*Mrs. Lesser, my eleventh grade English and Journalism teacher who also made me editor of the school newspaper, would be shaking her head in disbelief if she were to be reading this blog. “An asterisk belongs at the bottom of your paper,” she explained. But then again, she never wrote a blog or texted or Instagrammed or IM’d or Tweeted or cared how many followers she had on her Youtube channel. So my 1969 is focussed on New York and The New York Jets, The New York Mets, the New York Knicks, and that whacky world of change in one summer. Was it too much?
“Those were the best days of my life, oh yeah, back in the summer of ’69,” crooned Canadian rocker Bryan Adams, forever etching the chorus and year into our collective consciousness.
In the Summer of ’69, newly elected US president Richard Nixon announced the withdrawal of troops from Vietnam as anti-war demonstrations on the home-front peaked; the first man walked on the moon; the Beatles recorded their final album, Abbey Road; and the gay community rioted after police raided New York City’s Stonewall Inn, a watershed moment in the gay rights movement.
Meanwhile, a dark chapter was unfolding on America’s west coast, as Charles Manson and his “Family” – a band of misfits and hippies, many of them young girls under the spell of the wild-eyed, Beatles-loving sociopath – went on a murderous spree, slaying seven people over two consecutive nights (August 9 and 10), including Sharon Tate, the actress and pregnant girlfriend of film director Roman Polanski.
Big Stuff for any decade, but one summer?
1969 was a great year for New York sports. In January, Joe Namath led the Jets to the biggest upset in football, perhaps all of sports, history. The Mets were nicknamed the Miracle Mets as they went from perennial losers to World Series Champions. And the New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, in a series that immortalized Willis Reed, the original Captain, who played Game 7 with a thigh bruise that was thought to keep him out.
But that is not what New Yorkers and the rest of the world talk about when discussing the summer of 1969.
And before moving on, let me be clear. I was eight years old. My dad and his friends who were unable to purchase New York Giant season tickets were offered tickets for the New York Titans.
Back in 1960, there was no Directv or Red Zone or sports bars. It was either schlepping from Long Island to The Polo Grounds or another season of watching the Giants on a small black and white TV.
The Titans moved to Shea Stadium, changed their name to emulate La Guardia Airport, and beat the best team in the NFL in January of 1969.
My dad and his friends were still hungover when the Mets pulled their miracle. And just when things could not get any better, the Knicks won the champioship after that.
But I Digress
Something else took place that summer. No one knew just how big the Woodstock music festival would become. It was organized by people who had originally just wanted to build a music studio in the upstate New York village.
Oh, did I mention The Woodstock Music and Art Fair? I urge you to click on the poster and listen to the commercial.
Woodstock, the most infamous rock festival of all time, took place between August 15 and 18, less than a week after the Manson murders horrified the nation.
Held on a rented dairy farm in Bethel, in the Catskill Mountains north-west of New York City, this muddy, chaotic weekend is considered to be a pivotal moment in music history, when 32 legendary acts performed before almost half a million drug-addled fans, many of whom had stormed the gates. It was a utopian dream that celebrated free music, free love, and free spirits – what Rolling Stone magazine called “a long-awaited tribal gathering.”
And, while over 50,000 tickets were sold in advance, ultimately more than 400,000 flooded to the venue on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm.
I remember Woodstock or as it was advertised at the time, The Woodstock Music and Art Festival. Tickets were $6.00 a day or $18.00 for the three days that were advertised.
To say that I remember Woodstock is not totally accurate. That August, as I said, I was 8 years old, at Camp Lakota, a sleep-a-way camp in Wurtsboro, New York, about 35 miles away.
Woodstock was the only thing the older campers were talking about that week as they wondered if the farm was walking distance from the camp. And I knew it was big when they announced that the New York State Thruway was closed.
But here are some fun facts that I did not know:
- By today’s standards, the tickets would cost between $120 and $160. But there was no fence and no place for the organizers to set up to collect tickets purchased in advance or charge at the gate. It is still the largest free rock festival ever assembled.
- Woodstock’s first act on Friday evening was supposed to be Sweetwater, but its members—and those of three other bands—got stuck in traffic on the narrow roads leading into Bethel. So, organizers found a last-minute replacement in folk singer Richie Havens. Havens performed an extra-long set, playing every song he knew while Woodstock staff finished building the stage around him.
- After multiple encores, a sweat-soaked Havens came out to play one more song without any idea what it was going to be. That’s when he improvised Freedom/Motherless Child.
- The Who’s Roger Daltrey had, like so many others, spent hours in the traffic jams. Then he and his band had waited backstage some 10 more hours before performing. Daltrey later said there wasn’t any food backstage that wasn’t laced with LSD and he accidentally dosed himself when he made a cup of tea before going onstage.
- The festival opened under blue skies, but a brutal thunderstorm rolled in. Back in 1969, there were no weather apps or 24-hour weather channels and few attendees had come prepared for bad weather.
- ‘Drowned rats’ doesn’t even come close to describing it, “ said attendee, Carl Porter.
- Woodstock was one of the first concerts at which Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young played as a group.
- In one memorable part of the concert, Stephen Stills tells the crowd, “This is the second time we’ve ever played in front of people, man. We’re scared Shitless.”
- Jimi Hendrix had been booked as a headliner at Woodstock, but he didn’t take the stage until the event was nearly over—Monday morning at 9 a.m. Part of the reason is Hendrix had a clause in his contract stipulating that no act could follow his performance. By the time Hendrix began his set, the exhausted Monday-morning crowd had dwindled to about 30,000.
- As the monetary breakdown shows, Hendrix earned the most money from the festival. Interesting to see that a group only playing their second live venue was paid more than the Grateful Dead.
No Food But They Had Bread
1. Jimi Hendrix – $18,000
2. Blood Sweat and Tears – $15,000
3. Joan Baez – $10,000
4. Creedence Clearwater Revival – $10,000
5. The Band – $7,500
6. Janis Joplin – $7,500
7. Jefferson Airplane – $7,500
8. Sly and the Family Stone – $7,000
9. Canned Heat – $6,500
10. The Who – $6,250
11. Richie Havens – $6,000
12. Arlo Guthrie – $5,000
13. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young – $5,000
14. Ravi Shankar – $4,500
15. Johnny Winter – $3,750
16. Ten Years After – $3,250
17. Country Joe and the Fish – $2,500
18. Grateful Dead – $2,500
19. The Incredible String Band – $2,250
But Wait There’s More
20. Mountain – $2,000
21. Tim Hardin – $2,000
22. Joe Cocker – $1,375
23. Sweetwater – $1,250
24. John B. Sebastian – $1,000
25. Melanie – $750
26. Santana – $750
27. Sha Na Na – $700
28. Keef Hartley – $500
29. Quill – $375
We didn’t even mention:
The very first U.S. troop withdrawals are made from Vietnam
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Established
Chappaquiddick Affair Senator Edward Kennedy driving a car plunges into a pond on July 25th and a body of a woman passenger is later found in the car
Hurricane Camille hits the Mississippi coast killing 248 people
The trial begins of “Chicago Seven” accused of inciting riot at 1968 Democratic National Convention
A free concert organized by the Rolling Stones is held at Altamont Speedway in Livermore, Calif with problems caused by the use of Hells Angels as Bouncers resulting in a number of deaths
The Groundbreaking TV programme Monty Python’s Flying Circus is shown for the first time and the catch phrase “And now for something completely different,” becomes their trade mark
The US institutes the draft lottery to determine draft into US Forces for Vietnam War
So as I said, it’s 1969. The music was awesome. New York sports were at an all-time high. My brother was fourteen discovering pot and growing his hair down to his shoulders.
Then there Was Me
“Make it short, Mel. He’s going to camp,” my mother said to Mel the Barber, two days before leaving for Camp Lakota.
Tears were flowing uncontrollably. “Mom, please. I’ll look like a dork. Nobody has short hair. Oh my god.”
Mel winked at me. “Those days are over Mrs. Kaye. Let’s style it instead of cutting. The summer is here. Things should be quiet. All the boys are growing it long.”
She thought long and hard while staring at my crying distorted face in the large mirror in front of me.
“So many changes Mel. Boys wanna look like girls. Girls looking like boys. Can’t some things stay the same?”
“You’ll be happy. I’ll show you.”
“Steven, if your father were here, it would be a crew cut. Too many changes at once. Well, this should be a quiet summer at least. Fine. But when you get back from camp, it will be a different story.”