James Taylor, Ritchie Havens, Joni Mitchell, Pete Seeger, Doug Kershaw and Arlo Guthrie at the 1969 Newport Folk Festival.
1969 was one hell of a good year for me. My last son was born in April, a child I love as much today as I did then, and lots of interesting things were happening in the world.
I hadn’t been drafted! I had managed to be ahead of all the draft cut offs. I was in college in the early years of the war and did not even need a deferral, I was married when they started seriously drafting single guys, had kids when they took married guys and was too old when they took guys with kids. I also was a public school teacher so I went to the back of the line.
However, in late 1968, I was asked by a school board administrator if I would be willing to represent the Howard County Schools for a day at the Howard County Fair the following summer. What the hell! One day in the next summer, sure. I wanted to get in good with the Board, and if they wanted to use me, a lonely art teacher from a Junior High to represent them, I’d do it.
Who knew it would be the weekend of Woodstock! I had not yet heard of Woodstock when this happened.
We went to the Newport Folk Festival that year and it was fantastic! By 1969, however, the increasing popularity of rock music and the volatile political times brought about the end of the festival, and there was no major folk music venue in Newport for over 15 years.
We saw the introduction to the wider audience of the young Boston based James Taylor, we saw the Muddy Waters Blues Band, the Everly Brothers and Joni Mitchell, the parts I can still remember. I do know I was standing next to Theodore Bickel and Pete Seeger when Joni Mitchell started up in the afternoon, and the look on their faces was priceless when they heard the amplified instruments. This was such a no-no for folk music and signaled an end and a new beginning to the tradition.
We stayed in a near by camp ground in our new tent with our 1969 VW bus, as I noted in an earlier post.
We came home to the sight of men walking on the moon!
By the way, we missed Woodstock.
I hadn’t been drafted! I had managed to be ahead of all the draft cut offs. I was in college in the early years of the war and did not even need a deferral, I was married when they started seriously drafting single guys, had kids when they took married guys and was too old when they took guys with kids. I also was a public school teacher so I went to the back of the line.
However, in late 1968, I was asked by a school board administrator if I would be willing to represent the Howard County Schools for a day at the Howard County Fair the following summer. What the hell! One day in the next summer, sure. I wanted to get in good with the Board, and if they wanted to use me, a lonely art teacher from a Junior High to represent them, I’d do it.
Who knew it would be the weekend of Woodstock! I had not yet heard of Woodstock when this happened.
We went to the Newport Folk Festival that year and it was fantastic! By 1969, however, the increasing popularity of rock music and the volatile political times brought about the end of the festival, and there was no major folk music venue in Newport for over 15 years.
We saw the introduction to the wider audience of the young Boston based James Taylor, we saw the Muddy Waters Blues Band, the Everly Brothers and Joni Mitchell, the parts I can still remember. I do know I was standing next to Theodore Bickel and Pete Seeger when Joni Mitchell started up in the afternoon, and the look on their faces was priceless when they heard the amplified instruments. This was such a no-no for folk music and signaled an end and a new beginning to the tradition.
We stayed in a near by camp ground in our new tent with our 1969 VW bus, as I noted in an earlier post.
We came home to the sight of men walking on the moon!
By the way, we missed Woodstock.
Wow, this is really back in the day.
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