Revisiting Woodstock Music: or Playing In The Mud (Or Clay)

I was 19 years old in the summer of 1969. Yeah, I’m one of those middle-aged women that is a fan of Clay Aiken and who the media dismiss as someone with no musical taste. After all, if you are middle-aged, you only listen to “easy listening” music – you certainly can’t appreciate “new” music. Of course, the fact that in 1969 I was heading towards Woodstock apparently escapes notice of these very cool music reviewers and journalists. Surely someone who listened to The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Ten Years After couldn’t possibly appreciate the legitimate pop stars playing all over the radio. I mean Jessica Simpson and Kelly Clarkson are what’s happening and we, on the other hand, are knitting booties for our cats while listening to Andy Williams. What can we possibly know about music? And the new alternative rock bands? What a shock that some Clay Aiken fans actually listen to Arctic Monkeys or Panic at the Disco. I guess the fact that The Velvet Underground started the indie trend in the 1960’s and the fact that some of us may have listened to the New York Dolls or Sex Pistols escapes them. Of course, punk rock must have been a figment of our imaginations.

Anyway enough about those “too-cool-for-school” critics. Let’s reminisce. No – not about Barry Manilow or Liberace. Last night, I put on the film, Woodstock which I hadn’t seen in a number of years. So now I think it’s time for a little flashback . . . Peace, Love & Rock and Roll!

Woodstock was a three day festival of music that took place in upstate New York in August of 1969. To read more about the history of the festival, click here 1969 Woodstock Festival & Concert

We decided to watch the film because I had been thinking about some of the extraordinary acts and how they have stayed with me all these years. Ten Years After blew the roof off (if there had been a roof *g*) the place! It was the first time I had ever seen Alvin Lee. A funny-looking skinny little guy who made crazy faces when he played the guitar. And wow! Could he play the guitar. It was instantaneous – he just did something to me that I couldn’t explain or figure out. I thought it was one of the sexiest performances I had ever seen. Here’s a partial clip from the film of this amazing performance of I'm Going Home.

The whole song was more than 11 minutes and you can view the complete video on Google Video.

The Who were already big stars at the time. But they came away from Woodstock with their reputation cemented as superstars. They didn’t actually start playing their set until around 3 AM and played an amazing 24 songs – but their version of See Me, Feel Me as the sun was rising was one of the truly spectacular moments at Woodstock. Listen to that and Summertime Blues. Do you think we'll ever see Clay in the outfit worn by Roger Daltry?


Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young had just recently come together right before Woodstock. This was basically their real first performance as a group. At Woodstock they played 16 songs but Neil Young refused to allow his participation to be filmed. So here’s CS&N performing Marrakesh Express and a lovely version of Blackbird.


One of the most talked about moments at Woodstock was Jimi Hendrix’s version of The Star Spangled Banner – and one of the most controversial after.

There simply are so many amazing musical moments from Woodstock – it’s hard for me to narrow this blog down to a reasonable size.

NEW: Webweaver got me thinking that this blog really isn't complete without Santana's Soul Sacrifice -- so here it is:


Some of the other performers were:

Jefferson Airplane
Richie Havens
Ravi Shankar
Tim Hardin
Arlo Guthrie
Country Joe & The Fish
Joan Baez
John Sebastian
Janis Joplin
Creedance Clearwater Revival
Grateful Dead
Tim Hardin
Sly & The Family Stone
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Canned Heat
The Band
Paul Butterfield Blues Band

. . .Among others . . .

If I've whetted your appetite a bit - check out the film or pick up a CD and enjoy it for the first time -- or all over again. I’ll wrap up my Woodstock revisit with a dedication to the wonderful friends I’ve made through being a part of the Clay Aiken fandom . . . here’s a little Joe Cocker and his version of With A Little Help From My Friends.


And because this is a Clay Aiken blog and I can never get enough of watching him perform, I had to add a video of him. One of the great things about Woodstock was that there were so many different types of music represented: rock, folk, blues, pop. Clay can sing almost every genre. I think he could be his own Woodstock. Enjoy Clay and Quiana Parler singing Chain of Fools (courtesy of SLC).

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken , Woodstock, Ten Years After, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Who, Jimi Hendricks, Joe Cocker, Santana
____________________

Thanks for visiting The ConCLAYve. Please don't be shy about commenting - we love feedback. And visit often - bookmark us to make it easy!

And check out other posts here on The ConCLAYve as well as visiting the great blogs we've linked on our sidebar.

Tweet