Rev,
I'm sure glad I didn't skip your post believing it was boring. It was
anything but! It made me laugh out loud one minute, then brought on tears
the next. So very true...I think we are only as young or old as our open or
closed hearts & minds...You got me reminiscing...
diddly doo diddly doo diddly doo (ala Wayne's World)...
I was at Woodstock & its weird but I have only seen that movie once, when it
was released & snippets here & there when its been on tv. I would love to
see the directors cut. Maybe I will be able to find myself in it, I wasn't
THAT far back from the stage :~}...(I kept my clothes on though so maybe
not).
My parents forbid me to go to Woodstock. For the first time in my life as
far as I can remember I said, too bad I am going, don't try to stop me. So
they "let" me go on the condition that I go back to my grama's house after
the weekend (they were about to move to California, to San Francisco where
everyone was wearing flowers in their hair...which I thought was cool, but
first I had a little concert to attend. I just KNEW it was gonna be BIG.
Anyway by the time I got to SB the summer of love was long over).
Digression: [So I went back to gramas house after three days of peace love
music mud & no sleep or food but so what. Here is the wierd part. Three
years ago my husband and I discovered that he was living at that very same
time, a few doors down from my grandparents apartment. How weird is that?
But he would have been far too old for me then! A few decades & many
thousands of miles later, we met. I had some other things I had to do
first...]
Yes, we did have a sense of being part of something "half a million strong".
Joni's song really is accurate & it amazes me that she was able to write
that song without being there. But that is why she is such a great writer.
Part of it, I think was just a generational thing, the 60's as a reaction to
the 50's with maybe some astrological stuff thrown in (similar to the age of
aquarius stuff).
[Digression: I remember seeing the off Broadway version of Hair & the cast
was in the audience handing out sugar cubes. We all took them, not knowing
whether they were "real" or not (they weren't) cuz the play was still
underground at that point. Later, in San Francisco, my parents took the
whole family to see the Broadway version of Hair. How embarrassing, sitting
with them when everyone took their clothes off at the end! But they were
trying to be part of my world I guess.]
But my take is that the biggest reason for the peace & love thing was in
strong reaction to all those assassinations of our leaders and hugely in
reaction to the horrors of the Vietnam war. It was hawks & doves back then &
you were either on one side or the other of what seemed like a civil war.
And it really was. I remember meeting Allen Ginsburg at one of his poetry
reading/drum playing/chanting events at the New School in NYC & afterwards
some of us followed him to a classroom where we sat around & talked &
listened to him talk about the war, etc. Following that night I was sure
Allen Ginsburg should be our next president.
The same summer of Woodstock (a highpoint) the first man walked on the moon.
I remember watching it in amazement. I also can't help but think about the
Hopi prophecy, I think it is, that stated nothing should be taken back to
earth from the moon, which of course they did. That it would lead to bad
things...food for thought.... Altamount.
Then I was in Ohio, about an hour away from Kent State which I had visited
for a weekend just prior to the massacre there. By then I was in San
Francisco, glad to be far away but by then everything was going crazy. That
was the worst, for me. It was scary to be young & be peacefully protesting
the war cuz you never knew if you might be killed. Those years were such a
mix of beauty and horror. No middle ground there at all.
Leslie Gore- I still have lots of her old 45's. I guess I liked her because
I thought she wrote her own songs. Then came Janice Ian (Society's Child,
wow.) then Joni & Carole King. I recently was turned on to Jonatha Brooke
cuz I went to see her live & she was really good- great voice, songs, guitar
playing (lots of open tunings, btw).
Re: Vietnam causualties, did you know that as many or more Vietnam vets died
since the war (suicides or other war related casualties) as died during the
war. Which, as you pointed out, didn't come close to the number of Vietnam
citizen casualties.
Digression: [I was enrolled in college during the early 80's. Had several
peer counseling, personal development type classes trying to figure out what
I wanted to be when I grew up. Well I already knew that, but how to make an
income was the bigger issue. The class contained lots of interesting people
from many different cultures including a number of Vietnamese who had to
escape their homeland and start over. It was the kind of class where people
shared their stories of dreams & struggles. Put my single parent struggles
into perspective.]
Richie Havens- What a delightful man! It was cool seeing him at Woodstock.
He was my hero. I used to try & play guitar like him. Last summer he was the
highlight of a local music festival, just down the road from my house. He
was awesome. He really hasn't aged much. The emcee said he would be happy to
meet & greet folks after the show. I never do this, but I became as excited
as a 13 year old & dragged my entire family along with me to wait while I
stood in line to meet him. He was so kind & gracious & when I thanked him
for taking the time to meet everyone (and he spent as much time with each
person as they wanted) after playing a SCORCHING set, he said, oh no, that
this part was as important to do as the music part. (As he was holding my
hand in his I realized why I couldn't come close to playing like him, his
hands were at least 3 times the size of mine!) I told him I had been waiting
since Woodstock to hear & meet him & told him he was my hero (he rarely is
out on the West Coast, never to my knowledge in Santa Barbara & here he was
just down the street from my house!). I bought a tshirt which he signed, To
Kate, A Friend Forever, Richie Havens. Of all people, second to Joni, and
maybe John Lennon (neither whom I have met), he is someone I most treasure
having the opportunity to meet, however fleetingly. Oh, I gave him a copy of
my CD too, & he said, oh good, now I will have some good music to listen to
on the flight home. Can you see what a dear man he is?
So to comment on your comment "I wish that love and peace and music, and
nothing love
and peace and music, had come out of our generation. " I think Richie still
has that spirit, in his music, in his aura. He felt like such a spiritual
man in such a down to earth way.
David Crosby- The man is still making incredible music. He can get up on a
stage and play Guinevere, just a vocal & his guitar & stop time, take your
breath away. Stunning. Then rock out with his incredible band CPR who are
due to release a new CD very soon. That cat has nine lives. Or maybe
nineteen. I admire him greatly for his sincere love of music. He visited our
local community college songwriting class & was brought to tears by some of
the heartfelt, though fledgling songwriters. When I saw him with his band
CPR, smiling & singing, he reminded me of a Buddha. Wise but still on fire.
Still young at heart. Still open.
Britney Spears-, my husbands' grandaughter (age 7) showed us photos her
neighbor took of Britney Spears when she recently visited their friends
house. Just Britney & a couple of girlfriends. She was so excited. I forgot
to ask why she was visiting, maybe just a girlfriend thing. No bodyguards in
sight that I could see. Kiley (grandaughter) & I watched Nsync on TV & she
whispered to me that she had a crush on one of them. I told her I kind of
had a crush on one of the other ones, but not to tell grampa.
You asked, "I'd sure like to know what happened to all those kids in the
documentary."
Well here is one who still believes in peace & love & the power of music!
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Kate Bennett
sponsored by Polysonics www.polysonics.com
hear the music at:
www.taylorguitars.com/artists/awp/indies/
www.katebennett.com
www.cdbaby.com/katebennett
www.amazon.com
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