Rock School; Woodstock

Portions of the day's programming are reproduced by means of electrical transcriptions or tape recordings. It's time for school. Rock School with your hosts Dr. Joe Burns. Hey Dr. Burns how were the 60s? Well seeing as I was born in 64 I had a wonderful time yeah people really much pretty much doted on me the entire time I was there and Chad P. He says business propositions. Business investments opportunities. Class is in. Good afternoon this is Rock School ladies and gentlemen my name is Joe

Burns a professor in the department of communications southeast in Louisiana University where we broadcast from right here on this campus sitting next to me a former student one who must learn what you name kid Chad P. Chad P. Let's say hello right up front to the good people up in Connecticut. We normally wait to the bottom of the hour but I wanted to say hi right up front they are. WSU 88 .1 FM Middletown Connecticut are good affiliate friends now how many people were at Woodstock which one 69 69 the original Woodstock a good Jillian a good Jillian about a half a million yeah it happened 39 years ago this weekend that's right 39th anniversary August 15th to August 18th 1969 at Max Yazgers 600 acre dairy farm in the rural town of Bethel New York and by the way it took almost three years for that farm to be productive again in three days what they did to that farm took almost three years to

completely come back now when I saw that and decided to put together a Woodstock show which is what we're gonna do today I showed it to my wife and she said are you gonna play the same songs I hear all the time and I thought yeah that's a pretty good idea it went for three days there had to be other performers then you know haven't you heard Hendrix a lot a lot haven't you heard you know the same groups again and again so what I did was I went to my four CD set of just about everything on Woodstock and I went online and I started really looking around and I thought to myself could I put together a Woodstock show that had a whole lot of information that you might not have heard before like Woodstock so that's what I'm trying to do here that's really what I'm shooting for so here's what I'm really gotten that canceled appearances oh refused invitations people who didn't play the history behind it how did it come around the

sound for the concert how did they get all those people to hear all of this the guy's name was Bill Hanley and I'm gonna tell you how Bill put together all of that good stuff but let's begin with the history okay of Woodstock how did this thing the Woodstock music and art fair otherwise known as an Aquarian Exposition that's literally what it was called how did it come to be well there was probably one or two people that was sitting around one day and got an idea four four people four people it starts with two guys John Roberts and Joel Roseman they had an idea for a recording studio in Woodstock New York they wanted to have this nice calm place they put an ad in the New York Times in the Wall Street Journal that said challenge international limited that's what they call themselves quote young men with unlimited capital looking for interesting legitimate investment opportunities with business propositions wow okay two people Michael Lang and Artie cornfield saw the ad joined up and the four of them decided the recording

studio probably isn't the way to go let's have a concert okay so they decided to put together the concert now contrary to the popular belief Woodstock was never meant to be free Woodstock was a money making venture it was to be profitable under the building name of Woodstock ventures that's right it says business propositions business best business opportunities Woodstock ventures you're ready yeah nobody was supposed to make any more than fifteen thousand dollars except their headliner okay Hendricks yes Hendricks was supposed to make thirty two thousand dollars the problem was Hendricks wasn't supposed to be the headliner wow Hendricks knew their headliner was supposed to be Bob Dylan what happened Bob Dylan was already booked at the Isle of Wright Festival in England oh they couldn't get them so they went who's our new headliner oh Hendricks why didn't they just change

the date to fit around Dylan's schedule well we're going to get into when and where and all of that okay but these were the dates that were available and Max Yazgers farm was available all right let's begin with a group you probably never knew about before well people back then didn't know about before Woodstock okay this is ten years after the guitarist's name is Alvin Lee this is early on Sunday the third day very early people are waiting for the Hendricks to come out and Alvin Lee comes out ten years after begins to play he goes on a twelve minute guitar rampage twelve minutes it's called I'm going home and it's brilliant my guess is a lot of you haven't heard this before because all you hear is the Hendricks and the who and such this is brilliant take a listen to it as we do Woodstock for an hour on rock school

that's a Brit named Alvin Lee out in front of ten years after I'm going home move there you go as we do Woodstock is that the longest song we've ever played on rock school twelve and a half minutes yeah far ahead and then on it goes it's ran on down the road and got a bite to eat got married and had a couple kids bought a house decided to set up an IRA I think it's ten minutes plus two it goes on it goes on this is the Woodstock show we are in the 39th anniversary weekend August 15 through the 18th that's when Woodstock 69 occurred the original Woodstock do you have to say 69 or just will Woodstock do it it's kind of like share you just say share and you got it what you got you got three of them right it's far ahead I know 94 and 99 yeah and maybe some little ones here 99 and old enough to get any tribute to it yet so yes Woodstock alone will do it yes and when I put the

show together again I tried to find music and I tried to find information that you hadn't heard before specifically music I want to and as ten years after I doubt when you think Woodstock you think of ten years after no next we're going to play Johnny winter did you even know Johnny winter played slip my mind slipped your mind Johnny winter is coming up next let me tell you about having to get to Woodstock okay if you were gonna buy tickets you had to buy them in New York proper one of the five burrows right they sold them at New York record stores they were 17 bucks in advance for all three days or 24 bucks at the gate in all 186 thousand tickets were sold no wait a minute if 186 thousand tickets were sold how did close to a half a million people get in we're getting to that there was a group of people known as the ua double you slash mf and what they did was set to a concerted fence cutting operation you ever heard of these people the ua double you slash mf I

can't say the name on the radio it was called the up against the wall okay and what they did was show up and they decided no you're not going to make us pay I'm sorry and they cut the fence and people just poured in so instead of 186 thousand they expected 200 ,000 people they expected some gate crashers so they were shooting for 200 ,000 they had toilets they had concessions they had what are you hospital and all that for 200 ,000 people half a million half a million oh boy yep however remarkably peaceful when they say it was three days of peace love and music they weren't kidding remarkably peaceful only three deaths two of them were from a heroin overdose the other was from a young man who was in a sleeping bag who was run over by a tractor in a nearby field a tractor a tractor they were so many people they actually were outside of Yazgir's 600 acre dairy farm and he was hit by a

tractor so oh kidding well i'm going to come back after this song by johnny winner little four minute diddy i'm not going to play another you know 12 minute tune little four minute diddy by johnny winter and by the way his brother edger joined them on stage for a couple tunes yeah and i'm going to come back after this this is not one that he joined them on but i'm going to come back and i'm going to tell you about people who canceled their appearances and then we're going to talk about after the next tune people who refused invitations were asked to play and didn't let's get into him in just a second we got to take a break and pay a bill oh that's right oh the song was that long all right one minute we'll be back with johnny winner on rock school this is rock school as we celebrate the original woodstock johnny winner mean town blues on rock you do it

johnny hey look at you wow this johnny winner mean town blues he played Sunday evening again edger joined him on stage for a couple and that wasn't one of them hey tell me some i had yes do you know any one do you are your friends with anyone that went to this concert no and the thing about it is i love it when students say to me hey dr burns how were the sixties well seeing as i was born in 64 i had a wonderful time yeah people really much pretty much doded on me the entire time i was there canceled appearances oh these are people that were supposed to perform but didn't didn't kick themselves into but afterwards for not i'm telling you what some of them say it was a good idea some of them say it was a bad idea Jeff Beck group was scheduled to perform in fact they were going to be there on a Saturday but failed to make the appearance because the band broke up a week before darn yeah you know those iron butterfly hey we talked about him last week they were at the airport and their manager said we demand helicopters and special arrangements to get there well the people air said

uh you can go pound sand that's right yeah so did the bass player said i got away we'll teleport over there no no you won't johnie Mitchell was slated to perform but her agent informed her that it was more important to appear on the dick cabbage show on monday then to quote sit around in a field with 500 people he was fired on Tuesday yeah you missed it by a few hundred thousand here's the funny part David Crosby and Stephen stills as well as a couple of the performers from the Jefferson airplane who all performed at woodstock by the way yeah made it to that same dick cabbage show all so she could have been there so those are three canceled appearances we'll talk about some refused invitations to woodstock here in just a minute here's a great trivia question folks if you know somebody that doesn't listen to the show try this trivia question out on them and then tell them to start listening to the show yes name the band that opened for Jimmy Hendrix at woodstock there's no wasn't really an opening band for him because all they all played so name the band who performed just before Hendrix

sunday monday morning can you do it can you i can because i'm looking at your notes do it shanana shanana as in bowser and shanana if you think i'm lying here they are yeah on rock school that's so big a hot baby that's so big a hot baby that's so big a hot baby yay yeah a lot of down time a lot of down time a lot of down time shanana welcome to the bottom of the hour ladies gentlemen as we talk about woodstock man were they screaming into those microphones yes i mean really over pushing you'll find that a lot especially on a lot of these

dvds and such and cds on this you'll find a lot of these people are like sort of like over screaming the microphone and i don't know what it was because the sound system seemed like it would be strong enough and in the second half hour we're going to talk about the sound system that that went along with it now you have a stump for me on jimmy Hendrix and the music and the if i'm not mistaken the song order yes so let me sort of piggyback on you with some of the information about the poster we're going to play the very first person to start woodstock and it's a pretty good trivia question as well but welcome to the bottom of the hour yes if you would go see us at kslu dot org slash rock underscore school or just go to kslu dot org you'll see the rock school link there go and listen to the episode yeah all that kind of good stuff hmm where do you email us rob the rx kslu rock school at gmail dot com kslu rock school at gmail dot com all right now you're going to talk about ending the show yeah i'm going

to do the whole thing ending the whole original woodstock let me talk about starting it again i have a poster up in my office it's not an original woodstock poster however it is a poster that is made off the original woodstock silk screens okay now those of you who want to get an original woodstock poster what is the one of the real quick ways of telling whether a woodstock poster is an original or is made off the original silk screens the quickest way to do it is to look at the lineup if richi havens is listed first it's not original it's not richi havens was the first performer okay however Joan Baez was supposed to be the first performer so it's got to say Joan Baez it has to say Joan Baez first but richi havens took the stage at 507 p .m. on that Friday night starts with handsome johnny and that's when we're going to play next but you have a stump on the ending of the show yes Sunday night Monday morning Jimmy Hendrix go

Jimmy Hendrix headline the entire woodstock show and a lot of people believe that he ended the whole thing by playing his world famous star spangled banner no he didn't i know that's true it's not true but do you know what he did end the show i should it's my name what is it hey Joe that's correct hey Joe that one i knew that one i knew good this is richi havens first performer friday august 15th first song was high fly in bird this is handsome johnny on rock school we're getting it tied up two three of the groups are in we're just trying to match up group equipment will be okay we apologize for the noise of the choppy choppy but it seems or a few cars blocking a road so we're flying everybody in okay now can you imagine being richi havens you're

basically told look our opening act isn't here go on take your guitar and it was literally him he comes out sits down with a guitar you have to watch the woodstock obviously documentary yeah him with a guitar and it's it's so tuned that he just takes his thumb lays it over the top of the guitar and by laying his thumb down he's playing four chords moving up and down the guitar neck him a guitar and a if i'm not mistaken a microphone for his vocal and his microphone for the guitar i'm trying to remember because it's been a while since i've seen the documentary and it's just him and half a million people hmm that's guts that's confidence that really is shoot um the people that played like the early friday sets and everything yes do you know if they if some of them okay we did our obligation now we're out of here or did they did they stick around i don't know i don't know i know that some of the people who refused invitations some of the band members came uh -huh and hang around the whole time okay but the performers i don't know

um i'm in fact i can't even wager guess i don't even want to say anything because i'd probably be wrong well you would assume that they had to provide some type of housing for the people that weren't going to play until you know like sunday where did Jimmy where did Jimmy Hendrix hang out for they weren't they were they were trucked in i know that i know that a lot of the later people were brought in by limousine and some of them were brought in by as you know the you heard the guy say chop chop yeah the chop chop of the helicopters you know but iron butterflies said we demand helicopters nice and get lost nope here are some refused invitations the promoters contacted john lennon stating we want the Beatles to perform or just you and john lennon said i will but you have to allow yoko ono's plastic ono band to play promoters said nope the doors were considered as a potential a potential performing band but cancelled at the last moment contrary to popular belief it had nothing to do with jim morrison's arrest for indecent exposure earlier that year basically it was probably because um his distaste for performing in large outdoor venues he thought he was going to be shot well yeah led zeppelin was asked to perform

but said no because they didn't want to be quote just another band on the bill they went on a hugely successful summer tour jethro tall was asked to perform but said they thought it wouldn't be a big deal the moody all on that yeah the moody blues declined because they were booked for another event in paris decided to do it instead of woodstock shocks um Tommy james and a shondelles declined the invitation Tommy james stated that quote we could have kicked ourselves we were in hawaii in the secretary call and said yeah listen this is a quote 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 later on we realized what an absolute great thing we missed and she was looking for regional employment after that this is the seventh performer on saturday an hour long set this was the opener this is mountain blood of the sun on rock school yeah six

has that's mountain We know them from Mississippi Queen, the blood of the sun. That's the big one they started off with there. A seventh performer on Saturday. Let me tell you about the person who created the sound for the concert. And we'll do that in one minute. Woodstock here on Rock School. This is Woodstock right here on Rock School. As we celebrate the 39th anniversary, August 15th through 18th, Woodstock back in 1969. Now, how do a half a million people hear a concert? Well, it's got to be loud, right? That's number one. That's a given. But here's the thing. It's not just loud. It's not just amplification. It has to do with where you place the

speakers. Right. You have to be smart. You got to put the speakers in a right place. Get in a hole of Wikipedia. Get a hold of something on the internet and start looking up pictures of the stage on Woodstock. You'll notice that Max Yazger's farm is basically a big bowl. And they put the stage up on the edge. Of one of the bowls. They then built a system of 70 foot towers so that the speakers would be up. And they would be shooting sound down at the people. Yeah, the higher up the sound is. The farther it'll throw. Right. If you put the speakers at the same height as the people, it will only go so far until the sound is basically gobbled up. Right, because the people shooting the sound out and it's hitting people in the face and gobbles up. And then by the time it gets to the back row, there's no more sound. The only thing that's left are the base frequencies because they can sort of defeat and it dies out. So what you had was a series of 70 foot towers which were basically built in a series of square boxes. Six feet tall, four feet deep, three feet wide. Each of them contained

four, 15 inch speakers, four tweeters, two horns. And they just basically built these boxes. One on top of the other, on top of the other, on top of the other. That system still today is in use and it's known as the Woodstock bin. And a guy named Bill Hanley came up with it. It was one of those things that the first time it was tried, it worked like a dream. How much power do you have to pull? Oh, I have to believe they were in the hundreds of thousands of watts. Oh yeah, absolutely. And what's interesting is the band we're about to play, CCR, followed the Grateful Dead. And the Grateful Dead, we're getting shocked on stage. So you can only imagine when they handled the guitar to John Fogarty. Okay, you guys are next. We are really fast. And they started a commotion on rock school. I'm gonna sit and turn my head around. No, no, no, no, no,

back up over here. There's that nice spinal tap out, Trump. Commotion, they followed the Grateful Dead. They started right before Slion the Family Stone. That's another good trivia question. Did Slion the Family Stone play at Woodstock? Yeah, they did. Got two more stories for you. Let me tell you about the Abbey Hoffman incident. Abbey Hoffman was the leader of the Yippies, the Youth International Party. He was also the author of the book, Steel This Book, and protested at the 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention. It's a good radio story, but go get the Woodstock documentary, the film, because you can see it. Onstage are the who. Now, there's this guy named John Sinclair. He's the leader of the White Panther Party, and he's a manager of the group, the MC5. He's given nine years imprisonment in Michigan for marijuana possession after giving a couple of joints to an undercover officer. This is long before Woodstock. Well, Abbey Hoffman is at Woodstock. He's dropping acid, and he decides to run up onstage while the who is playing. They've just finished

pinball wizard. He grabs the microphone away from Pete Townsend, and he begins to give a speech about Sinclair and how obviously terrible it is. Townsend turns to him and yells, F off, F off my f -ing stage. Nice. Hoffman, who was high on LSD, turns to him and stairs big and wide eyed, Townsend takes off his Gibson Les Paul, holds it like a baseball bat, and hits a ground rule double off of Hoffman's hand. Kapwango. Hoffman goes down like a bag, a pancake batter. The who then sings, do you think it's all right? After the song, Hoffman has now been sort of taken off the stage. After the song, Townsend walks up and says, the next f -ing person that walks onto the stage is going to get f -ing killed. All right, you can laugh, but I mean it. Hey, hey, peace and love, Pete. Peace and love, Pete, huh? I think this is Arlo Guthrie, isn't it? I think. Coming into Los Angeles with a couple of keys, please. Don't do anything, please. Peace and love, Pete. Arlo Guthrie on Rock School.

Oh. Coming in from London, from over the pole, flying in a big, yellow line off. Chicken flying everywhere around the plane, because we ever feel much fine on. Coming in in Los Angeles, bringing in a couple of keys. Don't hurt my bad, if you. Coming into Los Angeles, there you go. Arlo Guthrie. Peace and love, easy, easy. That's going to wrap it up for his ladies and gentlemen. We have to get out of here. We're just simply running out of time. That ends at Woodstock 69 on the 39th anniversary of The Wonderful Get Together, the summer of Peace and Love starting with the show. Here's the aftermath. It ends at 9 a .m. Monday morning. Woodstock Ventures wanted to make money. They're $1 .34 million in debt. Oh gosh. Yazgars Farm takes almost three years to be

profitable again. The four men face lawsuits from illegal drug use to illegal burning. However, they own the rights to Woodstock. And Woodstock documentary makes all their money back. They also make money in the two coming Woodstock deals. The area of Yazdars Farm right now holds a 16 ,000 seat amphitheater and a stone and brass plaque. And I have a picture of myself standing right there. Knock on. We're going to put that on the website. We end ladies and gentlemen. Stand up. Put your hands on your hearts. Be respectful. Be respectful. Hendrix. Star -spangled banner. I'm Joe Burns. I'm Chad B. Glasses dismissed. I know, I know,

I know, I know.