Hippie Nostolgia

Over New Year's weekend I watched the documentary film, The Last Waltz on T.V. It is a film of the last concert given by the rock group called, The Band. They had been Bob Dylan's backup band for many years before playing independently. They were the only only rock band that I was truly a fan of. What grabbed me was how deep they were into American roots music and culture. That, and there music was more sophisticated than most other rock bands.

I am currently watching/listening to Woodstock, the directors cut.

There are several great performances on the Woodstock film, but the best
is the song done by Ten Years After. What surprised me was that
the song (I'm Going Home) is Rockabilly, just played very hard, loud, fast and intense, a long, totally blowout performance. Other than recognizing their name
as a legendary rock group, I know nothing about them. The lead singer
has superstar lady-killer charisma and looks written all over him.

Richie Havens was the perfect opening act. Can you believe
that Sha-Na-Na played at Woodstock? Their stage act in the film was
dorkville. Crosby, Stills, and Nash were perfect. Country Joe & the Fish, like all fish left out in the sun, stunk. Janice was Janice. She just about jumps right out of the T.V. screen into your living room. Joe Cocker was classic Joe Cocker. I always liked Canned Heat.

I was 13 when Woodstock went off. I lived about an hour and half from Woodstock/Bethel/Yasgur's farm. Had I ever gone, my parents would have disowned me, called the police and made an appointment with the parish priest to try and find out where they went wrong! All that probably in addition to getting whipped to hell with a leather belt.

I've been to the town of Woodstock two or three times. It's an affluent artsy-fartsy country town set in the Catskills, right off a Thruway exit. It's a nice place to stop in and have lunch.