REDESIGN WOODSTOCK: Part One

By BARCODE 2x

The 1969 concert at Woodstock must have been some kind of fluke. Many attempts have been made at creating another such miracle, and none has succeeded. Here are some of the reasons:

• The events were overrun by corporate greed, and that's a bummer
• People got killed left and right, and that's a huge, huge bum-out
• The sanitary conditions are severely lacking, and that can really turn your trip sour
• The music and atmosphere, combined with the wrong drugs, filled fans with rage. And that's messing with my vibe. The entertainment was a mixed bag, at best.

So let's do something about it! Stay away from the brown acid, and join a2ethics in a redesign of Woodstock. In this multi-part edition of REDESIGN, we will deconstruct the original event and come up with a way to bring about that same Woodstock magic.

Consider Altamont. The Rolling Stones set up an outdoor concert at a remote dragway, just six months after the beautiful Woodstock experience. But several factors contributed to the disaster that occurred. For one, the Hell's Angels were hired to be security. The original Woodstock had hired Prankster Clown Wavy Gravy to be head of security. The clown not only kept the festival safe, but he administered free food to all in attendance.

The Hell's Angels security squad were very very violent. The Rolling Stones are a very hippie-dippie band when it all comes down to it. They are relaxed and sexy. The Who are a more angry band, and their Woodstock appearance led to no violent deaths. Watch the Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter concert film and witness the carnage for yourself. Fights were breaking out left and right. The Angels stood for a different kind of freedom in the 60's. They stood for a kind of anarchic barbarism. They stood for outlaw-ism, and were known for violence, rape, and extreme crime wherever they went. In the film, a young man is violently stabbed by an Angel. And killed.

Then consider the 1994 Woodstock reunion. The bodies piled up, and for all kinds of reasons. After the concert was cleaned up, bodies were found trampled and drowned in mud, trapped under platforms, overdosed, and more. The mud generated at the concert, in addition to the mountains of garbage, lead one to think that maybe the peace and love that Woodstock stood for were merely a condition of the time. There was mud at the original, and certainly garbage, but something was different. The lack of security and police access, along with some very openminded concert management, left the fans to themselves. They wanted a love-fest. And they got it.

Only one person was killed at Woodstock in 1969. An accidental death caused when a hippie fell asleep in front of a bulldozer. And there was one birth at Woodstock as well. John B. Sebastian announced the birth to the Woodstock crowd. And told them "Man, that's kid's gonna be far out."

The brown acid led to some bad, bad trips. Even some medical evacuations. So like we said. It's your trip. But you might want to stay away from the brown stuff.

REDESIGN IT!

In the wake of much nostalgia over the Woodstock Music Festival, we have set out to create a model for a new, safer, and more ethically sound event. We are considering the following:

• Better santitary conditions
• Less mud
• Solid musical acts. Also a lineup that will not divide audiences. The Who will be invited to return. As will new bands like the Flaming Lips, The Fleet Foxes, and the Swell Season. New bands that still have the spirit of the original festival. Sha-Na-Na will not be appearing. The general consensus is that Bowser and the gang will lead fans to violent revolt.
• Like the original, the festival will be a protest of sorts; a peaceful response to the world at war.

Other big questions to consider:

• Do we really need another Woodstock? What is the real purpose of the event?
• Is the event more trouble than it is worth?
• Do raucous, Bacchanalian Peace & Love Festivals tarnish the image of the Anti-War Movement?

Stay tuned to a2ethics.org for more on how to create the galvanizing event of our times.