Proximity - I was far away in California and just a little too young for my parents to allow me the freedom to cross the country without them, but I am not sure I would have gone anyway. If I had heard, as many did, that the roads were packed and it was impossible to get through, I doubt I would have tried. I may have been in that generation, but I didn't share the need to congregate in large numbers. To me that was Lemming, not Communal, behavior. My loss as it turns out, although I've seen enough of the festival on film that I almost feel 'muddy'. As noted in the documentary many who've seen the film actually think they were present on Yasgur's Farm. It's true, my filmic memories are almost real, and that's appropriate for the first generation raised on TV. I still share, though, with most of my brother and sister children of the 60s, that nagging feeling that I should have been there, at the one time that young humans proved in mass they could do something better than their parents, than the 'establishment'.
Genius - It's easy to get carried away as a fan and think your particular musical 'God' is the highest of the high. Time usually rips the rosy scales off eyes and restores critical balance. Not so when it comes to Jimi Hendrix. If anything, the talent shining forth on that last Woodstock day is even more astounding when viewed today. Has anyone ever played a guitar with such integration of hand and wood, of strings and heart?
Age - We are all deniers of death and the growing weight of years. The 'Woodstock' Generation has taken this to great heights, avidly seeking the services of plastic surgeons and fitness gurus to rage against the dying of the light. Interesting then, to see how many of the particulars of the Woodstock saga have faired. Some have aged into a different look entirely, with just a family resemblance to their younger selves. Others look familiar, only ravaged a bit. A few look eerily identical, with just a gray hair here and a jowl there to give away the game. Of course, many have passed on, some early from pursuit of the Aquarian pleasures of the time, most from all the common and tragic ills and risks that beset us. I know that watching the documentary took me back to that Drive-In at which I first saw the original film. To the time I saw Alvin Lee 40 feet high, fingers blazing and singing about 'Goin' Home'. It connected me to my young self, yet reinforced the gulf of time.
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