In August, there was supposed to be a grand festival to commemorate the woodstock Festival, the most famous "summer of music" in rock history, 50 years ago.
But under the troubles of excessive budgets, non-negotiation of venues, unstable logistical security, and the successive withdrawals of big-name stars, the planners announced the cancellation of the plan.
The planner was Michael Lange, who 50 years ago, at the age of 26, and three young partners, ran the festival with the theme of "Love and Peace" under difficult circumstances.
"Only once has music saved the world, and that's Woodstock." Dickstein, author of The Gates of Eden, commented.
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > 4 young people decided to do big things</h1>
In fact, this festival does not live up to its name.
Woodstock is a small town in a river valley area of New York State, and in 1967, 26-year-old Bob Dylan moved there to "live in seclusion", which also attracted a number of other musicians.
At the end of the second year, Michael Lange followed because he admired Dylan. He had previously opened a hippie supply store and had some experience organizing music festivals.
Caulfield and Lange
Lange went to the record label to look for a job, and he and 25-year-old Artie Caulfield met. They considered opening a recording studio, and in order to raise money for the studio, they decided to put on a show first.
With the proposal in hand, they found two other young men: John Roberts, 26, from a wealthy merchant family, and Joel Rothman, the son of a famous dentist.
Roberts and Rothman
Roberts and Rothman originally wanted to write soap operas for television about young people's commercial adventures, but they wanted to experience it in reality first.
In this way, four young men decided to work together to do the big votes — four of them each holding 25 percent of the shares, in a company called": "Woodstock Adventure Program." ”
Michael Lange was at the festival's organizing scene
Although there are rich second generation investment pockets, they have too many difficulties to solve, each of which is enough for them to give up.
Because there is no fame, if you want to get the band agent to take care of it, you can only use money to smash it - they use high remuneration to get a few big names, and then use this chain to pry others.
The slogan they thought was good, "Happy weekend in the countryside, temporary autonomous village" — but the plan was most resented by the villagers.
Because Woodstock didn't have a large open space, they first negotiated an industrial vacant lot in Waukear, 50 kilometers away, but the local residents hated hippies and strongly opposed it.
At this time, tens of thousands of concert tickets had been booked, and the band would also demand huge compensation.
So they found a private farm, which was inaccessible, poorly equipped, and the rent was 10 times higher. But they can only accept it with a straight face.
Because the farm roads were muddy, Lange commuted on horseback during the alteration
In negotiations, the most common problems encountered by these young people were all kinds of doubts, so they were asked for cash or bank guarantee checks from all aspects.
One local official was kind, "I found that they didn't understand what they were doing. 50,000 men is equivalent to the number of a division in the army, and the corresponding logistics department is extremely large. ”
He did not expect that the actual number of people would have to add a "0".
Drive to the music festival. Photo by Ralph Ackerman
The festival is scheduled to start on August 15 and on Friday afternoon. But by Wednesday, about 50,000 people had camped nearby. Fences and ticket booths have not yet been installed to prevent so many people from entering. The organizers had to decide: the tickets were free.
That means they're going to lose money and there's going to be more people coming.
Young people who were stuck in the road played the piano and sang songs
By noon on Friday, nearly 500,000 people had gathered. Many more can't get in because of traffic jams.
The photo is called Towards Woodstock.
Photographer Barron Wolman said, "I wander through the crowds every day, take pictures... Somehow, I knew it was both a hope and an aberration. It also reminded him of Jonny Mitchell's song "Woodstock":
I'm going to try an' get my soul free I want to let my soul free We are stardust We are golden We shine and we've got to get ourselves We have to let ourselves back to the garden back to paradise
Despite all the flaws, it took only three weeks, more than three hundred hippies, to turn a farm into a music festival venue. Lange took the lead and encouraged them to "have love here" – but many people survived exhaustion and relied on psychedelics.
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > a brief utopia of 500,000 young people</h1>
The show was scheduled to start at 4 p.m., but multiple bands were still stuck in traffic.
The organizers had to let the folk singers temporarily take the stage, but the scene was fanatical and chaotic, and several singers instigated and refused to take the stage.
So, the first singer to save the scene, Richie Havens, sang on stage for three hours because no one replaced him. In the end, there was really no word, and I thought of a word and sang it:
"Freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom!"
As a result, the whole audience shouted out after him.
1969 Woodstock Documentary Clips_ Tencent Video
Some songs are not recorded in their entirety. In order to save money, the documentary filming team originally planned to shoot only famous bands, but after the order of appearance was messed up, they found that they could only react to the situation. However, they are very good at this from director to assistant.
Martin Scorsese, 27 (second from right), was filmed at Woodstock
Director Michael Wardley was 30 years old, and his assistant and editor, 3 years younger than him, named Martin Scorsese, would be one of Hollywood's most important directors in a few years.
The festival has 32 performing singers and bands, all of whom are important figures in the history of music. These include Joan Baez, guitar maestro Jimmy Hendricks, The Santana Choir, Who's Who, Janis Joplin, and more.
The Gate Band, which was unable to come, later said they regretted turning down the invitation.
Concert scene for young couples
The festival was originally scheduled for three days, but it was extended by another day because of the rain.
Fearing chaos, the mayor of New York warned to characterize the scene as a disaster zone and sent 10,000 police officers to maintain order.
Roberts persuaded the mayor and came up with a crucial idea: to hire the policemen for double the salary, on the condition that they choose —all the policemen who have a prejudice against hippies cannot participate.
As a result, in those days, some policemen forgot their duties and chased the girl everywhere.
Young people, on the other hand, seem to be in a utopia, and although they don't know each other, no one treats each other as strangers: "Whatever you want, as long as others have it, they will share it with you." ”
Every now and then someone will pass on a box of food: bread, bananas... No one will take more, so that others can eat it.
The photographer of this aerial photograph is Barry Levine.
After the plane landed, they ran to the pond and saw someone on the shore eager to try it. He and his companions took off their clothes and jumped into the water and jumped into the water – and the collective nude 'swimming' began.
"That's the symbol of Woostock — freedom. Men and women, naked, without fear or shame. Freedom to think and dare to do. No authoritative permission is required. Young people saw thousands of people like them. Maybe in their hometown, they feel like freaks, lonely and helpless. But in Woostock, they have created a community of peace, fraternity and mutual care. Levin recalled.
In some camps, this spirit of sharing also brought trouble – some people "generously" added psychedelic drugs to the drinking water of their camps, and everyone was high.
Ang Lee 'Making Woodstock Music Festival' Psychedelic Clip_Tencent Video
At the end of the festival, farmer Max Jacob said: "I have a feeling that they seem to be able to turn the problems and disasters in the United States today into hopes and expectations for a positive and beautiful future." ”
"Although the festival lasts only three days, it proves that people can get along as long as they want to. Sadly, 50 years from now, too many of us don't seem to want that mysterious and magical peaceful life. Today, people often show that they would rather hate than love, would rather be violent than peaceful, and even their music presents an attitude of despair about the future. Photographer Barron Wolman said.
Photo by Tom Miner
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > "people are stripped naked."</h1>
<h1 class="ql-align-justify">
And there are people swimming naked in the lake,
</h1>
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > really don't you want to see it? ”</h1>
The festival attracted many photographers. Among them, Yuzli refused newsweek's commission to come on his own,—— he wanted to decide where to turn the camera on himself, without being led by the magazine's instructions.
Yuzli set up his tent nearby by the river and had planned to go back in the evening after watching the show, but when he came in, he couldn't get out again.
He had only half a dozen black and white rolls on his body and had to press the shutter very carefully. Later, the people on the hillside went completely crazy, and he couldn't shoot himself, so he went to find other peers.
"I kept running to the stage and telling other photographers what was going on on the hillside, 'People are stripped naked, and people are swimming naked in the lake, don't you really want to see it?'" But they told me they couldn't leave. The magazine asked them to photograph every performer. Yuzli borrowed some colored film from them.
Early Sunday morning, the sun rises and the singing of the Jefferson Aircraft Choir is heard in the distance. Two young men stood up and hugged. The man was wrapped in a blanket stained with mud, and the girl rested her head on his shoulder. Behind them were young men roaming the mountains. Yuzli immediately photographed it. It was through borrowed film that Yuzli took one of his most famous photographs.
Photographer Yuzli said, "When people choose the most important photographs of the last century, this photo of mine is always nominated. I know that when I die, it will also appear in my obituary, although my other pictures are also very good. ”
Later, the photo was published in New York magazine and was picked up by those who made concert albums and documentaries: "On album covers, usually only singers appear. But then everyone realized that it was the audience that made the festival great, not the music, not the stars. ”
Woodstock Festival live album.
The freeze-frame image has also become an iconic memory for generations of rock fans, but who are the couples in the picture?
It wasn't until 20 years later that I learned that their names were Nick and Bobby.
In 1969, both Nick and Bobby were 20 years old. Bobby is a bank clerk and Nick is a college student who met in a bar and later started dating. At the time of the Woodstock Festival, the two had been dating for just 10 weeks.
Nick and Bobby when they were young.
Nick said he chose to work in a bar so he could get to know the girl: "One day, a waiter brought a beautiful blonde and said to me, 'This is my girlfriend, you help me take care of the spot.'" That girl was Bobby. After that, Bobby followed her boyfriend to the bar every night and would chat with Nick. A few months later, Bobby and the waiter fell out, and Nick seized the opportunity to invite Bobby to pizza and a movie, and the two began dating.
<h1 class="ql-align-center" > "We were 20 years old</h1>
<h1 class="ql-align-center" > others do not let them do what they want to do. ”</h1>
At first, Nick and Bobby had no plans to go to a music festival. They saw the TV saying that there was a big traffic jam in Woodstock, "and we got excited at once." ”
Nick recalls that impulsive decision: "The TV set said, 'If you're going to come to Woodstock, stay home, don't come.' 'How can we possibly listen?' We were 20 years old, and if others didn't let us do anything, we wanted to do something. ”
Early the next morning, a group of young men stuffed their station wagon with wine and set off. The car was forced to stop 5 miles away, hitch a ride in a van packed with naked hippies, and then get out of the car and walk.
"Thousands of people are moving in the same direction. People carry guitars and sleeping bags, and along the way are discarded things — the blanket in the photo is what we picked up. Bobby recalled.
They settled down on a nearby hillside, where they could not see the stage, but could hear the singing. The band's performance was engraved in Nick's mind. But Bobby says we're the protagonists of that event.
"I don't have music in my memory," she said, "I just remember myself surrounded by a sea of people, and there was little commotion everywhere." ”
Now Nick and Bobby, they're still together, and there's a sign on the railing of their house: "Hippies use backdoor."
Bobby recalls: "I still vividly remember the atmosphere: the sky was orange in the light, and the smoke was hazy. Everywhere you looked, there was steam, mixed with the smoke of campfires, the smoke of marijuana burning, and the evaporating sweat. There are all kinds of sounds in the air: the shouts of young people, the cries of children, the sound of guitars, banjos, tambourines, people singing their own songs regardless of the stage. ”
When they saw the festival album from a friend, neither Nick nor Bobby realized that it was himself in the photo, and looked at the blanket carefully before remembering.
At that time, Bobby's first reaction was not to become famous, but: "It's over, this is going to be discovered by my mother." ”
2 years after the festival, Nick and Bobby got married.
Two years after the festival, they got married, had 2 sons, and then 4 grandchildren.
Now they volunteer at the local museum. This summer, the museum hosts an exhibition to commemorate Woodstock's 50th anniversary. At the exhibition, they met John Fogetti, who had performed on stage that year. Ferguerty invited them to his memorial show, but they politely refused: "I'm sorry, our granddaughter is going to have a birthday." ”
In 1989, Life magazine ran an ad soliciting stories from those present at the Woodstock Festival.
Bobby signed up, and then the magazine sent a reporter to interview him. When people learned that they were the couple on the cover, Nick and Bobby's lives changed a little: "We went on the History Channel, appeared on major news stations, and were invited to share sessions. ”
Whenever the festival is commemorated, the media will come to them to pose for the cover of the year. The two were also happy to cooperate. Speaking about the secret of marriage for a long time, Bobby said: "Don't get angry. People don't grow at the same rate, you have to be patient and wait for the other half. ”
Nick and Bobby never considered themselves hippies: "Some people may be disappointed, but we're just ordinary people in small towns." ”
Nick said his goal in life is to be able to dance with his little granddaughter at her wedding, accompanied by Bobby.
Anti-war poster for the Woodstock Festival
Still, Nick misses the feeling of young people coming together without barriers, many of them anti-war youth. That feeling gave them hope for the future.
But now, they don't have the optimism of their youth: "It looks like we haven't learned any lessons, and we're still fighting." ”
Nick and Bobby were at home.
Bobby said, "That picture captures what our love looked like when it began. It's a luxury to share such memories with someone you've loved for 50 years. ”
Nick said he later learned that there had been collectors who had gone around looking for their blanket and bid $30,000. "We'd love to donate it, but it's gone."
Bobby said that when there are so many bad things in the world, Woodstock is like a light, a rare comfort.
<h1 class="ql-align-center" > these people in a romantic way</h1>
<h1 class="ql-align-center" >hudding your inner child."</h1>
The Woodstock Festival ended up losing $2 million, a huge sum of money at the time, with Roberts' wealthy businessman father helping to pay the bill;
The four young men then parted ways and went to court many times in order to compete for the right to use the name "Woodstock"; and the "Woodstock generation", many of whom will later become the company owners they once hated, wall Street elites, and even politicians...
There are also young people who, after leaving Woodstock, decide to live with love.
There was a man named Abby who also went to the scene that year: "At that time, we had very little desire. As long as we have a pair of jeans and a bunch of good friends, we are happy, the brand does not matter at all. I feel like I grew up in my best years. It helped me to be a loving person. ”
Ang Lee's "Making Woodstock" also has a saying in the original: "It may not have changed the world, but it has changed my life tremendously." ”
This photo was taken by Elliot Randy.
He said he liked the state of the girl in the photo, "in a situation like this, she wasn't objectified or sexified." She is free to show her feminine side without worrying about what will affect others or what others think. She was almost caressing the blue balloon. Both feminine and childlike, that's how I feel about Woodstock in general. This is probably one of the most important "teachings" in '60s culture – being like a child, curious about everything, full of trust. ”
Time is always merciless, reality is always complex, and no one can avoid it.
But the more strife the times, the more Woodstock has its significance—because it shattered countless doubts, and it did exist, even for three days; it made many young people realize that they can have freedom with their bare hands, and that fun and loving is called life, and maybe they will live with more laughter later, and maybe the later life will be trapped by identity and responsibility, but in short, in the scene of 1969, they know that there are many possibilities in this world.
As Jonny Mitchell sang in Woodstock, "I'm going to camp on this land, I'm going to try to set my soul free." ”
Text: Buck Zhang Guangyu Assists: Yo-Yo JOY
Key References:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-woodstock-moment-40-years-later-33569550/
https://time.com/5644827/woodstock-photo-couple/
http://www.hvmag.com/Hudson-Valley-Magazine/August-2017/The-Couple-From-The-Iconic-Woodstock-Album-Cover/
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/hudson-valley/news/2019/08/16/woodstock-50-iconic-album-cover
https://www.aarp.org/politics-society/history/info-2019/woodstock-album-cover-couple.html
https://vintagenewsdaily.com/fascinating-story-of-nick-and-bobbi-ercoline-the-couple-in-the-iconic-woodstock-album-cover-are-still-together-50-years-later/
https://time.com/5650211/woodstock-photographers-recall-favorite-photos/
Yuan Yue, "Rebellion from the People"
The image comes from the Internet and the copyright belongs to the original author
The summer of music 50 years ago, the protagonists were 500,000 young people, and that hug
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