10 Things You Didn’t Know About Woodstock
Posted on | September 7, 2009 | No Comments
This summer marked the 40th anniversary of the ultra-famous Woodstock festival, celebrating peace, love and music. Most of us have a general idea of the event, but here are 10 interesting tidbits you might not have known.
1. The festival, created as a fundraiser for a recording studio in the town of Woodstock, was to be held in Wallkill, but residents blocked the plans and in the end a dairy farmer named Max Yasgur offered his alfalfa field in Bethel. He was compensated $75,000.
2. Festival organizers told the authorities they sold 50,000 tickets, when they actually sold 186,000 and expected 200,000 people. In the end, 500,000 people attended.
3. Ticket booths were set up but abandoned on the first day due to the size of the crowd, and Woodstock was declared a free event. It took organizers 10 years to recoup their losses, which they did so with audio and video rights and royalties.
4. Jimi Hendrix, whose version of Star Spangled Banner famously closed Woodstock, went on at 9am on Monday morning, playing to a fraction of the crowd, as most had gone home.
5. Joni Mitchell’s song Woodstock, was written from stories she heard from her then boyfriend Graham Nash, as she never made it to the event. Booked by her manager for the Dick Cavett show, she watched the festival on TV, tears streaming down her face.
6. John Lennon, who wanted to be a part of the festival, was refused an entry visa into the US.
7. As the Food For Love concession stand started running low on burgers, they raised their prices from 25 cents to $1. The crowd, unapproving of this capitalistic move, burned the shack down.
8. Ironically, the anti-war event could have had a tragic outcome had not the Army airlifted in food, medical teams and performers. The crowd was told “They are with us man, not against us.”
9. Though accounts and numbers vary, there were indeed, babies born at Woodstock.
10. Roy Rogers was asked to close the event with his trademark song Happy Trails to You, but the idea was vetoed by his manager. Years later he said “I would have been booed off the stage by those goddamn hippies.”
The Woodstock 40th Anniversary dvd and cd boxset are available through your independent retailer or:
Buy the DVD now
Buy the CD boxset now
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