This year marks the 40^th Anniversary of Woodstock.  I think everyone who has ever even listened to a song in their life knows Woodstock.  Even kids today.  But I wonder how many people really know Woodstock.  And I don’t just mean the symbolism of Woodstock. It’s influence over Women’s Lib. (are you old enough to remember that phrase?)  Or even how the festival came to be.  Or what it was versus what is was planned to be.

I mean the MUSIC story of Woodstock.  Who performed there and who didn’t. Who was invited to perform and who turned down the offer.  Some would argue that playing Woodstock could have MADE a career.  Would you believe that some of the bands invited to play felt like being there would have KILLED their music career.

Maybe it did kill some careers before they ever started.  There were bands that played at Woodstock that I’ve never heard of.  I thought maybe they were just opening acts, but that wasn’t the case.  There was a band called  Mountain which was sandwiched between Santana and Janis Joplin.  But there weren’t many bands that I didn’t know.

Then there were the bands that were asked to play and turned down performing at Woodstock that went on to make it anyway.  The Doors said “no.”  It’s reported that Jim Morrison didn’t like to perform large, outdoor venues.  Probably a good thing he said “no” to this one!   Led Zeppelin turned down the invite because they didn’t want to be just another band on the bill.  Jethro Tull declined.  Bob Dylan was going to play but his son got ill so he backed out.  The Moody Blues pulled out so they could play a gig in Paris, France.

But my two favorites include:

• A band called Mind Garage who turned down the offer to play Woodstock because they had a higher paying gig somewhere else and didn’t think Woodstock would be that big of a deal.  I’d never heard of Mind Garage but thanks to Wikipedia I learned that they were a precursor of the Christian Rock sub-genre.
• Tommy James and the Shondells declined an invitation. Lead singer Tommy James stated later: “We could have just kicked ourselves. We were in Hawaii, and my secretary called and said, ‘Yeah, listen, there’s this pig farmer in upstate New York that wants you to play in his field.’ That’s how it was put to me. So we passed, and we realized what we’d missed a couple of days later.” I love this story!

I actually feel the same way about outdoor festivals as Jim Morrison but I would think the performers’ accommodations would be much more comfortable than the fans. I don’t think I could have dealt with 499,999 other people, the rain, no food, etc.  Can you imagine what the porta-potties were like since they planned for 50,000 people and 500,000 showed up!

But for a music-lover it was heaven.

Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Santana, Canned Heat, Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, CCR, Sly and the Family Stone, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Joe Cocker, Blood Sweat & Tears, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Sha-Na-Na, Jimi Hendrix.

There will be hundreds of Tributes to Woodstock across the country this August. So you might as well block off the weekend of August 15-16 right now.  The one I’ll be at is the Twin Cities School of Rock Woodstock Tribute concert at Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis.  A FREE concert.  Starts at noon.  Great family activity.  Pack a picnic lunch and share the story of Woodstock with your kids!