On this date in 1969, the Woodstock Festival began in Bethel, New York. 10 things you might not know about it:
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It was nearly held at another venue, Howard Mills Industrial Park in Wallkill, near Middletown, New York. However, the locals weren’t keen on having crowds of people turning up on their doorsteps, and started a campaign to stop it from happening. They succeeded, a month before the event was due to start, by refusing a permit on the grounds there would be inadequate Toilet facilities.
A dairy farmer in Bethel, named Max Yasgur, came to the rescue, offering his 600-acre dairy farm for a fee of $50,000. Even though he was middle-aged and not the kind of person you’d expect to be into the idea, he was fully in favour of young Music lovers having that experience. He even came out to give a speech welcoming the crowd and is is said to have received a standing ovation. As this was a working dairy farm, there were a lot of Cows around. Confining them to a corral proved too problematic and so the cows were allowed to mingle with the audience.
The first song performed was From the Prison by Richie Havens, although he wasn’t meant to be the opening act. That was supposed to be a band called Sweetwater, but they were held up in traffic and didn’t make it in time. The band was airlifted to the grounds by Helicopter so they could go on second. The final song was Star Spangled Banner performed by Jimi Hendrix, although if you choose not to include the national anthem as part of the proceedings the final song was an encore of Hey Joe.
Hendrix performed at 9am on Monday morning, because of a clause that said no act could follow him. He was the most expensive act, paid $18,000 (roughly $125,000 in 2019 money).
At least 400,000 people attended, and three quarters of them never bought a ticket. Woodstock wasn’t meant to be a free event. A day’s admission was $7 and the fee for attending the whole thing was $18. 100,000 tickets were been pre-sold, but so many people showed up that it proved logistically impossible to check tickets, especially as many showed up before the fences and ticket booths had been put up. The organisers merely said, “what the heck” and let people in for free. Hence the whole thing made a loss. Woodstock cost an estimated $3 million to fund, but turned only a $1.8 million profit. It took the organisers years to pay off the debts incurred.
While there are tales of numerous babies being born at the festival, there’s no documented evidence that anyone can claim it as their birthplace. There were, however, three deaths – two from drug overdoses and one unfortunate guy who was run over by a tractor while sleeping in a field.
Yes, there were drugs. Local police gave up on any efforts to arrest people for marijuana possession, as one police officer at the time said, there "wouldn't be enough space in Sullivan County, or the next three counties, to put them in." Emergency medical staff had their work cut out dealing with people having bad trips, but there was virtually no violence. On the whole, the audience was surprisingly well behaved and those using the local telephone operator to make calls home always said thank you for the service.
Talking of phones, there were no mobile phones back then. You couldn’t just call your mates to find out where they were if you lost them. Hence there were public service announcements between each act, made by a member of the production staff named Edward "Chip" Monck. His announcements were mostly about lost children and telling people where their friends were with their vital medication, and also warning the crowd about bad drugs that were doing the rounds.
During the festival, the food ran out. The organisers had underestimated the logistics of feeding so many people, especially thanks to all of the unexpected, non-paying attendees. They had to hire helicopters to fly in food and water while volunteers from a nearby Jewish community centre made and distributed thousands of Sandwiches. Even the US Army were used to airlift food, water and medical supplies. The crowd were, of course, mainly pacifists who opposed the Vietnam war. A concession stand attempted to take advantage of the food shortage and raised their prices from $0.25 to $1 for a Hamburger. It was burnt down by hangry festival goers.
The farm where the festival took place is now a centre for the arts, called the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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