam in New York state's history and forced the closure of highways leading into the state. Many states and counties in the United States subsequently enacted legislation to prohibit similar events from being held again.
Like few other historical events, "Woodstock" has become synonymous with a certain type of cultural phenomenon. Just as "WATERGATE" implies a crisis of public confidence, "WATERLOO" represents a tragic failure, and "Woodstock" points to the indulgence and hedonism that permeated the 1960s. Historian BERT FELDMAN said: "What people experience here is an event that is absolutely once in a lifetime. It has complex ingredients and cannot be replicated. As Dickens said, this is the best of times and the best of times." The worst of times."
The people who appeared on that extraordinary weekend in 1969 were liars, love-struck lovers, prophets and speculators of all kinds. They fell in love there, engaged in business and made profits, and together they created a historical moment worthy of being recorded in history.
ARNOLD SKOLNICK, the designer of the music festival icon (see attached picture), described it this way: “A rapid, restless tapping sounded somewhere in the country, and people heard the sound from all directions. ”
The hippie extravaganza ultimately cost $2.4 million. Its sponsors are four completely different young people: JOHN ROBERTS, JOEL ROSEMAN, ARTIE KORNFELD and MICHAEL LANG.
Roberts, the oldest, was 26 years old that year and was an investor in this event. He had millions of dollars in assets from inheriting a drug store and a toothpaste manufacturing plant. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and served as a lieutenant in the Army. Prior to this, he had only attended one rock concert performed by the Beach Boys. His friend Rothman is the son of a famous dentist in Long Island and graduated from the Yale University Law Department. In 1967, a 24-year-old Rothman with a beard was the guitarist in a laid-back rock band. In the winter of 1967, two young people shared an apartment and were thinking about how to spend the rest of their lives. They decided to write a long soap opera for a television station. The content was about the business investment adventures of two simple-minded but wealthy young people. Facing various difficulties, he finally saved the day at the critical moment.
In order to enrich the plot, the two decided to play the protagonists in the play in real life. As a result, this text appeared in the classified ads of some magazines: "Two ambitious young people seek interesting investment opportunities and business projects." They received thousands of varied responses, and one of the novel projects caught their attention - cycling and skiing, which was a popular sport in Europe at the time. The two people analyzed it in detail. Slowly, the two would-be soap opera writers unknowingly turned into venture capitalists and literally became characters in the show.
The 25-year-old Caulfield always wears a large lapel uniform. He works at the famous CAPITOL RECORDS and is notorious for often smoking marijuana in the office. His job was to liaise with big-name rock stars, and he also wrote songs himself. McClung was an eccentric figure in the eyes of his friends, with black shawl curly hair. When he was 23 years old, he owned his first large store in Florida. In 1968, he curated the largest Miami Pop Festival at the time, attracting 40,000 spectators. Later, he became the manager of a rock band and sought a contract with a record company. At the end of 1968, he found Caulfield.
The two hit it off immediately. Soon, McClung moved into Caulfield's apartment in New York, and they had many long all-night talks and hatched some ideas. One is to hold a very large rock concert; the other is to build a recording studio in a small town called Woodstock, a hundred kilometers away from Manhattan. This place was chosen because this small town with beautiful scenery, far away from the hustle and bustle, has become a holy place in the minds of many artists for nearly a century. In the late 1960s, many rock artists moved here, including the famous BOB DYLAN, THE BAND, TIM HARDIN, VAN MORRISON, JIMI HENDRIX, and JANIS JOPLIN. The two began looking for investors for their plan. In February 1969, on the recommendation of others, they held a meeting with Roberts and Rothman. McClung later recalled: "The two looked at me with confusion. The hippie culture was new to them. However, they were still very interested in our plan and asked us to provide a written material. , including the budget for all activities and other specific matters. "At their second meeting, they reached an agreement: the scale of the concert was set at 100,000 spectators, and the budget was set at $500,000.
The four collaborators drank cocktails and ate toast in a tent set up in the wild while making intense plans. They began to send people around to visit rock artists. They dreamed of inviting legends like Joan BAEZ to attend. In March, they incorporated a company called "Woodstock Adventure Project", each holding a quarter share. The next immediate thing is to find a suitable venue. To this end their tentacles spread throughout the mid-Hudson countryside. Finally, they rented a large open land in WALLKILL, Rockland County, for $10,000. On a Sunday in late March, four people drove up to visit Howard, the landowner, and noticed traces of industrialization on the land. Robert later recalled his feelings at the time: "It's not very ideal here, but no matter what, we finally found a place."
The organization of the Woodstock Music Festival
Mills The three hundred acres of open space are extremely accessible. It is located at the end of the town's main 211th Avenue, only one mile from 17th Avenue, which connects to the New York State Thruway, and has the necessary water conservancy pipes and electrical facilities. It was originally zoned for industrial use and was also allowed to hold cultural exhibitions and performances. Although the organizers of the music festival were not satisfied with the place (because it deviated from their preached purpose of "returning to the countryside"), they still submitted an event application to the local development planning committee and began to work on it. Looking for a more suitable venue.
Rossman told local officials in Walker in late May that the event would feature jazz bands and folk singers and was expected to have an audience of 50,000. Local Governor JACK SCHLOSSER was skeptical. He later recalled: "I felt that the organizers were deliberately concealing some things, such as the number of spectators. As my contact with them deepened, I found that they did not understand what they were doing. Fifty thousand people are equivalent to the number of people in the army. The number of people in a division and the corresponding logistics department are extremely large. Therefore, even if there are 50,000 priests participating in the concert, I will still be worried.”
Since the end of April, organizers have begun planning. A series of event-related image designs were launched in mass media to attract public attention. In May, ads for the event began appearing in magazines such as The New York Times. In Cornfield's mind, setting up a stage, signing a performance contract with a rock band, or even selling tickets were not the top priority. The focus of the concert was to embody a concept and make it an event that could completely record the style of a generation. In the promotional materials for the event, the organizers shrewdly borrowed symbols and phrases commonly used by groups representing counterculture. In the special political and cultural atmosphere at that time, in order to comply with the tendency of his contemporaries to demand independence and freedom, McClung initially suggested naming the entire event "AQUARIAN EXPOSITION". He also designed a gorgeous style with the water bottle as the symbol. Poster with central pattern. Eventually, the event's slogan was "THREE DAYS OF PEACE AND MUSIC", replacing the highly conceptual "Aquarius Show". The organizers wanted to use "peace" to reflect the anti-war sentiments in the hearts of young people, and also wanted to use this hint to avoid any possible violence during the event.
The dove in the logo was originally designed to rest on a flute. Skolnick, the designer, was living on Shelter Island at the time and was drawing pigeons every day. When another copywriter for the campaign called him and told him the campaign's slogan, he used a razor blade to cut out a complete image of a pigeon. Cut from a sketchbook, "I loved listening to jazz at the time, so the original design was of a dove landing on a flute, but after just one day I decided to make it fall on a guitar."
The Woodstock Adventurers ran into trouble trying to sign gigs with some of the most famous rock bands of the day, with stars reluctant to sign with an unheard-of outfit for fear of not getting paid after performing.
To solve this problem, the organizers offered a price that was too high to refuse at the time. First, they signed JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, the most famous psychedelic rock band at the time, for US$12,000. The band's previous appearance fee was generally US$5,000 to US$6,000; then they invited CREEDENCE CLEARWATER RIVIVAL for US$11,500, and CREEDENCE CLEARWATER RIVIVAL for US$12,500. When you come to THE WHO, the rest becomes easy. "I told them money was not an issue. If they asked for five thousand, I would give them ten thousand." In the end, they spent $180,000 on a rock band and singer.
Rossman and Roberts hope to hire a film company to film the entire event. But it had previously been almost unprofitable to make rock documentaries. A year ago, a documentary about Montreal's pop festival flopped at the box office, so filmmakers were reluctant to get involved. Fortunately they met Wadeler (MICHAEL WADLEIGH). The 27-year-old Weidler was a well-known photographer and independent film director at the time. Two years ago, he discontinued his medical studies at Columbia University and began spending all his time on the city streets photographing the frequent political and cultural conflicts between people and the government. He has used rock music as background music in his films to express corresponding themes, and used multimedia to enhance the expressiveness of the films. When the organizers of the festival approached him, he was immediately intrigued and immediately decided to devote himself to it regardless of compensation.
One day in early May 1969, McClung and his companion STAN GOLDSTEIN walked into a local audio equipment store and found its owner ALLAN MARKOFF, "They asked I designed the sound for a concert with 50,000 spectators, and mentioned that the number of spectators might reach 100,000 or even 150,000.” Markov initially doubted whether the two men were sane, “a concert with 100,000 spectators.” It was unbelievable at the time, and that’s equivalent to 30 million viewers today.” Markov, then 24, was the only local person whose name was listed in the Audio Engineers Society Register, the magazine from which McClung came. His name was discovered and he was found. Markov thus became the sound designer for this concert. He also remembers designing speakers in which even the lowest volume of the speakers was enough to damage the hearing of anyone within ten steps of the speakers.
The local residents of Walker began to come into contact with such words as: "hippies"; "drugs"; "rock concerts". As advertisements for concerts began to appear in major magazines and radio stations , residents learned that a three-day, possibly the largest rock concert ever would be held at the site. Most of the members of the "Woodstock Adventurers" were dressed in strange costumes. In the minds of local people, long hair and shabby clothes were typical images of political left-wingers and drug addicts. This made many people worry about the imminent chaos in the world. They regarded this kind of The tension was poured out on the Mills family. People started stopping Mills at a local church, accusing him of causing trouble for the locals. In order to prevent the situation from deteriorating, the organizers of the event hired the former senior assistant of the judicial department, Wes POMEROY, to be responsible for security. At the same time, the list of current personnel also included the respected Pastor DONALD GANOUNG, whose responsibilities It deals with the relationship between the organization and local residents. But all efforts failed to save the situation. Mills, the owner of the land, continued to receive anonymous phone calls, and some even threatened to demolish his house. He called the police, but they were unable to detain any suspects due to insufficient evidence. Local residents fell into a strange state out of fear of the unknown. Mills still does not want to talk about what people in the town did to him in 1969. He said: "I know it has been a long time ago, but I still don't want to cause trouble."
Wood. The influence of Stoke
The organizers of "Woodstock" promoted the concert to the outside world as "a happy weekend in the countryside, a temporary self-governing village."
Advertisements quickly appeared in popular magazines, underground publications, and radio broadcasts in major cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Boston, Texas, and Washington. In order to find the necessary staff for this so-called "autonomous village", in late June, Gostein called in members of the "HOG FARM" (HOG FARM). “We have included members of Piggy Farm as part of our staff so that they can set an example for the concert’s attendees. We know that camping outdoors under the stars is a huge attraction for many young people. We also know that there will be many people coming here who have never experienced anything like this before, so we want to create an environment that is as easy for them to adapt as possible,” explains Goldstein.
The Walker Local Planning Commission formally rejected the concert organizers' application for the event on July 15, 1969, citing "inadequate" event plans. Necessary facilities for concerts such as outdoor temporary toilets are not allowed in Walker. The move drew unanimous applause from local residents. The committee even passed a proposal that would require prior approval for any gathering of more than 5,000 people held at the site. Local officials deny the proposal has anything to do with Woodstock, although the connection is obvious.
The encounter of "Woodstock" brought unexpected consequences: every move here received widespread attention from the society and aroused great public interest. Considering the atmosphere of confrontation that has formed, if the stage is really set up here, the performance will eventually either be suppressed or turn into a riot. McClung said: "We don't want to see the arrival of riot police wearing gas masks. If things continue to develop, this will be inevitable." Some local residents even threatened to shoot and kill the first hippie who entered the village. . Wadley, who was filming a mountaineering film in Wyoming at the time, was very disappointed when he learned the news, "I have been worried about the abortion of this concert, and this worry has been bothering me until the concert officially started. ”
ELLIOT TIBER runs a resort in White Lake (WHITE LAKE) miserably. The eighty rooms are almost always empty at any time of the year. Being unable to make ends meet for a long period of time almost depleted all his savings. At one point, he hoped to attract more patrons to the resort by hosting a concert nearby, so he applied for a concert permit. "I paid eight dollars, maybe twelve dollars for it, and the license had no clear limits on the size of the concert or anything like that." Elliott had only a chamber music quartet under his belt at the time, so the plan never came to fruition. He read about the situation at Woodstock in the newspaper and made a phone call to the organizers. McClung arrived the next day, and when he saw the fifteen acres of marshland behind the resort where the concert had been designated, he said it was too small. At this time, Elliot suddenly remembered his old friend MAX YASGUR. For several years, he had been supplying the resort's milk and cheese. He owned a vast pasture in Bethel. At that time, Elliott called Jasco and asked if he could rent his ranch for a concert for $50 a day. Jasco replied: "Concert? That whimsical plan of yours again?"
In a field full of purple alfalfa, McClung found Jasco. He saw that the slopes on all sides formed a vast bowl-shaped terrain. At the "bottom of the bowl" there was flat land for setting up a stage, and there was a lake nearby. He was very satisfied with this and made up his mind. The two men walked slowly up the slope and began to discuss the specific price. Jasko calculated the damage the show would cost his ranch and the cost of restoring it afterward. "Old Jacob was a shrewd guy. He calculated it all clearly on paper with a pencil, and licked the tip of the pen with his tongue from time to time." McClung recalled: "When shaking hands with him, I noticed that he only had three fingers on his right hand, but his hand was as strong as iron.
Jacob was known in Sullivan County for his tough words.
In the 1940s, he studied real estate law at New York University. After graduation, he returned to his hometown to run a dairy farm. A few years later, he sold his dairy farm in Maplewood and moved his family to Bethel to pursue greater career development. By the 1960s, Jasco's dairy farm had become very large. The old man sitting in front of the lads at "Woodstock," smoking a pipe, was the largest milk manufacturer in all of Sullivan County. His dairy farm has strong transportation capabilities, large refrigeration facilities and complete sterilization facilities. The six hundred acres of land borrowed for the concert were only a small portion of his estate.
A few days later, eight cars arrived here carrying some of the concert staff. In order to prevent what happened in Walker from happening again here, the trip was as quiet as possible so as not to alarm the residents here. During the conversation with Jasco, the staff concealed something as usual. Jasco was very cautious and offered a high price. In the meantime, Elliot and McClung went to a nearby restaurant called "The Lighthouse" for dinner, where the news was leaked. "As we were checking out we heard the radio in the restaurant broadcasting the news that Woodstock had been moved to the White Lake area. The restaurant was empty and we were stunned." , Eliot recalled: "On July 20, 1969, the whole world was talking about the first man to land on the moon. But in Bethel, people were talking about the hippie 'Woodstock' Party. I am used to facing all kinds of unexpected difficulties, but this time, I am really going to be defeated."