Woodstock '89
Back to the garden: Crowd gathers at original site to recapture past
08/19/1989
BETHEL, N.Y. -- Twenty years ago, a half-million people came here hoping to relax, mingle with kindred souls and sleep under the stars to the beat of rock and folk music.
That peaceful rock-and-roll retreat in the Catskills, starting spontaneously and slowly and building during the week, is finally happening here as a steady stream of vans and campers turns Max Yasgur's farm into a pleasantly crowded rural neighborhood with live music 18 hours a day.
Meanwhile, promoters of a $30-a-day Woodstock Remembered concert at a nearby resort are begging campers to come to their bash for free, but there are few takers.
Woodstock '89 lacks big-name bands and official permits, but traffic was backed up several miles last night on Route 17B approaching Bethel as about 20,000 joined the 10,000 already camped there for performances by local bands and by the performers who have finished their sets at the Imperial Hotel in nearby Swan Lake.
Wavy Gravy, Dave Mesengill, Willie Ninninger, the Bird Tribe, Woodstock All-Stars, as well as dozens of lesser-known bands lined up for a chance to play Woodstock.
Yesterday afternoon, Jimi Hendrix's father, Al, said a few words to an appreciative crowd. Melanie was expected to come to Woodstock after playing the Imperial, and Jorma Kaukonnen of the Jefferson Airplane, who lives in West Hurley, N.Y., is reportedly coming back to play again, 20 years later.
The music began Sunday, when Rich Pell of Pine Lake, N.Y., a kindergarten teacher, started playing acoustic folk guitar near the Woodstock monument, a relief of the festival logo of a bird on a guitar neck located near a crossroads at the highest point in the triangular pasture.
Another musician who had come to Woodstock, William Hoppey, 36, of Port Jervis, N.Y., had a sound system in his truck and amplified Pell's guitar. Someone brought lumber to build a makeshift stage. Others arrived bearing lights, microphones and microphone stands, and enough speakers to erect a 12-foot stack.
All week, musicians signed up for slots that ranged from 5 to 15 minutes, at the discretion of Pell and Hoppey, who by now are considered the de facto producers of Woodstock '89.
"Anybody who wants to can play. Everybody's included," said Pell. "This started with one folk guitar and spontaneously grew. It's about a spirit that's still here."
One of the higlights of the week was a first-rate performance Wednesday night of the "Star Spangled Banner" on cello during the lunar eclipse by an unidentified musician.
Shortly before 5 p.m. yesterday, Bruce Taylor, producer of Woodstock Remembered, took to the Woodstock stage to offer free tickets and a bus ride to the Imperial and back. A similar offer Thursday - $5 for a ticket - brought four sales.
"No way; bring 'em here," someone shouted from the crowd.
"Look, we tried, but only the hotel has the permit," said Taylor.
Attendance at the Imperial was 250 Thursday night and 400 last night.
Meanwhile, about 10,000 camped in relative comfort at Bethel in the field of timothy and alfalfa, relaxing around campsites in the clear, comfortable August weather.
Away from the stage, dozens of private parties went on, some drowning out the stage with the soundtrack of the original concert. Food was being sold and given away, a 60,000-gallon tank-truck dispensed water, eight Portajohns were in use. Well-equipped campers representing several generations enjoyed the luxury of firewood, lights, coolers, stoves and ice as they freely shared food, beer and camaraderie.
There seemed to be considerably fewer drugs consumed than during the original festival, although this is still a place where marijuana can be safely smoked. Police are friendly and scarce. Alcohol is more common.
Although some reported having taken LSD and hallucinogenic mushrooms, no cocaine use was in evidence. Several performers made anticocaine and pro-marijuana speeches from the stage.
About 11 p.m. Thursday, Pell announced from the stage, "It's happening. Since nobody went there, they're coming here."
The Woodstock All-Star Band from Woodstock, N.Y., took the stage and announced, "We were playing the so-called big concert, but nobody came, and a photographer from Minneapolis said, 'You should be at Bethel. That's where the audience is.' "
Kopu, an aborigine who says his Australian tribe converses with dolphins, led the crowd in the "Hummingbird Chant," about three minutes of "AAAAHHhhhhhhhh. . .," followed by a group shout of "The best is yet to come."
Charlie Gelish, one of the current owners of the land that's still known as Max Yasgur's farm, beamed and offered his autograph. "It's a happening, man," he said. "None of this was planned."
But his wife, Debbie, said, "This is not a happening. We want to have a real happening in the future, but this is just to show the town of Bethel it can happen without trouble."
Wavy Gravy said he has been suggesting a gathering that would re-create a Woodstock and be called Goodstock.
"Every performer has a favorite cause, and we could do it for all of them," he said. "Woodstock will be 21 next year. The hook is that, at 21, you'd be responsible."
Although officially nothing is happening, members of the sheriff's department are directing traffic, and a medical tent has been set up and staffed by Bethel rescue personnel.
Thursday afternoon, a stage announcement reported that a woman named Karen was in labor and had been taken by ambulance to a local hospital. About 11 p.m., it was announced that she had given birth and named the child Jacqueline. Stage announcements centered on lost children and dogs. One asked the score of the second Mets game. There was apparently no bad acid.
Meeting lost relatives at the monument, which was said to be sinking, was popular. A woman passed a hat through the crowd, collecting for the sculpture's restoration and the addition of an arch.
A U.S. flag flies from a cut sapling behind it, and a 5-foot-high peace sign, made of twigs, rises from it. Bouquets wilt at its base, and a piece of faded denim, the remains of someone's Woodstock jeans, droops over the granite.
Sgt. R. Ward of the Sullivan County Sheriff's Department, said the concert had been peaceful, except for one drug arrest and an intoxicated man who smashed the windshield of a van and fled into the woods, where he was arrested.
Teyarra Merriweather, 40, of Bethel, came to the Woodstock concert 2 2years ago as a migrant farm worker. He owns a farm nearby.
"I expected more violence," he said from his campsite on the hill. "I was worried about people trashing my farm, but the spirit is very much the way it was 20 years ago, so I brought my kids back here."
