There's really only one word for this story:
Bummer!
Forget Woodstock 50. It's not going to happen. Organizers finally pulled the plug on the troubled event that was meant to mark half a century since that fabled weekend when three days of peace, love and music came became a seminal generational event.
Ironically, the original show faced the same kind of issues. They lost their original site and were forced to scramble just three weeks before the concert was to take place. Max Yasgur, a farmer in Bethel, New York, came to the rescue by offering his farm.
Some 400,000 people made their way to Yasgur's farm for a show that featured Santana, The Who, Janice Joplin, and a who's who of rock.
I was not at Woodstock. Hell, I'm not even among the millions who have claimed to have been there.
Not in 1969.
But I have been there.
I highly recommend it.
First things first. It's not easy to find. When they say it's not that close to the town of Woodstock, a quaint, New York version of New Hope full of crafts, arts and curio shops, they are not kidding.
We're talking about a 45-minute trek to the little town of Bethel.
You would think that Bethel would scream "The Home of Woodstock" at every opportunity. That's not how I found it.
In fact, the very first time through the town, I drove right past the turn you need to make to get back to the concert site.
Several things struck me as I drove down that road.
First, and foremost, it's almost inconceivable to think of that many people descending on this place. No wonder they had to close the roads.
Eventually, you see the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on your left. You park your car, ask directions, then walk down a wooded path.
Eventually you come to a clearing.
That's when the hair on the back of your neck starts to stand up.
For a seminal moment for a generation, I can tell you this was a seminal moment for me.
And again I had the exact same reaction.
The famous hill that you envisioned after watching the movie and reading all those stories seemed impossibly small. Where they put all those people I don't know.
There is a rock at the foot of the trail that commemorates the site.
For a while, you just sort of stand there and take it all in.
The stage is still there at the bottom of the hill.
I actually walked down the hill and stood by the stage, looking up at that hill.
It's a moment I will never forget.
I'm not disappointed that Woodstock 50 got scrapped.
Some things are better left to the imagination.
Woodstock was a once-in-a-lifetime event. Something that likely will never be able to be repeated, certainly not manufactured.
As my music-loving brother-in-law, who was with me on that trip back in time, put it: Let It Be.
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