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1
00:00:02,203 --> 00:00:04,972
(logo whooshing)
2
00:00:38,038 --> 00:00:40,217
- What happened at
White Lake this weekend
3
00:00:40,241 --> 00:00:42,786
may have been more than
an uncontrolled outpouring
4
00:00:42,810 --> 00:00:46,356
of hip young people struggling,
as they did, to survive,
5
00:00:46,380 --> 00:00:50,160
first the 20-mile traffic
jams and five-mile hikes,
6
00:00:50,184 --> 00:00:52,562
then the intense
heat and sudden rain,
7
00:00:52,586 --> 00:00:56,032
the thirst and hunger from the
shortage of water and food,
8
00:00:56,056 --> 00:00:59,269
just for the opportunity to
spend a few days in the country
9
00:00:59,293 --> 00:01:02,739
getting stoned on their drugs
and grooving on the music.
10
00:01:02,763 --> 00:01:05,866
(helicopter humming)
11
00:01:07,968 --> 00:01:12,482
- [Richie] 100 million
songs gonna be sung tonight.
12
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All of them are gonna be
singing about the same thing,
13
00:01:16,009 --> 00:01:19,813
but I hope everybody who
came came to hear, really,
14
00:01:21,182 --> 00:01:25,061
and it's all about
you, actually, and me,
15
00:01:25,085 --> 00:01:27,364
and everybody around the stage,
16
00:01:27,388 --> 00:01:29,599
and everybody that
hasn't gotten here,
17
00:01:29,623 --> 00:01:32,260
and the people who are gonna
read about you tomorrow.
18
00:01:33,327 --> 00:01:36,673
Yes, (audience applauding)
19
00:01:36,697 --> 00:01:38,466
and how really groovy you were.
20
00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:40,445
- So there we are.
21
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We have a stage.
22
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We have microphones.
23
00:01:43,036 --> 00:01:44,281
We have a sound system.
24
00:01:44,305 --> 00:01:45,873
But we don't have
any performers.
25
00:01:48,075 --> 00:01:50,920
Every now and then
we'd spot one, (laughs)
26
00:01:50,944 --> 00:01:53,123
and someone would go off
and round this guy up,
27
00:01:53,147 --> 00:01:54,090
and he'd come up on.
28
00:01:54,114 --> 00:01:55,059
That's how Richie showed.
29
00:01:55,083 --> 00:01:56,326
That's how Richie played.
30
00:01:56,350 --> 00:01:58,295
Richie was supposed to
play in the evening.
31
00:01:58,319 --> 00:02:00,130
- I knew for a
fact, immediately,
32
00:02:00,154 --> 00:02:03,133
Tim Hardin wasn't
going on first, period,
33
00:02:03,157 --> 00:02:06,703
and I was supposed to
be fifth on the bill.
34
00:02:06,727 --> 00:02:08,205
It dawned on me
35
00:02:08,229 --> 00:02:13,033
that there wasn't anybody
else there to go on but me,
36
00:02:14,168 --> 00:02:15,812
and they started
to come at me like,
37
00:02:15,836 --> 00:02:17,647
"Richie, would you go on?"
38
00:02:17,671 --> 00:02:22,286
I'm saying to myself, "Oh no,
39
00:02:22,310 --> 00:02:24,854
"this thing is about two
hours and 15 minutes late,
40
00:02:24,878 --> 00:02:27,090
"and people are gonna
throw beer cans at me,"
41
00:02:27,114 --> 00:02:29,293
and I'm freaking out. (laughs)
42
00:02:29,317 --> 00:02:32,329
So, all of a sudden
Michael's there,
43
00:02:32,353 --> 00:02:34,898
"Please, Richie, please,"
44
00:02:34,922 --> 00:02:36,766
so I went up on the stage,
45
00:02:36,790 --> 00:02:40,170
and the minute I got up
there I knew that it was okay
46
00:02:40,194 --> 00:02:42,739
because they wanted
something to happen, period,
47
00:02:42,763 --> 00:02:44,241
you know what I mean,
48
00:02:44,265 --> 00:02:46,876
and it was wonderful to
start off and do the set,
49
00:02:46,900 --> 00:02:48,445
and two hours and
something later
50
00:02:48,469 --> 00:02:50,614
I start walking off the stage,
51
00:02:50,638 --> 00:02:53,450
and they go, "Go back,
there's nobody here yet,"
52
00:02:53,474 --> 00:02:54,951
and I'm going, "Oh no,"
53
00:02:54,975 --> 00:02:57,245
and I go back on the
stage, six times I think,
54
00:02:58,646 --> 00:03:01,558
and I'm saying to myself,
"Oh, come on, guys."
55
00:03:01,582 --> 00:03:04,761
What am I gonna sing the
next time I go (laughs)
56
00:03:04,785 --> 00:03:07,231
I don't even know
what I'm gonna do.
57
00:03:07,255 --> 00:03:09,065
So, I started
strumming the guitar,
58
00:03:09,089 --> 00:03:10,800
and I started tuning
it at the same time
59
00:03:10,824 --> 00:03:12,536
because it was out of tune,
60
00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:14,238
so once I started strumming it
61
00:03:14,262 --> 00:03:16,397
I really didn't know
what I was gonna sing.
62
00:03:17,898 --> 00:03:19,443
I was fishing. (laughs)
63
00:03:19,467 --> 00:03:20,677
I really was.
64
00:03:20,701 --> 00:03:22,703
I was fishing for some
song to come to me,
65
00:03:23,904 --> 00:03:25,382
and I just started
singing "Freedom"
66
00:03:25,406 --> 00:03:27,717
because that was what was
running through my mind
67
00:03:27,741 --> 00:03:28,918
at the time.
68
00:03:28,942 --> 00:03:30,520
I just started
singing "Freedom."
69
00:03:30,544 --> 00:03:33,757
* Freedom, freedom
70
00:03:33,781 --> 00:03:36,893
* Freedom, freedom
71
00:03:36,917 --> 00:03:39,095
- Richie was the first act
'cause Richie was there,
72
00:03:39,119 --> 00:03:42,932
and Richie, of course, played
his whole set and came off,
73
00:03:42,956 --> 00:03:45,302
and I said, "Great,
great, wonderful, man.
74
00:03:45,326 --> 00:03:47,337
"Play an encore," 'cause we
still didn't have anybody.
75
00:03:47,361 --> 00:03:49,539
I think he played three encores,
76
00:03:49,563 --> 00:03:52,208
and that's how the
"Freedom" song got invented.
77
00:03:52,232 --> 00:03:55,845
I mean, he literally had
nothing more that he could play.
78
00:03:55,869 --> 00:03:57,338
He didn't know anything more.
79
00:03:59,039 --> 00:04:01,451
- It was comical because
you figured he's done,
80
00:04:01,475 --> 00:04:04,588
let's see who's next, and
Richie came out again.
81
00:04:04,612 --> 00:04:07,691
Well, then he'd go off and
it was like let's see again.
82
00:04:07,715 --> 00:04:10,159
No, here's comes Richie
Havens again, yeah, yeah,
83
00:04:10,183 --> 00:04:13,897
and there weren't announcements
indicating that it was just,
84
00:04:13,921 --> 00:04:15,265
we waited, and he came back,
85
00:04:15,289 --> 00:04:17,434
and he came back,
and he came back,
86
00:04:17,458 --> 00:04:19,760
but I remember when
he finally went off,
87
00:04:20,928 --> 00:04:23,540
that the entire outfit
that he was wearing
88
00:04:23,564 --> 00:04:25,542
was just drenched in sweat.
89
00:04:25,566 --> 00:04:27,901
("Freedom")
90
00:04:29,403 --> 00:04:30,980
(audience cheering)
91
00:04:31,004 --> 00:04:32,606
- [Announcer] Mr. Richie Havens.
92
00:04:36,944 --> 00:04:38,021
What better way to start
93
00:04:38,045 --> 00:04:40,180
than with the beautiful
Richie Havens.
94
00:04:43,083 --> 00:04:44,861
- It got to the point
where people just showed up
95
00:04:44,885 --> 00:04:46,996
and we didn't know
they were there.
96
00:04:47,020 --> 00:04:48,665
People just arrived.
97
00:04:48,689 --> 00:04:51,000
They had been told where to go,
98
00:04:51,024 --> 00:04:54,037
Holiday Inn, Best
West, whatever it was,
99
00:04:54,061 --> 00:04:56,139
the hotels in the
surrounding area.
100
00:04:56,163 --> 00:04:57,074
We told them where they were,
101
00:04:57,098 --> 00:04:58,608
and they showed up there.
102
00:04:58,632 --> 00:05:00,510
Everybody would show
up at the Holiday Inn.
103
00:05:00,534 --> 00:05:02,812
The people who had been
working in this office
104
00:05:02,836 --> 00:05:04,314
were at these places
105
00:05:04,338 --> 00:05:07,283
to make sure that there were
enough rooms and enough keys.
106
00:05:07,307 --> 00:05:09,185
Well, obviously,
107
00:05:09,209 --> 00:05:12,689
twice as many people
showed up as were going to.
108
00:05:12,713 --> 00:05:14,190
- We suddenly realized
109
00:05:14,214 --> 00:05:16,560
that we did not have any
way to get any artists in,
110
00:05:16,584 --> 00:05:19,563
that they were in the hotels,
that they'd checked in,
111
00:05:19,587 --> 00:05:21,264
but the roads were
totally jammed,
112
00:05:21,288 --> 00:05:22,766
and I literally turned
around to Annie,
113
00:05:22,790 --> 00:05:24,901
my then-wife, and
still good friend,
114
00:05:24,925 --> 00:05:27,804
and said, "Look up helicopter
in the Yellow Pages
115
00:05:27,828 --> 00:05:29,072
"and hire every
single goddamn one
116
00:05:29,096 --> 00:05:31,074
"you can lay your hands on."
117
00:05:31,098 --> 00:05:32,509
We had, in the end, I think,
118
00:05:32,533 --> 00:05:35,945
counting some of the
others, the military ones,
119
00:05:35,969 --> 00:05:39,416
we ended up with something
like 23 or 24 of them.
120
00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:40,884
- Et cetera, et cetera,
121
00:05:40,908 --> 00:05:43,319
but we can't get through
that way for the time being,
122
00:05:43,343 --> 00:05:46,790
so what they're gonna do is
they're try and raise the gate,
123
00:05:46,814 --> 00:05:48,974
and get the helicopters to
come over here to this field
124
00:05:50,117 --> 00:05:52,496
and pick us up, and hop
us over to the gate,
125
00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:54,798
and we'll leave the
cars, essentially, here.
126
00:05:54,822 --> 00:05:58,968
- So, what we had
was this empty stage,
127
00:05:58,992 --> 00:06:01,137
and we couldn't find anybody,
128
00:06:01,161 --> 00:06:03,740
and this is before cell phones.
129
00:06:03,764 --> 00:06:05,575
This is you go to the trailer,
130
00:06:05,599 --> 00:06:07,544
you call the hotel on the phone,
131
00:06:07,568 --> 00:06:10,947
somebody yells out the window
a piece of information,
132
00:06:10,971 --> 00:06:13,583
which is, "I can't
find anybody,"
133
00:06:13,607 --> 00:06:15,752
or "They can't get through,"
134
00:06:15,776 --> 00:06:18,688
or, "We don't have anybody,"
135
00:06:18,712 --> 00:06:20,724
so, who we got?
136
00:06:20,748 --> 00:06:22,225
- My manager came up
to me and he said,
137
00:06:22,249 --> 00:06:24,628
"Leslie, whatever you do,
don't stay all together,
138
00:06:24,652 --> 00:06:26,796
"'cause they need
groups to go on,
139
00:06:26,820 --> 00:06:28,498
"and if they see all
you guys together,
140
00:06:28,522 --> 00:06:30,867
"they're gonna get you on."
141
00:06:30,891 --> 00:06:33,537
I don't wanna go on at
four in the afternoon,
142
00:06:33,561 --> 00:06:38,566
so I stayed in one area,
and Felix was in another,
143
00:06:39,299 --> 00:06:40,444
and it worked out.
144
00:06:40,468 --> 00:06:42,412
- Joe McDonald had
gotten in there somehow.
145
00:06:42,436 --> 00:06:44,881
He just drove in with somebody,
146
00:06:44,905 --> 00:06:49,352
and John says to me,
"Can he play by himself?"
147
00:06:49,376 --> 00:06:50,454
"I don't know.
148
00:06:50,478 --> 00:06:51,788
"Hasn't done it in a while.
149
00:06:51,812 --> 00:06:53,189
"Ask him."
150
00:06:53,213 --> 00:06:54,591
- And I said,
151
00:06:54,615 --> 00:06:56,059
"Remember we were in Amsterdam
a couple of months ago
152
00:06:56,083 --> 00:06:58,294
"and we were talking about
doing it on your own.
153
00:06:58,318 --> 00:07:00,464
"Now, please."
154
00:07:00,488 --> 00:07:01,731
- Joe finally agrees to play,
155
00:07:01,755 --> 00:07:03,533
but he says, "Well, I
don't have a guitar."
156
00:07:03,557 --> 00:07:04,768
We found a guitar.
157
00:07:04,792 --> 00:07:06,603
We push him out there
and he turns to me,
158
00:07:06,627 --> 00:07:08,295
said, "What do I play?
159
00:07:09,797 --> 00:07:10,907
"Do I do the cheer?
160
00:07:10,931 --> 00:07:12,576
"Should I do
'Fixing to Die Rag'?
161
00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:15,078
"I was gonna do it on Sunday."
162
00:07:15,102 --> 00:07:16,646
I said, "Go ahead and do it."
163
00:07:16,670 --> 00:07:18,414
Said, "Ah, shit,"
turns around, yells,
164
00:07:18,438 --> 00:07:20,116
"Give me an F!" - Give me an F!
165
00:07:20,140 --> 00:07:21,417
- [Audience] F!
166
00:07:21,441 --> 00:07:22,919
- It was loud.
167
00:07:22,943 --> 00:07:23,788
"Give me a U!" - Give me a U!
168
00:07:23,812 --> 00:07:25,054
It gets louder.
169
00:07:25,078 --> 00:07:27,457
By the time he says,
"What's that spell?"
170
00:07:27,481 --> 00:07:29,225
It's really a kind of
a interesting thing
171
00:07:29,249 --> 00:07:30,827
to be out there in
the middle of nowhere
172
00:07:30,851 --> 00:07:32,996
and here fuck being
yelled back at you
173
00:07:33,020 --> 00:07:35,989
by all these people
for the first time,
174
00:07:37,390 --> 00:07:40,770
and from that point on we had
to keep putting people on.
175
00:07:40,794 --> 00:07:44,340
We pushed John Sebastian
on because he was there.
176
00:07:44,364 --> 00:07:46,876
He wasn't even, we didn't
even know he was there.
177
00:07:46,900 --> 00:07:49,579
Somebody said, "Oh, I
saw John Sebastian."
178
00:07:49,603 --> 00:07:52,549
- Felix got up there and he
introduced me to John Sebastian.
179
00:07:52,573 --> 00:07:54,274
Was tie-dying
everything in sight.
180
00:07:55,709 --> 00:07:56,853
Somebody walked by and they
got, (imitates whooshing)
181
00:07:56,877 --> 00:07:58,354
ripped into their tent,
182
00:07:58,378 --> 00:08:00,378
and they came out with all
kinds of colors on them.
183
00:08:01,715 --> 00:08:03,517
I think he was
tripping his nut off.
184
00:08:04,952 --> 00:08:08,264
That I know for sure, and
he was enjoying himself.
185
00:08:08,288 --> 00:08:09,623
- [Announcer] John Sebastian.
186
00:08:11,859 --> 00:08:15,271
- The press can
only say bad things
187
00:08:15,295 --> 00:08:17,607
unless there ain't no fuckups,
188
00:08:17,631 --> 00:08:20,677
and it's looking like there
ain't gonna be no fuckups.
189
00:08:20,701 --> 00:08:22,478
This is gonna work.
190
00:08:22,502 --> 00:08:26,173
("Coming Into Los Angeles")
191
00:08:29,710 --> 00:08:33,089
* Coming in from London,
from over the pole *
192
00:08:33,113 --> 00:08:35,816
- There was a bunch
of state cops on the
193
00:08:37,050 --> 00:08:38,351
the helicopter with us,
194
00:08:39,820 --> 00:08:42,065
and they were just talking to
each other and talking to us,
195
00:08:42,089 --> 00:08:44,568
and we were just sitting there
wondering what's going on
196
00:08:44,592 --> 00:08:47,070
and how come we
gotta fly in here?
197
00:08:47,094 --> 00:08:50,473
And then I remember
just looking out
198
00:08:50,497 --> 00:08:51,975
'cause the door was open
or something like that,
199
00:08:51,999 --> 00:08:54,343
and you could just
look right out there,
200
00:08:54,367 --> 00:08:57,638
and it was an amazing thing.
201
00:08:58,772 --> 00:09:01,384
You know, when you look
at all the pictures,
202
00:09:01,408 --> 00:09:05,121
all the aerial
shots of Woodstock,
203
00:09:05,145 --> 00:09:07,991
you see the fields completely
filled with people,
204
00:09:08,015 --> 00:09:13,020
but that was a tiny, tiny
part of where the people were.
205
00:09:14,454 --> 00:09:17,466
There was people for a long
time that we were flying,
206
00:09:17,490 --> 00:09:21,738
there was people underneath
every leaf of every tree
207
00:09:21,762 --> 00:09:24,798
and every rock that
we was flying over,
208
00:09:25,966 --> 00:09:28,645
and I was supposed to
play at some point,
209
00:09:28,669 --> 00:09:30,938
some time later
than I actually did,
210
00:09:32,105 --> 00:09:34,283
and because I was
just hanging out
211
00:09:34,307 --> 00:09:38,411
I felt free to indulge
in some substance abuse.
212
00:09:40,714 --> 00:09:42,558
I mean, nothing
big, but, you know,
213
00:09:42,582 --> 00:09:44,393
and so I was standing around
214
00:09:44,417 --> 00:09:49,422
just admiring the colors
and all the people,
215
00:09:50,157 --> 00:09:51,601
and all of a sudden
216
00:09:51,625 --> 00:09:54,003
this guy comes up to me
and says, "You gotta play."
217
00:09:54,027 --> 00:09:56,005
I said, "What?"
218
00:09:56,029 --> 00:09:57,473
"Yeah, you gotta play, man.
219
00:09:57,497 --> 00:09:58,308
"You gotta play now."
220
00:09:58,332 --> 00:10:00,243
I'm going, "Now?
221
00:10:00,267 --> 00:10:01,978
"Now I gotta play?
222
00:10:02,002 --> 00:10:03,813
"I'm not ready to play now, man.
223
00:10:03,837 --> 00:10:05,348
"I can't play now.
224
00:10:05,372 --> 00:10:07,583
"I can't walk now,"
225
00:10:07,607 --> 00:10:09,953
and it was like I
couldn't believe it,
226
00:10:09,977 --> 00:10:12,880
and so there was this
sort of tinge of, like,
227
00:10:14,147 --> 00:10:16,059
uh-oh (chuckles)
228
00:10:16,083 --> 00:10:19,729
that I really didn't wanna
deal with this at the moment.
229
00:10:19,753 --> 00:10:21,464
- [Narrator] But while
Arlo was having a good time
230
00:10:21,488 --> 00:10:23,800
and it seemed like the crowd
was having a good time,
231
00:10:23,824 --> 00:10:26,703
the producers were on the
phone with Rockefeller's office
232
00:10:26,727 --> 00:10:28,437
trying to convince the governor
233
00:10:28,461 --> 00:10:31,074
not to send in the
National Guard.
234
00:10:31,098 --> 00:10:35,769
- Rockefeller's office wanted
to send in the National Guard
235
00:10:36,670 --> 00:10:38,005
to stop the festival,
236
00:10:39,206 --> 00:10:43,176
and all conversations
with those people were,
237
00:10:44,211 --> 00:10:45,755
"This is impossible.
238
00:10:45,779 --> 00:10:48,725
"You'd really have a riot
if you tried to do this."
239
00:10:48,749 --> 00:10:52,962
I'd come back to my office and
start fielding phone calls.
240
00:10:52,986 --> 00:10:55,999
They were incredible phone
calls that would be coming in
241
00:10:56,023 --> 00:10:59,602
from everybody from state
government to police.
242
00:10:59,626 --> 00:11:02,605
They would say, "Can you
give us some information
243
00:11:02,629 --> 00:11:03,907
"about this disaster?"
244
00:11:03,931 --> 00:11:06,142
and I'd say, "What disaster?
245
00:11:06,166 --> 00:11:08,044
"Everything is great here.
246
00:11:08,068 --> 00:11:09,545
"We're getting along fine.
247
00:11:09,569 --> 00:11:10,880
"We don't need anything.
248
00:11:10,904 --> 00:11:12,648
"Everything's fine.
249
00:11:12,672 --> 00:11:13,817
"It's great.
250
00:11:13,841 --> 00:11:15,952
"Everybody's having
a great time,"
251
00:11:15,976 --> 00:11:18,955
and I would just keep
putting that out,
252
00:11:18,979 --> 00:11:22,850
and to tell you the truth, on
my walks everything was fine.
253
00:11:23,751 --> 00:11:25,862
Everything was holding.
254
00:11:25,886 --> 00:11:27,596
- [Narrator]
Everything had held,
255
00:11:27,620 --> 00:11:31,367
and so from Richie,
Tim Hardin, Arlo,
256
00:11:31,391 --> 00:11:33,469
and finishing with Joan Baez,
257
00:11:33,493 --> 00:11:36,272
the first of three
days of peace and music
258
00:11:36,296 --> 00:11:37,540
came quietly to a close.
259
00:11:37,564 --> 00:11:39,308
* Home
260
00:11:39,332 --> 00:11:40,332
- Amen.
261
00:11:41,301 --> 00:11:42,912
(energetic rock music)
262
00:11:42,936 --> 00:11:44,180
- [Narrator] John Roberts,
263
00:11:44,204 --> 00:11:45,882
heir to the Polident
denture cream fortune,
264
00:11:45,906 --> 00:11:47,416
and Joel Rosenman,
265
00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:50,153
an ex-lounge singer and
ambivalent Yale Law grad,
266
00:11:50,177 --> 00:11:52,780
were looking to write a
pilot for a television show.
267
00:11:53,881 --> 00:11:56,893
- 1967, it seemed likelier
268
00:11:56,917 --> 00:12:01,430
that I would be a TV
screenwriter than a lawyer,
269
00:12:01,454 --> 00:12:05,168
and John was intrigued by
this profession as well,
270
00:12:05,192 --> 00:12:07,336
so we concocted a TV show,
271
00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:08,772
a sitcom about two guys
272
00:12:08,796 --> 00:12:11,799
who get into nutty business
ventures every week,
273
00:12:13,233 --> 00:12:16,579
and in order to find plot
material for our TV show
274
00:12:16,603 --> 00:12:19,115
we took out an ad in
the Wall Street Journal.
275
00:12:19,139 --> 00:12:20,917
The ad read something like,
276
00:12:20,941 --> 00:12:22,685
"Young men with
unlimited capital
277
00:12:22,709 --> 00:12:26,655
"seek interesting and legitimate
business propositions,"
278
00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:29,658
which went fine for quite
a while for our TV show,
279
00:12:29,682 --> 00:12:33,396
until one idea that came
in seemed reasonable to us,
280
00:12:33,420 --> 00:12:35,188
in fact attractive.
281
00:12:36,623 --> 00:12:37,867
We looked at it
282
00:12:37,891 --> 00:12:39,135
the same way we had some
other business ventures,
283
00:12:39,159 --> 00:12:41,404
only this one, with
some modifications,
284
00:12:41,428 --> 00:12:42,671
seemed like a good idea.
285
00:12:42,695 --> 00:12:45,174
We called it Mediasound.
286
00:12:45,198 --> 00:12:47,610
We started building it in '68,
287
00:12:47,634 --> 00:12:49,545
and built what came to be
288
00:12:49,569 --> 00:12:54,541
the place to record on the
East Coast for over a decade.
289
00:12:56,009 --> 00:12:57,620
- Joel and I were building a
recording studio in Manhattan
290
00:12:57,644 --> 00:12:59,956
in the summer of 1968,
291
00:12:59,980 --> 00:13:03,592
and we met a lawyer at that
time named Miles Lurie,
292
00:13:03,616 --> 00:13:07,687
and Miles called us up, I
guess, maybe February of 1969,
293
00:13:08,889 --> 00:13:11,134
and said that he had
a couple of clients
294
00:13:11,158 --> 00:13:12,902
that were interested in
building a recording studio
295
00:13:12,926 --> 00:13:14,737
in Woodstock, New York,
296
00:13:14,761 --> 00:13:18,774
and he wondered if we would
sit and talk with them
297
00:13:18,798 --> 00:13:19,967
about their project
298
00:13:21,068 --> 00:13:24,080
and share with
them our experience
299
00:13:24,104 --> 00:13:27,350
in doing such a project
here in the city,
300
00:13:27,374 --> 00:13:28,684
and we said, "Sure,"
301
00:13:28,708 --> 00:13:30,920
and so Mike Lang
and Artie Kornfeld
302
00:13:30,944 --> 00:13:33,456
showed up one
morning in February
303
00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:36,392
to talk about building a
recording studio in Woodstock.
304
00:13:36,416 --> 00:13:38,828
- [Narrator] Michael Lang grew
up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.
305
00:13:38,852 --> 00:13:41,430
After dropping out of
NYU, he headed to Miami
306
00:13:41,454 --> 00:13:43,833
and opened one of the
area's first head shops.
307
00:13:43,857 --> 00:13:46,235
Artie Kornfeld, also
from Bensonhurst,
308
00:13:46,259 --> 00:13:49,172
was already a successful
songwriter and record producer,
309
00:13:49,196 --> 00:13:52,508
and the first vice president
of rock at Capitol Records.
310
00:13:52,532 --> 00:13:54,577
One day Michael
Lang came calling,
311
00:13:54,601 --> 00:13:56,880
looking for a record deal
for a group he was managing
312
00:13:56,904 --> 00:13:58,948
called the Train.
313
00:13:58,972 --> 00:14:01,708
- First meeting with Michael
is I was standing on my desk
314
00:14:04,244 --> 00:14:06,079
smoking a little hash.
315
00:14:07,847 --> 00:14:08,824
Okay I said that?
316
00:14:08,848 --> 00:14:10,059
- [Interviewer] Yeah.
317
00:14:10,083 --> 00:14:11,403
- Well, it's over
seven years ago,
318
00:14:12,752 --> 00:14:14,330
and my secretary said,
319
00:14:14,354 --> 00:14:18,001
"There's someone out here to
see you named Michael Lang,"
320
00:14:18,025 --> 00:14:19,602
and he said, "You
don't know him,
321
00:14:19,626 --> 00:14:21,704
"but he's from the
neighborhood, Bensonhurst,
322
00:14:21,728 --> 00:14:23,964
"and he'd like just a
minute of your time."
323
00:14:24,998 --> 00:14:26,666
So, I said, "Send him in."
324
00:14:28,601 --> 00:14:32,515
He had just lost his
head shop in Miami.
325
00:14:32,539 --> 00:14:34,783
I think he lost the
battle with the police
326
00:14:34,807 --> 00:14:37,921
and they closed it 'cause
that's what Michael was:
327
00:14:37,945 --> 00:14:40,680
he was a head shop
owner in Miami.
328
00:14:41,614 --> 00:14:43,492
- (laughs) Yeah,
my recollection,
329
00:14:43,516 --> 00:14:45,094
although it's probably
embellished over the years
330
00:14:45,118 --> 00:14:48,197
is of Artie perched
on the end of his desk
331
00:14:48,221 --> 00:14:49,756
about to fly off into the room.
332
00:14:52,159 --> 00:14:56,439
He was a very delightful
character, as I recall, Artie.
333
00:14:56,463 --> 00:15:00,143
At our first meeting we sort
of became friends instantly.
334
00:15:00,167 --> 00:15:02,845
He was from the same
neighborhood I was in Brooklyn,
335
00:15:02,869 --> 00:15:05,448
and it was sort of
like a kindred spirit.
336
00:15:05,472 --> 00:15:07,716
(energetic rock music)
337
00:15:07,740 --> 00:15:10,243
- We were given a proposal
for a recording studio.
338
00:15:11,544 --> 00:15:16,159
30 of 31 pages dealt
with finding the site,
339
00:15:16,183 --> 00:15:18,885
they already had a site, in
fact they had it under option.
340
00:15:20,020 --> 00:15:21,630
They had plans for
the recording studio.
341
00:15:21,654 --> 00:15:22,898
They had rough sketches.
342
00:15:22,922 --> 00:15:24,533
They had a budget for
the recording studio.
343
00:15:24,557 --> 00:15:27,470
They had the recording
studio project.
344
00:15:27,494 --> 00:15:31,264
They had solved the
problem of anonymity
345
00:15:32,799 --> 00:15:35,511
by suggesting in the last
page of this proposal
346
00:15:35,535 --> 00:15:38,747
that on opening day of
the recording studio
347
00:15:38,771 --> 00:15:40,849
we have a big press party.
348
00:15:40,873 --> 00:15:43,119
There's even a chance,
this proposal read,
349
00:15:43,143 --> 00:15:46,189
that we can get some of the
local talent to perform,
350
00:15:46,213 --> 00:15:49,725
and the local talent was Bob
Dylan, and maybe Janis Joplin,
351
00:15:49,749 --> 00:15:51,527
and Tim Hardin,
and John Sebastian.
352
00:15:51,551 --> 00:15:54,230
I thought, "Wow, once they
hear that Dylan is performing
353
00:15:54,254 --> 00:15:55,698
"we'll get people from all over.
354
00:15:55,722 --> 00:15:59,202
"We don't have to bus
recording studio execs up.
355
00:15:59,226 --> 00:16:01,370
"We can just sell tickets,"
356
00:16:01,394 --> 00:16:03,939
and so we came back
to Michael and Artie
357
00:16:03,963 --> 00:16:05,541
with that suggestion.
358
00:16:05,565 --> 00:16:08,311
We don't like this
recording studio project
359
00:16:08,335 --> 00:16:09,745
because we're in the dark
360
00:16:09,769 --> 00:16:11,247
about our own
project in Manhattan.
361
00:16:11,271 --> 00:16:13,349
We don't know how well
that's going to do.
362
00:16:13,373 --> 00:16:16,285
We're hoping, but it seems
that the one up in the woods
363
00:16:16,309 --> 00:16:20,123
has some built-in drawbacks,
364
00:16:20,147 --> 00:16:21,957
but we think this
is very exciting
365
00:16:21,981 --> 00:16:24,960
if we turn it into
a festival idea,
366
00:16:24,984 --> 00:16:26,529
and we actually had
to go round and round.
367
00:16:26,553 --> 00:16:29,665
We drew the line at
doing another studio,
368
00:16:29,689 --> 00:16:31,134
they drew the line
at doing a festival,
369
00:16:31,158 --> 00:16:35,204
and eventually we suggested,
"How 'bout if we do a festival,
370
00:16:35,228 --> 00:16:39,508
"and then with the profits
from the rock 'n' roll festival
371
00:16:39,532 --> 00:16:41,401
"we'll finance the
recording studio,"
372
00:16:42,535 --> 00:16:44,313
and we struck a
deal on that basis.
373
00:16:44,337 --> 00:16:46,549
Was a compromise.
374
00:16:46,573 --> 00:16:48,217
(energetic rock music)
375
00:16:48,241 --> 00:16:49,418
- [Narrator] Shortly after,
376
00:16:49,442 --> 00:16:51,354
Michael turned his
attention to staffing.
377
00:16:51,378 --> 00:16:53,056
He contacted sound
engineer Stan Goldstein,
378
00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:55,358
who he'd worked with in Miami.
379
00:16:55,382 --> 00:16:56,625
Goldstein agreed to help
380
00:16:56,649 --> 00:16:57,993
and suggested they
offer the position
381
00:16:58,017 --> 00:17:00,163
of director of operations
to Mel Lawrence,
382
00:17:00,187 --> 00:17:01,897
who had produced such
legendary festivals
383
00:17:01,921 --> 00:17:04,333
as Magic Mountain, Newport Pop,
384
00:17:04,357 --> 00:17:07,603
and Miami Pop, in
December of 1968.
385
00:17:07,627 --> 00:17:10,806
- As soon as we began
talking about staffing,
386
00:17:10,830 --> 00:17:15,344
it seemed to me that Mel was
an ideal guy to have involved,
387
00:17:15,368 --> 00:17:17,213
and so I chased him down.
388
00:17:17,237 --> 00:17:20,983
- And I get a call
from Stan Goldstein,
389
00:17:21,007 --> 00:17:24,953
and Stan said, "They're
planning to do a number in
390
00:17:24,977 --> 00:17:26,422
"in New York.
391
00:17:26,446 --> 00:17:27,490
"Are you interested?"
392
00:17:27,514 --> 00:17:29,492
and I said I was,
393
00:17:29,516 --> 00:17:32,928
and he said,
394
00:17:32,952 --> 00:17:35,030
"You've gotta do this
395
00:17:35,054 --> 00:17:38,024
"because this is gonna
be really a big one."
396
00:17:39,192 --> 00:17:40,669
- I'd left Fillmore East,
397
00:17:40,693 --> 00:17:43,372
and I'd worked on a
couple of small projects,
398
00:17:43,396 --> 00:17:47,710
and one day Chip, Bert Cohen,
399
00:17:47,734 --> 00:17:50,579
and a couple of other people
came and saw me in my house,
400
00:17:50,603 --> 00:17:52,781
and talking about the project
and what it was gonna be,
401
00:17:52,805 --> 00:17:55,251
and I was sitting there thinking
it was never gonna happen,
402
00:17:55,275 --> 00:17:56,785
(mumbles dismissively)
403
00:17:56,809 --> 00:18:00,223
and they came back within a week
404
00:18:00,247 --> 00:18:01,690
and said, "This is
what we're doing.
405
00:18:01,714 --> 00:18:03,159
"We're gonna go ahead
and do this big festival.
406
00:18:03,183 --> 00:18:05,928
"We're gonna try to do an East
Coast version of Monterey,
407
00:18:05,952 --> 00:18:07,430
"and it's gonna be three days.
408
00:18:07,454 --> 00:18:08,597
"It's gonna be in Woodstock.
409
00:18:08,621 --> 00:18:10,499
"It's gonna be
duh-duh-duh-duh-duh.
410
00:18:10,523 --> 00:18:11,335
"We need your help.
411
00:18:11,359 --> 00:18:12,868
"Do you wanna do it?"
412
00:18:12,892 --> 00:18:14,137
There was one answer,
413
00:18:14,161 --> 00:18:16,563
that was, "Yeah, sure,
please, let me, yeah."
414
00:18:17,830 --> 00:18:19,875
- Long story short, what
actually happened is
415
00:18:19,899 --> 00:18:23,246
I called Anne Weldon, who
was Anne Morris at that time,
416
00:18:23,270 --> 00:18:24,704
John Morris's wife,
417
00:18:26,072 --> 00:18:29,118
who became a principal
figure in Woodstock,
418
00:18:29,142 --> 00:18:32,020
and I said, "My I share
your Liberty prints, please,
419
00:18:32,044 --> 00:18:34,323
"and a bit of your wine so
I can bring Michael here
420
00:18:34,347 --> 00:18:36,549
"because I think we've
got something going,"
421
00:18:37,684 --> 00:18:41,364
and Michael and I
seemed to hit it off,
422
00:18:41,388 --> 00:18:44,467
and John decided he was
going to be co-producer,
423
00:18:44,491 --> 00:18:46,635
which was the only error
of the evening, (chuckles)
424
00:18:46,659 --> 00:18:48,828
but beyond that
everything was perfect.
425
00:18:50,430 --> 00:18:51,640
- The idea was that
426
00:18:51,664 --> 00:18:56,279
the first day would be
a folkie-like-type day,
427
00:18:56,303 --> 00:18:58,181
that the second day would be
428
00:18:58,205 --> 00:19:00,516
more of an English,
stronger-type thing,
429
00:19:00,540 --> 00:19:04,887
and that the third day would
be the American strength,
430
00:19:04,911 --> 00:19:06,389
I mean, because don't forget,
431
00:19:06,413 --> 00:19:09,124
you had the English acts were
major factor at that point,
432
00:19:09,148 --> 00:19:10,459
and then there were
the California,
433
00:19:10,483 --> 00:19:13,196
San Francisco, and
rest of the Bay Area.
434
00:19:13,220 --> 00:19:15,298
- "Michael, have you
signed any groups yet?"
435
00:19:15,322 --> 00:19:17,333
"Oh yeah, it's together,"
436
00:19:17,357 --> 00:19:20,236
or, no, he wouldn't say yes
'cause he wasn't lying about it,
437
00:19:20,260 --> 00:19:21,870
he'd just say, "Oh,
it's all together.
438
00:19:21,894 --> 00:19:22,806
"It's together.
439
00:19:22,830 --> 00:19:24,273
"Don't worry, it's together."
440
00:19:24,297 --> 00:19:27,099
Not one group had been signed
(laughs) at that point.
441
00:19:28,067 --> 00:19:29,678
- I had agonized
442
00:19:29,702 --> 00:19:31,747
over whether we would
ask the Rolling Stones
443
00:19:31,771 --> 00:19:34,750
to be part of the talent roster,
444
00:19:34,774 --> 00:19:37,986
and their hit at the time
was "Street Fighting Man,"
445
00:19:38,010 --> 00:19:42,090
and while there was, to have
the Stones on your talent,
446
00:19:42,114 --> 00:19:44,751
in your talent package would
have been very powerful,
447
00:19:46,185 --> 00:19:49,532
it contradicted one of
our basic principles
448
00:19:49,556 --> 00:19:52,901
of trying to keep this
festival peaceful.
449
00:19:52,925 --> 00:19:54,837
We just didn't want anything
that would stir up the crowd
450
00:19:54,861 --> 00:19:56,339
to that kind of anger.
451
00:19:56,363 --> 00:19:58,731
- There's, "No, I don't know
we should have the Doors.
452
00:19:59,932 --> 00:20:01,944
"Yeah, I think Sly's dangerous
453
00:20:01,968 --> 00:20:05,113
"'cause there's been riots
everywhere he's played
454
00:20:05,137 --> 00:20:06,773
"in the last 10 years."
455
00:20:07,874 --> 00:20:10,109
That's why certain
groups were not invited.
456
00:20:11,511 --> 00:20:13,989
At that point it was just
inviting them and they'd come,
457
00:20:14,013 --> 00:20:15,715
just for expenses to get there.
458
00:20:17,484 --> 00:20:20,195
- Ian Anderson and I had
a real long conversation
459
00:20:20,219 --> 00:20:22,765
about how he never
got over the fact,
460
00:20:22,789 --> 00:20:24,267
and just never could understand
461
00:20:24,291 --> 00:20:27,135
why Country Joe and the
Fish were at Woodstock
462
00:20:27,159 --> 00:20:28,804
and they weren't.
463
00:20:28,828 --> 00:20:29,972
He never forgot that.
464
00:20:29,996 --> 00:20:31,476
I mean, he was really
pissed about it.
465
00:20:33,032 --> 00:20:35,578
That summer I had
worked for the Doors.
466
00:20:35,602 --> 00:20:38,847
I did some dates in
Mexico with the Doors,
467
00:20:38,871 --> 00:20:41,149
and Jim Morrison
would not appear
468
00:20:41,173 --> 00:20:44,152
because he was afraid he
would be assassinated.
469
00:20:44,176 --> 00:20:45,588
I mean, that was his line.
470
00:20:45,612 --> 00:20:48,023
I mean, he thought
he would be killed.
471
00:20:48,047 --> 00:20:49,858
- Yeah, Joni Mitchell.
472
00:20:49,882 --> 00:20:51,451
She was begging to come,
473
00:20:52,652 --> 00:20:54,621
but she wanted to come
and Michael said no.
474
00:20:55,855 --> 00:20:58,267
He even asked me at the
time, "What about Joni?
475
00:20:58,291 --> 00:20:59,859
"What do you think
about? (mumbles)"
476
00:21:02,462 --> 00:21:05,941
I feel really bad
about that. (laughs)
477
00:21:05,965 --> 00:21:06,966
Feel guilty.
478
00:21:08,668 --> 00:21:11,514
- Bill Laudner from the
Jefferson Airplane called me
479
00:21:11,538 --> 00:21:16,543
and said, "Bill, those
rooms are really small, man.
480
00:21:17,710 --> 00:21:20,923
"I mean, like, how
we gonna get there?"
481
00:21:20,947 --> 00:21:21,990
Said, "Well, you
just get to Liberty
482
00:21:22,014 --> 00:21:23,459
"and we'll take it from there."
483
00:21:23,483 --> 00:21:26,895
- Actually, Michael says
that it is his fault
484
00:21:26,919 --> 00:21:28,455
that Dylan didn't come.
485
00:21:29,956 --> 00:21:32,401
They evidently didn't
lock in some way.
486
00:21:32,425 --> 00:21:33,502
Something happened.
487
00:21:33,526 --> 00:21:35,170
- The Who had turned us down.
488
00:21:35,194 --> 00:21:36,405
We kept after them
and after them after,
489
00:21:36,429 --> 00:21:38,040
and they turned us down,
490
00:21:38,064 --> 00:21:41,410
and Frank Barsalona,
who runs Premier Talent,
491
00:21:41,434 --> 00:21:43,446
finally said, "Okay, there's
only one way to do this,"
492
00:21:43,470 --> 00:21:47,716
and we had Pete Townshend to
dinner at Frank's apartment,
493
00:21:47,740 --> 00:21:48,984
and we got Peter up there.
494
00:21:49,008 --> 00:21:50,519
We fed him a spaghetti dinner.
495
00:21:50,543 --> 00:21:51,354
We chatted.
496
00:21:51,378 --> 00:21:52,322
We talked.
497
00:21:52,346 --> 00:21:53,556
We started pouring wine in him,
498
00:21:53,580 --> 00:21:55,624
and pouring wine in ourselves,
499
00:21:55,648 --> 00:21:58,627
and Peter just kept saying,
"No, no, we don't wanna do it.
500
00:21:58,651 --> 00:22:00,429
"We wanna do Tanglewood
and go home,"
501
00:22:00,453 --> 00:22:02,631
and at about five
o'clock in the morning
502
00:22:02,655 --> 00:22:04,132
Peter is sitting
down in the corner
503
00:22:04,156 --> 00:22:05,601
all scrunched up like this
504
00:22:05,625 --> 00:22:07,870
saying, "All right, all
right, I'll play the thing.
505
00:22:07,894 --> 00:22:09,805
"Can I go to sleep, please?"
506
00:22:09,829 --> 00:22:11,974
We wore him down and
tricked him into it.
507
00:22:11,998 --> 00:22:13,208
Not tricked, well, we tricked,
508
00:22:13,232 --> 00:22:15,277
yeah, he would say we
tricked him into it.
509
00:22:15,301 --> 00:22:18,213
They published on the
Live at Leeds album,
510
00:22:18,237 --> 00:22:19,482
if you look on the album,
511
00:22:19,506 --> 00:22:20,973
the contract from
Woodstock's on it.
512
00:22:23,075 --> 00:22:25,388
- The phone rang in
this production office,
513
00:22:25,412 --> 00:22:29,825
and someone hands me the phone
and says it's Stephen Stills.
514
00:22:29,849 --> 00:22:32,094
They really didn't
wanna do this show
515
00:22:32,118 --> 00:22:33,596
because there were gonna
be too many people,
516
00:22:33,620 --> 00:22:34,763
nobody's gonna
know who they were,
517
00:22:34,787 --> 00:22:36,231
they were really
unsure of themselves,
518
00:22:36,255 --> 00:22:40,403
and right about that time,
for some weird reason,
519
00:22:40,427 --> 00:22:42,538
Hanley was testing
the sound system,
520
00:22:42,562 --> 00:22:45,774
and one of the very
popular records
521
00:22:45,798 --> 00:22:48,577
that everybody was
playing that summer
522
00:22:48,601 --> 00:22:52,214
was the Crosby, Stills
& Nash first album,
523
00:22:52,238 --> 00:22:54,817
and "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes."
524
00:22:54,841 --> 00:22:56,752
It's blaring over
the sound system.
525
00:22:56,776 --> 00:22:58,286
I stick the phone out the window
526
00:22:58,310 --> 00:22:59,722
and I told Stephen,
"Okay, Stephen,
527
00:22:59,746 --> 00:23:00,823
"they're playing the song.
528
00:23:00,847 --> 00:23:01,691
"Everybody knows it.
529
00:23:01,715 --> 00:23:03,091
"You should come,"
530
00:23:03,115 --> 00:23:04,359
so he yells at Crosby,
531
00:23:04,383 --> 00:23:06,995
"Crosby, they're playing
'Suite: Judy Blue Eyes'"
532
00:23:07,019 --> 00:23:09,097
and he said, "We'll be there,"
533
00:23:09,121 --> 00:23:13,469
and so they were gonna show up,
534
00:23:13,493 --> 00:23:16,772
but there was this
sort of apprehension.
535
00:23:16,796 --> 00:23:18,807
I mean, there's lots of people
who really won't cop to it,
536
00:23:18,831 --> 00:23:22,277
but it is true that I
think there reached a point
537
00:23:22,301 --> 00:23:23,512
in the late summer
538
00:23:23,536 --> 00:23:25,180
where everybody who
wasn't on the bill
539
00:23:25,204 --> 00:23:27,750
really wanted to be on the bill.
540
00:23:27,774 --> 00:23:32,779
(anxious music) (birds chirping)
541
00:23:33,513 --> 00:23:34,757
- Our first choice
542
00:23:34,781 --> 00:23:36,816
was a piece of land in
Saugerties, New York,
543
00:23:38,551 --> 00:23:43,422
700 acres right off the
Exit 18 of the Thruway,
544
00:23:45,157 --> 00:23:48,203
absolutely beautiful,
gently sloping land.
545
00:23:48,227 --> 00:23:51,206
- We met with the owner,
a fellow named Schaller,
546
00:23:51,230 --> 00:23:55,101
shortly after that to start
hammering out a lease,
547
00:23:56,302 --> 00:23:59,815
and we didn't even get
to hammer any little
548
00:23:59,839 --> 00:24:02,250
one bit of that lease
before Mr. Schaller told us
549
00:24:02,274 --> 00:24:04,977
that he had no interest
in renting to longhairs.
550
00:24:06,145 --> 00:24:07,856
Not that John and I
looked like longhairs,
551
00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:09,692
but he had already seen Michael,
552
00:24:09,716 --> 00:24:11,960
and for an elderly guy
553
00:24:11,984 --> 00:24:14,563
he really had his ear
to the ground. (laughs)
554
00:24:14,587 --> 00:24:15,764
There was no
question in his mind
555
00:24:15,788 --> 00:24:17,666
what we were gonna
use the property for,
556
00:24:17,690 --> 00:24:19,067
and he just would
have none of it.
557
00:24:19,091 --> 00:24:21,628
It was his farm and he loved it.
558
00:24:22,962 --> 00:24:24,106
So I think we were
getting a little desperate
559
00:24:24,130 --> 00:24:26,441
about real estate, John and I,
560
00:24:26,465 --> 00:24:29,778
and at a certain point
we jumped in our car
561
00:24:29,802 --> 00:24:32,881
and just started roaming around.
562
00:24:32,905 --> 00:24:35,417
I think we got off the Quickway
563
00:24:35,441 --> 00:24:38,621
and saw a sign
saying, "Property,"
564
00:24:38,645 --> 00:24:40,689
and "Real estate for rent,"
565
00:24:40,713 --> 00:24:42,390
or "sale," or
whatever, "inquire,"
566
00:24:42,414 --> 00:24:44,026
and we inquired.
567
00:24:44,050 --> 00:24:45,393
- And the Mills property
568
00:24:45,417 --> 00:24:48,230
was the second or
third place we came to,
569
00:24:48,254 --> 00:24:51,433
and it was appropriate.
570
00:24:51,457 --> 00:24:54,336
Wasn't great, but
it had the virtue
571
00:24:54,360 --> 00:24:57,439
of being owned by someone who
was willing to rent it to us.
572
00:24:57,463 --> 00:25:01,100
- I'm sitting in my
office with my accountant,
573
00:25:02,268 --> 00:25:05,271
and three gentlemen
walked into my office
574
00:25:06,639 --> 00:25:10,018
and said that they wanted
to rent the property
575
00:25:10,042 --> 00:25:14,657
for a small concert, maybe
5,000 to 15,000 people,
576
00:25:14,681 --> 00:25:18,060
similar to what they
have up in Massachusetts,
577
00:25:18,084 --> 00:25:21,220
and would I be interested
in renting it to them?
578
00:25:22,354 --> 00:25:25,868
Well, at the time I
could see no harm in it,
579
00:25:25,892 --> 00:25:28,595
so I made an agreement
with them, and they left,
580
00:25:30,062 --> 00:25:32,274
and as they left, my
accountant's out there and says,
581
00:25:32,298 --> 00:25:34,643
"Where are they gonna
find 5,000 damn fools
582
00:25:34,667 --> 00:25:37,345
"to sit in the grass
and listen to music?"
583
00:25:37,369 --> 00:25:42,374
- The Mills property was a
move of desperation. (laughs)
584
00:25:43,475 --> 00:25:44,987
It was nothing
like what I wanted.
585
00:25:45,011 --> 00:25:48,456
I wanted someplace that felt
natural, and open, and free,
586
00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:50,158
and the Mills property
587
00:25:50,182 --> 00:25:54,597
was land that had been misused,
588
00:25:54,621 --> 00:25:55,621
chopped up,
589
00:25:56,623 --> 00:25:59,792
and Mills' job was to
make it right again.
590
00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:03,005
It probably would have
looked pretty good, I think,
591
00:26:03,029 --> 00:26:04,206
by the time that we
finished with it.
592
00:26:04,230 --> 00:26:05,440
Mel got a pretty
good crew together,
593
00:26:05,464 --> 00:26:07,242
and did a lot of work,
594
00:26:07,266 --> 00:26:09,578
and laid it out pretty well,
595
00:26:09,602 --> 00:26:11,346
and I think it would have
been green and pleasant
596
00:26:11,370 --> 00:26:13,205
by the time August
rolled around,
597
00:26:14,607 --> 00:26:17,953
but it was not the ideal by
any stretch of the imagination.
598
00:26:17,977 --> 00:26:21,080
(rustic blues music)
599
00:26:26,018 --> 00:26:28,130
- [Narrator] Having to settle
for a less-than-perfect site
600
00:26:28,154 --> 00:26:30,966
wasn't the only problem
facing the producers.
601
00:26:30,990 --> 00:26:32,801
Wallkill officials
were told the concert
602
00:26:32,825 --> 00:26:35,570
would feature folk music
and arts and crafts,
603
00:26:35,594 --> 00:26:38,064
but some of the townspeople
weren't buying it.
604
00:26:40,532 --> 00:26:43,646
- Well, we were having
political problems in Wallkill.
605
00:26:43,670 --> 00:26:47,382
The town, which had
initially welcomed us
606
00:26:47,406 --> 00:26:50,753
and given us the various
permits we needed
607
00:26:50,777 --> 00:26:53,689
became concerned as the summer,
608
00:26:53,713 --> 00:26:56,892
the spring and summer
of 1969 wore on,
609
00:26:56,916 --> 00:27:00,562
that this was going to
be a major disruption,
610
00:27:00,586 --> 00:27:03,065
and my sense was that
611
00:27:03,089 --> 00:27:06,525
these were not people
you could reason with.
612
00:27:07,694 --> 00:27:09,371
I can remember going to
one town meeting there
613
00:27:09,395 --> 00:27:12,140
where Michael Lang, who had
very long hair in those days,
614
00:27:12,164 --> 00:27:15,543
stood up to talk and
there were catcalls
615
00:27:15,567 --> 00:27:16,345
'cause he had long hair,
616
00:27:16,369 --> 00:27:17,545
and some guy would say,
617
00:27:17,569 --> 00:27:19,314
"Is that Miss Lang
or is that Mr. Lang?"
618
00:27:19,338 --> 00:27:20,783
That sort of thing,
619
00:27:20,807 --> 00:27:24,711
and there was a sense that they
didn't like us generically.
620
00:27:25,912 --> 00:27:30,116
- We attended many, many
kinds of meetings where,
621
00:27:31,718 --> 00:27:36,231
since I was the
straightest-looking
member of the group,
622
00:27:36,255 --> 00:27:38,424
I would do a lot of talking
623
00:27:39,391 --> 00:27:42,170
to these town meetings
624
00:27:42,194 --> 00:27:45,974
about what we planned.
625
00:27:45,998 --> 00:27:49,444
I guess it was convincing enough
626
00:27:49,468 --> 00:27:51,513
because a lot of
those meetings ended
627
00:27:51,537 --> 00:27:53,448
with a lot of
shaking the hand and,
628
00:27:53,472 --> 00:27:56,819
"Gee, we didn't know you knew
about this kind of stuff,"
629
00:27:56,843 --> 00:27:58,086
but then, when they'd go back,
630
00:27:58,110 --> 00:27:59,746
they'd say like, "Wait a second.
631
00:28:00,579 --> 00:28:02,024
"Wait a second.
632
00:28:02,048 --> 00:28:04,326
"This is all too nice,"
633
00:28:04,350 --> 00:28:07,429
and I think they went
to bed that night
634
00:28:07,453 --> 00:28:10,498
and said to their wife, "I
don't know about that guy,"
635
00:28:10,522 --> 00:28:13,435
or, "I don't know
about those guys,
636
00:28:13,459 --> 00:28:16,695
"no matter what
they say." (laughs)
637
00:28:19,098 --> 00:28:21,309
- The issue of whether or not
638
00:28:21,333 --> 00:28:24,947
there should be a music festival
in the town of Wallkill,
639
00:28:24,971 --> 00:28:26,114
our only experience
640
00:28:26,138 --> 00:28:28,984
had been what had
happened in California,
641
00:28:29,008 --> 00:28:30,452
and there was some violence,
642
00:28:30,476 --> 00:28:31,420
and there were some drugs,
643
00:28:31,444 --> 00:28:32,888
and so on and so forth,
644
00:28:32,912 --> 00:28:37,259
and I think that we didn't feel
that Wallkill was the place.
645
00:28:37,283 --> 00:28:38,794
Even at that time
646
00:28:38,818 --> 00:28:41,120
I think they were talking
about 25 or 30,000 people
647
00:28:42,521 --> 00:28:44,099
in the middle of this
residential neighborhood.
648
00:28:44,123 --> 00:28:45,391
It made no sense to us.
649
00:28:46,458 --> 00:28:48,070
- At that point,
650
00:28:48,094 --> 00:28:50,973
Dennis Cosgrove and
several other individuals,
651
00:28:50,997 --> 00:28:53,141
some state police
officers in the area,
652
00:28:53,165 --> 00:28:55,301
were quite concerned
with the project.
653
00:28:57,036 --> 00:29:00,148
They retained me and
asked what they could do
654
00:29:00,172 --> 00:29:02,818
to stop the project
at that point.
655
00:29:02,842 --> 00:29:05,453
- My secretary calls me, says,
"The governor's on the phone.
656
00:29:05,477 --> 00:29:06,879
"He don't sound happy,"
657
00:29:08,180 --> 00:29:09,591
and I picked up the phone.
658
00:29:09,615 --> 00:29:11,459
He says, "Nelson here.
659
00:29:11,483 --> 00:29:13,461
"Howard, I don't know what the
hell you're doing down there,
660
00:29:13,485 --> 00:29:14,696
"but get rid of it."
661
00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:17,256
That was the end of
that conversation.
662
00:29:18,457 --> 00:29:19,758
- At some magic moment
663
00:29:21,828 --> 00:29:24,096
when Jack Schlosser,
the town supervisor,
664
00:29:25,564 --> 00:29:29,511
suddenly began to take sides
665
00:29:29,535 --> 00:29:33,248
and said something
about Richard Daley
666
00:29:33,272 --> 00:29:36,618
having known how to deal
with crowds of hippies,
667
00:29:36,642 --> 00:29:39,021
I lost my temper
668
00:29:39,045 --> 00:29:40,655
and there was a certain
amount of shouting
669
00:29:40,679 --> 00:29:42,157
going on back and forth,
670
00:29:42,181 --> 00:29:45,451
and the meeting came
rapidly to a close.
671
00:29:47,019 --> 00:29:48,696
- Right after he
gave that speech
672
00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:51,433
I think is when he
sat down next to me,
673
00:29:51,457 --> 00:29:55,503
and the people behind us
made that comment about,
674
00:29:55,527 --> 00:29:58,373
"If any one of those
kids comes on my land
675
00:29:58,397 --> 00:29:59,342
"I'm gonna shoot 'em,
676
00:29:59,366 --> 00:30:01,043
"and I have the gun to do it."
677
00:30:01,067 --> 00:30:04,346
- The middle of the night,
my wife gets a call,
678
00:30:04,370 --> 00:30:06,205
"They're gonna burn
your house down,"
679
00:30:07,373 --> 00:30:11,186
and later on that night,
680
00:30:11,210 --> 00:30:13,588
about three o'clock
in the morning,
681
00:30:13,612 --> 00:30:18,617
a friend of mine who
I grew up with said
682
00:30:20,086 --> 00:30:22,965
called me and said, "I have
to meet you on a back road,
683
00:30:22,989 --> 00:30:24,823
"and I don't wanna
be seen with you."
684
00:30:25,691 --> 00:30:26,902
I'd known him all my life
685
00:30:26,926 --> 00:30:28,760
and I couldn't figure
out the hell's going on.
686
00:30:29,761 --> 00:30:31,306
So, I drove up there
687
00:30:31,330 --> 00:30:35,077
and he told me that he'd
been sitting at a bar
688
00:30:35,101 --> 00:30:37,245
and overheard conversations
689
00:30:37,269 --> 00:30:39,948
where they were forming
a vigilante committee
690
00:30:39,972 --> 00:30:41,607
to do away with me.
691
00:30:43,075 --> 00:30:46,754
- They passed a law that we
felt was fairly definitive
692
00:30:46,778 --> 00:30:50,516
in terms of foreclosing our
ability to use that town.
693
00:30:51,717 --> 00:30:53,628
Well, we felt about
the only organization
694
00:30:53,652 --> 00:30:56,298
that could comply with these
laws would be a monastery
695
00:30:56,322 --> 00:30:58,833
whose members had
taken a vow of silence.
696
00:30:58,857 --> 00:31:01,636
This law was designed
not very artfully,
697
00:31:01,660 --> 00:31:02,861
but very effectively,
698
00:31:04,196 --> 00:31:06,674
to preclude us having
a festival there.
699
00:31:06,698 --> 00:31:11,379
If you have a law that
says no noise can emanate
700
00:31:11,403 --> 00:31:13,472
more than 10 feet from
the property line,
701
00:31:15,474 --> 00:31:16,952
you pretty much have foreclosed
702
00:31:16,976 --> 00:31:18,887
children playing in the
backyard or anything else,
703
00:31:18,911 --> 00:31:21,623
let alone amplified
rock concerts,
704
00:31:21,647 --> 00:31:24,559
so we knew, when that law was
passed, that we were dead.
705
00:31:24,583 --> 00:31:27,595
- I thought, in fact, that
we had reasonable grounds
706
00:31:27,619 --> 00:31:31,423
and ought to try to stay there
rather than just abandon it.
707
00:31:32,824 --> 00:31:35,703
However, that wasn't part
of anyone else's idea
708
00:31:35,727 --> 00:31:36,996
of the right thing to do.
709
00:31:39,031 --> 00:31:41,609
So, folks scattered
looking for sites.
710
00:31:41,633 --> 00:31:43,111
- And the night
we lost Wallkill,
711
00:31:43,135 --> 00:31:46,214
Michael came over and we
sat there giggling about it,
712
00:31:46,238 --> 00:31:47,449
see, 'cause to Michael,
713
00:31:47,473 --> 00:31:49,051
even at that point
when we lost the site
714
00:31:49,075 --> 00:31:50,685
it was still like
we laughed about it
715
00:31:50,709 --> 00:31:53,121
'cause we knew it was
gonna come off anyway,
716
00:31:53,145 --> 00:31:56,258
and that's what was supposed
to happen: lose Wallkill.
717
00:31:56,282 --> 00:31:58,350
- And when we lost
the Wallkill site,
718
00:31:59,485 --> 00:32:00,919
we realized we had lost it,
719
00:32:02,154 --> 00:32:05,657
although there was a
great deal of panic
720
00:32:07,093 --> 00:32:09,028
and disappointment
for a few days,
721
00:32:10,229 --> 00:32:13,275
it was always there's
a better one out there
722
00:32:13,299 --> 00:32:15,110
and we're gonna find it,
723
00:32:15,134 --> 00:32:16,134
and we did.
724
00:32:21,673 --> 00:32:23,118
- [Narrator] With
time running out
725
00:32:23,142 --> 00:32:25,187
and no legitimate prospects
for finding a new site,
726
00:32:25,211 --> 00:32:27,655
a call from an unlikely
ally would steer the guys
727
00:32:27,679 --> 00:32:29,857
to Sullivan County and
the town of Bethel,
728
00:32:29,881 --> 00:32:32,118
just 50 miles west of Wallkill.
729
00:32:33,752 --> 00:32:37,732
- We got a call from Elliot
Tiber the weekend after we,
730
00:32:37,756 --> 00:32:42,037
that weekend, during the
weekend of our discovery
731
00:32:42,061 --> 00:32:44,106
that we were no longer
gonna be in Wallkill.
732
00:32:44,130 --> 00:32:45,507
- He said, "I have the permits
733
00:32:45,531 --> 00:32:47,942
"and I have the perfect place."
734
00:32:47,966 --> 00:32:51,579
- And Elliot said that
he had read about this,
735
00:32:51,603 --> 00:32:52,814
what happened to Wallkill,
736
00:32:52,838 --> 00:32:54,949
and he said, "I
have a big property.
737
00:32:54,973 --> 00:32:56,484
"Come and see it."
738
00:32:56,508 --> 00:32:58,710
Goldstein and I shot up there.
739
00:33:00,512 --> 00:33:02,690
- The site that he had to offer
740
00:33:02,714 --> 00:33:06,261
was connected to a motel
741
00:33:06,285 --> 00:33:08,354
that was owned by
the Tiber family,
742
00:33:10,989 --> 00:33:14,802
and Mel and I went up to
take a look at the site,
743
00:33:14,826 --> 00:33:17,039
which turned out to be a swamp.
744
00:33:17,063 --> 00:33:19,374
We wound up in mud
up to our knees,
745
00:33:19,398 --> 00:33:21,376
and just covered with shit.
746
00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:24,146
- And it was like
this giant bowl
747
00:33:24,170 --> 00:33:25,847
with all these trees around it,
748
00:33:25,871 --> 00:33:28,950
and Stan and I are looking at it
749
00:33:28,974 --> 00:33:31,719
and saying there's
a lot of trees,
750
00:33:31,743 --> 00:33:33,845
we'd have to cut
down all these trees,
751
00:33:35,214 --> 00:33:37,525
but let's go down to the bottom
and see what's happening.
752
00:33:37,549 --> 00:33:41,529
We went down, it's a swamp,
a total swamp down there,
753
00:33:41,553 --> 00:33:42,697
and we said, "This
is impossible,"
754
00:33:42,721 --> 00:33:44,532
and we said to this guy Elliot,
755
00:33:44,556 --> 00:33:48,570
"What did you expect us
to do a show in a swamp?
756
00:33:48,594 --> 00:33:49,937
"Put up a stage and everything?"
757
00:33:49,961 --> 00:33:51,239
and all these trees,
758
00:33:51,263 --> 00:33:53,741
and we were sort of
pissed off at the guy,
759
00:33:53,765 --> 00:33:55,310
and we left.
760
00:33:55,334 --> 00:33:59,114
- Well, but then there was
another call that came in,
761
00:33:59,138 --> 00:34:01,349
and Mel and I went up together,
762
00:34:01,373 --> 00:34:03,351
and we went to see Elliot.
763
00:34:03,375 --> 00:34:04,852
We were meeting him
and a real estate agent
764
00:34:04,876 --> 00:34:09,791
at his motel.
765
00:34:09,815 --> 00:34:11,326
- And we met Yasgur,
766
00:34:11,350 --> 00:34:13,161
and then he jumped in the car,
767
00:34:13,185 --> 00:34:14,362
and it was the middleman,
768
00:34:14,386 --> 00:34:16,531
and Yasgur, and
Michael, and myself,
769
00:34:16,555 --> 00:34:18,800
and we went driving
around Yasgur's farm,
770
00:34:18,824 --> 00:34:23,829
and the piece that
he showed first
771
00:34:25,030 --> 00:34:28,300
was this huge field,
but flat as a board.
772
00:34:29,668 --> 00:34:31,246
I look at Michael
and I say, "Wow,"
773
00:34:31,270 --> 00:34:34,382
and 100,000 people, they're
not gonna see anything,
774
00:34:34,406 --> 00:34:36,184
and then Max said
something like,
775
00:34:36,208 --> 00:34:40,422
"Well, do you want something
with a little contour to it?"
776
00:34:40,446 --> 00:34:42,290
and we said, "Yeah."
777
00:34:42,314 --> 00:34:44,426
- And we came down Hurd Road,
778
00:34:44,450 --> 00:34:45,361
and came up over the crest,
779
00:34:45,385 --> 00:34:47,219
and there was the bowl,
780
00:34:48,654 --> 00:34:52,334
and we knew immediately this
was our new home, somehow.
781
00:34:52,358 --> 00:34:53,868
- The two of them stand there
782
00:34:53,892 --> 00:34:56,504
without any assistance from
the Realtor or anybody else,
783
00:34:56,528 --> 00:34:58,206
and all of a sudden
Michael says,
784
00:34:58,230 --> 00:34:59,731
"This is where we have to be.
785
00:35:01,967 --> 00:35:04,102
"What's the deal next?"
786
00:35:05,504 --> 00:35:07,782
"Well, you'll have to
clean up after yourself."
787
00:35:07,806 --> 00:35:08,974
"We certainly will."
788
00:35:10,842 --> 00:35:13,455
My cables are still buried
four foot underground.
789
00:35:13,479 --> 00:35:16,558
We couldn't get them out
with a bulldozer. (laughs)
790
00:35:16,582 --> 00:35:18,693
Anyway, there's power there
for anything that you want.
791
00:35:18,717 --> 00:35:19,628
Just let me know.
792
00:35:19,652 --> 00:35:21,763
I'll tell you where it is.
793
00:35:21,787 --> 00:35:24,332
- Yeah, Max actually found us.
794
00:35:24,356 --> 00:35:26,434
Max was 50 miles away.
795
00:35:26,458 --> 00:35:29,604
He'd been following the accounts
of our battles in Wallkill,
796
00:35:29,628 --> 00:35:33,375
and when we were thrown
out he called us,
797
00:35:33,399 --> 00:35:37,303
and Mel and Michael
798
00:35:38,204 --> 00:35:39,281
went up to see him,
799
00:35:39,305 --> 00:35:40,382
and looked at the land,
800
00:35:40,406 --> 00:35:41,883
and called me, and said,
801
00:35:41,907 --> 00:35:43,185
"You've gotta get up here
and take a look at this
802
00:35:43,209 --> 00:35:45,653
"and make a deal
with this farmer,"
803
00:35:45,677 --> 00:35:48,556
and I hopped on my motorbike
804
00:35:48,580 --> 00:35:50,158
and got up there as
quickly as I could,
805
00:35:50,182 --> 00:35:54,796
and I made a deal with Max,
and we hit it off very well.
806
00:35:54,820 --> 00:35:57,332
He was a delightful,
charming guy.
807
00:35:57,356 --> 00:35:59,567
- I'm sure that went
through his mind was,
808
00:35:59,591 --> 00:36:02,003
"Hey, I don't have
these prejudices.
809
00:36:02,027 --> 00:36:03,871
"I don't mind kids
on my property.
810
00:36:03,895 --> 00:36:06,741
"I don't mind a rock
'n' roll festival.
811
00:36:06,765 --> 00:36:07,966
"I think that'd be fun."
812
00:36:09,868 --> 00:36:13,281
- The Yasgurs were decent,
813
00:36:13,305 --> 00:36:16,351
gentle, caring people.
814
00:36:16,375 --> 00:36:17,585
They came to our rescue.
815
00:36:17,609 --> 00:36:18,521
There would have
been no Woodstock
816
00:36:18,545 --> 00:36:20,288
without Max and Miriam Yasgur.
817
00:36:20,312 --> 00:36:23,090
(crowd chattering)
818
00:36:23,114 --> 00:36:24,816
- [Announcer] We have
a gentleman with us.
819
00:36:26,252 --> 00:36:29,764
He's the gentleman upon whose
farm we are, Mr. Max Yasgur.
820
00:36:29,788 --> 00:36:32,534
(crowd applauding)
821
00:36:32,558 --> 00:36:35,370
- This is the largest
group of people
822
00:36:35,394 --> 00:36:38,096
ever assembled in one place,
823
00:36:40,165 --> 00:36:43,068
(crowd applauding)
824
00:36:45,271 --> 00:36:46,748
but above that,
825
00:36:46,772 --> 00:36:49,984
the important thing that
you're proving to the world
826
00:36:50,008 --> 00:36:53,921
is that a half a million
young people can get together
827
00:36:53,945 --> 00:36:56,924
and have three days
of fun and music,
828
00:36:56,948 --> 00:36:59,261
and have nothing
but fun and music,
829
00:36:59,285 --> 00:37:01,019
and I God bless you for it.
830
00:37:02,388 --> 00:37:04,932
(energetic rock music)
831
00:37:04,956 --> 00:37:06,301
- [Narrator] But some of
the people in White Lake
832
00:37:06,325 --> 00:37:08,035
didn't share Max's vision,
833
00:37:08,059 --> 00:37:10,805
and opposition to the festival
being held in their community
834
00:37:10,829 --> 00:37:13,441
began to mount, just
like in Wallkill.
835
00:37:13,465 --> 00:37:16,744
- Max was a pretty important
person in that county,
836
00:37:16,768 --> 00:37:20,648
and he had a lot of
good contacts there,
837
00:37:20,672 --> 00:37:22,284
and we sort of felt
838
00:37:22,308 --> 00:37:24,352
we were going to
generate some opposition
839
00:37:24,376 --> 00:37:26,921
once people realized
what was going on there,
840
00:37:26,945 --> 00:37:30,358
but that if we moved forward
841
00:37:30,382 --> 00:37:33,461
with a sort of surge
of inevitability,
842
00:37:33,485 --> 00:37:35,363
that we might just
squeak through
843
00:37:35,387 --> 00:37:39,401
before the opposition could
marshal its forces and stop us,
844
00:37:39,425 --> 00:37:40,902
and that's in essence
what happened.
845
00:37:40,926 --> 00:37:44,005
I mean, as I say, Max had some
good friends who helped us,
846
00:37:44,029 --> 00:37:47,675
and the opposition
never really developed
847
00:37:47,699 --> 00:37:49,777
quite enough power to stop us.
848
00:37:49,801 --> 00:37:50,801
They came close.
849
00:37:53,004 --> 00:37:54,449
We had one huge problem.
850
00:37:54,473 --> 00:37:56,017
We had sold about a million
dollars worth of tickets
851
00:37:56,041 --> 00:37:57,319
for Wallkill,
852
00:37:57,343 --> 00:37:59,587
so we had to make sure
that everybody knew
853
00:37:59,611 --> 00:38:01,489
that anyone who had bought
tickets for Wallkill,
854
00:38:01,513 --> 00:38:04,025
those tickets would be
honored in White Lake.
855
00:38:04,049 --> 00:38:05,527
The press had been
carrying accounts
856
00:38:05,551 --> 00:38:07,529
of how the festival was dead
and there wouldn't be one,
857
00:38:07,553 --> 00:38:09,331
so we had to counteract that.
858
00:38:09,355 --> 00:38:11,333
We had to continue to work
with our ticket outlets
859
00:38:11,357 --> 00:38:13,768
to make sure they
continued to sell tickets,
860
00:38:13,792 --> 00:38:15,703
so it was a nightmarish problem
861
00:38:15,727 --> 00:38:18,039
for that roughly 30-day period
862
00:38:18,063 --> 00:38:20,442
to make sure that ticket
sales went forward,
863
00:38:20,466 --> 00:38:22,043
and that people
who were confused
864
00:38:22,067 --> 00:38:24,646
about where this
festival was going to be
865
00:38:24,670 --> 00:38:26,814
knew where it was going to be.
866
00:38:26,838 --> 00:38:29,484
- Well, it's two guys
867
00:38:29,508 --> 00:38:32,344
in a straw hat and overalls
868
00:38:33,845 --> 00:38:35,256
with blunderbusses
869
00:38:35,280 --> 00:38:39,184
saying, "Stay out of town."
870
00:38:40,486 --> 00:38:43,254
We didn't consider
ourselves to be that at all.
871
00:38:45,256 --> 00:38:46,701
We're a pretty rural area here,
872
00:38:46,725 --> 00:38:49,337
but we didn't consider ourselves
to be country bumpkins,
873
00:38:49,361 --> 00:38:51,162
but they certainly
painted us to be.
874
00:38:52,631 --> 00:38:54,576
- I thought it was exactly
what we were dealing with
875
00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:58,446
in that town, and
I was all for it.
876
00:38:58,470 --> 00:38:59,605
- I didn't like the ad.
877
00:39:02,474 --> 00:39:04,419
It just struck me that an ad
878
00:39:04,443 --> 00:39:07,622
featuring two obvious rednecks
879
00:39:07,646 --> 00:39:11,959
with blunderbusses, I guess
it looked like, is that right?
880
00:39:11,983 --> 00:39:15,062
I seem to remember these
sort of caricature shotguns.
881
00:39:15,086 --> 00:39:17,264
It went over the line for me
882
00:39:17,288 --> 00:39:21,593
in terms of the anger and the
confrontation element in it.
883
00:39:22,794 --> 00:39:23,706
I just didn't want
anything like that
884
00:39:23,730 --> 00:39:25,272
associated with the festival.
885
00:39:25,296 --> 00:39:26,296
I was outvoted.
886
00:39:29,635 --> 00:39:32,647
- We got to White Lake July 15th
887
00:39:32,671 --> 00:39:34,949
and the festival
was August 15th,
888
00:39:34,973 --> 00:39:39,186
so it just moved forward
like a enormous tidal wave,
889
00:39:39,210 --> 00:39:42,524
and we, by the time
that festival started
890
00:39:42,548 --> 00:39:44,892
we had 1,000 people
hammering, and building,
891
00:39:44,916 --> 00:39:47,194
and constructing, and
what have you, and it was
892
00:39:47,218 --> 00:39:50,465
it had a sort of
inevitability about it.
893
00:39:50,489 --> 00:39:52,634
- I felt that if we were
gonna do a project like this,
894
00:39:52,658 --> 00:39:55,737
that we needed a technical
director like Langhart,
895
00:39:55,761 --> 00:39:57,572
and to work with
Chris for 15 minutes
896
00:39:57,596 --> 00:39:59,441
was to figure out this
was the greatest genius.
897
00:39:59,465 --> 00:40:02,810
This was this strange,
Ichabod Crane-looking guy
898
00:40:02,834 --> 00:40:06,481
who just understood what
everything was made of,
899
00:40:06,505 --> 00:40:10,084
so I campaigned very, very
heavily to bring Chris in,
900
00:40:10,108 --> 00:40:11,108
and I was right.
901
00:40:12,511 --> 00:40:16,891
- We're standing on West Shore
Road looking towards Bethel
902
00:40:16,915 --> 00:40:20,027
at about where the
bridge was overhead,
903
00:40:20,051 --> 00:40:22,888
and over this way was
Phillipini's Pond,
904
00:40:24,623 --> 00:40:27,201
and coming back
through this way then
905
00:40:27,225 --> 00:40:28,836
you come to the heliport,
906
00:40:28,860 --> 00:40:30,905
and then further
down in that low spot
907
00:40:30,929 --> 00:40:33,307
where the office trailers
were, my office was,
908
00:40:33,331 --> 00:40:35,242
and the payroll office
909
00:40:35,266 --> 00:40:36,711
where the people
gathered in the morning
910
00:40:36,735 --> 00:40:39,881
to discern which tasks
they were gonna have,
911
00:40:39,905 --> 00:40:42,049
and then coming
across here we had,
912
00:40:42,073 --> 00:40:44,986
mostly this road was blocked
up with people walking,
913
00:40:45,010 --> 00:40:46,220
and overhead was the bridge.
914
00:40:46,244 --> 00:40:47,421
We had a couple phone poles here
915
00:40:47,445 --> 00:40:49,056
and a couple phone poles there,
916
00:40:49,080 --> 00:40:52,326
and we had some, I don't know,
12 by nines or something,
917
00:40:52,350 --> 00:40:53,495
whatever could be found locally,
918
00:40:53,519 --> 00:40:54,929
to span the road
919
00:40:54,953 --> 00:40:56,464
because I felt
that the performers
920
00:40:56,488 --> 00:40:59,233
on the way from the heliport
to the stage would get mobbed
921
00:40:59,257 --> 00:41:01,235
if there was all this
walking road business.
922
00:41:01,259 --> 00:41:02,637
We had to have some way
923
00:41:02,661 --> 00:41:04,238
to keep the performer pavilion,
which was on that side,
924
00:41:04,262 --> 00:41:06,741
from the stage, which
was on this side.
925
00:41:06,765 --> 00:41:08,166
Over here is the stage.
926
00:41:09,334 --> 00:41:11,045
There's this kind
of flat place here,
927
00:41:11,069 --> 00:41:13,380
and then the hill rises up,
928
00:41:13,404 --> 00:41:14,749
and then there's
a kind of a dip,
929
00:41:14,773 --> 00:41:16,951
and then it goes on again,
930
00:41:16,975 --> 00:41:21,188
and so the stage was quite high
compared to modern concerts
931
00:41:21,212 --> 00:41:24,826
because you have a situation
where if it wasn't,
932
00:41:24,850 --> 00:41:26,393
then everybody that
was caught in the dip
933
00:41:26,417 --> 00:41:27,862
wouldn't be able to
see the performers,
934
00:41:27,886 --> 00:41:32,033
so we had no option here except
to make the stage real high
935
00:41:32,057 --> 00:41:34,268
so that the people who were
down front were looking up
936
00:41:34,292 --> 00:41:36,203
and the people further
out were looking across,
937
00:41:36,227 --> 00:41:38,806
and the people from the
top were looking down.
938
00:41:38,830 --> 00:41:40,407
It also extended the field
939
00:41:40,431 --> 00:41:43,010
because you could then see,
from much further back,
940
00:41:43,034 --> 00:41:47,014
the stage as a result
of being high enough
941
00:41:47,038 --> 00:41:48,038
so you could see it.
942
00:41:49,875 --> 00:41:52,554
- A lot of people
were getting cold feet
943
00:41:52,578 --> 00:41:55,056
because they'd heard
that the festival site
944
00:41:55,080 --> 00:41:56,357
had been shifted.
945
00:41:56,381 --> 00:41:58,526
They heard that
there were problems.
946
00:41:58,550 --> 00:42:00,094
There were rumblings
in the press
947
00:42:00,118 --> 00:42:03,230
that things weren't going well,
948
00:42:03,254 --> 00:42:08,102
that the construction on the
festival was lagging behind.
949
00:42:08,126 --> 00:42:09,227
It was all true,
950
00:42:10,428 --> 00:42:12,363
and nobody really knew
what was gonna happen.
951
00:42:13,264 --> 00:42:14,933
- Most of that month it rained,
952
00:42:16,267 --> 00:42:18,713
and that hampered our
ability to prepare the stage,
953
00:42:18,737 --> 00:42:20,815
and build the gates and
all the concession areas,
954
00:42:20,839 --> 00:42:23,951
and the roads, and the power.
955
00:42:23,975 --> 00:42:25,787
I mean, there was just
an enormous amount to do,
956
00:42:25,811 --> 00:42:29,624
and we were down to
literally 28 days to do it.
957
00:42:29,648 --> 00:42:33,218
(raunchy blues-rock music)
958
00:42:36,722 --> 00:42:40,067
- (laughs) It was an
enormous undertaking.
959
00:42:40,091 --> 00:42:43,328
The plots and plans
that had been made,
960
00:42:44,630 --> 00:42:47,541
and hundreds and
hundreds and hundreds
961
00:42:47,565 --> 00:42:48,743
of thousands of dollars,
962
00:42:48,767 --> 00:42:50,978
and hundreds of man-hours
963
00:42:51,002 --> 00:42:54,649
had been put into
the previous site.
964
00:42:54,673 --> 00:42:57,108
The Yasgur site
was just gorgeous.
965
00:42:59,010 --> 00:43:02,890
It was just head and shoulders
966
00:43:02,914 --> 00:43:04,759
for sheer beauty,
967
00:43:04,783 --> 00:43:07,328
so much better than
the Mills site.
968
00:43:07,352 --> 00:43:09,563
It was as though it had
been designed for the job
969
00:43:09,587 --> 00:43:12,190
except that there were no
roads, there was no water.
970
00:43:13,591 --> 00:43:14,502
We had to dig wells.
971
00:43:14,526 --> 00:43:15,737
We had to bring in power.
972
00:43:15,761 --> 00:43:17,672
Power had existed
at the other place.
973
00:43:17,696 --> 00:43:19,798
So, suddenly utilities
974
00:43:20,732 --> 00:43:22,710
became an enormous undertaking,
975
00:43:22,734 --> 00:43:24,211
whereas previously
976
00:43:24,235 --> 00:43:27,472
utilities had been a very
small, simple consideration.
977
00:43:28,606 --> 00:43:30,417
- There were 650,000
watts of lights
978
00:43:30,441 --> 00:43:32,310
sitting underneath
the stage rusting.
979
00:43:34,145 --> 00:43:35,556
Nowhere to hang it.
980
00:43:35,580 --> 00:43:39,293
There was another 20,000
watts on the Joshua Light Show
981
00:43:39,317 --> 00:43:41,963
at the backing or
the rear screen.
982
00:43:41,987 --> 00:43:44,098
The rear screen couldn't be hung
983
00:43:44,122 --> 00:43:48,936
because we couldn't find a
stable enough position for it
984
00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:51,472
with those five trusses.
985
00:43:51,496 --> 00:43:53,364
The roof was never finished.
986
00:43:56,935 --> 00:44:01,472
- It was a complex stage
structure to support the lights,
987
00:44:02,941 --> 00:44:07,722
an exotic overhead structure
which, once it was in place,
988
00:44:07,746 --> 00:44:09,223
would have been
quite extraordinary.
989
00:44:09,247 --> 00:44:10,892
Unfortunately,
getting it in place
990
00:44:10,916 --> 00:44:14,862
required the choreography
of enormous quantities
991
00:44:14,886 --> 00:44:17,198
of people and heavy
equipment, a couple of cranes,
992
00:44:17,222 --> 00:44:19,333
and this and that,
and this and that.
993
00:44:19,357 --> 00:44:21,903
We had to lay roads,
enormous roads,
994
00:44:21,927 --> 00:44:23,971
prepare road beds and so forth,
995
00:44:23,995 --> 00:44:28,776
and all of that working
around Max's harvest schedule
996
00:44:28,800 --> 00:44:30,201
and milking schedule.
997
00:44:31,569 --> 00:44:33,614
Electricity didn't get
there till the last moment.
998
00:44:33,638 --> 00:44:36,341
Telephones didn't get there
till the very last moment.
999
00:44:37,776 --> 00:44:41,646
And so it was a haul every
last minute of the time.
1000
00:44:43,248 --> 00:44:45,026
(energetic rock music)
1001
00:44:45,050 --> 00:44:49,163
- First of all, they pulled
enormous all-nighters for days
1002
00:44:49,187 --> 00:44:50,765
to try and finish this.
1003
00:44:50,789 --> 00:44:54,192
The Thursday before
the Friday of the show
1004
00:44:56,161 --> 00:45:00,341
they were just barely
getting the sound down.
1005
00:45:00,365 --> 00:45:03,168
I remember Hanley showing
up with all this stuff
1006
00:45:04,302 --> 00:45:07,648
and just rolling
his eyes and saying,
1007
00:45:07,672 --> 00:45:10,441
"Where am I gonna put
the sound system?"
1008
00:45:11,376 --> 00:45:12,586
- No, I didn't wonder.
1009
00:45:12,610 --> 00:45:15,089
I designed and laid
it out to begin with.
1010
00:45:15,113 --> 00:45:17,282
We stopped the car and
get out of the car,
1011
00:45:18,616 --> 00:45:21,128
and I went walking up,
looking the whole thing over,
1012
00:45:21,152 --> 00:45:23,430
and found these
dips in the land,
1013
00:45:23,454 --> 00:45:26,500
and so I laid the stage out
1014
00:45:26,524 --> 00:45:29,403
and designed the V
and the security thing
1015
00:45:29,427 --> 00:45:32,539
from all the festivals that
I had done and watched,
1016
00:45:32,563 --> 00:45:35,609
had learned from
those beforehand
1017
00:45:35,633 --> 00:45:39,938
because nobody was really
out to make the concert
1018
00:45:41,339 --> 00:45:44,852
more like what you might
hear in the recording studio
1019
00:45:44,876 --> 00:45:46,687
when you're doing a mixdown:
1020
00:45:46,711 --> 00:45:48,990
fidelity, full
frequency response
1021
00:45:49,014 --> 00:45:50,748
as best we could
at the the time,
1022
00:45:52,217 --> 00:45:53,594
and then mixing it together,
1023
00:45:53,618 --> 00:45:54,896
and we were trying to do that
1024
00:45:54,920 --> 00:45:57,698
so that everybody could
hear and understand
1025
00:45:57,722 --> 00:46:00,802
what was being said to the
last seat in the house.
1026
00:46:00,826 --> 00:46:03,470
(raunchy blues-rock music)
1027
00:46:03,494 --> 00:46:07,565
- We didn't obtain
an actual permit
1028
00:46:08,967 --> 00:46:13,347
to do the show in White Lake
1029
00:46:13,371 --> 00:46:16,750
until, probably,
hours before the show.
1030
00:46:16,774 --> 00:46:17,774
In the meantime,
1031
00:46:22,413 --> 00:46:24,382
the local building inspector
1032
00:46:25,383 --> 00:46:27,028
was very conscious of the fact
1033
00:46:27,052 --> 00:46:31,198
that if we didn't proceed
1034
00:46:31,222 --> 00:46:32,699
with our work
1035
00:46:32,723 --> 00:46:35,760
that in fact we were not
gonna be in a position
1036
00:46:38,263 --> 00:46:39,473
to accommodate the crowds
1037
00:46:39,497 --> 00:46:42,243
and/or some other bad
things would happen:
1038
00:46:42,267 --> 00:46:44,879
the stage construction
would be even further behind
1039
00:46:44,903 --> 00:46:46,347
than it was.
1040
00:46:46,371 --> 00:46:50,751
And so we simply made a
little backdoor arrangement
1041
00:46:50,775 --> 00:46:54,088
that when we were
enjoined from working
1042
00:46:54,112 --> 00:46:55,589
while waiting for our permits,
1043
00:46:55,613 --> 00:46:57,258
while making our final appeals
1044
00:46:57,282 --> 00:46:58,884
on this and that and so forth,
1045
00:47:00,085 --> 00:47:03,865
and stop-work
orders were issued,
1046
00:47:03,889 --> 00:47:07,392
he would come by, wake me
up, I would go get my car,
1047
00:47:08,826 --> 00:47:10,804
and then he would start a
journey around the site,
1048
00:47:10,828 --> 00:47:12,373
posting stop-work notices,
1049
00:47:12,397 --> 00:47:14,808
and I would follow
along behind him
1050
00:47:14,832 --> 00:47:17,444
and remove the
stop-work notices.
1051
00:47:17,468 --> 00:47:19,404
I was not one of
the four partners,
1052
00:47:20,805 --> 00:47:23,942
so I was the most easily
sacrificed of the big names,
1053
00:47:25,510 --> 00:47:26,720
and so I,
1054
00:47:26,744 --> 00:47:28,089
what are you laughing at, Duke?
1055
00:47:28,113 --> 00:47:29,514
It's true, it's true.
1056
00:47:30,781 --> 00:47:32,593
Subject of midnight meetings:
1057
00:47:32,617 --> 00:47:36,087
Who gets arrested on
this one? (laughs)
1058
00:47:38,356 --> 00:47:39,457
- I had the checkbook,
1059
00:47:40,391 --> 00:47:44,238
and there were people
1060
00:47:44,262 --> 00:47:47,032
who signed John's
name who were not John
1061
00:47:47,966 --> 00:47:50,277
to those checks,
1062
00:47:50,301 --> 00:47:53,204
and suddenly we were paying
1063
00:47:54,305 --> 00:47:57,218
what amounted to ransom,
sky-high ransoms,
1064
00:47:57,242 --> 00:48:00,711
to get these things done
at the very last minute.
1065
00:48:04,149 --> 00:48:05,359
- [Announcer] Can you dig that?
1066
00:48:05,383 --> 00:48:08,930
New York State Thruway's
closed, man. (laughs)
1067
00:48:08,954 --> 00:48:12,499
- Well, there's really a hard
any way to explain how it was.
1068
00:48:12,523 --> 00:48:15,502
There was no firehouse
over there at that time,
1069
00:48:15,526 --> 00:48:17,738
with just a little grass
and some bungalows,
1070
00:48:17,762 --> 00:48:19,597
and we went to bed
on Thursday night.
1071
00:48:20,565 --> 00:48:21,842
There was no noise.
1072
00:48:21,866 --> 00:48:23,044
We got up Friday morning,
1073
00:48:23,068 --> 00:48:24,979
and this whole road
that you see vacant now,
1074
00:48:25,003 --> 00:48:27,648
all the way up through,
cars, people, jammed,
1075
00:48:27,672 --> 00:48:30,075
just one lane going all
the way up to the site.
1076
00:48:31,376 --> 00:48:34,355
- We had, oh, I think
it was over 500 acres,
1077
00:48:34,379 --> 00:48:37,158
might have been 600
acres, for parking alone,
1078
00:48:37,182 --> 00:48:39,160
and we had people
on that property
1079
00:48:39,184 --> 00:48:42,463
who could guide people in
and get them off the road,
1080
00:48:42,487 --> 00:48:45,532
but the state police
didn't get there,
1081
00:48:45,556 --> 00:48:47,434
didn't deploy their people
1082
00:48:47,458 --> 00:48:49,470
until hours after
they said they would,
1083
00:48:49,494 --> 00:48:52,797
and by the time they did,
17B was a parking lot.
1084
00:48:54,365 --> 00:48:56,377
- Well, the state police
didn't do anything wrong.
1085
00:48:56,401 --> 00:48:58,079
What happened, really, was
1086
00:48:58,103 --> 00:49:02,149
if we'd had the 100,000
people we were expecting,
1087
00:49:02,173 --> 00:49:05,376
that would have been
20,000 to 30,000 cars.
1088
00:49:06,978 --> 00:49:09,323
We probably could have handled
that without too much trouble
1089
00:49:09,347 --> 00:49:11,492
'cause we had hundreds
of acres of parking lots.
1090
00:49:11,516 --> 00:49:12,926
But two things happened:
1091
00:49:12,950 --> 00:49:15,162
One, we had four to five
times as many people show up,
1092
00:49:15,186 --> 00:49:17,322
so you had four to five
times as many cars.
1093
00:49:19,124 --> 00:49:20,367
Two, it rained,
1094
00:49:20,391 --> 00:49:23,528
so many of the parking
lots were a sea of mud.
1095
00:49:24,662 --> 00:49:26,607
- Obviously, we
knew then and there
1096
00:49:26,631 --> 00:49:28,409
that we couldn't put
people in parking lots,
1097
00:49:28,433 --> 00:49:31,778
and so we began to just hope
to seal off perimeter areas
1098
00:49:31,802 --> 00:49:34,148
way far away, miles away,
1099
00:49:34,172 --> 00:49:36,583
stop the flow of traffic
into the festival,
1100
00:49:36,607 --> 00:49:39,753
try to keep one lane
open in most of the roads
1101
00:49:39,777 --> 00:49:43,624
for emergency services,
primarily medical.
1102
00:49:43,648 --> 00:49:45,616
- I stood out on the Thruway,
1103
00:49:47,552 --> 00:49:48,862
or on the access road
from the Thruway,
1104
00:49:48,886 --> 00:49:50,131
with the state police,
1105
00:49:50,155 --> 00:49:52,523
trying to get traffic to
turn around at the exit.
1106
00:49:53,658 --> 00:49:54,901
It was impossible to
get cars to turn around.
1107
00:49:54,925 --> 00:49:57,771
I mean, they were
strewn everywhere.
1108
00:49:57,795 --> 00:50:02,109
- By Friday afternoon, there
were cars on every road,
1109
00:50:02,133 --> 00:50:05,479
in every field, for miles
and miles and miles.
1110
00:50:05,503 --> 00:50:08,849
In fact, I don't even know if
everybody ever got their car.
1111
00:50:08,873 --> 00:50:10,317
I mean, it's the thing
I always wondered.
1112
00:50:10,341 --> 00:50:11,818
I said, "Well, okay,
1113
00:50:11,842 --> 00:50:14,888
"did anybody just give up
and abandon their car?"
1114
00:50:14,912 --> 00:50:18,992
I mean, there were
cars everywhere,
literally everywhere.
1115
00:50:19,016 --> 00:50:22,729
- Frankly, the traffic jams
and all of the baggage,
1116
00:50:22,753 --> 00:50:23,997
and the impedimenta,
1117
00:50:24,021 --> 00:50:25,666
and things that kept
people from coming,
1118
00:50:25,690 --> 00:50:30,071
had we had another 100,000 we
would have been in deep shit.
1119
00:50:30,095 --> 00:50:33,264
("Black Magic Woman")
1120
00:50:34,432 --> 00:50:37,435
- I mean, when you had
60,000 people in a field
1121
00:50:38,903 --> 00:50:40,214
a day and a half before
the show was gonna start,
1122
00:50:40,238 --> 00:50:42,140
we knew that we were
in for something.
1123
00:50:43,541 --> 00:50:45,176
There was no question about it.
1124
00:50:46,577 --> 00:50:48,622
- There were 500,000,
600,000 people in the field.
1125
00:50:48,646 --> 00:50:51,158
There's another million
and a half people
1126
00:50:51,182 --> 00:50:53,060
physically trying to get in.
1127
00:50:53,084 --> 00:50:55,096
We're jumping to
hiring helicopters.
1128
00:50:55,120 --> 00:50:58,299
We're desperate to keep
water moving, the rest of it.
1129
00:50:58,323 --> 00:51:00,234
I mean, we had a
whole different thing
1130
00:51:00,258 --> 00:51:02,269
from this laid-back
concert festival
1131
00:51:02,293 --> 00:51:05,472
that we're just gonna have
and it'll all be gone,
1132
00:51:05,496 --> 00:51:08,642
and we're suddenly in the
city management business.
1133
00:51:08,666 --> 00:51:10,777
- We spent a great deal of time
1134
00:51:10,801 --> 00:51:13,780
conceptually thinking about
what we wanted to do here,
1135
00:51:13,804 --> 00:51:17,384
and the cornerstone
of our thinking
1136
00:51:17,408 --> 00:51:20,921
was this concept
of peace and music,
1137
00:51:20,945 --> 00:51:22,489
and peace was not intended
1138
00:51:22,513 --> 00:51:25,226
as some kind of code word
for "get out of Vietnam."
1139
00:51:25,250 --> 00:51:29,230
Peace was a shorthand
way of saying,
1140
00:51:29,254 --> 00:51:32,032
"A weekend of freedom from
whatever is bothering you.
1141
00:51:32,056 --> 00:51:35,001
"Just come to the country
and have a nice time."
1142
00:51:35,025 --> 00:51:36,403
And part of that, we felt,
1143
00:51:36,427 --> 00:51:40,207
was that the people
that came to Woodstock
1144
00:51:40,231 --> 00:51:43,910
should feel that they were in
a place that welcomed them,
1145
00:51:43,934 --> 00:51:48,906
that didn't fear
them, mistrust them,
1146
00:51:50,074 --> 00:51:51,674
suspect that they were
going to do wrong.
1147
00:51:52,410 --> 00:51:54,755
Part of the problem with
other festivals that we'd seen
1148
00:51:54,779 --> 00:51:57,924
was that there was sort
of a mutual antagonism
1149
00:51:57,948 --> 00:52:02,529
between festival-goers, say
people 18 to 22 or 23 years old,
1150
00:52:02,553 --> 00:52:06,099
and those charged with
keeping them calm,
1151
00:52:06,123 --> 00:52:08,135
and we felt this
didn't have to be,
1152
00:52:08,159 --> 00:52:11,872
so we designed the site,
1153
00:52:11,896 --> 00:52:15,609
we designed our security
procedures around the concept
1154
00:52:15,633 --> 00:52:19,946
of working with the people
coming to the festival,
1155
00:52:19,970 --> 00:52:21,848
making them feel
welcome and comfortable,
1156
00:52:21,872 --> 00:52:23,817
and Wes Pomeroy took a
lot of credit for that,
1157
00:52:23,841 --> 00:52:25,352
and properly so.
1158
00:52:25,376 --> 00:52:26,553
- There was a bottom line.
1159
00:52:26,577 --> 00:52:28,355
We said, "You can't
go any farther,
1160
00:52:28,379 --> 00:52:30,147
"and we're not gonna let you."
1161
00:52:31,582 --> 00:52:34,895
Well, we had never planned
to do that at Woodstock,
1162
00:52:34,919 --> 00:52:37,664
and unfortunately
never came to a test
1163
00:52:37,688 --> 00:52:38,600
because there was no gate.
1164
00:52:38,624 --> 00:52:40,100
There was nothing to defend,
1165
00:52:40,124 --> 00:52:42,703
but we had some very
specific strategies
1166
00:52:42,727 --> 00:52:44,104
on what to do about that,
1167
00:52:44,128 --> 00:52:46,039
and it had to do with
1168
00:52:46,063 --> 00:52:49,243
everything from having
Ken Kesey park his bus
1169
00:52:49,267 --> 00:52:51,912
right up next to the fence
and dig a hole underneath it,
1170
00:52:51,936 --> 00:52:56,049
so we let people just had to
fool us do it to my having,
1171
00:52:56,073 --> 00:52:59,320
planning to have a couple
thousand tickets in my pocket,
1172
00:52:59,344 --> 00:53:00,654
and becoming the focus
1173
00:53:00,678 --> 00:53:02,356
if we had any
confrontation at the gate,
1174
00:53:02,380 --> 00:53:05,058
and arguing, and negotiating,
and finally giving in,
1175
00:53:05,082 --> 00:53:06,993
and giving tickets, and saying,
1176
00:53:07,017 --> 00:53:08,462
"Well, I expect you
to help clean up,"
1177
00:53:08,486 --> 00:53:09,730
and that sort of thing,
1178
00:53:09,754 --> 00:53:11,198
knowing some would
and some wouldn't.
1179
00:53:11,222 --> 00:53:13,200
From the very beginning
1180
00:53:13,224 --> 00:53:15,360
it was not going to
be confrontational.
1181
00:53:16,227 --> 00:53:17,271
- It became clear to all of us,
1182
00:53:17,295 --> 00:53:20,241
just from watching newsreels,
1183
00:53:20,265 --> 00:53:23,133
that if the crowd wanted
to be unruly it would be.
1184
00:53:24,869 --> 00:53:27,681
This was quite worrisome to us,
1185
00:53:27,705 --> 00:53:30,150
so decisions that we
made about security,
1186
00:53:30,174 --> 00:53:31,852
about the National Guard,
1187
00:53:31,876 --> 00:53:34,921
about keeping the entertainment
going throughout the night,
1188
00:53:34,945 --> 00:53:39,626
about creating a
little baby animal zoo,
1189
00:53:39,650 --> 00:53:43,029
about naming our streets
Happy Way and Groovy Path,
1190
00:53:43,053 --> 00:53:47,100
and everything we put
out about this festival
1191
00:53:47,124 --> 00:53:50,371
had an element of
neighborliness,
1192
00:53:50,395 --> 00:53:52,806
and peace,
1193
00:53:52,830 --> 00:53:55,976
and respect for your fellow man,
1194
00:53:56,000 --> 00:53:59,145
and responsibility
toward society,
1195
00:53:59,169 --> 00:54:02,440
toward your society,
your counterculture,
1196
00:54:03,741 --> 00:54:06,076
and I guess in a way
1197
00:54:07,645 --> 00:54:10,781
you'd have to credit,
mostly, the audience.
1198
00:54:14,985 --> 00:54:16,196
- It wasn't a plan.
1199
00:54:16,220 --> 00:54:19,199
It was an accident, and
some very good people.
1200
00:54:19,223 --> 00:54:22,336
Wavy, no teeth,
1201
00:54:22,360 --> 00:54:24,070
that was Tom Mix's cowboy hat,
1202
00:54:24,094 --> 00:54:26,106
it really was, that
he was wearing,
1203
00:54:26,130 --> 00:54:29,467
you know, "We're gonna make
breakfast in bed for 600,000."
1204
00:54:31,469 --> 00:54:34,905
The accident of the
guru showing up,
1205
00:54:36,006 --> 00:54:36,951
and somebody coming
in the office
1206
00:54:36,975 --> 00:54:39,520
and saying that this Indian man
1207
00:54:39,544 --> 00:54:41,955
would like to speak
to the audience,
1208
00:54:41,979 --> 00:54:44,658
and thinking, "I haven't
got any acts: Why not?
1209
00:54:44,682 --> 00:54:45,950
"Let's put him on."
1210
00:54:46,784 --> 00:54:48,495
And putting him on
1211
00:54:48,519 --> 00:54:50,096
with all his followers
sitting around him,
1212
00:54:50,120 --> 00:54:54,535
and he and that high squeaky
voice talking about peace,
1213
00:54:54,559 --> 00:54:56,570
you know, "All the people in
the world should be nice,"
1214
00:54:56,594 --> 00:55:01,041
and he was fabulous, and
he just leveled it out.
1215
00:55:01,065 --> 00:55:03,143
- [Satchidananda]
But the time has come
1216
00:55:03,167 --> 00:55:05,302
for America to help
the whole world.
1217
00:55:08,339 --> 00:55:09,516
- It's funny.
1218
00:55:09,540 --> 00:55:11,652
I mean, all of it went
down very quickly,
1219
00:55:11,676 --> 00:55:15,680
but I saw some kids really
getting hurt on the fence,
1220
00:55:16,514 --> 00:55:18,082
climbing over the fence,
1221
00:55:19,016 --> 00:55:22,563
and I felt
1222
00:55:22,587 --> 00:55:24,264
that if we kept these fences up
1223
00:55:24,288 --> 00:55:28,759
and tens of thousands of
people were starting to arrive,
1224
00:55:29,927 --> 00:55:33,106
that it would be
really dangerous,
1225
00:55:33,130 --> 00:55:36,410
and it would cause
the kind of bad vibes,
1226
00:55:36,434 --> 00:55:38,612
a really bad scene,
1227
00:55:38,636 --> 00:55:40,180
and I started,
1228
00:55:40,204 --> 00:55:43,173
I told my guys to start
taking down the fence.
1229
00:55:44,909 --> 00:55:46,152
- He had all these great plans.
1230
00:55:46,176 --> 00:55:47,488
Everything was gonna
work like clockwork,
1231
00:55:47,512 --> 00:55:49,590
and then everything's
gonna be fine,
1232
00:55:49,614 --> 00:55:51,725
but there were all these people,
1233
00:55:51,749 --> 00:55:54,585
and I mean, did anybody
collect their tickets?
1234
00:55:55,720 --> 00:55:57,798
- And there were discussions
1235
00:55:57,822 --> 00:55:59,700
about how we were gonna
get these people out,
1236
00:55:59,724 --> 00:56:02,936
and it was simple: We were
just gonna go in there
1237
00:56:02,960 --> 00:56:07,965
and tell them to go outside
so we can take their tickets.
1238
00:56:08,833 --> 00:56:10,444
I really think at that time
1239
00:56:10,468 --> 00:56:11,902
we thought we could just
1240
00:56:14,338 --> 00:56:17,451
get them to leave and be
able to take their tickets,
1241
00:56:17,475 --> 00:56:19,486
or another thing
that was discussed
1242
00:56:19,510 --> 00:56:21,546
was to take their
tickets right in there,
1243
00:56:23,013 --> 00:56:24,858
but in any event, we were
going to take the ticket,
1244
00:56:24,882 --> 00:56:26,460
and those who didn't
have the ticket
1245
00:56:26,484 --> 00:56:29,195
were gonna have to
go out and get one.
1246
00:56:29,219 --> 00:56:32,533
- The question was, do
we call it a free show?
1247
00:56:32,557 --> 00:56:34,568
Do we cancel the show?
1248
00:56:34,592 --> 00:56:37,462
Or do we throw everybody
out and collect the tickets?
1249
00:56:38,529 --> 00:56:39,906
- There was this conference
1250
00:56:39,930 --> 00:56:43,343
immediately in the
morning on the early day,
1251
00:56:43,367 --> 00:56:45,178
and it was like,
"What do we do?"
1252
00:56:45,202 --> 00:56:48,048
And Artie made the suggestion,
1253
00:56:48,072 --> 00:56:50,207
which I have never figured out,
1254
00:56:51,676 --> 00:56:53,353
"Why don't we do like they
do in the Catholic Church,
1255
00:56:53,377 --> 00:56:55,355
"and get girls in
diaphanous gowns
1256
00:56:55,379 --> 00:56:57,090
"and give them
collection baskets,
1257
00:56:57,114 --> 00:56:58,659
"and we'll send them
out in the audience,
1258
00:56:58,683 --> 00:57:00,160
"and they can get the money,
1259
00:57:00,184 --> 00:57:01,995
"'cause otherwise we're
not gonna get any money."
1260
00:57:02,019 --> 00:57:04,064
- I thought it was a good idea.
1261
00:57:04,088 --> 00:57:05,566
I was a little
spaced at the time.
1262
00:57:05,590 --> 00:57:08,268
I was hanging with Garcia and
Hart for about seven hours,
1263
00:57:08,292 --> 00:57:12,338
and I wasn't quite
my normal self.
1264
00:57:12,362 --> 00:57:14,741
I said, "Eh, let's pass a hat."
1265
00:57:14,765 --> 00:57:17,744
- And actually, the hat got
passed a couple of times.
1266
00:57:17,768 --> 00:57:19,412
The bucket got passed,
1267
00:57:19,436 --> 00:57:22,115
and people actually
threw money in it.
1268
00:57:22,139 --> 00:57:23,584
I don't remember
how, I used to know.
1269
00:57:23,608 --> 00:57:25,418
I used to remember how
much money got collected,
1270
00:57:25,442 --> 00:57:28,021
but I don't remember, but
money did get collected.
1271
00:57:28,045 --> 00:57:30,223
- I can tell you made
it a free festival.
1272
00:57:30,247 --> 00:57:32,559
The audience made it a free
festival by being there.
1273
00:57:32,583 --> 00:57:34,461
I mean, there was no way
we were getting that crowd
1274
00:57:34,485 --> 00:57:35,862
out of that field and
bring them back in
1275
00:57:35,886 --> 00:57:37,330
through gates that didn't exist.
1276
00:57:37,354 --> 00:57:38,999
It just was.
1277
00:57:39,023 --> 00:57:40,266
They came early.
1278
00:57:40,290 --> 00:57:41,334
They came before we had a chance
1279
00:57:41,358 --> 00:57:42,803
to get the ticket booths up.
1280
00:57:42,827 --> 00:57:45,029
They came looking for
places to buy tickets,
1281
00:57:46,564 --> 00:57:48,975
and they just weren't
there when they arrived,
1282
00:57:48,999 --> 00:57:50,310
and so the crowd came in,
1283
00:57:50,334 --> 00:57:52,145
and there was no feasible way
1284
00:57:52,169 --> 00:57:55,405
to collect money for tickets,
1285
00:57:56,607 --> 00:57:58,952
and so it was really
stating the obvious.
1286
00:57:58,976 --> 00:58:01,287
- So, we knew going in
1287
00:58:01,311 --> 00:58:04,124
that if people came
without tickets
1288
00:58:04,148 --> 00:58:05,892
we weren't gonna be
able to stop them,
1289
00:58:05,916 --> 00:58:10,296
and it was part of the
philosophy of the festival.
1290
00:58:10,320 --> 00:58:12,265
There wouldn't be armed
people there saying,
1291
00:58:12,289 --> 00:58:14,134
"You can't come in,"
1292
00:58:14,158 --> 00:58:17,203
and so Friday morning
when we woke up
1293
00:58:17,227 --> 00:58:20,541
there were 50,000 people
sitting in the performance area,
1294
00:58:20,565 --> 00:58:23,243
and it was a fact of life
1295
00:58:23,267 --> 00:58:25,812
that we weren't gonna be
able to collect tickets.
1296
00:58:25,836 --> 00:58:28,081
- What then happened was
I went to the office,
1297
00:58:28,105 --> 00:58:30,316
sat down, picked up the phone,
1298
00:58:30,340 --> 00:58:32,152
called John and Joel in
the White Lake office,
1299
00:58:32,176 --> 00:58:35,522
and said, "Look, I mean,
1300
00:58:35,546 --> 00:58:36,923
"the obvious is the obvious.
1301
00:58:36,947 --> 00:58:40,360
"There are vast numbers
of people in that field.
1302
00:58:40,384 --> 00:58:41,595
"There is no way
1303
00:58:41,619 --> 00:58:44,264
"we are going to move
them out of that field.
1304
00:58:44,288 --> 00:58:45,498
"It's a free concert,
1305
00:58:45,522 --> 00:58:47,634
"and I think that
we would set a tone
1306
00:58:47,658 --> 00:58:51,504
"by going up on stage and
announcing the obvious."
1307
00:58:51,528 --> 00:58:55,508
John and Joel said, "Go for
it," so I walked on stage
1308
00:58:55,532 --> 00:58:58,244
and told everybody
what they already knew.
1309
00:58:58,268 --> 00:59:00,847
This is one thing that
I was gonna wait a while
1310
00:59:00,871 --> 00:59:02,382
before we talked about,
1311
00:59:02,406 --> 00:59:05,786
but maybe we'll talk about it
now so you can think about it.
1312
00:59:05,810 --> 00:59:08,021
It's a free concert from now on.
1313
00:59:08,045 --> 00:59:11,215
(audience applauding)
1314
00:59:14,351 --> 00:59:16,863
That doesn't mean
that anything goes.
1315
00:59:16,887 --> 00:59:18,298
What that means is
1316
00:59:18,322 --> 00:59:21,668
we're gonna put the
music up here for free.
1317
00:59:21,692 --> 00:59:24,004
What it means is that the people
who are backing this thing,
1318
00:59:24,028 --> 00:59:25,471
who put up the money for it,
1319
00:59:25,495 --> 00:59:29,109
are gonna take a bit
of a bath, a big bath.
1320
00:59:29,133 --> 00:59:30,611
That's no hype, that's true.
1321
00:59:30,635 --> 00:59:32,512
They're gonna get hurt,
1322
00:59:32,536 --> 00:59:36,040
but what it means is that these
people have in their heads
1323
00:59:37,441 --> 00:59:40,486
that your welfare is a hell
of a lot more important,
1324
00:59:40,510 --> 00:59:42,989
and the music is, than a dollar.
1325
00:59:43,013 --> 00:59:45,659
Now, let's face the situation.
1326
00:59:45,683 --> 00:59:49,195
We've had thousands
and thousands of
people come here today.
1327
00:59:49,219 --> 00:59:50,664
Many, many more than we knew
1328
00:59:50,688 --> 00:59:53,399
or even dreamt or thought
would be possible.
1329
00:59:53,423 --> 00:59:54,635
We're gonna need each other
1330
00:59:54,659 --> 00:59:56,102
to help each other
to work this out
1331
00:59:56,126 --> 00:59:59,029
because we're taxing the
systems that we have set up.
1332
01:00:00,097 --> 01:00:02,042
We're gonna be
bringing the food in,
1333
01:00:02,066 --> 01:00:04,177
but the one major thing you
have to remember tonight
1334
01:00:04,201 --> 01:00:06,647
when you go back up into
the woods to go to sleep,
1335
01:00:06,671 --> 01:00:08,005
or if you stay here,
1336
01:00:09,506 --> 01:00:12,452
is that the man next
to you is your brother,
1337
01:00:12,476 --> 01:00:14,354
and you damn well better
treat each other that way
1338
01:00:14,378 --> 01:00:16,690
because if they don't then
we blow the whole thing,
1339
01:00:16,714 --> 01:00:18,091
but we've got it right there.
1340
01:00:18,115 --> 01:00:20,727
(audience cheering)
1341
01:00:20,751 --> 01:00:23,163
- There was no sense that
this was a free festival.
1342
01:00:23,187 --> 01:00:25,589
We were sparing no
expense, really, to make it
1343
01:00:27,457 --> 01:00:31,772
to make it perfect, to make
it just as we had advertised,
1344
01:00:31,796 --> 01:00:34,808
so it's kind of amusing to hear
that it was a free festival
1345
01:00:34,832 --> 01:00:36,409
any more than it would be free
1346
01:00:36,433 --> 01:00:39,345
if I gave your camera
to somebody, (laughs)
1347
01:00:39,369 --> 01:00:41,748
or your TV camera.
1348
01:00:41,772 --> 01:00:44,241
It's free to them, but it
sure wasn't free to you.
1349
01:00:45,442 --> 01:00:48,679
(energetic rock music)
1350
01:00:52,116 --> 01:00:53,060
- Free stage?
1351
01:00:53,084 --> 01:00:54,327
There was only one stage.
1352
01:00:54,351 --> 01:00:55,953
It was like, "No,
there was two."
1353
01:00:57,154 --> 01:00:59,599
We were just tucked
over to the side.
1354
01:00:59,623 --> 01:01:01,792
We were hired on to
play for the overflow,
1355
01:01:02,659 --> 01:01:03,804
and who'd have thought
1356
01:01:03,828 --> 01:01:05,863
the overflow was
gonna be like 100,000,
1357
01:01:07,297 --> 01:01:11,311
and so we did our thing day
and night, day and night.
1358
01:01:11,335 --> 01:01:12,979
- We knew that some people were
gonna come without tickets.
1359
01:01:13,003 --> 01:01:16,206
I mean, '69, because it was
sort of part of the culture,
1360
01:01:18,408 --> 01:01:19,552
and we prepared
for those people.
1361
01:01:19,576 --> 01:01:20,721
We prepared free kitchens,
1362
01:01:20,745 --> 01:01:22,588
and free campgrounds,
and free stages,
1363
01:01:22,612 --> 01:01:25,658
and put a sound system
from the main stage
1364
01:01:25,682 --> 01:01:26,960
in the free campground.
1365
01:01:26,984 --> 01:01:29,863
- They decided to
set up the free stage
1366
01:01:29,887 --> 01:01:31,898
at the bottom of
that little hill
1367
01:01:31,922 --> 01:01:33,499
and make it better
1368
01:01:33,523 --> 01:01:36,026
with a little wooden
stage and everything,
1369
01:01:37,194 --> 01:01:40,506
and until the festival
1370
01:01:40,530 --> 01:01:41,875
really started cooking
1371
01:01:41,899 --> 01:01:45,511
with all the big-name
attractions arriving,
1372
01:01:45,535 --> 01:01:47,237
we were basically it.
1373
01:01:48,739 --> 01:01:52,719
There was one particular
afternoon, early afternoon,
1374
01:01:52,743 --> 01:01:55,756
our wonderful friend, Joan Baez,
1375
01:01:55,780 --> 01:01:57,958
showed up at the
free stage area,
1376
01:01:57,982 --> 01:02:02,495
and she wanted to take part
in the entertainment there,
1377
01:02:02,519 --> 01:02:03,997
and she sat there,
1378
01:02:04,021 --> 01:02:07,691
I would think for at least
a couple hours, maybe more.
1379
01:02:08,859 --> 01:02:10,804
- We didn't have any idea
1380
01:02:10,828 --> 01:02:13,907
of the historical event that
it was gonna turn out to be,
1381
01:02:13,931 --> 01:02:16,500
and so now, 43 years later,
1382
01:02:18,068 --> 01:02:20,546
I'm saying, "Jeez, I was
glad to be part of it."
1383
01:02:20,570 --> 01:02:24,350
Every time I'd catch a glimpse
of the "Woodstock" movie
1384
01:02:24,374 --> 01:02:25,542
I just feel good.
1385
01:02:31,315 --> 01:02:34,584
- There's a really
funny story that
1386
01:02:38,155 --> 01:02:40,124
that not many people know about.
1387
01:02:41,425 --> 01:02:42,903
I forget the name of the guy,
1388
01:02:42,927 --> 01:02:45,338
but there was a gentleman
1389
01:02:45,362 --> 01:02:47,307
from the New York
State Health Department
1390
01:02:47,331 --> 01:02:50,210
who was supposed to come
1391
01:02:50,234 --> 01:02:53,847
and inspect the health
facilities on Friday,
1392
01:02:53,871 --> 01:02:56,649
and this guy came
directly to my office,
1393
01:02:56,673 --> 01:03:00,686
and I was to send one of the
people that worked for me
1394
01:03:00,710 --> 01:03:04,958
around with him to
show him the johns,
1395
01:03:04,982 --> 01:03:08,394
the hospital setup,
the water treatment,
1396
01:03:08,418 --> 01:03:10,063
all the kinds of things that,
1397
01:03:10,087 --> 01:03:12,799
all the things that they
were concerned about.
1398
01:03:12,823 --> 01:03:17,828
He came with his daughter,
who was about 15 years old,
1399
01:03:18,929 --> 01:03:22,108
and while we were
talking in the trailer,
1400
01:03:22,132 --> 01:03:24,244
my office,
1401
01:03:24,268 --> 01:03:27,171
his daughter went
outside and disappeared.
1402
01:03:28,305 --> 01:03:30,183
Why, I'll never know,
1403
01:03:30,207 --> 01:03:32,986
but that guy spent
the next three days
1404
01:03:33,010 --> 01:03:34,378
looking for his daughter.
1405
01:03:35,946 --> 01:03:38,892
He never inspected
the health facilities,
1406
01:03:38,916 --> 01:03:41,394
which he could
have shut us down,
1407
01:03:41,418 --> 01:03:44,530
and I don't know what
happened to the daughter,
1408
01:03:44,554 --> 01:03:48,558
but she may have saved the
whole festival. (laughs)
1409
01:03:51,028 --> 01:03:52,338
- The first words, in fact,
1410
01:03:52,362 --> 01:03:57,010
said at Woodstock
publicly over the PA
1411
01:03:57,034 --> 01:03:58,644
were, "holy shit."
1412
01:03:58,668 --> 01:04:01,214
Chris Langhart and
I were standing on
stage with Bill Hanley
1413
01:04:01,238 --> 01:04:03,716
praying that the sound
system was gonna be finished.
1414
01:04:03,740 --> 01:04:06,586
I turned around and the sun
was starting to come up,
1415
01:04:06,610 --> 01:04:07,787
and I looked out,
1416
01:04:07,811 --> 01:04:09,956
and the whole damn field
was full of people,
1417
01:04:09,980 --> 01:04:11,391
and without thinking
1418
01:04:11,415 --> 01:04:12,959
I broke the vow I'd
always made to my mother,
1419
01:04:12,983 --> 01:04:14,094
never swear on stage.
1420
01:04:14,118 --> 01:04:16,562
I just said, "Holy shit."
1421
01:04:16,586 --> 01:04:17,797
- [Announcer] Wheat Germ,
1422
01:04:17,821 --> 01:04:19,665
Holly has your bag
with your medicine.
1423
01:04:19,689 --> 01:04:21,201
Please meet at the
information booth
1424
01:04:21,225 --> 01:04:23,003
as soon as you can, please.
1425
01:04:23,027 --> 01:04:25,005
Helen Savage, please
call your father
1426
01:04:25,029 --> 01:04:27,941
at the Motel Glory in Woodridge.
1427
01:04:27,965 --> 01:04:30,410
Helen Savage, please
call your father...
1428
01:04:30,434 --> 01:04:31,777
- Early on,
1429
01:04:31,801 --> 01:04:35,481
it became evident to me
1430
01:04:35,505 --> 01:04:39,843
that we could not provide the PA
1431
01:04:40,877 --> 01:04:43,089
to give all these messages.
1432
01:04:43,113 --> 01:04:44,824
At first we tried,
1433
01:04:44,848 --> 01:04:46,626
but then there were
just too many of them,
1434
01:04:46,650 --> 01:04:49,395
so we set up a message board,
1435
01:04:49,419 --> 01:04:53,266
and that was between people
who were at the festival.
1436
01:04:53,290 --> 01:04:54,767
- The warning that
I've received,
1437
01:04:54,791 --> 01:04:58,004
you may take it with however
many grains of salt you wish,
1438
01:04:58,028 --> 01:05:01,207
that the brown acid that
is circulating around us
1439
01:05:01,231 --> 01:05:03,609
is not specifically too good.
1440
01:05:03,633 --> 01:05:06,746
- I thought those announcements
were fairly important
1441
01:05:06,770 --> 01:05:10,083
for the individuals who made
them or who asked for them.
1442
01:05:10,107 --> 01:05:11,684
- [Announcer] Please be advised
that there is a warning...
1443
01:05:11,708 --> 01:05:13,886
- And it also gave us
something to fill with.
1444
01:05:13,910 --> 01:05:17,223
It was a far more
personal attribute
1445
01:05:17,247 --> 01:05:19,716
than it was to just play music.
1446
01:05:21,118 --> 01:05:23,529
"Joel and Jody, would you
please meet each other
1447
01:05:23,553 --> 01:05:27,767
"at tower number four because
she has your insulin."
1448
01:05:27,791 --> 01:05:30,436
Right, he wants to get
high, Jody's got the dope,
1449
01:05:30,460 --> 01:05:32,905
and frickin' you know
what they're doing,
1450
01:05:32,929 --> 01:05:35,899
but it's just, right,
what do you say?
1451
01:05:36,900 --> 01:05:38,478
It just has to be read,
1452
01:05:38,502 --> 01:05:42,082
so they became stars
in their own right.
1453
01:05:42,106 --> 01:05:45,585
("Raga Puriya-Dhanashri/Gat
in Sawarital")
1454
01:05:45,609 --> 01:05:47,053
- At some time,
1455
01:05:47,077 --> 01:05:49,317
maybe it was around one in
the morning on Friday morning,
1456
01:05:51,215 --> 01:05:52,525
Joel and I decided
to take a ride
1457
01:05:52,549 --> 01:05:54,794
to visit the parking areas,
1458
01:05:54,818 --> 01:05:58,064
which had been fairly muddy
that day from the rains,
1459
01:05:58,088 --> 01:06:00,800
but at some point
we crested a hill,
1460
01:06:00,824 --> 01:06:04,028
must have been a mile from the
actual site of the festival,
1461
01:06:05,062 --> 01:06:06,539
and we stopped our bikes,
1462
01:06:06,563 --> 01:06:08,841
and I can remember just
looking out over the hills
1463
01:06:08,865 --> 01:06:10,343
towards where the
festival site was,
1464
01:06:10,367 --> 01:06:13,679
and all you could see were
campfires at that hour,
1465
01:06:13,703 --> 01:06:15,681
and I had the sense
1466
01:06:15,705 --> 01:06:20,644
of this sort of massive
army before the battle,
1467
01:06:21,845 --> 01:06:26,616
waiting there, and I
don't know, it just
1468
01:06:27,751 --> 01:06:30,554
it reminded me of Henry
V, for some reason,
1469
01:06:31,455 --> 01:06:33,366
before Agincourt,
1470
01:06:33,390 --> 01:06:35,259
and of an army
1471
01:06:37,027 --> 01:06:38,571
waiting to go into
battle the next morning,
1472
01:06:38,595 --> 01:06:43,333
and it was a very still,
almost misty evening,
1473
01:06:45,335 --> 01:06:48,748
and Joel and I just sort of
looked at each other with this,
1474
01:06:48,772 --> 01:06:49,915
there's this look,
1475
01:06:49,939 --> 01:06:52,518
that great expression
that Keats has:
1476
01:06:52,542 --> 01:06:55,955
"With a look of wild
surmise." (chuckles)
1477
01:06:55,979 --> 01:06:57,357
What does all this mean for us,
1478
01:06:57,381 --> 01:06:59,559
and what will the morrow bring?
1479
01:06:59,583 --> 01:07:03,529
And then we went back to
the rest of our lives,
1480
01:07:03,553 --> 01:07:06,399
but it was really a
wonderful, still moment there,
1481
01:07:06,423 --> 01:07:07,757
which I'll always remember.
1482
01:07:11,128 --> 01:07:12,396
- When dawn hit,
1483
01:07:13,563 --> 01:07:16,342
I, after catching a
couple hours of sleep
1484
01:07:16,366 --> 01:07:18,778
in my office on the floor,
1485
01:07:18,802 --> 01:07:20,380
I went for another walk,
1486
01:07:20,404 --> 01:07:21,614
and I walked around,
1487
01:07:21,638 --> 01:07:23,449
and everybody was
sleeping, everybody:
1488
01:07:23,473 --> 01:07:26,952
the crew, the security,
the hospital people,
1489
01:07:26,976 --> 01:07:30,423
all the people who
had come to the show,
1490
01:07:30,447 --> 01:07:31,691
everybody was sleeping.
1491
01:07:31,715 --> 01:07:34,360
It seemed like I was
the only one awake.
1492
01:07:34,384 --> 01:07:35,861
I also knew
1493
01:07:35,885 --> 01:07:39,265
that elsewhere in the United
States and New York State,
1494
01:07:39,289 --> 01:07:42,268
they thought that we were in
1495
01:07:42,292 --> 01:07:45,505
this area of devastation,
1496
01:07:45,529 --> 01:07:48,165
and when the sun started baking,
1497
01:07:49,299 --> 01:07:50,676
and I forget what time it was.
1498
01:07:50,700 --> 01:07:53,579
It could have been
8:30, nine o'clock,
1499
01:07:53,603 --> 01:07:57,541
I found one of the
people from Hanley Sound.
1500
01:07:59,143 --> 01:08:03,123
I forget who it was, but I
said, "Could you turn on the PA,
1501
01:08:03,147 --> 01:08:05,191
"'cause I wanna talk
to these people."
1502
01:08:05,215 --> 01:08:08,194
I said, "I do wanna
say good morning to you
1503
01:08:08,218 --> 01:08:10,863
"and say wasn't that an
incredible night last night,
1504
01:08:10,887 --> 01:08:12,865
"and everybody, 'yeah!'
1505
01:08:12,889 --> 01:08:14,334
"and I just wanna tell you
1506
01:08:14,358 --> 01:08:17,036
"that today is gonna be
even more incredible,"
1507
01:08:17,060 --> 01:08:20,540
and I read off the list of
talent that there would be,
1508
01:08:20,564 --> 01:08:22,608
and then I said, "We
got a couple of hours
1509
01:08:22,632 --> 01:08:24,144
"before the show starts,"
1510
01:08:24,168 --> 01:08:25,678
and it was sort of this,
1511
01:08:25,702 --> 01:08:27,547
"Everything is okay.
1512
01:08:27,571 --> 01:08:29,038
"Don't worry about a thing.
1513
01:08:30,140 --> 01:08:31,517
"The show is gonna go on.
1514
01:08:31,541 --> 01:08:34,187
"We're not gonna
stop this thing,
1515
01:08:34,211 --> 01:08:35,912
"and everything's secure."
1516
01:08:37,314 --> 01:08:41,627
- What we have in mind is
breakfast in bed for 400,000.
1517
01:08:41,651 --> 01:08:45,498
(audience applauding)
1518
01:08:45,522 --> 01:08:48,958
Now, it's not gonna be
steak and eggs or anything,
1519
01:08:49,993 --> 01:08:51,471
but it's gonna be good food,
1520
01:08:51,495 --> 01:08:53,773
and we're gonna get it to you.
1521
01:08:53,797 --> 01:08:58,711
- I asked for $3,000 from
the festival to buy the food,
1522
01:08:58,735 --> 01:08:59,912
and when I went to town,
1523
01:08:59,936 --> 01:09:02,915
within a day and a
half I'd spent 3,000.
1524
01:09:02,939 --> 01:09:05,951
I went into the
office in New York
1525
01:09:05,975 --> 01:09:09,088
and got another
3,000 just like that,
1526
01:09:09,112 --> 01:09:11,691
and we bought all these giant
cleavers from Chinatown,
1527
01:09:11,715 --> 01:09:12,659
these big cutters,
1528
01:09:12,683 --> 01:09:16,829
and we bought 35 garbage pails
1529
01:09:16,853 --> 01:09:18,364
to put all the food in
1530
01:09:18,388 --> 01:09:19,765
so we could serve it,
1531
01:09:19,789 --> 01:09:22,635
and we had giant
stainless steel pots,
1532
01:09:22,659 --> 01:09:27,072
and five different stoves
were cooking at once,
1533
01:09:27,096 --> 01:09:29,041
and the booths were five booths
1534
01:09:29,065 --> 01:09:31,811
with 10 serving sides to them,
1535
01:09:31,835 --> 01:09:36,682
and they were always had
lines, real long lines to them.
1536
01:09:36,706 --> 01:09:39,385
I ended up buying
160,000 paper plates,
1537
01:09:39,409 --> 01:09:44,414
forks, knives, and spoons,
and about 30,000 paper cups,
1538
01:09:45,282 --> 01:09:46,792
and it's a good thing I did
1539
01:09:46,816 --> 01:09:49,429
because they all
went, everything went,
1540
01:09:49,453 --> 01:09:50,863
so that's how I figured
1541
01:09:50,887 --> 01:09:55,201
that we fed between
160,000 to 190,000 people
1542
01:09:55,225 --> 01:09:57,237
at the Hog Farm free kitchen.
1543
01:09:57,261 --> 01:09:59,472
- There were bagels backstage,
1544
01:09:59,496 --> 01:10:00,706
and by the time I heard
1545
01:10:00,730 --> 01:10:01,741
that there were some
bagels backstage,
1546
01:10:01,765 --> 01:10:02,765
they were all gone,
1547
01:10:03,567 --> 01:10:04,810
but my manager,
1548
01:10:04,834 --> 01:10:06,679
this guy they asked
for too much money,
1549
01:10:06,703 --> 01:10:11,284
somehow his wife put half
a dozen fried chickens
1550
01:10:11,308 --> 01:10:12,618
in the helicopter,
1551
01:10:12,642 --> 01:10:14,387
and at midnight he
whipped them out.
1552
01:10:14,411 --> 01:10:15,621
Nobody had any food there.
1553
01:10:15,645 --> 01:10:17,690
There was nothing
left backstage,
1554
01:10:17,714 --> 01:10:19,191
and all of a sudden
I turn around
1555
01:10:19,215 --> 01:10:21,175
and I see all the guys in
my group eating chicken.
1556
01:10:21,751 --> 01:10:23,128
I said, "Will you look at this,"
1557
01:10:23,152 --> 01:10:26,699
and there people like
drooling over these chickens,
1558
01:10:26,723 --> 01:10:28,167
and it wasn't too appetizing,
1559
01:10:28,191 --> 01:10:29,502
I was too nervous to eat,
1560
01:10:29,526 --> 01:10:33,138
but I couldn't believe
that all of a sudden
1561
01:10:33,162 --> 01:10:34,607
there was a barbecue back there
1562
01:10:34,631 --> 01:10:36,642
that we brought from the city,
1563
01:10:36,666 --> 01:10:37,877
and there were people,
1564
01:10:37,901 --> 01:10:40,513
it looked like people
starving up there.
1565
01:10:40,537 --> 01:10:43,783
- The clear recollection
of the difference
1566
01:10:43,807 --> 01:10:46,118
between how the performers
were being treated
1567
01:10:46,142 --> 01:10:49,154
versus what we were
hearing, or I was hearing
1568
01:10:49,178 --> 01:10:52,458
about what was going
on in the audience was,
1569
01:10:52,482 --> 01:10:57,454
it was a very lavish performers
tent if I seem to recall.
1570
01:10:58,622 --> 01:11:00,266
It was a big open
area made out of poles
1571
01:11:00,290 --> 01:11:01,767
with a big tenting over it,
1572
01:11:01,791 --> 01:11:05,638
and it was a large, a large
area with rows of tables,
1573
01:11:05,662 --> 01:11:07,273
and seated at this one table
1574
01:11:07,297 --> 01:11:10,343
was Grace Slick
and Janis Joplin,
1575
01:11:10,367 --> 01:11:12,044
both kind of like turning
around to each other
1576
01:11:12,068 --> 01:11:13,479
and picking at this food,
1577
01:11:13,503 --> 01:11:16,015
saying that the strawberries
were already melting,
1578
01:11:16,039 --> 01:11:17,717
and somebody should
take the helicopter
1579
01:11:17,741 --> 01:11:19,843
and go get more
frozen strawberries,
1580
01:11:21,044 --> 01:11:24,424
and I just thought that
was just a bit bizarre.
1581
01:11:24,448 --> 01:11:26,726
- I mean, people have always
wondered what Bill Graham
1582
01:11:26,750 --> 01:11:29,395
what Bill Graham had
to do with any of this.
1583
01:11:29,419 --> 01:11:31,431
Well, Bill didn't have
anything to do with it, really,
1584
01:11:31,455 --> 01:11:34,066
but he kept his finger in,
1585
01:11:34,090 --> 01:11:37,069
just as a presence.
1586
01:11:37,093 --> 01:11:40,263
He happened to be at
Grossinger's that weekend.
1587
01:11:41,331 --> 01:11:43,309
He happened to be there,
1588
01:11:43,333 --> 01:11:47,046
and he had convinced his
sister, who was from New York,
1589
01:11:47,070 --> 01:11:52,041
to bring this freezer
full of steaks
1590
01:11:52,942 --> 01:11:54,620
so that he could have a barbecue
1591
01:11:54,644 --> 01:11:57,313
out there on the lawn,
1592
01:11:58,615 --> 01:12:00,560
and he created this
enormous barbecue,
1593
01:12:00,584 --> 01:12:04,964
and I remember some
guys in the Band
1594
01:12:04,988 --> 01:12:08,658
and the guys in Creedence
at this barbecue,
1595
01:12:09,826 --> 01:12:12,496
and on one hand you've
got thousands of people,
1596
01:12:13,897 --> 01:12:16,809
and on the other hand you've
got this guy barbecuing.
1597
01:12:16,833 --> 01:12:20,312
It was very, very,
very portentous
1598
01:12:20,336 --> 01:12:21,881
of things to come in the future,
1599
01:12:21,905 --> 01:12:26,486
the division between the
bands and the audience.
1600
01:12:26,510 --> 01:12:29,012
("Evil Ways")
1601
01:12:30,447 --> 01:12:33,192
- We knew we had to go
with some new talent.
1602
01:12:33,216 --> 01:12:34,727
Santana was there
1603
01:12:34,751 --> 01:12:38,798
because I had seen them in
San Francisco with Graham,
1604
01:12:38,822 --> 01:12:41,233
and I just was staggered.
1605
01:12:41,257 --> 01:12:42,702
They were fabulous.
1606
01:12:42,726 --> 01:12:45,337
I mean, they didn't have a
record contract at that point,
1607
01:12:45,361 --> 01:12:47,907
but Graham was the power,
1608
01:12:47,931 --> 01:12:49,208
one of the major
powers, certainly,
1609
01:12:49,232 --> 01:12:50,910
as a promoter in the country.
1610
01:12:50,934 --> 01:12:53,069
He was very against festivals.
1611
01:12:54,471 --> 01:12:56,215
Graham obviously
wanted them there.
1612
01:12:56,239 --> 01:12:57,883
We wanted Graham's friendship,
1613
01:12:57,907 --> 01:13:00,520
and booking Santana, who
he was very close to,
1614
01:13:00,544 --> 01:13:03,756
was a way of quieting him down,
1615
01:13:03,780 --> 01:13:06,692
so they were booked because
they were a great band.
1616
01:13:06,716 --> 01:13:09,328
They were booked 'cause there
was political advantage.
1617
01:13:09,352 --> 01:13:13,866
("Dreams of Milk and Honey")
1618
01:13:13,890 --> 01:13:16,135
- For nobody knowing
who in the hell we were
1619
01:13:16,159 --> 01:13:17,369
we really got a good spot.
1620
01:13:17,393 --> 01:13:19,304
I think we went
on Saturday night
1621
01:13:19,328 --> 01:13:21,998
just before the
lights took effect.
1622
01:13:25,502 --> 01:13:27,737
And we used Sun amplifiers,
1623
01:13:29,138 --> 01:13:33,619
and Felix used four stacks
with four 12s in each,
1624
01:13:33,643 --> 01:13:35,888
and I used four stacks,
1625
01:13:35,912 --> 01:13:38,190
but when I did my solo,
1626
01:13:38,214 --> 01:13:41,994
all of a sudden I heard
the whole stage turn on.
1627
01:13:42,018 --> 01:13:45,465
My road manager hooked
me into his stacks,
1628
01:13:45,489 --> 01:13:50,069
and all of a sudden I had
eight stacks of these Suns,
1629
01:13:50,093 --> 01:13:51,327
and it scared me.
1630
01:13:54,430 --> 01:13:57,910
The sound is just
the movement of air,
1631
01:13:57,934 --> 01:13:59,344
and these speakers were pumping,
1632
01:13:59,368 --> 01:14:02,482
and I felt a gust
of wind push me.
1633
01:14:02,506 --> 01:14:05,951
I turned around, I said,
"Wow, he turned them all on,"
1634
01:14:05,975 --> 01:14:07,844
and then I was off then.
1635
01:14:09,212 --> 01:14:10,714
You could hear me.
1636
01:14:37,741 --> 01:14:39,051
I thought we could
have been much bigger
1637
01:14:39,075 --> 01:14:42,121
if we were in that movie.
1638
01:14:42,145 --> 01:14:44,123
I still haven't
gotten over that.
1639
01:14:44,147 --> 01:14:45,157
- [Interviewer] No,
and I don't know why
1640
01:14:45,181 --> 01:14:46,792
Mountain wasn't contracted.
1641
01:14:46,816 --> 01:14:49,228
It was just that at this point
1642
01:14:49,252 --> 01:14:51,130
things were not very
well coordinated.
1643
01:14:51,154 --> 01:14:52,032
We were just rushing
1644
01:14:52,056 --> 01:14:53,198
to do what we could,
1645
01:14:53,222 --> 01:14:55,501
and I would imagine
that our focus
1646
01:14:55,525 --> 01:14:58,504
was on getting the biggest
names we could to release.
1647
01:14:58,528 --> 01:15:00,205
- [Man] We got down to the wire
1648
01:15:00,229 --> 01:15:02,141
with no camera
crews at Woodstock,
1649
01:15:02,165 --> 01:15:05,778
with the exception of the
crews that Michael hired.
1650
01:15:05,802 --> 01:15:07,513
- We had a call
Wadleigh was in town.
1651
01:15:07,537 --> 01:15:09,582
I had to get Wadleigh
to come in right away,
1652
01:15:09,606 --> 01:15:10,950
to have him come over to sign
1653
01:15:10,974 --> 01:15:13,418
that he was gonna
direct it, okay?
1654
01:15:13,442 --> 01:15:14,587
And I just said to them,
1655
01:15:14,611 --> 01:15:18,181
"Hey guys, we've
spent $2 1/2 million.
1656
01:15:19,382 --> 01:15:21,226
"Why don't you shoot
craps with 100 grand
1657
01:15:21,250 --> 01:15:22,518
"so we could buy film?"
1658
01:15:24,954 --> 01:15:26,222
So they said, "Okay."
1659
01:15:27,390 --> 01:15:30,870
- The reticence on the
part of some artists
1660
01:15:30,894 --> 01:15:33,072
was not even so
much about money.
1661
01:15:33,096 --> 01:15:34,306
It was about, "Well,
1662
01:15:34,330 --> 01:15:36,241
"I wanna see what my
performance looks like
1663
01:15:36,265 --> 01:15:39,278
"and what it sounds like
before I release it,"
1664
01:15:39,302 --> 01:15:41,246
and that I could understand,
1665
01:15:41,270 --> 01:15:43,916
so I felt some of them would
like to be in the film,
1666
01:15:43,940 --> 01:15:45,551
but they wouldn't be in it
1667
01:15:45,575 --> 01:15:48,812
until they'd seen
their performance and
how it was recorded,
1668
01:15:49,946 --> 01:15:51,948
and then some of them
it was just money.
1669
01:15:53,149 --> 01:15:54,627
- Michael said, "Artie,
1670
01:15:54,651 --> 01:15:56,762
"you're the only one that
could convince these people
1671
01:15:56,786 --> 01:15:58,598
"'cause of your name
in the business.
1672
01:15:58,622 --> 01:16:00,099
"You gotta meet them
at the helicopter
1673
01:16:00,123 --> 01:16:02,935
"and get them to sign
that consent to be shot
1674
01:16:02,959 --> 01:16:04,570
"without us giving
them the money,
1675
01:16:04,594 --> 01:16:07,106
"'cause we don't even have
the money to pay for the show.
1676
01:16:07,130 --> 01:16:08,373
"You're gonna have
to convince them
1677
01:16:08,397 --> 01:16:09,909
"that they're not
gonna get 50% more
1678
01:16:09,933 --> 01:16:11,500
"to be shot for a movie."
1679
01:16:12,702 --> 01:16:14,546
Do you think it was easy
convincing these groups,
1680
01:16:14,570 --> 01:16:18,117
to convince Janis Joplin to
sign a paper to do a movie
1681
01:16:18,141 --> 01:16:19,351
when she was drunk?
1682
01:16:19,375 --> 01:16:20,886
To go to the Who
1683
01:16:20,910 --> 01:16:24,056
and convince them to sign a
paper without getting paid?
1684
01:16:24,080 --> 01:16:26,558
- Having the movie was
of great value to us,
1685
01:16:26,582 --> 01:16:30,519
even though John and I had
a small piece of that movie,
1686
01:16:32,989 --> 01:16:36,192
it brought us back to even
some time in 1980, I guess,
1687
01:16:37,593 --> 01:16:41,464
so it was lucky for us
that there was a film.
1688
01:16:43,099 --> 01:16:45,568
- The only two acts that
didn't play Woodstock
1689
01:16:46,736 --> 01:16:49,481
were Jeff Beck and
Iron Butterfly.
1690
01:16:49,505 --> 01:16:52,484
Beck canceled well
before the festival.
1691
01:16:52,508 --> 01:16:54,419
We knew he wasn't
coming, that was it,
1692
01:16:54,443 --> 01:16:55,955
but if you go down the list
1693
01:16:55,979 --> 01:16:59,324
those are the only two that
are listed that didn't play.
1694
01:16:59,348 --> 01:17:01,727
Iron Butterfly, whose
manager I think I forgot
1695
01:17:01,751 --> 01:17:04,287
the minute I ever talked to him,
1696
01:17:05,454 --> 01:17:06,932
sent me a telegram,
1697
01:17:06,956 --> 01:17:09,301
and then called and informed me
1698
01:17:09,325 --> 01:17:12,461
that their plane would arrive
in LaGuardia at X hour,
1699
01:17:13,830 --> 01:17:17,242
and that at that hour a
helicopter would meet the band
1700
01:17:17,266 --> 01:17:19,779
and would fly them
directly to the site,
1701
01:17:19,803 --> 01:17:22,081
whence they would go
straight to the stage,
1702
01:17:22,105 --> 01:17:23,849
they would perform their set,
1703
01:17:23,873 --> 01:17:26,719
and they would be then loaded
back into the helicopters,
1704
01:17:26,743 --> 01:17:28,888
and they would be
flown from the site
1705
01:17:28,912 --> 01:17:30,289
back to LaGuardia Airport
1706
01:17:30,313 --> 01:17:32,581
so that they could continue
on with their lives.
1707
01:17:35,184 --> 01:17:37,562
Yeah, sure. (laughs)
1708
01:17:37,586 --> 01:17:41,967
So, I called Western Union,
1709
01:17:41,991 --> 01:17:44,236
and I got this
operator on the phone,
1710
01:17:44,260 --> 01:17:49,265
and I said, "Look, I know
it is illegal in a telegram
1711
01:17:49,999 --> 01:17:51,977
"to say profanities,"
1712
01:17:52,001 --> 01:17:56,415
and this lady and I
developed a way to write
1713
01:17:56,439 --> 01:17:59,943
"For reasons, Unto,
1714
01:18:00,877 --> 01:18:04,589
"Clarification, Know,"
1715
01:18:04,613 --> 01:18:08,627
and we managed to send them
a telegram which basically,
1716
01:18:08,651 --> 01:18:12,631
as you read it and
it was printed, had
no swear words in it,
1717
01:18:12,655 --> 01:18:13,566
but going down
1718
01:18:13,590 --> 01:18:18,127
said "F-U-C-K, space, Y-O-U,"
1719
01:18:19,295 --> 01:18:22,374
and we devised it,
and we sent it,
1720
01:18:22,398 --> 01:18:26,178
and I have never, and it is,
what, 24, 25 years later,
1721
01:18:26,202 --> 01:18:28,848
heard another word
(laughs) from that band,
1722
01:18:28,872 --> 01:18:30,750
and it gave me the greatest
pleasure in the world.
1723
01:18:30,774 --> 01:18:34,820
* I want to take you higher
1724
01:18:34,844 --> 01:18:37,056
* Gonna take you higher
1725
01:18:37,080 --> 01:18:38,290
- Bill came to me and said,
1726
01:18:38,314 --> 01:18:39,859
"Sly's not ready
to go on yet, man.
1727
01:18:39,883 --> 01:18:41,526
"He doesn't feel the vibes."
1728
01:18:41,550 --> 01:18:44,897
Well, by this point I didn't
feel the vibes either,
1729
01:18:44,921 --> 01:18:49,334
and so I went to the trailer
and got by Sly's manager,
1730
01:18:49,358 --> 01:18:52,805
and asked Sly to come
down to his tour bus
1731
01:18:52,829 --> 01:18:54,373
down the steps to the tour bus,
1732
01:18:54,397 --> 01:18:55,640
and he came down
to this tour bus,
1733
01:18:55,664 --> 01:18:56,876
and I reached up,
and I grabbed him,
1734
01:18:56,900 --> 01:18:58,177
and I slammed him up
against the thing,
1735
01:18:58,201 --> 01:18:59,779
and I lifted him up in the air,
1736
01:18:59,803 --> 01:19:02,614
and I said, "You low-life
(grumbles gibberish).
1737
01:19:02,638 --> 01:19:04,216
"If you're not on the
stage in three minutes
1738
01:19:04,240 --> 01:19:05,985
"I'm gonna take your head
off your goddamn shoulders
1739
01:19:06,009 --> 01:19:08,211
"(grumbles gibberish),"
and dropped him,
1740
01:19:09,478 --> 01:19:10,713
and he just looked at me,
1741
01:19:11,881 --> 01:19:14,326
and his eyes were the
size of basketballs,
1742
01:19:14,350 --> 01:19:15,494
and he walked to the trailer,
1743
01:19:15,518 --> 01:19:17,529
and he said, "We're
on," (laughs)
1744
01:19:17,553 --> 01:19:19,865
and they went on, and
they did a fabulous show.
1745
01:19:19,889 --> 01:19:21,633
* Tried to raise me better
1746
01:19:21,657 --> 01:19:23,568
* But her pleading I denied
1747
01:19:23,592 --> 01:19:26,338
- [Narrator] But Sly wasn't
the only band causing trouble.
1748
01:19:26,362 --> 01:19:27,907
The Grateful Dead
wanted a do-over.
1749
01:19:27,931 --> 01:19:29,942
- For some reason I
remember them coming off
1750
01:19:29,966 --> 01:19:32,144
complaining about something,
1751
01:19:32,168 --> 01:19:35,180
and they wanted to go back on,
1752
01:19:35,204 --> 01:19:36,916
and this is all new to me.
1753
01:19:36,940 --> 01:19:38,483
I didn't know if you
were allowed to do that.
1754
01:19:38,507 --> 01:19:39,952
- [Narrator] And the
Who refused to play
1755
01:19:39,976 --> 01:19:41,887
until they got paid in cash.
1756
01:19:41,911 --> 01:19:45,014
("Summertime Blues")
1757
01:19:47,750 --> 01:19:49,061
- The artists all
wanted to be there.
1758
01:19:49,085 --> 01:19:52,197
I mean, no one left
and refused to perform.
1759
01:19:52,221 --> 01:19:54,066
Okay, the Who.
1760
01:19:54,090 --> 01:19:57,803
- If the Who don't get paid,
the Who aren't going on.
1761
01:19:57,827 --> 01:19:59,671
- The business side of it
1762
01:19:59,695 --> 01:20:02,141
was of great concern
to John and me.
1763
01:20:02,165 --> 01:20:03,442
Sometimes it preoccupied us
1764
01:20:03,466 --> 01:20:07,179
because it seemed like a
life-or-death situation
1765
01:20:07,203 --> 01:20:09,281
for the festival at that moment.
1766
01:20:09,305 --> 01:20:10,682
An example would be
1767
01:20:10,706 --> 01:20:14,110
that Saturday night incident
that you heard about
1768
01:20:16,079 --> 01:20:19,124
with a couple of bands
that refused to play
1769
01:20:19,148 --> 01:20:20,884
unless they were paid in cash,
1770
01:20:22,852 --> 01:20:24,997
and there we had a
wonderful relationship
1771
01:20:25,021 --> 01:20:27,199
with Charlie Prince
that came to the rescue.
1772
01:20:27,223 --> 01:20:30,202
Charlie Prince was our
banker in Sullivan County.
1773
01:20:30,226 --> 01:20:33,338
That night Charlie got into
a helicopter in his pajamas,
1774
01:20:33,362 --> 01:20:35,865
and was flown to his
bank at midnight,
1775
01:20:36,900 --> 01:20:38,110
and rummaged around,
1776
01:20:38,134 --> 01:20:39,835
and found me some
cashier's checks
1777
01:20:41,304 --> 01:20:43,949
that had by accident not been
locked up in the time vault
1778
01:20:43,973 --> 01:20:47,987
so that I could bike
to the festival site
1779
01:20:48,011 --> 01:20:50,255
from the command center
1780
01:20:50,279 --> 01:20:53,058
and pay business
managers or groups
1781
01:20:53,082 --> 01:20:54,817
who refused to let their
1782
01:20:56,252 --> 01:20:58,130
their musicians go on stage.
1783
01:20:58,154 --> 01:21:02,101
* There ain't no cure for
the summertime blues *
1784
01:21:02,125 --> 01:21:04,469
- Have this vision
of Pete Townshend
1785
01:21:04,493 --> 01:21:07,439
sitting on these
Who amplifier cases
1786
01:21:07,463 --> 01:21:09,841
swinging his legs back and
forth, holding his guitar,
1787
01:21:09,865 --> 01:21:14,179
waiting for Wolff to tell
him it was okay to play
1788
01:21:14,203 --> 01:21:16,081
'cause he'd gotten
all the money.
1789
01:21:16,105 --> 01:21:17,716
- That's why I do
not like the Who
1790
01:21:17,740 --> 01:21:19,442
because I was at that meeting.
1791
01:21:21,077 --> 01:21:23,488
How could you not wanna play?
1792
01:21:23,512 --> 01:21:26,882
How could you risk a riot
because you won't go on?
1793
01:21:28,617 --> 01:21:29,694
When these are the people
1794
01:21:29,718 --> 01:21:31,720
that gave you everything
that you have.
1795
01:21:33,056 --> 01:21:35,500
They love you, and
you're gonna hold them up
1796
01:21:35,524 --> 01:21:37,169
for a couple of bucks.
1797
01:21:37,193 --> 01:21:39,704
- Hendrix was the only act
that was booked to play twice,
1798
01:21:39,728 --> 01:21:41,106
and he was the most expensive.
1799
01:21:41,130 --> 01:21:46,078
He was the highest-paid
act: $35,000. (laughs)
1800
01:21:46,102 --> 01:21:49,814
Hendrix circled the
festival for two days.
1801
01:21:49,838 --> 01:21:51,683
We were unable to get him in.
1802
01:21:51,707 --> 01:21:54,310
- What I remember is
being in the trailer
1803
01:21:56,179 --> 01:21:57,356
and getting a phone call
1804
01:21:57,380 --> 01:22:00,016
from one of the local
little airports,
1805
01:22:00,916 --> 01:22:03,052
and it was from Hendrix,
1806
01:22:04,653 --> 01:22:06,789
and he was at the airport,
1807
01:22:07,957 --> 01:22:10,026
and he wanted to know
if we could pick him up,
1808
01:22:11,260 --> 01:22:12,571
and I tried to explain to him
1809
01:22:12,595 --> 01:22:14,073
that it was really complicated,
1810
01:22:14,097 --> 01:22:16,808
and I said, "There's just
no way I can do that."
1811
01:22:16,832 --> 01:22:21,246
"Is there anything
you can do?" he said,
1812
01:22:21,270 --> 01:22:23,282
"I really wanna get there,"
1813
01:22:23,306 --> 01:22:26,885
and I said, "Well, is
there anybody around
1814
01:22:26,909 --> 01:22:31,247
"that you might be able to talk
into driving you out here?"
1815
01:22:32,848 --> 01:22:34,859
And he said he saw, there
was a station wagon,
1816
01:22:34,883 --> 01:22:37,362
hang on, clunk, and
then he came back,
1817
01:22:37,386 --> 01:22:39,864
"Yeah, I think I
got that covered,"
1818
01:22:39,888 --> 01:22:44,103
and, "I'll be
there soon," click,
1819
01:22:44,127 --> 01:22:46,538
and two hours later or
something like that,
1820
01:22:46,562 --> 01:22:48,440
down the little road
behind the stage,
1821
01:22:48,464 --> 01:22:52,277
there's a Ford Falcon
and a station wagon,
1822
01:22:52,301 --> 01:22:55,247
light blue Ford Falcon, stops,
1823
01:22:55,271 --> 01:22:57,906
and Jimi Hendrix in
full Jimi-Hendrix-ism
1824
01:22:59,008 --> 01:23:00,276
emerges from the car,
1825
01:23:01,344 --> 01:23:03,522
and they unload his stuff,
1826
01:23:03,546 --> 01:23:04,656
and that's how he got there.
1827
01:23:04,680 --> 01:23:06,291
He flew in in a private plane.
1828
01:23:06,315 --> 01:23:08,684
He flew in in some
kind of small plane,
1829
01:23:11,054 --> 01:23:15,124
and he paid some kids to
drive him to the show,
1830
01:23:17,093 --> 01:23:18,970
and I mean, I remember
that happening,
1831
01:23:18,994 --> 01:23:22,331
but so much stuff was going on
1832
01:23:23,666 --> 01:23:27,070
that it seemed really
difficult to relate to
1833
01:23:28,171 --> 01:23:29,714
at the time.
1834
01:23:29,738 --> 01:23:32,184
(crowd murmuring)
1835
01:23:32,208 --> 01:23:33,018
- [Announcer] Looks
like we're gonna get
1836
01:23:33,042 --> 01:23:33,853
a little bit of rain,
1837
01:23:33,877 --> 01:23:35,087
so you better cover up.
1838
01:23:35,111 --> 01:23:36,921
- Woodstock and rain,
Woodstock and rain,
1839
01:23:36,945 --> 01:23:38,157
Woodstock and rain,
1840
01:23:38,181 --> 01:23:39,758
I mean, they're all the
same thing in my mind.
1841
01:23:39,782 --> 01:23:40,726
(thunder roaring)
1842
01:23:40,750 --> 01:23:42,594
- The thunderstorm, tornado,
1843
01:23:42,618 --> 01:23:44,129
or whatever it was
that blew through
1844
01:23:44,153 --> 01:23:45,797
when Cocker was performing
1845
01:23:45,821 --> 01:23:47,266
scared the living
daylights out of us.
1846
01:23:47,290 --> 01:23:50,802
I mean, a whole bunch of
things happened at one time.
1847
01:23:50,826 --> 01:23:52,071
- Well, the winds
were whipping up,
1848
01:23:52,095 --> 01:23:53,572
and they were whipping
these canvas things
1849
01:23:53,596 --> 01:23:56,041
that they had tied up,
1850
01:23:56,065 --> 01:23:58,577
and so guys were, it
was kind of like a ship,
1851
01:23:58,601 --> 01:24:01,446
and suddenly a storm coming on,
1852
01:24:01,470 --> 01:24:04,683
and the guys quickly
furling the sails and stuff.
1853
01:24:04,707 --> 01:24:06,185
I mean, guys were
scrambling around
1854
01:24:06,209 --> 01:24:09,521
trying to cover amps
and take down things
1855
01:24:09,545 --> 01:24:12,381
that were in danger
of being blown away.
1856
01:24:14,183 --> 01:24:16,027
- It was getting
a little dangerous
1857
01:24:16,051 --> 01:24:19,498
in that John Morris had
jumped on the microphone,
1858
01:24:19,522 --> 01:24:21,866
and he was a big hero then
1859
01:24:21,890 --> 01:24:24,469
because he sort of
calmed people down.
1860
01:24:24,493 --> 01:24:28,373
- The towers, which
were scaffolding towers,
1861
01:24:28,397 --> 01:24:31,710
had four or six Super
Trouper follow spots,
1862
01:24:31,734 --> 01:24:35,480
which weigh somewhere
500, 600 pounds apiece,
1863
01:24:35,504 --> 01:24:36,504
on top of them,
1864
01:24:37,840 --> 01:24:40,419
and because of the wind the
damn things were swaying,
1865
01:24:40,443 --> 01:24:44,189
and those follow spots
were moving back and forth,
1866
01:24:44,213 --> 01:24:45,781
and they were not chained down,
1867
01:24:46,915 --> 01:24:49,328
and it's one of those
things we forgot.
1868
01:24:49,352 --> 01:24:50,529
The immediate concern
1869
01:24:50,553 --> 01:24:53,265
was to get people
away from the towers,
1870
01:24:53,289 --> 01:24:55,033
and all of a sudden
I've got this mic,
1871
01:24:55,057 --> 01:24:57,001
and I'm saying, "Move
away from the towers.
1872
01:24:57,025 --> 01:24:57,837
"It'll be okay.
1873
01:24:57,861 --> 01:24:59,471
"Everybody just hang on.
1874
01:24:59,495 --> 01:25:00,705
"We're gonna ride this through.
1875
01:25:00,729 --> 01:25:01,940
"We've been through
everything else."
1876
01:25:01,964 --> 01:25:04,509
Please come down off
those towers, gentlemen.
1877
01:25:04,533 --> 01:25:06,811
Hey, cut the power
off here, all right?
1878
01:25:06,835 --> 01:25:09,648
The real answer is I don't know
what else I could have done.
1879
01:25:09,672 --> 01:25:11,116
Somebody had to relay.
1880
01:25:11,140 --> 01:25:15,711
Somebody had to talk
to all of those people.
1881
01:25:17,246 --> 01:25:20,549
We had some kind of symbiotic
relationship at that point,
1882
01:25:21,584 --> 01:25:23,186
and you couldn't walk out on it.
1883
01:25:24,320 --> 01:25:27,590
(mournful blues music)
1884
01:25:38,401 --> 01:25:40,379
- And then I remember
the sun came out,
1885
01:25:40,403 --> 01:25:44,816
and there was this
incredible stench that came,
1886
01:25:44,840 --> 01:25:45,751
you remember that?
1887
01:25:45,775 --> 01:25:47,819
There was this stench,
1888
01:25:47,843 --> 01:25:52,391
and it was very
uncomfortable for people.
1889
01:25:52,415 --> 01:25:54,593
There was debris all
over and everything,
1890
01:25:54,617 --> 01:25:57,629
and people were sliding
around in this mud,
1891
01:25:57,653 --> 01:26:00,499
and sort of like caking
themselves up in mud,
1892
01:26:00,523 --> 01:26:04,636
and all of a sudden the
mud became an activity.
1893
01:26:04,660 --> 01:26:06,104
- The New York Times,
1894
01:26:06,128 --> 01:26:08,964
I mean, or the Daily News:
Hippies Mired in Mud.
1895
01:26:10,065 --> 01:26:12,577
I didn't see hippies
mired in mud.
1896
01:26:12,601 --> 01:26:14,446
I saw it rained, and
there was a lot of mud,
1897
01:26:14,470 --> 01:26:16,481
and people having a good time.
1898
01:26:16,505 --> 01:26:21,386
- And the light at that
point was down in the sky,
1899
01:26:21,410 --> 01:26:23,455
and the clouds were overhead,
1900
01:26:23,479 --> 01:26:27,082
and it was, everybody
was silhouetted,
1901
01:26:28,517 --> 01:26:31,196
so when you looked, you're
seeing people up close,
1902
01:26:31,220 --> 01:26:33,556
you're all kind of
backlighted and silhouetted.
1903
01:26:35,358 --> 01:26:38,270
- The rain created something
1904
01:26:38,294 --> 01:26:40,339
that nothing else
could have done,
1905
01:26:40,363 --> 01:26:45,310
and what it did was it equalized
everybody at that festival.
1906
01:26:45,334 --> 01:26:47,312
Everybody was full of mud.
1907
01:26:47,336 --> 01:26:49,147
Everybody was wet.
1908
01:26:49,171 --> 01:26:50,882
Everybody was cold.
1909
01:26:50,906 --> 01:26:52,484
Everybody was together.
1910
01:26:52,508 --> 01:26:56,888
Everybody experienced the
same thing at the same time
1911
01:26:56,912 --> 01:26:59,924
and had to make it work,
1912
01:26:59,948 --> 01:27:02,461
so I don't know how many
people have told you that,
1913
01:27:02,485 --> 01:27:04,953
but I thank the
Lord for that rain.
1914
01:27:06,722 --> 01:27:08,633
- Without a unifying
factor like that
1915
01:27:08,657 --> 01:27:10,693
it could have been
particularly difficult
1916
01:27:12,595 --> 01:27:15,474
to try and take a
small city of 400
1917
01:27:15,498 --> 01:27:18,743
and perhaps close
to 56,000 people
1918
01:27:18,767 --> 01:27:22,738
and allow them to coexist
for that period of time.
1919
01:27:23,772 --> 01:27:25,608
Music went continuously.
1920
01:27:27,042 --> 01:27:27,919
Where did you eat?
1921
01:27:27,943 --> 01:27:28,754
Where did you shit?
1922
01:27:28,778 --> 01:27:30,589
Where did you sleep?
1923
01:27:30,613 --> 01:27:32,481
It didn't seem to
bother anybody.
1924
01:27:33,982 --> 01:27:38,062
- John Morris called
the telephone building
in White Lake,
1925
01:27:38,086 --> 01:27:40,198
which was our headquarters,
1926
01:27:40,222 --> 01:27:42,567
and spoke to Joel,
1927
01:27:42,591 --> 01:27:46,338
and told Joel that
we had a rather nasty
1928
01:27:46,362 --> 01:27:48,464
and potentially
dangerous problem,
1929
01:27:49,898 --> 01:27:53,778
that the crowd was
scraping the dirt
1930
01:27:53,802 --> 01:27:56,781
off the power lines that had
been buried in the ground,
1931
01:27:56,805 --> 01:28:01,119
and the rain had washed
away some of that dirt,
1932
01:28:01,143 --> 01:28:04,122
and there was some concern
1933
01:28:04,146 --> 01:28:07,058
that unless we could
divert the power,
1934
01:28:07,082 --> 01:28:10,261
that there would be an accident.
1935
01:28:10,285 --> 01:28:15,290
- "What I have in mind," he
said, "is to work a bypass
1936
01:28:16,425 --> 01:28:18,236
"around the area that
I'm worried about,
1937
01:28:18,260 --> 01:28:20,004
"and that will
take me some time,"
1938
01:28:20,028 --> 01:28:22,441
but when I heard how much
time it would take him,
1939
01:28:22,465 --> 01:28:24,576
it didn't seem that dangerous.
1940
01:28:24,600 --> 01:28:26,044
I mean, he said he
could probably do it
1941
01:28:26,068 --> 01:28:27,078
in a matter of minutes.
1942
01:28:27,102 --> 01:28:28,704
This wasn't hours or days,
1943
01:28:30,005 --> 01:28:32,375
and we agreed that that
was the way to proceed.
1944
01:28:33,676 --> 01:28:35,186
- On the face of it,
one would have said,
1945
01:28:35,210 --> 01:28:37,121
"Well, let's stop everything
until we divert the power,"
1946
01:28:37,145 --> 01:28:38,623
which was our suggestion,
1947
01:28:38,647 --> 01:28:41,860
but John advised us that the
Who, or the Grateful Dead,
1948
01:28:41,884 --> 01:28:46,164
or one of the groups most
keenly awaited by the audience
1949
01:28:46,188 --> 01:28:49,801
was just coming on stage
after a rather lengthy wait,
1950
01:28:49,825 --> 01:28:51,370
and that the crowd was restive,
1951
01:28:51,394 --> 01:28:52,604
and they'd been rained on,
1952
01:28:52,628 --> 01:28:54,172
and they were angry,
1953
01:28:54,196 --> 01:28:57,709
and that another delay
of 45 minutes or an hour,
1954
01:28:57,733 --> 01:28:59,678
whatever it would take,
1955
01:28:59,702 --> 01:29:00,803
might lead to violence,
1956
01:29:02,070 --> 01:29:05,484
so we had a decision to make:
1957
01:29:05,508 --> 01:29:09,187
could we divert the power and
keep it on at the same time,
1958
01:29:09,211 --> 01:29:11,390
and run the risk in
the next 45 minutes
1959
01:29:11,414 --> 01:29:14,192
there might be some calamity,
1960
01:29:14,216 --> 01:29:17,185
or should we shut it down and
invite an immediate calamity?
1961
01:29:18,353 --> 01:29:23,001
So, we went for the
potential calamity
1962
01:29:23,025 --> 01:29:25,904
rather than the sure
calamity, (chuckles)
1963
01:29:25,928 --> 01:29:27,906
and so Joel and I conferred,
1964
01:29:27,930 --> 01:29:29,374
and we decided that
we would take the risk
1965
01:29:29,398 --> 01:29:31,410
of leaving it on
and diverting it,
1966
01:29:31,434 --> 01:29:33,569
and that worked, fortunately.
1967
01:29:34,670 --> 01:29:37,172
- They're like
massive little tiny
1968
01:29:38,273 --> 01:29:40,885
snapshots of events.
1969
01:29:40,909 --> 01:29:44,022
There's the "The
stage is sinking!
1970
01:29:44,046 --> 01:29:46,324
"The stage is sinking!"
1971
01:29:46,348 --> 01:29:49,428
See, everybody would get
up, wanna be on stage.
1972
01:29:49,452 --> 01:29:51,162
I mean, it was really cool,
1973
01:29:51,186 --> 01:29:52,964
so everybody wanted
to be up on stage.
1974
01:29:52,988 --> 01:29:55,634
There reached a
point after the rains
1975
01:29:55,658 --> 01:29:59,471
that the stage literally
started sliding down the hill,
1976
01:29:59,495 --> 01:30:01,072
so they'd throw
everybody off stage
1977
01:30:01,096 --> 01:30:02,073
so there'd be less
people on stage
1978
01:30:02,097 --> 01:30:05,109
and they could save the stage.
1979
01:30:05,133 --> 01:30:08,904
("The Star Spangled Banner")
1980
01:30:10,806 --> 01:30:15,377
- People started leaving
on Sunday evening.
1981
01:30:16,912 --> 01:30:20,391
It was supposed to be
over at midnight, tops,
1982
01:30:20,415 --> 01:30:22,360
maybe 11 o'clock or something,
1983
01:30:22,384 --> 01:30:26,097
but it went all night
long Sunday night.
1984
01:30:26,121 --> 01:30:30,502
Jimi Hendrix, for
whatever reason he had,
1985
01:30:30,526 --> 01:30:32,628
wanted to close the festival.
1986
01:30:33,996 --> 01:30:37,576
Being that it was at
night, and people leaving,
1987
01:30:37,600 --> 01:30:41,646
you had really no idea how
many people were gonna be left
1988
01:30:41,670 --> 01:30:42,938
when dawn came up,
1989
01:30:44,206 --> 01:30:47,185
and as that gray dawn came up,
1990
01:30:47,209 --> 01:30:48,820
there was Jimi Hendrix
1991
01:30:48,844 --> 01:30:53,549
in this resplendent white
outfit with fringes on it,
1992
01:30:54,783 --> 01:30:58,129
and being an incredible
Jimi Hendrix fan myself,
1993
01:30:58,153 --> 01:31:00,965
I wasn't gonna miss
that performance.
1994
01:31:00,989 --> 01:31:05,093
Just seeing the people
wandering off slowly in this
1995
01:31:06,128 --> 01:31:09,131
sort of surrealistic scene,
1996
01:31:10,232 --> 01:31:11,876
and hearing "The
Star-Spangled Banner"
1997
01:31:11,900 --> 01:31:13,745
played in the manner
that it was played,
1998
01:31:13,769 --> 01:31:15,980
that's the way the
festival ended for me,
1999
01:31:16,004 --> 01:31:19,350
but there was a lot of
work to do after that,
2000
01:31:19,374 --> 01:31:22,687
but I kind of forgot
about it at that moment.
2001
01:31:22,711 --> 01:31:25,023
I just took it in,
smoked a joint,
2002
01:31:25,047 --> 01:31:27,759
and relished in it,
2003
01:31:27,783 --> 01:31:29,451
and said, "We did it."
2004
01:31:35,891 --> 01:31:39,494
(raunchy blues-rock music)
2005
01:31:45,801 --> 01:31:48,713
- You'd see people
wandering around
2006
01:31:48,737 --> 01:31:52,951
amidst all these old
blankets, and paper,
2007
01:31:52,975 --> 01:31:56,888
and lumps of stuff
laying around,
2008
01:31:56,912 --> 01:31:59,691
and people walking around
picking through it,
2009
01:31:59,715 --> 01:32:02,493
and kind of
scavenging through it.
2010
01:32:02,517 --> 01:32:06,264
- It looked like a
Civil War battlefield,
2011
01:32:06,288 --> 01:32:10,168
in those old photographic
plates they took
2012
01:32:10,192 --> 01:32:11,402
right after the battle,
2013
01:32:11,426 --> 01:32:14,138
where you'd see dead
bodies laying around,
2014
01:32:14,162 --> 01:32:17,499
and all the equipment
that they left behind,
2015
01:32:18,901 --> 01:32:22,638
and the other amazing thing was
there was a tremendous smell
2016
01:32:24,006 --> 01:32:25,216
that, of course, you
can't get from the movies,
2017
01:32:25,240 --> 01:32:26,484
or the pictures, or anything.
2018
01:32:26,508 --> 01:32:29,320
It was a horrible, rancid odor
2019
01:32:29,344 --> 01:32:33,758
rising from all
this muddy debris
2020
01:32:33,782 --> 01:32:34,993
that had been left behind.
2021
01:32:35,017 --> 01:32:37,586
I mean, and it went on
for acres and acres.
2022
01:32:38,987 --> 01:32:40,455
- I remained behind,
2023
01:32:42,758 --> 01:32:45,503
and a lot of other
folks did, as well.
2024
01:32:45,527 --> 01:32:46,805
Some of them were hog farmers,
2025
01:32:46,829 --> 01:32:49,140
stayed for a couple
of days to clean up,
2026
01:32:49,164 --> 01:32:52,677
and so there were simply
folks who didn't wanna leave.
2027
01:32:52,701 --> 01:32:54,369
They wanted to
stay there forever.
2028
01:32:55,771 --> 01:32:56,981
They had put tents in the wood.
2029
01:32:57,005 --> 01:32:58,273
They had built households,
2030
01:32:59,574 --> 01:33:00,574
and of course had
2031
01:33:02,978 --> 01:33:06,490
had no means of
maintaining their lives:
2032
01:33:06,514 --> 01:33:09,794
no food, no water, no
nothing, no services.
2033
01:33:09,818 --> 01:33:13,197
We took damage claims
from the neighbors,
2034
01:33:13,221 --> 01:33:17,702
insurance claims,
releases, complaints,
2035
01:33:17,726 --> 01:33:19,470
and it just went
on and on and on
2036
01:33:19,494 --> 01:33:21,505
for weeks and weeks and weeks.
2037
01:33:21,529 --> 01:33:23,407
- A lot of the piping
just got buried,
2038
01:33:23,431 --> 01:33:24,909
and the electric got left,
2039
01:33:24,933 --> 01:33:26,878
and the phone company came,
took all the phones away,
2040
01:33:26,902 --> 01:33:29,447
and the poles got taken down
that they were mounted on,
2041
01:33:29,471 --> 01:33:30,982
and the boards,
2042
01:33:31,006 --> 01:33:33,166
and everything just kind of
went back to normal slowly.
2043
01:33:34,342 --> 01:33:36,487
- I knew that what
they had done to the,
2044
01:33:36,511 --> 01:33:38,589
what we had done to the ground
2045
01:33:38,613 --> 01:33:41,392
was nothing couldn't come back
2046
01:33:41,416 --> 01:33:44,419
'cause they stayed,
cleaned everything up,
2047
01:33:45,287 --> 01:33:46,798
and then replanted it,
2048
01:33:46,822 --> 01:33:51,202
which is an agreement they
had had with the Yasgurs.
2049
01:33:51,226 --> 01:33:53,404
- If you were
technically oriented,
2050
01:33:53,428 --> 01:33:56,374
and were used to a level deck,
2051
01:33:56,398 --> 01:33:59,201
and life as you
dreamed it might be,
2052
01:34:00,903 --> 01:34:03,347
if you went through
those three days
2053
01:34:03,371 --> 01:34:07,442
it would have totally destroyed
your concept of order.
2054
01:34:09,477 --> 01:34:11,656
- We knew we were in the
middle of a financial disaster.
2055
01:34:11,680 --> 01:34:14,358
We knew that some
things had gone on
2056
01:34:14,382 --> 01:34:16,260
that we could never make right,
2057
01:34:16,284 --> 01:34:18,362
and then we had begun to hear
2058
01:34:18,386 --> 01:34:21,432
what turned out to
be fabricated reports
2059
01:34:21,456 --> 01:34:26,461
of dead bodies in the woods
around the festival site.
2060
01:34:27,195 --> 01:34:28,639
- Jim Mitchell told me
2061
01:34:28,663 --> 01:34:31,976
that there were bodies all over
the site amongst the trash,
2062
01:34:32,000 --> 01:34:33,211
because that's what it was:
2063
01:34:33,235 --> 01:34:37,940
it was a gigantic dump
site at that point,
2064
01:34:38,673 --> 01:34:40,284
and we were charged
2065
01:34:40,308 --> 01:34:43,211
with finding the dead bodies.
2066
01:34:44,112 --> 01:34:47,458
- I was at the bank in New York
2067
01:34:47,482 --> 01:34:51,930
talking to a bunch of
panicked and angry bankers,
2068
01:34:51,954 --> 01:34:53,865
and Jim Mitchell,
2069
01:34:53,889 --> 01:34:56,367
who had been charged with
cleaning up the site,
2070
01:34:56,391 --> 01:34:59,427
called me at the bank and said,
2071
01:35:01,063 --> 01:35:02,306
"They're going
through the woods.
2072
01:35:02,330 --> 01:35:03,908
"My crew is going
through the woods,
2073
01:35:03,932 --> 01:35:05,801
"and they're finding bodies,"
2074
01:35:06,969 --> 01:35:10,348
and I said, "Find out
the details for me,"
2075
01:35:10,372 --> 01:35:12,050
and he called back
about an hour later
2076
01:35:12,074 --> 01:35:13,918
and said, "I was mistaken.
2077
01:35:13,942 --> 01:35:16,154
"There is one death."
2078
01:35:16,178 --> 01:35:17,421
They found one body,
2079
01:35:17,445 --> 01:35:19,690
and apparently he was
accidentally run over
2080
01:35:19,714 --> 01:35:23,385
by the machine that
was compacting and
gathering the trash,
2081
01:35:24,586 --> 01:35:27,689
and it was pretty emotional.
2082
01:35:28,857 --> 01:35:30,301
Joel and I were
both at the bank,
2083
01:35:30,325 --> 01:35:33,171
and it felt like our world
had sort of collapsed,
2084
01:35:33,195 --> 01:35:34,806
and then this information
2085
01:35:34,830 --> 01:35:39,201
that this boy had been killed
accidentally at the site
2086
01:35:40,502 --> 01:35:41,946
felt like the last straw,
2087
01:35:41,970 --> 01:35:46,008
and I remember feeling
pretty broken up about it.
2088
01:35:47,542 --> 01:35:50,889
- John had really gotten
way over his credit line,
2089
01:35:50,913 --> 01:35:54,692
and the manager of the local
bank was so distraught he was,
2090
01:35:54,716 --> 01:35:56,227
we were afraid he was
gonna commit suicide
2091
01:35:56,251 --> 01:35:58,930
'cause he extended
so much credit to us,
2092
01:35:58,954 --> 01:36:02,967
and we had people
coming in saying,
2093
01:36:02,991 --> 01:36:04,803
"I have 10 acres here,
2094
01:36:04,827 --> 01:36:06,204
"and people have been
tromping all over it
2095
01:36:06,228 --> 01:36:07,738
"and staying in it,"
2096
01:36:07,762 --> 01:36:10,108
and we'd say, "What kind
of crops did you have?"
2097
01:36:10,132 --> 01:36:11,642
By the time we got through
2098
01:36:11,666 --> 01:36:14,045
we knew how to estimate an
acre of alfalfa, or corn,
2099
01:36:14,069 --> 01:36:16,680
or something like that,
and we paid them off.
2100
01:36:16,704 --> 01:36:18,817
- I spent a good bit of time
2101
01:36:18,841 --> 01:36:22,044
for the next, oh,
number of weeks
2102
01:36:24,512 --> 01:36:27,959
coordinating what cleanup
activity was going on
2103
01:36:27,983 --> 01:36:28,983
at that time,
2104
01:36:30,018 --> 01:36:32,730
returning people's
lost property.
2105
01:36:32,754 --> 01:36:36,734
There were a lot of
wallets, purses, things,
2106
01:36:36,758 --> 01:36:39,503
and we had a lost and found,
2107
01:36:39,527 --> 01:36:42,506
and we sent stuff
back out in the mails.
2108
01:36:42,530 --> 01:36:45,944
We took damage claims
from the neighbors,
2109
01:36:45,968 --> 01:36:49,304
insurance claims,
releases, complaints,
2110
01:36:50,472 --> 01:36:52,216
and it just went
on and on and on
2111
01:36:52,240 --> 01:36:53,741
for weeks and weeks and weeks.
2112
01:36:54,843 --> 01:36:56,620
- John was in a situation
2113
01:36:56,644 --> 01:36:58,923
where he had gotten himself
into doing something
2114
01:36:58,947 --> 01:37:03,527
and behaved at all times
as an absolute gentleman.
2115
01:37:03,551 --> 01:37:06,330
Looked at his options,
knew he was done,
2116
01:37:06,354 --> 01:37:08,499
and said, "We're
gonna go through this.
2117
01:37:08,523 --> 01:37:10,034
"We're gonna take care of it,"
2118
01:37:10,058 --> 01:37:12,303
and after the festival the
same thing with the debts.
2119
01:37:12,327 --> 01:37:14,405
He could have gone
bankrupt, gone belly-up.
2120
01:37:14,429 --> 01:37:16,040
The whole thing
could have been over.
2121
01:37:16,064 --> 01:37:17,508
He could have
walked away from it.
2122
01:37:17,532 --> 01:37:20,444
He chose to make sure that
absolutely everybody got paid.
2123
01:37:20,468 --> 01:37:21,603
Lot of respect for him.
2124
01:37:22,570 --> 01:37:24,015
- I believe that.
2125
01:37:24,039 --> 01:37:26,350
I mean, that was something
my father felt strongly about
2126
01:37:26,374 --> 01:37:29,387
was that you can
regain lost monies,
2127
01:37:29,411 --> 01:37:31,446
but lost reputations
are forever.
2128
01:37:32,881 --> 01:37:35,426
- It cost us $3 million, and
it was particularly expensive
2129
01:37:35,450 --> 01:37:38,429
'cause we didn't have
$3 million at the time.
2130
01:37:38,453 --> 01:37:39,931
When it was over,
2131
01:37:39,955 --> 01:37:43,434
we were a million and a half
dollars in debt, or more,
2132
01:37:43,458 --> 01:37:46,370
and no real prospect
for repaying it.
2133
01:37:46,394 --> 01:37:48,106
It worked out that
we were able to,
2134
01:37:48,130 --> 01:37:50,374
but it took us
quite a long time.
2135
01:37:50,398 --> 01:37:53,311
- We'd spent well in
excess of a million dollars
2136
01:37:53,335 --> 01:37:55,213
over the receipts.
2137
01:37:55,237 --> 01:37:58,616
The newspaper accounts of
Woodstock the morning after
2138
01:37:58,640 --> 01:37:59,908
were not friendly.
2139
01:38:01,343 --> 01:38:03,922
The Times had headlined it
Nightmare in the Catskills.
2140
01:38:03,946 --> 01:38:07,391
We had bankers, and creditors,
and just about everybody
2141
01:38:07,415 --> 01:38:09,860
breathing down our
necks that morning,
2142
01:38:09,884 --> 01:38:11,395
and when the smoke
cleared Monday morning
2143
01:38:11,419 --> 01:38:13,231
the banks said, "My God,
2144
01:38:13,255 --> 01:38:17,601
"we've paid out well in
excess of a million dollars
2145
01:38:17,625 --> 01:38:20,271
"over the original $250,000,
2146
01:38:20,295 --> 01:38:23,241
"and we have no
documentation to support it."
2147
01:38:23,265 --> 01:38:26,301
- One of the bankers picked
up our folder, I remember, and
2148
01:38:28,703 --> 01:38:32,850
in an attempt of emphasize
the points he was making,
2149
01:38:32,874 --> 01:38:34,052
and he was making points
2150
01:38:34,076 --> 01:38:35,978
about how irresponsible
and stupid we were,
2151
01:38:37,179 --> 01:38:40,215
he began to slam the
folder on the table,
2152
01:38:41,984 --> 01:38:45,863
and in so doing out
popped some of the papers
2153
01:38:45,887 --> 01:38:47,598
from this manila folder,
2154
01:38:47,622 --> 01:38:52,627
and one of the papers was
the personal guarantee form
2155
01:38:53,361 --> 01:38:54,605
obligating John and me
2156
01:38:54,629 --> 01:38:57,175
to whatever debts we had
rung up over the weekend
2157
01:38:57,199 --> 01:38:59,401
by writing all these bad checks.
2158
01:39:00,735 --> 01:39:04,782
The guarantee form was
unsigned, just evident.
2159
01:39:04,806 --> 01:39:07,509
You could see that the
signature part of it was blank,
2160
01:39:08,610 --> 01:39:10,588
and this fellow
stopped in mid-tirade,
2161
01:39:10,612 --> 01:39:13,657
and everybody at the table
looked down at this form,
2162
01:39:13,681 --> 01:39:16,594
and looked at each other,
2163
01:39:16,618 --> 01:39:19,430
and then, (laughs) and John
and I looked at each other.
2164
01:39:19,454 --> 01:39:22,557
It was such a wonderful
moment, especially because
2165
01:39:23,758 --> 01:39:26,537
the period of time,
that Monday morning,
2166
01:39:26,561 --> 01:39:29,464
was such a leaden period.
2167
01:39:30,898 --> 01:39:35,046
- And we said,
2168
01:39:35,070 --> 01:39:38,649
naively perhaps, but we said it,
2169
01:39:38,673 --> 01:39:41,519
"Well, it was our intention
to honor these debts,
2170
01:39:41,543 --> 01:39:45,189
"and we'll sign whatever
papers you ask us to sign
2171
01:39:45,213 --> 01:39:48,059
"to memorialize that."
2172
01:39:48,083 --> 01:39:51,562
- And I'm not sure that legally
we could have done anything
2173
01:39:51,586 --> 01:39:55,090
other than just honor that
commitment, that obligation,
2174
01:39:56,224 --> 01:39:58,426
but it did make the
bankers a lot friendlier
2175
01:39:59,594 --> 01:40:01,139
right at that moment.
2176
01:40:01,163 --> 01:40:04,599
(melancholy piano music)
2177
01:40:14,942 --> 01:40:17,521
- Michael and I have a very
interesting relationship.
2178
01:40:17,545 --> 01:40:20,924
We can't be too close, but
we can't really be too far
2179
01:40:20,948 --> 01:40:22,684
because we had a child together,
2180
01:40:25,120 --> 01:40:26,488
and that was Woodstock.
2181
01:40:29,091 --> 01:40:31,735
- I left the site, I guess
around noon on Monday,
2182
01:40:31,759 --> 01:40:34,838
and John and Joel I guess
had left the night before,
2183
01:40:34,862 --> 01:40:36,931
and Artie had left
early that morning,
2184
01:40:38,733 --> 01:40:40,544
and as I was leaving,
2185
01:40:40,568 --> 01:40:43,114
they were in Wall Street, they
were in a meeting at a bank,
2186
01:40:43,138 --> 01:40:44,382
and I got a phone call
2187
01:40:44,406 --> 01:40:46,046
that said you had to
come down right away,
2188
01:40:46,941 --> 01:40:48,952
and one of the last
helicopters was just leaving.
2189
01:40:48,976 --> 01:40:53,491
The guy offered me a lift,
and it was the first time I
2190
01:40:53,515 --> 01:40:55,426
I'd never seen it from the air,
2191
01:40:55,450 --> 01:40:58,829
and I thought what a great
idea, see it from the air.
2192
01:40:58,853 --> 01:41:01,732
There were 50 or 60
kids left on the field,
2193
01:41:01,756 --> 01:41:03,101
and they were
collecting garbage,
2194
01:41:03,125 --> 01:41:06,270
and I remember as the
helicopter took off
2195
01:41:06,294 --> 01:41:09,773
I saw that they were
dragging the garbage in bags,
2196
01:41:09,797 --> 01:41:11,309
and old clothes,
2197
01:41:11,333 --> 01:41:16,338
and they were piling them
in this huge peace symbol
2198
01:41:17,205 --> 01:41:18,416
in the middle of a field,
2199
01:41:18,440 --> 01:41:20,484
and that was the last
image I had as we left.
2200
01:41:20,508 --> 01:41:22,220
That was the first time
I'd seen it from the air,
2201
01:41:22,244 --> 01:41:24,288
and that was the image
that stays with me always
2202
01:41:24,312 --> 01:41:26,714
is that that's what was
left at the end of it.
2203
01:41:28,082 --> 01:41:29,927
- I mean, it was the seminal
experience in my life.
2204
01:41:29,951 --> 01:41:32,019
It was a major factor.
2205
01:41:33,455 --> 01:41:34,565
Would I like to go do it again?
2206
01:41:34,589 --> 01:41:36,600
Yeah, it won't be the same,
2207
01:41:36,624 --> 01:41:39,903
but it was fascinating.
2208
01:41:39,927 --> 01:41:42,005
I would love to
walk on the stage
2209
01:41:42,029 --> 01:41:44,975
and say, "Get off the towers.
2210
01:41:44,999 --> 01:41:46,977
"It's not a free concert,
2211
01:41:47,001 --> 01:41:50,148
"and I quit if anybody gives
a good goddamn," (laughs)
2212
01:41:50,172 --> 01:41:51,172
and call it done.
2213
01:41:52,574 --> 01:41:55,919
- It happened because of the
good vibes in planning it.
2214
01:41:55,943 --> 01:41:59,323
It happened because
of the dedication
2215
01:41:59,347 --> 01:42:01,325
of everybody that worked on it.
2216
01:42:01,349 --> 01:42:03,394
It happened because
of the weather.
2217
01:42:03,418 --> 01:42:07,898
It happened because all these
variables came together.
2218
01:42:07,922 --> 01:42:10,768
The time was right.
2219
01:42:10,792 --> 01:42:13,571
Everybody agreed,
the music, the peace,
2220
01:42:13,595 --> 01:42:16,707
everything was just
perfect for that.
2221
01:42:16,731 --> 01:42:18,132
- When the festival was over
2222
01:42:19,334 --> 01:42:21,503
and all this
2223
01:42:22,370 --> 01:42:24,815
trouble came down:
2224
01:42:24,839 --> 01:42:27,251
the dead boy, the lawsuits,
2225
01:42:27,275 --> 01:42:30,278
the pillorying in the
press, the loss of money,
2226
01:42:31,446 --> 01:42:33,315
the Yasgurs were
steadfast friends.
2227
01:42:35,750 --> 01:42:37,295
They didn't call and say,
2228
01:42:37,319 --> 01:42:39,497
"You didn't clean up
this acre or that acre.
2229
01:42:39,521 --> 01:42:40,365
"You didn't do this.
2230
01:42:40,389 --> 01:42:41,399
"You didn't do that."
2231
01:42:41,423 --> 01:42:42,900
They called up and said,
2232
01:42:42,924 --> 01:42:46,361
"Look, anything we can do
to help, we'd love to help."
2233
01:42:47,529 --> 01:42:48,896
We did clean up their land,
2234
01:42:50,632 --> 01:42:54,011
and Max called me, oh, about
a month after the festival,
2235
01:42:54,035 --> 01:42:55,313
and he said, "You know,
2236
01:42:55,337 --> 01:42:56,614
"I can't imagine what
you're going through.
2237
01:42:56,638 --> 01:42:58,282
"I mean, I know you're
only 24 years old.
2238
01:42:58,306 --> 01:43:00,784
"You must be having a
nightmare of a time."
2239
01:43:00,808 --> 01:43:02,152
He said, "I've
got a great idea."
2240
01:43:02,176 --> 01:43:03,754
He said, "Why don't you
come up here for a month
2241
01:43:03,778 --> 01:43:06,156
"and milk cows," he said,
2242
01:43:06,180 --> 01:43:07,591
"and no one has to
know where you are,"
2243
01:43:07,615 --> 01:43:09,327
he said, "You get in good shape.
2244
01:43:09,351 --> 01:43:10,160
"You'll get tired.
2245
01:43:10,184 --> 01:43:10,962
"You go to bed at night.
2246
01:43:10,986 --> 01:43:12,196
"You'll sleep well.
2247
01:43:12,220 --> 01:43:14,932
"You can forget about
Woodstock for a month."
2248
01:43:14,956 --> 01:43:16,634
I almost took him
up on it, (laughs)
2249
01:43:16,658 --> 01:43:20,704
but I'd met a girl and I was 24,
2250
01:43:20,728 --> 01:43:21,728
and my
2251
01:43:24,532 --> 01:43:27,578
my romance took precedence
over milking cows,
2252
01:43:27,602 --> 01:43:31,815
but I married her,
too. (chuckles)
2253
01:43:31,839 --> 01:43:34,051
- Well, I don't think you
can plan to have a Woodstock
2254
01:43:34,075 --> 01:43:38,422
if by that you mean a
spontaneous mass gathering
2255
01:43:38,446 --> 01:43:40,315
of tremendous
energy and goodwill
2256
01:43:42,717 --> 01:43:44,419
at which people
have a great time.
2257
01:43:45,553 --> 01:43:47,455
I think you can offer it.
2258
01:43:48,590 --> 01:43:50,601
You can set the
framework up for it,
2259
01:43:50,625 --> 01:43:52,594
but having it happen is,
2260
01:43:54,596 --> 01:43:56,331
it's a miracle.
2261
01:43:57,599 --> 01:43:59,042
- Let me tell you this.
2262
01:43:59,066 --> 01:44:01,312
Didn't matter how I went
into it and came out of it.
2263
01:44:01,336 --> 01:44:02,980
Didn't matter how
anybody else came into it
2264
01:44:03,004 --> 01:44:04,682
and went out of it.
2265
01:44:04,706 --> 01:44:07,851
We wouldn't be having
this conversation today
2266
01:44:07,875 --> 01:44:09,353
if it didn't mean something
2267
01:44:09,377 --> 01:44:12,523
to millions and millions of
people who weren't even there.
2268
01:44:12,547 --> 01:44:14,658
We wouldn't be standing
here with this camera,
2269
01:44:14,682 --> 01:44:15,659
and these questions,
2270
01:44:15,683 --> 01:44:17,160
and you wouldn't
be making a film
2271
01:44:17,184 --> 01:44:19,863
unless this thing
historically meant something
2272
01:44:19,887 --> 01:44:21,732
to a lot of people
above and beyond
2273
01:44:21,756 --> 01:44:23,767
what it meant for those
people who were there,
2274
01:44:23,791 --> 01:44:25,403
and above and beyond anybody's
2275
01:44:25,427 --> 01:44:28,038
what they brought to it
or brought away from it.
2276
01:44:28,062 --> 01:44:30,264
It's a singular
event in history.
2277
01:44:32,934 --> 01:44:34,778
- So that what was
learned at White Lake
2278
01:44:34,802 --> 01:44:37,014
was not that hundreds
of thousands of people
2279
01:44:37,038 --> 01:44:39,883
can paralyze an area
and break the law,
2280
01:44:39,907 --> 01:44:41,885
but that in an
emergency, at least,
2281
01:44:41,909 --> 01:44:45,246
people of all ages are
capable of compassion,
2282
01:44:46,681 --> 01:44:48,992
and while such a spectacle
may never happen again,
2283
01:44:49,016 --> 01:44:51,295
it has recorded the
growing proportions
2284
01:44:51,319 --> 01:44:55,733
of this youthful culture in
the mind of adult America.
2285
01:44:55,757 --> 01:44:57,401
Walter?
2286
01:44:57,425 --> 01:45:02,306
- And that's the way it is,
Monday, August 18th, 1969.
2287
01:45:02,330 --> 01:45:06,233
(wistful acoustic rock music)
2288
01:45:06,257 --> 01:45:08,257
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