Fifty Years Ago Some 400,000 Young People Converged in a Field in Upstate New York for a Festival That Rocked the World

Fifty years ago some 400,000 young people converged in a field in upstate New York for a festival that rocked the world. Jim Shelley ’72 was there. Still is. BY KELLEY FREUND n a Saturday afternoon in late “What’s that spell?” but they decide to stick around when the April, the only sound in the Five times Country Joe asked the ques- woman selling tickets mentions a tour will O grassy bowl behind the Bethel tion, and five times the crowd sent its be starting in a few minutes. Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, New response rumbling back across the field. So here they stand, facing a 10-by-20- York, is the occasional passing car. Some- A young man seated a couple hundred foot photograph pasted on the back wall times one stops, and a few people get out yards from the stage, headed into his that depicts thousands of people watch- to walk up a short slope, stare down at sophomore year at the University of Notre ing a sunrise. And as their guide starts his the field and read a plaque. But 50 years Dame, felt his ears pound with each word, spiel by announcing how much time they ago, on the weekend of August 15, 1969, as the exhalation of almost half a million can expect to spend wandering through the scene was different. For one thing, rock music fans moved the air and carried the 1960s, two volunteers near the en- it was muddier, but most important was the obscenity over the hills of Sullivan trance exchange glances and snicker. For the noise. Voices sang, drums pounded, County. Those gathered for The Wood- the group is standing in front of Jim Shel- guitars riffed (and one was smashed), ap- stock Music and Art Fair had something to ley ’72, and Shelley’s tours never last just plause roared, laughter rolled. And on that say, and they wanted the world to know it. 45 minutes. Saturday afternoon, a man named Country “Well, come on, all you big strong men. “When I was here back in 1969, 50 Joe McDonald came to a stage near the Uncle Sam needs your help again. He’s got years ago . .” Shelley begins, his voice edge of that field and shouted into a mic. himself in a terrible jam, way down yonder trailing off as he sits down on a bench, “Gimme an F!” in Viet Nam.” feigning surprise. The group laughs. “Fifty The audience shouted back. “F!” The crowd sang along with Coun- years ago — how can that be?” “Gimme a U!” try Joe, quietly at first, then louder and He is wearing the typical tour-guide “U!” louder. getup you would expect to find in a typi- What followed was a brief spelling les- “Put down your books and pick up a cal museum: khaki pants and a blue polo son on one of the most liberating expres- gun. We’re gonna have a whole lotta fun. shirt. But the black Converse sneakers sions of emphasis in the English language. And it’s one, two, three, what are we fight- and beat-to-hell leather bag covered in The weightiness of this particular word ing for? Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn. Woodstock stickers tell you this afternoon makes it applicable to many situations, The next stop is Viet Nam. And it’s five, six, might not be typical. from elation to pain to frustration. For the seven, open up the pearly gates. Well, there The Bethel Woods Center for the Arts estimated 400,000-plus people sitting in ain’t no time to wonder why. Whoopee, does not bill itself as a Woodstock mu- the grass that day — 400,000 who wanted we’re all gonna die!” seum but as a cultural center and concert to fight against the grain but not in the venue. The building, set back from the top Vietnam War, 400,000 who wanted to be “This is a 45-minute tour.” of the festival hillside, houses an event understood, who wanted to yell, who just The 15 or so people gathered in the lobby space, a conservatory for arts programs wanted to rock — the word meant the of Bethel Woods today have no idea this is and a main exhibit that places Wood- freedom to do that. a running joke among the center’s docents. stock within the context of the 1960s. In In fact, most of the group didn’t even the summer of 2019, musicians ranging Kelley Freund is a freelance writer based in know docent tours were available when from Sha Na Na to Nelly are playing in the 7 2 ' Virginia who runs marathons and eats ice they arrived at the site of the infamous 15,000-seat amphitheater. cream in her spare time. She was born 15 Woodstock in sleepy Bethel. They may Shelley began volunteering at the cen- years after Woodstock but loves Creedence SHELLEY have expected a self-guided trip through a ter eight years ago, becoming a docent Clearwater Revival and now, thanks to this story, Canned Heat. in 2014. Before that, no one ever asked JIM world of tie-dye, hippies and rock ’n’ roll, 50 NOTRE DAME MAGAZINE S UMMER 2 0 1 9 51 him about Woodstock — about his favor- ite performance that summer, whether the festival changed his life or if it really closed down the New York State Thruway. No one asked to hear his story. But now, at Bethel Woods, people ask. So for the next “45 minutes,” Shelley will talk about the rise of a youth countercul- ture in the 1960s. He will, for the benefit Like Shelley (below, leading one of his of visitors with children present, come up tours) and his friend, with a surprising number of innovative eu- Tony Tufano, the phemisms to describe the decade’s drug young people came for the music and culture. He will pull a wireless speaker out stayed for the tribal 7 2 of his bag so guests can hear Jimi Hendrix experience that ' and Bob Dylan. And he will share anec- became a symbol of their generation, dotes from his two days at the world’s freedom and peace. SHELLEY most famous music festival, including the moment he snapped a photo just before JIM Jefferson Airplane took the stage at sunrise, and how 50 years later it wound up on a museum wall. so when the time came for Jim to pick a Shelley changed his major his sopho- But even as Beatlemania hit in 1964, not only talked about the music, but about (an idea that came to them at 2 a.m. after a college, he said to himself, “Well, that’s more year, and it was around that time music in the U.S. had begun to change — the issues behind it.” game of bumper pool and a few joints), the a sign of something percolating in Ameri- In the summer of 1969, the summer rift in American society was large enough “I ran all the way home just where you apply, I guess.” that he took a job at The Huddle. He came to say I’m sorry. What can He thought he wanted to be an aero- home smelling like a grill, and the singles can society. of Woodstock, Shelley took a job doing to spark immediate controversy around I say? I ran all the way, yay, space engineer, so during his first semes- on the jukebox played over and over in electrical work on construction projects the festival. From Saugerties to Wallkill to yay, yay.” ter he took 21 credits, including courses his head while he tried to sleep, including “But first, are you experi- in New York City, laboring alongside the White Lake, when New Yorkers heard who Shelley was born in 1950 in Cliffside Park, in calculus, chemistry and engineering. He a song by Gordon Lightfoot that still takes enced? Have you ever been same employees who, a year later, would was coming, they wanted no part of the New Jersey, across the Hudson River from was in ROTC for about 10 minutes, joined him back to his burger-flipping days. (His experienced? Well, I have.” wrap pipes in American flags and attack event and booted the organizers out. Harlem, to parents who were also born in the college radio station and eventually reaction this year when Bethel Woods an- It wasn’t only the lyrics that were dif- 1,000 high school and college war protest- “‘We don’t want them here,’” says Shel- Cliffside Park. But his story really doesn’t served as a manager for a few athletic nounced two nights of Lightfoot? “I’m not ferent. The sound was raw. Harder and ers. The entire decade was tumultuous, ley. “That was the feeling for a lot of the begin until he was 9 years old, and it be- teams. He spent way too much time play- going.”) heavier. When Jimi Hendrix and his band and not just because of the Vietnam War. local people.” gins with a “yay, yay, yay.” “Sorry (I Ran ing with his Spirograph. And by December, The important thing was that he got released Are You Experienced in 1967, the Beyond the students burning draft cards Three weeks before the festival, dairy All the Way Home)” by The Impalas was his GPA was 1.95. paid. “The need for money was always album not only showcased Hendrix’s cre- were race riots and political assassina- farmer Max Yasgur offered one of his fields the first single Shelley ever bought, and “I was kind of ostrichlike that first se- something I was aware of,” Shelley says.

Load more