Recalling Woodstock Music Fest And The Bands Of Fillmore East

This summer marks the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair held in upstate New York and the Old Timer wonders how many of our readers may have some kind of remembrance regarding this historic event.

Certainly, for anyone who was there, for even part of what had been billed as "Three Days of Peace and Music"—but lasted into a fourth day—the memories are special.

The Old Timer recalls a conversation a number of years ago with Arthur Storch, who, at the time, was the police captain at the 106th Precinct in Ozone Park. During the course of the conversation, somehow the subject of Woodstock came up and the police commander beamed from behind his desk.

"Not only was I there—I'm in the movie!" he said, proudly.

Arthur Storch meant the Academy Award-winning 1970 documentary film, Woodstock (a young Martin Scorcese was among those who worked on the movie). As Storch was quick to point out, he is clearly visible during the performance by Country Joe McDonald.

No wonder he was proud; he had been part of something worth talking about even now, 40 years later.

Janis Joplin was a member of the San Francisco rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company when the group performed on opening night of the Fillmore East in 1968. The following year, Joplin was among the rock legends who appeared at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair. Note that the photo used in the souvenir card pictured above was taken by Linda Eastman, the future wife of Paul Mc- Cartney. Today, it's not uncommon for followers of a sports team to refer to themselves as members of a "nation" (it gained popularity after the Boston Red Sox won the 2004 World Series and their fans were refered to as "Red Sox Nation").

But for those like Arthur Storch, who were among the more than 400,000 people (attendance estimates have varied wildly) at the 1969 music festival, the practice began with the coining of "Woodstock Nation" that summer in 1969.

A song, "Woodstock," written by Joni Mitchell, became a hit record for Crosby, Stills and Nash, one of the bands that performed at the festival.

Noel Redding, bassist for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, is shown during the group's appearance at the Fillmore East on May 10, 1968. However, Redding was not part of the reconstituted band that Hendrix brought to close the Woodstock music festival in 1969. (photo: Bill Mitchell) We wonder how well it might have worked if the song had been named for the actual location. Dairy farmer Max Yasgur's land—the site of the festival—was located in Bethel in Sullivan County; quite a distance from the village of Woodstock.

The original site selected by the organizers was an industrial park in Walkill in Orange County. But the resistance of nearby residents became so fierce that local officials ultimately nixed the plan.

As for the festival organizers, they were four young men, all in their twenties, who included Artie Kornfeld, Michael Lang, Joel Rosenman and John Roberts. They called themselves Woodstock Ventures.

According to accounts that have been given over the years, at least two of the four reportedly were drawn to the idea of establishing a first-rate recording studio in Woodstock, where an increasing number of musicians—most notably, Bob Dylan—had settled. It was decided that a rock concert would be held and the profits would be used to finance a recording studio to accommodate the likes of Dylan, Tim Hardin and others who had moved to Woodstock.

Ironically, for all the famous—in some cases, legendary—performers who took the stage at the festival, Dylan was not one of them, despite the fact that rumors maintaining he would appear at some point persisted until the end.

Of those who did appear, if one could be regarded as the headliner, it was guitarist Jimi Hendrix, who closed the event. He was there with a newly-constituted band he called "Gypsy Sun and Rainbows." While it included Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell, that trio's bassist, Noel Redding, had been replaced by Billy Cox, who was an old friend of Hendrix.

But the band whose signing was viewed as a turning point in the organizing of the festival was Jefferson Airplane. They were the first major band to agree to terms and sign a contract to appear at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair.

Stars of their day

Like Hendrix, CS&N, Country Joe McDonald and so many others who appeared at the Woodstock festival, the Jefferson Airplane performed at Bill Graham's Fillmore East in Manhattan.

Formerly known as the Village Theatre, the Fillmore East was located at Second Avenue and 6th Street.

As intended, it became the East Coast version of the Fillmore in San Francisco, the former ballroom where promoter Bill Graham exposed audiences to bands and solo performers he thought they should hear.

Similarly, at the Fillmore East, the acts ranged from Led Zepellin to the big band sound of Woody Herman, presented against the psychedeliic background provided by the Joshua Light Show. Of course, since Graham was closely associated with the bands in San Francisco, it figured that he would introduce New Yorkers to the Jefferson Airplane and others.

The Old Timer was in the audience on Mar. 8, 1968, when Graham opened the place with a show headlined by Big Brother and the Holding Company, fronted by Janis Joplin.

This was months before the release of the band's Cheap Thrills album on the Columbia record label. As a result, the people who were familiar with the group strictly through its recording work only knew the cuts from its album on the Mainstream label—a record that failed to capture Big Brother's raw sound.

But after Bill Graham introduced them on opening night, Joplin and the band gave the New York crowd an electrifying performance. It was all that Graham could have hoped for— and more—on opening night.

The show also gave the audience a live sampling of the sound it could look forward to hearing on Cheap Thrills, although it would be the last album recorded by Big Brother and the Holding Company with Joplin on vocals.

Near the end of 1968, Janis Joplin —joined by Big Brother guitarist Sam Andrew—left to form a new group, which would become known as the Kosmic Blues Band. As for Big Brother, the group continued to play and Sam Andrew later rejoined them.

Woodstock memories

The Old Timer also has memories of the Woodstock festival, though he did not stay for the duration.

The first was the concern over not having bought tickets in advance. As it turned out, by the time that the Old Timer and his friends arrived on Friday— the first day—the fencing had already been knocked down to permit a better flow of people entering the festival grounds.

There was no one collecting tickets, so anyone who had bought one in advance was holding nothing more than a souvenir.

Also, by the time that the Old Timer and his friends entered, there was no food available for purchase. After some discussion, it was decided that the only thing to do was to walk back to the car—parked about eight miles away—to retrieve a bottle of wine and a box of Slim Jims that had been left in the trunk.

The Old Timer and his friends walked a total of 16 miles for one beef stick each and the sharing of some cheap red wine. But after all was said and done, we were glad to have it.

The Old Timer had never heard folksinger Tim Hardin in performance but wanted to and in this respect, got more than he could have imagined. On Friday, Hardin seemingly sang forever. Today, the people who remember him probably do so by recalling that he wrote the songs "If I Were a Carpenter" and "Reason to Believe." But the Old Timer's personal favorite Hardin composition is "The Lady Came from Baltimore." Like too many of the performers at Woodstock, Tim Hardin would die young. He was 39 when he passed due to alleged drug use.

Creedence Clearwater Revival did not play on Friday night (they performed on Saturday), but if they had, "Who Will Stop the Rain" would have been an ideal choice. The Old Timer's sleeping bag was no match for that night's downpour.

Joan Baez sounded angelic. She was several months pregnant and to this day, the Old Timer cannot imagine a sweeter voice to sing him to sleep.

Unfortunately, when we awoke the next morning, those of us without heavy-duty sleeping bags were soaked to the skin. It wasn't a pretty sight, as we would learn.

Some cashed in

Later, we trudged back to the car in an effort to get some things in the nearest town. On the way to the car, we passed local residents who were outside their houses, cashing in by selling brief drinks from a hose. It was the first time that the Old Timer had seen anyone pay for a drink of water.

With dreams of food dancing in our heads, we finally found a diner. People whom we guessed were locals were inside, seated at the counter. We could see that they were sipping coffee and eating eggs or sandwiches. By all appearances, the place was open for business, but the door was locked and no one would get up to open it. The people who worked there had glimpsed enough to know that we were from the music festival— and that was all they needed to know.

As we turned away—hungry, thirsty and crusted with mud—some folks who undoubtedly lived in the area went to the door, which opened just long enough for them to enter.

The message was clear: No hippies served here.

That was the final straw for the driver in the group. The next thing the Old Timer knew, he and his friends were in the car once again, heading back to the city and listening to the news reports on the radio about closed roads and crowd numbers beyond belief.

Old Timer's note—If you have any remembrances or comments that you would like to share with our readers, write to the Old Timer, c/o Times Newsweekly, P.O. Box 860299, Ridgewood, NY 11386-0299.

To send a submission via e-mail, our e-mail address is Old Timer@timesnewsweekly.com.