I was 19 and, at the time, referred to myself as a "weekend hippie."  A straight-out-of-high school working girl from a blue-collar Irish Catholic family, my weekends back then were spent in the company of a bunch of fun-loving kids who also worked hard during the week and celebrated each other’s company and, of course, rock & roll!  We occasionally dipped our hands in smoking pot, but not one of us ever had any kind of serious problem with it.  Our big adventure that summer was to get up to Woodstock and listen to fantastic music.  Once there, I was, quite honestly, appalled at the mud, mania, deplorable conditions … well, you can imagine.  That said, sitting at the top of that hill late at night and listening to the music I adored turned into a purely magical moment.  I’ve never regretted going and still proud to say I was there.

Even though I was into the music, dabbled some in drugs, I would never have gone to Woodstock primarily because the idea of camping out for three days in that kind of environment was anathema to me––I’m just not into muddy waters as much  I am into Muddy Waters. But I love watching the Woodstock film––it depicts a time where, stoned or not, love loomed large and the sense of solidarity was keenly felt.

I was 8.  My sister was 6.  My Mom was too busy working, earning her masters degree and raising us on her own to bother with a rock concert.  I’ve never been a rock concert kind of person.  I don’t like the noise, the crowds, the drunks or stoned people, the buzzing of the ears for days afterward - some of my friends were concert goers and filled me in on all these things they thought were great.  And I’m like "You actually enjoyed this?".  I can think of no greater torture.  For me, attending a rock concert would be a violation of the Geneva convention.  I think Woodstock has become some kind of folk legend.  You hear about it mentioned in TV shows here an there.  No thank you - not my cup of tea.

I was in high school at the time and living on Long Island New York. I loved the 60’s music. I was into The Beatles, Herman’s Hermits and Paul Revere and The Raiders. And also The Association. Not really the music of The Woodstock Festival. I did not really know much about the festival until I attended a precollege seminar in Potsdam New York in the summer of 1970. All we played was music from Woodstock. I loved it. Years later I am so interested in the happenings of the 60’s. I have been reading and studying and researching the times. The music, the politics, the people and the subcultures. I am so fascinated. I know one day it will be a topic in one of my novels. We in this country will never experience anything else like the hippie and love in times. I want to remember it forever.

Haight Asbury was depressing enough.  Why compound that with Woodstock.

"No, but I could have." Thank you, Ann Beatie (sic)