Over the years, when I have been up against a stressful appearance of some kind, I have often taken comfort in the memory of Country Joe facing several hundred thousand people at Woodstock and saying, "Hey Man! I'm scared shitless!" or something like that. In fact, I have often told the story to sooth friends and family who find themselves coming up against something similar.
Here we are, some forty years later and I am watching a YouTube video of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young during Woodstock. Sure enough, it turns out that it was Stephen Stills who said it! It figures as CSN&Y had only one public session together before that performance and it was the largest crowd they would ever see.
I like it when we are referred to as the "Woodstock Generation"... that rings a lot better with me than "Baby Boomer". But then, our generation has stubbed it's toe pretty well on some pretty big deals... such as Iraq and such as the Recession...so I am not sure either moniker will go down in history as ringing well with anyone. Anyway, in setting aside those monumental muck ups for minute I can enjoy what the sounds of Woodstock meant to us and still means to this day.
Peace, love, understanding, tolerance and thoughtfulness are just a few of the attributes displayed en masse at that event. So, when you get a chance, pause for a moment to reflect on the pure joy of Woodstock. Check out this amazing video by Santana and note the great performance of his drummer, Michael Shrieve. Michael was only 19 at the time. Michael lives up in the Seattle area now and his band appears every Monday night in the Fremont district. What a dream for him and those who listened on that day!
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