woodstock 2009

Free love, free music, Free-dom… it was all free and easy for the hippies back in 1969 when the original Woodstock Music and Arts Festival was held on the now sacred land of Yasgur’s Farm, where the Time Warner Cable sponsored Bethel Woods Center for the Arts currently resides.  Just don’t let that “free” tag fool you, as the freedom loving masses-turned-entrepreneurs bring you the 40th anniversary celebration of that beloved gathering of freaks and music. 

Don’t get me wrong.  I absolutely love the ideal, and the music, and the fact that the festival produced zero violence (with the exception of a lot of brains cells getting killed), but you want to talk about cashing in?  Over the next two months the marketplace will be flooded with authorized Woodstock 40th Anniversary products for consumers to devour until their hearts delight.   A quick search on Amazon’s web site produced 45 variations of DVDs/Films related to the festival, 315 separate CD titles, 589 varying T shirts, apparel, or accessories, and a whopping 34,327 different books!   

So what is a baby-booming nostalgic-seeking red-blooded American-trying-to-stimulate-the-economy soon-to-be-post-recession consumer to do?  Take a word from Sy Simms and be an educated consumer.

Music:  Out now are both the original soundtrack and Woodstock Two albums in double CD sets with remastered sound, BUT if you wait until August 18 there will be a deluxe 6 CD boxed set available that features a performance of "Dark Star" by the Grateful Dead.

For those who have to have it all, there will be a 10 CD limited edition boxed set entitled The Woodstock Experience coming out on June 30.  The box is dedicated to 5 artists (2 CDs each) that appeared at the festival; Santana, Janis Joplin, Sly & the Family Stone, Johnny Winter, and the Jefferson Airplane.  The Woodstock Experience will also be available as 5 separate editions for those who wish to choose one artist but not the others.  Each 2 CD set comprises of the artists set at Woodstock, plus a remastered disc of the album they had out at the time.  Here’s the breakdown:  Santana’s debut coupled with their Woodstock set, which has been much bootlegged.  In fact, Carlos’ guitar was out of tune for much of the set and he recently went in the studio and cut new solos on vintage equipment to enhance your “experience.”  Only one previously unreleased song in the Woodstock set - “Evil Ways.”  Janis’ I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again, Mama is couple with her Woodstock set featuring 3 previously unreleased tracks.  Sly’s Stand! is coupled with 7 previously unreleased recordings from Woodstock.  Johnny Winter’s debut album with his Woodstock set which features 6 previously unreleased performances, with brother Edgar on 3.  The Airplane’s Woodstock set features 6 unheard before songs and is coupled with Volunteers. 

Video:  Just released, in early June, is an expanded version of the Michael Wadleigh award winning film Woodstock on DVD, and Blu-ray (don’t ask me what Blu-ray is, I’m low tech and barely even watch television).  Wadleigh was quoted, saying “The first cut [of the film] was about sixteen hours.  We wanted to make three two-hour movies.”  This version (the directors cut), thankfully, is contained to two discs.  Disc one is the film in its entirety and runs three hours and forty-five minutes.  The second “bonus” disc is more music and behind the scenes footage.   Little known fact that everyone is playing the death out of these days:  a young Martin “Marty” Scorsese was a newbie right out of NYC working as a film editor on Wadleigh’s crew. 

Coming to a theatre near you on August 14 will be Taking Woodstock, a based-on-real-life comedy starring stand-up comedic musician Demetri Martin portraying Elliot Tiber, the interior designer who worked on the original Woodstock festival.  SCTV’s Eugene Levy plays Max Yasgur. 

Books:  Several books about the festival are either out or coming, the most promising being the memoirs of concert organizer Michael Lang - The Road to Woodstock: From the Man Behind the Legendary Festival.  Yep, it's all Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll.

The 2009 woodstock concert:

Bethel Woods will host a concert on August 15, billed as Heroes of Woodstock and will feature Jefferson Starship, Ten Years After (sorry, Alvin Lee is no longer in the band), Canned Heat, Big Brother & the Holding Co., Mountain, Country Joe McDonald, Tom Constanten (formerly of the Grateful Dead), and the Levon Helm Band.  At only $20 for a lawn seat this could be great fun, and with every ticket you get a free download of the entire show (well, that’s almost free).  Bring your own brown acid. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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