Woodstocked

In the 1969 Woodstock concert, one of the most famous stage announcements was about the bad brown acid.  Many believe this was spoken by entertainer and peace activist, Wavy Gravy.

Apparently the acid itself wasn’t really bad, but rather, it was especially potent.  Combine that with a number of people who were tripping for the first time — amateurs, if you will — and so there were many “bad trips.”  There was even a trailer especially for people suffering from drug problems at the concert.

Here’s the quote:

“To get back to the warning that I’ve received.  You may take it with however many grains of salt you wish.  That the brown acid that is circulating around us is not specifically too good.  It’s suggested that you do stay away from that.  Of course, it’s your own trip.  So be my guest, but please be advised that there is a warning on that one, OK?”

Newsday has produced a short slideshow of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Fair.  The fair is being held at the Museum at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, a gallery that opened in 2008 on the site of the original Woodstock music festival.

Visitors can view photos, artifacts and multimedia exhibits of the concert that made history on August 15-17, 1969.  An estimated 500,000 spectators gathered in a New York field to attend the Woodstock music festival, a landmark musical display reflecting the cultural transformation of American youth.

Woodstock Music and Arts Fair Slideshow

There is a new movie about the original 1969 Woodstock concert, and the trailer is now available.

The film Taking Woodstock tells the true story of Elliot Tiber, who helped organizer Michael Lang secure a concert permit for 1969 music festival in upstate New York.  The film was directed by Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and also stars Emile Hirsch, Liev Schreiber, Imelda Staunton and Eugene Levy as Max Yasgur, whose farmland became the stage for Woodstock.

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This summer is the 40th anniversary of the infamous 1969 Woodstock concert, and rumors are flying about another massive Woodstock.  Original producer Michael Lang has been hinting about plans for one concert in New York City and another in Berlin.

But Joel Rosenma, Lang’s producing partner for 40 years, says the concert hasn’t been booked yet and therefore likely won’t happen this year.  “It may not be the year for Woodstock,” he says.  “We’ve had some very encouraging news about this year in the past few weeks, but we don’t know for sure.  We’re not going to let some technical number, some digit, determine when the next Woodstock is.  We’re going to let something bigger than that determine it.”  Would that be money?

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