A Bike Ride of Peace and Music

Havens

At exactly 5:07 pm on August 15 Richie Havens took the stage with guitar in hand.  Havens was an interesting figure in American music.  Part Blackfoot Indian, part West Indies native he was born and bred in Brooklyn, New York.  Havens’ sound was folk with some funk.  On this late afternoon Havens was the first artist to perform at the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair, 44 years ago today.  Havens, like most acts at Woodstock, was asked to plan for a set one hour in length.  He played for nearly three.  To conclude his set he belted out the old spiritual “Motherless Child” which morphed into “Freedom.”  The song was immortalized in the motion picture “Woodstock” and Richie Havens became an international star.  Havens was asked to extend his set because many of the other acts had not arrived having found themselves delayed by massive traffic jams to Max Yasgur’s farm.    Havens’ set was the longest at Woodstock.  Only three other acts played in excess of one hour—Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix (pictured) and a very pregnant Joan Baez.

Woodstock has been noted by many as the crowning achievement of the 1960s.  The three days of “peace and music” is remembered for just that.  Over 400,000 were in attendance with 32 acts performing.  Due to some poor planning and questionable security the concert was open to the public and free.  A number of lawsuits were filed against the Woodstock promoters so the entire three day event lost money.  The motion picture however, was successful and provided the funding necessary to pay off creditors and lawsuits.  

Today the farm field and the stage area are preserved.  The farm has been sold a few times over since 1969 with the current owner erecting the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.  The center is an outdoor amphitheater with seating for 5,000.  This evening Cheech and Chong will be onstage.  The Zac Brown Band plays live this Saturday at the center.  All of this rock music history makes a great bike ride.

For many years after Woodstock the nearby towns passed laws to prohibit future large gatherings.  Town council members and mayors were tossed out of office for allowing the massive throngs of “hippies” to invade their peaceful Catskill hamlets.  All of that has changed.  The “Woodstock generation” has money now.   Visitors today will find Woodstock themed shops, bed and breakfasts, restaurants, a museum and much more.  Monuments and plaques commemorating the event and its performers can be seen from the saddle.

Michael Lang, one of the four men to create and promote the festival wrote a book, The Road to Woodstock which tells the story of the three days and the efforts the men undertook to make Woodstock happen.  The book is a good read for rock historians.  It was Lang who produced the very successful Miami Pop Festival and it was his experience with that event that made the native New Yorker think a similar festival would work in the Empire State.    

Please visit our website for Joe Cocker’s performance at Woodstock.  See videos at www.stickybottleteam.net.  The website www.bethelwoodscenter.org has museum information and links to regional guidebooks.