Sometime in 1993 I remember the radio guys in STL announcing how Woodstock 94 was being planned, marking the 25th anniversary of the first one. I can even recall the exact turn I was taking when I heard it broadcasted in my car! I knew from that moment that I was going to be there with bells, I didnt know how or with who, but I was going to be a part of this gathering of peace that I had heard so much about.
One week before....Angie backs out on me. Driving alone was not a real big deal to me, I had driven to the G'n R concert in Kansas City when I was 17-but this was a different story, KC was across the state and NY is half way across the country! With the words of my mother ringing in my head "never rely on someone elce for your happiness, I decided, "Im going alone". However, I didnt actually believe that mental thought until the day I was in my car and driving, headed for a 2600 mile journey to Saugerties, NY. I left bright and early Wednesday morning after eating breakfast at Bob Evans with my big brother Sid. He got twinkles in his eyes the week before when I told him I was going, like maybe he would have liked to do something like that when he was younger. He gave me maps and money and was even plotting my route on the map the morning I staggered in Bob Evans to meet him. So that was it and off I went, in my 85' Regal with my mean Taurus stubberness leading my way.
About 2 mornings later, the timid little girl beneath that mean stubberness stopped her nervous shakes and I relaxed. I had just left my cousin's house in Philly and was feeling tummy butterflies because I was seeing alot of other traffic on the highway that was headed where I was. By that afternoon, I believe I had reached the southern part of NY when a car pulled up next to me at one of the toll boths. "What part of MO are you from?" the passanger asked. St. Louis! I said. He was from a town not too far from STL. So we sat there talking in the toll booth line and I found that his girlfriend who was driving had an extra ticket. So I bought the extra ticket they had right there. In addition, they were also happy to let me follow them the rest of the trip for the remainding two hours we had ahead of us. It was good I joined, because they totally flew the rest of the way and had I just continued on my own I may have gotten lost in the dark.
FINALLY! Friday night it was a feeling of acomplishment driving down the country road leading to the many many parking lots. It looked like the fourth of July after the fireworks, everybody was walking somewhere and many were just having their own parties on road sides. The sun was just about to touch the ground and everything had a beautiful bright orange-red color. Now this is what I called a party! When we parked we didnt think we could take the beer my new friends had past the gate so we sat beside the cars and dusted off a case between the three of us until it got dark. The rest of that night was pretty much a blurr after we passed the gates(where our very expensive tickets were not looked at) got in, hiked several miles and found a spot to set up the tent that my new friends were kind enough to let me stay in with them.
The next morning the blistering sun was not kind to our extreamly hung over noggins! I poked my head outside of the tent and couldnt believe where I was...thousands of rainbows of tents, the very load pounding of bass in the distance, that mean unforgiving sun and everyone and their brother screaming WOODSTOCK 94!! It was time to hit the dirt. As I headed toward the main concert stage it reminded me of one big, very crowded high school hall way full of friends that were practiclly climbing over each other to strike up a conversation with the guy behind or next to you. I answered to a couple thousand people I was from St. Louis after exchanging handshakes and smiles one by one. I was in the middle of Friendship High School and these people were pretty cool! But I didnt want to share this alone so I thought I would go get my new friends back in the tent who were still sleeping. Hours later I arrived and found the tent empty, but both our neighbors on each side were home. So I picked the foursome on the right an introduced myself. They had just arrived and were setting up. It wasnt long before we were all headed back in the direction of the main stage. One of the guys of the group, Joe, became my buddy and we chatted and laughed about all the funny and half dressed people surrounding us.
By the time we reached the stage and sprawled out on top of the dirt, the sun had gone behind the clouds. The five of us shared a pepsi in a styro cup as we listened to Porno for Pyros. Then during the next act, the rain started. And boy did it start! Okay close your eyes and imagine the hardest rain you have ever experienced. Okay, now triple it! And I am not kidding. There was no where for people to run so everybody just chilled where they were are enjoyed it...some were dancing, many were shedding cloths and all of us were having an excellent time. You could barely see ahead of you because it was coming down so hard, but on the band played(Sorry, I cant remember their name...maybe Primus?). During the many screams of joy Joe and I did something cool, sort of our own way of drinking in this earthy moment. We were letting the pouring rain fill our cup and taking turns drinking this nature cocktail...maybe you cant appreciate it but I just remember thinking, wow this is so cool and Im ganna tell my grandkids about this someday....:)
A few more highlights that come to mind before you cruz on over to the excellent PICTURE link are as follows:
TWO FISTED HEART ATTACK: The unbelievable work of Danny Dent, an artest that works his paintings with no other tools besides his two hands. He was outstanding and made me truely appreciate art. He did his work in the blink of an eye and it was absolutely facinating! One of his pictures, we were having trouble seeing what it was and then, all of a sudden he flips it right side up and it was a perfect profile of Jimmy Hendrix. The croud went wild. He really blue everybody's mind.
THE MUD PEOPLE: They were fun to watch. One thing that really caught my eye was when about 200 people held hands and spun in a huge circle until it broke. It was truly a Kodak moment.
WATER!! WATER!! Sunday the sun came back and it became extreamly hot, so hot that alot of people standing in the middle of the concert spectators were passing out due to dehydration. To avoid this, the peace patrol on stage began throwing small bottled waters out to the crowd-lots of bottles. What would happen was one guy would catch the water, take his drink and then pass it to the guy next to him until the bottel was all empty. I saw this happen in several areas of the crowd as far as I could see. At least 20-30 lips would drink from one little bottle before it was empty and pass it on without a thought. It felt so good to be a part of such unity, people helping the guy next to him regardless of who he or she was.
PROUD TO BE YOUR BUD! I had just specially ordered my awsome budwieser T-shirt before I came to NY with the logo in huge letters. I got so many comments from that shirt it was unreal. Everyone and their brother was ready to sit down and become my new bud.
SAT NIGHT: I decided to go meet my neighbors on the opposite side of the tent later that night, two guys. We sat and talked for a while till around midnight. We could faintly hear & see Salt n' Pepper in the distance from where we were sitting. We didnt care too much and were pretty deep into a converstation about life when all of a sudden we heard a familiar sound. Oh NO!! IT CANT BE!! YES INDEED!! IT WAS METALLICA! With out any futher words to one another, we all three just started sprinting to the main stage that had to be at least a good 2-3 miles from where we were sitting. We were running like crazy people slipping and slidin' in the never ending deep deep mud, helping each other up, grasping each others shirts for support and screaming at the top of our lungs METALLICA!!! All the people standing by understood what we were talking about and made way. By the time we reached the brink of the audience they had already played almost 3 or 4 songs and werent going to be on for much longer. I had to get close. I grabbed the hand of the one guy and he grabbed his friend and I made a mad dash for front row, politely pushing by hundreds of screaming fans. We proceeded right up to almost the front(well it was the last row standing and refusing to be pushed in the mosh pit which was directly in front of the stage.) Well we got to see the tip end of that show and then had a perfect spot for Arrowsmith. I nice fat guy near us let me sit on his shoulders and I felt like I could practicly see the wrinkles on Steven Tyler's face! I was so close that people were taping me and handing me their cameras, and I got some great pictures for them.
HIGHER GROUND: The Peppers were excellent in their final song on Sunday night. They told everybody in the audience to take off their shirt and twirl it over their head during that song. I got to see what see what it looked like on a MTV video that my friend taped and it looked like a rapid sea full of every color imaginable, beautiful. It was very appropriate for Woodstock.
THE INDIAN LADY: She came out and gave us final words of inspiration in which the idea will always stay with us. She talked about the mud and rain and what it ment to her people-a rebirth. This rebirth was our woodstock- a whole new us and a whole new generation. It was 4 yrs ago I cant remember her exact words, but she left an impression in my mind with her analogy of just how beautiful Woodstock really was.
THE FINAL SONG: I never cared too much for Peter Gabriel, but seeing him that final night changed everything. "In Your Eyes" was very touching. It ment this wonderful weekend was over. It ment returning to our normal lives and no more friendly pow-wows. They had thrown out thousands of candles to the audience, which were in full glow during Peter's last meaningful songs. All the candles were stuck in the mud after the music stopped making a huge peace sign. After all was said and done walking back to our tents I felt sad and didnt want this awsome weekend to end.