On Wed, 2 May 2001, atomly wrote: > Woodstock was a much more important event in the history of music than > DEMF, though. > > Woodstock marked the time when the hippies established themselves as a > force. Nobody cared about Country Joe or Jimi Hendrix before that. > Woodstock was amazing because it wasn't planned to be huge while they > were anticipating huge crowds at DEMF. >
You know most of you weren't alive for the first Woodstock. When the festival was happening, it made the national news, but it's not like it captured everyone's imagination. The real buzz on it came with the record and the movie, after which people began mythologizing it all out of proportion. If you took a poll right now that asked everyone over 45 if they were at Woodstock, probably 3 million of them would say they were. It's turned into a creation myth for counterculture, when really it was a half million white college kids behaving badly. Not unlike spring break in Miami Beach, only with more mud. This happened in 1969, after all -- hippies were well established. In fact, by 69, the hippy scene had really peaked. Comparing DEMF to woodstock is silly; for one thing, ain't no way we'll have near enough mud. Or LSD. DEMF was cool last year. A whole lot more people will be there this year, so we'll see. It's more about the music and the 100 or so internet friends who will be there for me -- in other words, a Netmeet with beats.
