Pogled iz vazduha na more oslobođene mladosti dočarao je osvešćenijim umetničkim glavama da učestvuju u nečem izuzetnom The view
from the air over this sea of liberated youngsters
evoked feelings of participating in something extraordinary
tivistu Ebija Hofmana. Nacija Vud- stoka prevazišla je i najveći sukob američkog društva, međurasnu ne- trpeljivost, jer je festival otvorio Ri- či Hejvens, jedan od najzapaženi- jih nastupa imali su multirasni fank genijalci iz sastava Sly and Family Stone , a ključ u bravu stavio je Dži- mi Hendriks pred šačicom (30.000) najupornijih u ponedeljak ujutru. Pesničko nadahnuće najdublje je pogodilo Džoni Mičel, ko-
At Woodstock, vocal folk group Cros- by, Stills and Nash presented the audience with the nal part of their magic puzzle - Neil Young. Janis Joplin was enthroned for- ever as the Queen of rock. It was in the mid- dle of a strong performance of The Who that Pete Townshend, without mincing his words, chased political activist Abbie Ho - man from the stage. The Woodstock nation also overcame the biggest con ict in Amer- ican society: interracial intolerance, because the festival was opened by Richie Havens, one of the most impressive performanc- es was that of the multiracial funk genius- es of Sly and the Family Stone, while the key was placed in the lock by Jimi Hendrix in front of a handful (30,000) of the most persistent on Monday morning. The poet- ic inspiration most deeply hit Joni Mitch- ell, whose manager hadn’t allowed her to participate, fearing that the crowds would cause her to miss an important TV appear- ance. Among other things, it was quite ap- propriate for the eternal anthem of the event held 70 kilometres away from the town af- ter which it was named, and which is best remembered by those who weren’t there, to be written by one of them.The‘60s were soon over, and not just because of the nu- merical order of years. The Beatles broke up, the hippie commune of Charles Man- son turned into a band of serial killers, and the Western Woodstock of the group The Rolling Stones, staged in Altamont, Califor- nia, ended up a hellish catastrophe of vi- olence and bad drugs. An Oscar-winning documentary and album recorded at Wood- stock saved its organisers from bankrupt- cy, and the event itself was embedded for- ever and always in the collective memory of our civilisation. Unfortunately, it seems that what were then the most important aspects – the ideals of peace, love and the conquest of personal freedoms – have been consigned forever to oblivion.
pecially their helicopters, which served to transport performers when the situation with tra c on the roads became impossi- ble to resolve. It was actually the view from the air over this sea of liberated youngsters that evoked a feeling of participating in something extraordinary among the more re ned artists. Their then managers were more concerned about rumours that the whole venture was on the verge of bank- ruptcy, so the cheques of Rosenman and Roberts became very questionable. When it comes to earnings, the high- est-paid performer was Jimi Hendrix, with $18,000, although the best val- ue for money was probably en- joyed by Joan Baez, who cashed in with $10,000 for performing alone on stage with an acoustic guitar (and Gabriel in her stom- ach). Somewhere near the bot- tom of the nancial list was the group Santana (Carlos was still just a guitarist and equal band member), with total earnings of $750, but this per- formance brought them world fame and an enduring (and multi-million dollar earn- ing) career that continues to this day. In con- trast to them, some of the top platinum-sell- ing bands, such as Blood, Sweat and Tears, or the aforementioned Creedence, didn’t give permission for footage of their per- formances to appear in the accompany- ing lm, which caused irreparable dam- age to their careers.
joj menadžer nije dozvo- lio da učestvuje iz stra- ha da će zbog gužve propustiti važnu TV emisiju. Uostalom, sasvim je bilo pri- kladno da večnu himnu događaja održanog 70 kilo- metara daleko od grada po kojem je nazvan i kojeg se naj- bolje sećaju oni koji ni- su ni bili prisutni napiše neko od njih.
Šezdesete su ubrzo bile gotove, ne samo po rednoj brojci naredne godine. Bitlsi su se rastali, hipi ko- muna Čarlsa Mensona pretvorila se u bandu serijskih ubica, a „za- padni Vudstok“ grupe The Rolling Stones u Altamontu u Kaliforni- ji završio se kao paklena katasto- fa nasilja i loših droga. Oskarom ovenčani dokumentarac i album snimljeni na Vudstoku spasli su njegove organizatore bankrota, a sam događaj zauvek usadili u ko- lektivno pamćenje naše civilizaci- je. Nažalost, čini se da su zaboravu zauvek prepušteni tada najvažniji ideali mira, ljubavi i osvajanja lič- nih sloboda.
The Woodstock nation also overcame the biggest con ict in American society: interracial intolerance Nacija Vudstoka prevazišla je i najveći sukob američkog društva – međurasnu netrpeljivost
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