(Associated Press/File 1969)
THREE TO SEE
Woodstock at 40
(Associated Press/File 1969)
The legendary Woodstock festival of 1969 was three days of peace, love, and music. It was also three days of havoc, overcrowding, and mud. The muck that resulted from days of rolling, torrential rains was a particular problem, as the unexpectedly huge crowd of 400,000 tramped endlessly through Max Yasgur’s Bethel, N.Y., farm fields, churning the rainwater into the ground like an army of unshod winemakers. In some places, the mix was more than a foot deep.
Somehow over time the memories of pasture mud, unsanitary conditions, and food shortages receded into the background, perhaps because people prefer warm recollections to painful ones. What’s left is the sense of community, with so many participants joining in relative harmony for a concert that in part defined the ’60s, and the music, with Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Janis Joplin, the Jefferson Airplane, Carlos Santana, the Grateful Dead, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, among the many performers.
Next month is Woodstock’s 40th anniversary, a date that has spawned an array of celebratory books, including “Woodstock: Peace, Music & Memories,’’ “Back to the Garden,’’ “Woodstock Revisited,’’ “Woodstock: Three Days that Rocked the World,’’ and “By the Time We Got to Woodstock.’’
Then there’s Michael Lang’s “The Road to Woodstock,’’ his memoir of rising from head-shop owner to concert promoter and one of the festival’s driving forces. Lang will discuss his new book, which also includes festival playlists and performer updates, on Friday night at 7 at Brookline Booksmith, Coolidge Corner. Don’t be surprised if it rains, hard.
JIM CONCANNON
CARTER’S CARTWHEELS
Stephen L. Carter is a Yale University law professor who once served as a law clerk to the late US Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. But that’s just his day job. Carter is also a budding writer who’s written two well-received novels about race and intrigue amid the academic elite. Now he’s back with a change of pace, a genre thriller called “Jericho’s Fall.’’ He’ll discuss the new book tomorrow at 7 p.m., at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Mass. Ave., Cambridge.
MAC IS BACK
Former US senator George McGovern was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1972, best known for his opposition to the Vietnam War despite being a decorated World War II veteran. McGovern, 86, a principled man who did not win the presidency, recently wrote “Abraham Lincoln,’’ the saga of a principled man who did win it. McGovern will discuss his findings Saturday at 4 p.m., at Harvard Book Store.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
