European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 01, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                File i to find out what they think of that Day and of Woodstock 94, see Page 22. A tries to get Back to the Garden j by Mitchell Landsberg the associated Pess id August 1969. Michael Lang is standing in a Field in Bethel ., As the finishing touches Are being put on the site for the Woodstock music and Art fair. He is wearing a leather Vest Over a Bare Chest. A huge Bush of curly Brown hair wobbles about his head. He is 24 years old hip and confident one of three Young promoters about to slip slide into history and there s this reporter some network dweeb in his 30s, standing in front of him with a microphone asking the most insane questions. What is it that the musicians have that they can communicate so Well to the kids the newsman asks. If a lamer question Ever has Bee asked Lang has t heard it. He looks dismissively at the reporter the generation Cap  like the dead sea Between them then he answers. Music he says. Twenty five years later Michael Lang and his generation the Woodstock generation the Woodstock nation Are nearing 50, another Woodstock festival is dawning and that ludicrous Exchange is replaying endlessly in the movie Woodstock rerelease this summer for the anniversary. That and so much More Echo like _ the soundtrack for a slightly off Kilter generation. Arlo Guthrie telling the crowd the new York state thruway is closed Man it s far out Man a stage announcer exhorting the crowd to shout away the rain leading 400/000 stoned and. Drenched people to begin chanting no rain no rain As Frank Zappa was later to observe it just goes to show you the flexibility of the human organism that people who would willingly sit in the mud an chant no rain periodically Between badly amplified Rock groups could suddenly turn out to be the ones to run the .  to anyone who was say 15 or older closer look in 1969, it is an astonishing not to mention frightening thought. But Back to the music. Music As Lang said is what Woodstock was supposed to be All about. The promoters promised three Days of peace and music and it turned out to be accurate enough amazingly so actually considering that few people at the time believed the three Days could pass peacefully. This was 1969 Richard Nixon had just become president the Vietnam War was at its height the anti War movement was cresting and the news _ _ was full of riots bombings and a general sense that the fabric of society was not holding. U had been two years since the summer of love and the innocence of the Flower children had Given Way to increasing bitterness anger and a generational division Between those who were political radicals and those who weren t. What brought them together was the music. Jimi Hendrix Janis Joplin the Jefferson air plane the grateful dead the who Crosby stills and Nash credence Clearwater revival the continued on Page 20 the generation Gap Crosby stills and who Woodstock brought the music of a new generation into the forefront both commercially and artistically. But a funny thing happened on the Way to Woodstock ii the new generation became the old generate or. No better evidence exists than a conversation with Montiho Eshe a 19-year old dancer with the group arrested development which will be one of the newer bands to play at the Woodstock anniversary concert in Saugerties , Eshe says she Only recently heard about the original Woodstock concert which took place in 1969 six years before she was bom. And even now she says she has Only _ the vaguest notion of what it was All about. We asked if we could read her a list of the performers at Woodstock to see. Which ones were familiar to her. Baby Boomers prepare to be depressed Joan Baez Uhn  blood sweat and tears never heard of  Jeff Beck group never heard of  Paul Butterfield blues band never heard of  the band  credence Clearwater revival Uhn us. Country Joe and the fish that sounds a Little familiar to me. I think i be heard of  Crosby stills and Nash  Joe Cocker Joe Cocker sounds  Arlo Guthrie say that name one More time Arlo Guthrie. Arlo Guthrie no Uhn _  the grateful dead yeah now i know who that  it was t until we got to Jimi Hendrix that the Light bulb really snapped on Hendrix she said had been a big influence on arrested development which like Hendrix has broken barriers that separate Black from White music. There s this poet now Reggie James has a poem about him. You Ever heard of Reggie James u p try associated press Eshe a Joe cock performing in 1969, 19 monday August 1, Tim Sta a and Stull r