Talkin' 'Bout My Generation

  Not Such a Big Deal, Post Hoc

Today marks the 46th anniversary of the beginning of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, held on Max Yasgur's dairy farm near White Lake, New York.

I was 16 years old the year Woodstock happened. Like most teens who enjoyed rock music, the lineup of bands said to be playing there had me hatching all sorts of absurd schemes to secure a ticket and find a way there.

As it turned out, the tickets were worthless (the fences around the festival site were overrun, and the idea of collecting tickets was abandoned as logistically impossible before the festival had even begun).



Even so, I doubt that I'd have enjoyed sitting in a muddy field for three days in the conditions portrayed in Woodstock, the award-winning documentary film of the events surrounding the festival, and many of the legendary performances there.

There has been a lot of ridiculous blather over the past four decades about how "transformative" Woodstock was. This embarrassing story that ran on CNN last year is typical of the genre. Quite frankly, it isn't very convincing to most of us of a certain age who were around at the time.

It certainly didn't "transform" the music business. Most of the acts that performed at Woodstock were no longer relevant just a few years later (not a single act appearing at the festival cracked the Billboard Top 10 Singles list for the decade of the '70s). The so-called "counter-culture" actually changed very little about America. It did, however, give birth to perhaps the most narcissistic generation in American history.

Sorry, hippies, you didn't single-handedly "change the world." Get over yourselves...

In a shocking development, living in teepees with no electricity never caught on...

Things That Make Me Happy: Resiliency Edition

My beloved Kansas City Royals bounced back from two straight gut-wrenching losses due to bullpen meltdowns by winning Game 2 of their series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (really silly name, isn't it?) by a 4-1 score at Kauffman Stadium last night.

It was a pitcher's duel for most of the night. The Royals' Danny Duffy (now 6-5, 4.03 ERA) gave up a run in the 1st inning but completed six innings of work with no further damage. His effort was rewarded when the Royals broke through against Jered Weaver in the bottom of the 6th, scoring 3 runs. The decisive blow was Eric Hosmer's two-run home run...

"Boom!"

Perhaps the best news of the night was closer Greg Holland's performance in the 9th inning. After giving up four runs without recording an out on Thursday night, Holland recorded his 26th save in easy fashion, striking out three Angels while allowing just a single.

It is the sort of resiliency the Royals have displayed all season. Fans are hopeful that this sort of mental toughness will carry over into the post-season...

"And they'll be getting Alex Gordon back before long!"

Hush! Do you want to jinx him? Jeez...

I Totally Want One of These!

From the invaluable Dilbert comic strip, by Scott Adams, which you should read every day, as I do.

Housekeeping

Every once in awhile I do things around here just to see how much attention
people are paying. The last seven Thought for the Day quotes (counting today's),
for instance, were all from people named "William." The idea is to see if someone notices, and comments on the oddity.

One of the ways in which blogging is less satisfactory than other forms of communication is that it isn't as interactive. I get FAR more immediate feedback from things I post on Twitter, or in comment threads on other websites. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy what little feedback I do get from readers here, it just means that a bit more of that kind of thing would be appreciated. In other words...

In order to leave a comment, just click on the link next to the time stamp at the end of this post. If it says "No Comments," that just means there haven't been any yet, not that comments aren't allowed. I would love to hear from you!

Until Next Time...

The first day of the Woodstock festival was just a bunch of folk/hippie bullshit like Joan Baez, Tim Hardin, and Arlo Guthrie, so there's nothing worth using as a musical send-off from that sorry lot. Instead, we'll use a clip from Michael Wadleigh's documentary film. In this scene, Wadleigh does a nice job of conveying what kinds of people were flocking to the festival site, and the general atmosphere as the festival began. The music is Canned Heat performing their hit "Going Up the Country."

Enjoy...