Richie Havens’ ad lib to Motherless Child was the end of his set. It announced the arrival of a new generation.
As he remarked at the time, They Can’t Hide Us Anymore.
Last Sunday, 8/18/13, his ashes were scattered over the site of the festival.
4 Replies to “Weekend Jukebox II – Artist Moves Society”
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Another milestone in history
Update:
One the 2000+ voices you hear singing along with Pete is that of my wife. She said it was an awesome concert. 🙂
That event gave direction to an entire generation and Richie was a bellwether in a lot of ways; an honest, gentle man of enormous integrity who just happened to be a musician.
I followed Richie since he first showed up in Greenwich Village, playing in the basket houses on MacDougal, Bleecker, et al, particularly the Night Owl on W 3rd.
I lived in the Village at the time and actually skipped going to Woodstock. I was only a few years older than that crowd, but those few years put me in a different generation, more Beatnik than Hippie.
I was later amused at the urbanized kids who came back from Woodstock overwhelmed by experiencing ‘country’, as though they’d never seen a tree before. A surprising number immediately moved from NYC to Woodstock. What’s funny is that the festival site at Bethel Woods is 112 hours from Woodstock – the name only came about because it was originally planned for Woodstock but they couldn’t secure a place there, so now Woodstock-The-Festival = Bethel Woods NY and Woodstock-The-Hippy-Community = Woodstock NY. 😀
Update:
My wife and youngest son were volunteer EMTs for the 25th Anniversary Festival in ’94. My wife appreciated the music when she got a chance to take a break from EMT work, but my son didn’t much notice. Different generations…
He was the real deal! Thanks!
When I saw the theme of this week’s Jukebox ths morning, about artists moving society, I thought of this exact performance – Richie Havens’ unforgettable performance at Woodstock. I was a young teen at the time and it moved me profoundly. I’m glad to see someone else felt the same way.
Since we are on the subject of Woodstock, and since we just passed the 44th anniversary of that seminal event, here is another performance from that event that moved society and helped make the Vietnam war even less popular than it had become:
http://youtu.be/xuUBCF3KKxc
Country Joe and the Fish