Altamont was an attempt create the West Coast Woodstock while at the same time from a monetary standpoint, make a ton of cash by taking advantage of the hype from the August concert and give bands like the Stones who missed the first show their own “street cred” as being a voice of The Movement. All that came crashing back to reality with the stabbing death, which showed all the spin about the Boomers being some sort of higher form of human life as a generation, compared to their war-loving predecessors, was bogus.

You might say that, if there is a distinction in our generation (emphasis on our) it might be that we heeded the call of Kennedy and the Great Society programs to volunteer and give back. Our parents participated (at church, with the Cub Scouts, or sports) but I think the emphasis was more on people you didn’t know rather than family/church related efforts.

Bringing Manson into the disucssion was a wonderful red herring.

And as for the idea that others “still cling to their dream of brotherhood….” count me in. I still believe in the ideas of another radical from about 2000 years ago who preached the same thing.

Nailed it.

We moved on. It’s the conservatives who are still stuck in the 60’s.

They came they saw and they left with out making a mess and with out getting stoned. They brought there parents and children. They brought there own food. This is the real legacy of the sixty’s.

Everybody knows it but its significance in terms of a group event has been ignored. Except by at least one famous author (authoress?).

I’ll give a hint. It was in Florida.

But it was one part of the culture of the times- now, the folks who passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not go to Woodstock, but they were part of the 60s nonetheless. Woodstock didn’t occur in a vacuum, and it has been used as a banner for many things that were happening in the 60s. Did peace, love, and understanding break out all over the world after Woodstock? Nope.

I guess you’d call that a fiasco.

I’m all for pot, naked chicks and rock and roll. But if I’m going to stay overnight I really insist on room service, a minibar and up-market toiletries.

So, in the modern day if you were to get, say, Green Day, Rancid, Hollywood Undead, and Eminem to play at a Four Seasons I’d be all over that.

“The generation that took Woodstock as an example of how 500,000 people could sit in a field, get stoned out of their minds, and not partake in any violent activity obviously had never been to an Indy 500 or Daytona.”

Neither the Indy or the Daytona 500 has ever come close to the attendance at Woodstock Rick.

You’re a couple hundred thousand people shy.

A better comparison (without the stoners) would be the inauguration of President Obama, where well over a million non-violent people gathered in common emotion to celebrate a milestone in the fight for civil rights, and the restoration of America in the eyes of its people, and the people of the world.

Then Rick says:

“…where media myth making and their own hubris blinds them to the truth; that despite anything for which they pat themselves on the back, the Woodstock generation was selfish, spoiled, bratty, and tending toward eruptions of emotionalism that they mistook for passion.”

Nice turn of a phrase Rick…you could easily substitute “Tea party town hall protesters” for “Woodstock generation” in that sentence and you’d be good to go..

I do get your point about the myth making that has taken place about Woodstock in the last 40 years, and your general disdain for the hippy ethos. But what you don’t seem to get about Woodstock is that during those 3 days in 1969, the organizers and participants of that event knew that the only reason they were there was because of the music.

It was just a kick-ass rock concert…One that attracted a whole lot more people than they had expected…nothing more.

In terms of attendance, the Indy 500 is the largest single-day sporting event in the world. With 250,000 seats, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the largest sports venue in the world. Annual attendance generally draws more than 400,000 spectators.

And I fail to see any reasonable parallel with tea party protestors - especially since they don’t claim to be morally superior to anyone - simply smarter.

ed.