“Fifteen years ago, the cultural critic Greil Marcus wrote of Jimi's performance of our national anthem as "his great NO to the war, to racism, to whatever you or he might think of and want gone. But then that discord shattered, and for more than four and a half long, complex minutes Hendrix pursued each invisible crack in a vessel that had once been whole, feeling out and exploring and testing himself and his music against anguish, rage, fear, hate, love offered, and love refused. When he finished, he had created an anthem that could never be summed up and that would never come to rest. In the end it was a great YES, both a threat and a beckoning, an invitation to America to match its danger, glamour, and freedom." … In late 1969, Jimi Hendrix wrote a poem celebrating Woodstock, saying with words what his music had in August: "500,000 halos outshined the mud and history. We washed and drank in God's tears of joy. And for once, and for everyone, the truth was not still a mystery.” MusicAnthemRockWoodstockNational AnthemJimi Hendrix Book:The Road to Woodstock Source: The Road to Woodstock
“This is the way to hear music, I think, surrounded by rolling hills and farmlands, under a big sky.” ThinkingWayBigsSkyHillsRollingFarmlandRolling Hills Author:Michael Lang
“The Boston Globe: The Woodstock Music and Art Festival will surely go down in history as a mass event of great and positive significance in the life of the country ... That this many young people could assemble so peaceably and with such good humor in a mile-square area ... speaks volumes about their dedication to the ideal of respect for the dignity of the individual ... In a nation beset with a crescendo of violence, this is a vibrantly hopeful sign. If violence is infectious, so, happily, is nonviolence.” PeopleIfsArtCountryYoungIndividualSpeakNationsViolenceEventsMassAreasIdealsDignityMilesHopefulSignificanceSquaresDedicationNonviolenceVolumeGlobesBostonFestivalsGood HumorWoodstockCrescendo Author:Michael Lang
“On Max Yasgur’s six hundred acres, everyone dropped their defenses and became a huge extended family. Joining together, getting into the music and each other, being part of so many people when calamity struck — the traffic jams, the rainstorms — was a life-changing experience. None of the problems damaged our spirit. In fact, they drew us closer. We recognized one another for what we were at the core, as brothers and sisters, and we embraced one another in that knowledge.” PeopleFactsProblemTogetherSpiritBrotherHugeSixHundredDefenseCoreLife ChangingTrafficBrothers And SistersCalamityJamMaxJoiningAcresExtended FamilyTraffic JamRainstormsLife Changing ExperienceJoining Together Book:The Road to Woodstock Source: The Road to Woodstock
