Disclaimer
Just as I'm not a website designer, nobody's ever paid me to take pictures, so
please ignore my thumb. It's actually amazing that I bothered to snap these;
after all, I'm the guy who went to Europe for three weeks and never missed his
camera!
All the photos were taken on Sunday afternoon immediately following a
sprinkling of rain. Could have been worse; there was thunder and lightening,
but the precip only lasted a few minutes and never got really heavy. Kinda
cool watching everyone run for cover, though. I mean, there was no escape from
the sun all weekend, where did they think they were going to hide? Anyway,
you're not here to listen to me babble, so on with
the pics...
(Oh, yeah. You can get bigger pics by clicking on them)
Contradiction
Here's a couple of shots of the EcoVillage where folks were handing out fliers
like Save the Rainforest (hypothetical example). And, of course, the ground is
littered with trash. Also, the "Clean Cars Now!" but every vehicle I saw on
site was gas powered. Go figure.
West Stage
These are shots of the West Stage. My sense was that this was the less crowded
of the two and this is where I was when the fires started (at the East Stage).
Pay special attention to the Woodstock Logo draped on the control tower.
Dead Bird
Here's a shot of a barn/hangar/something that was decorated to resemble the
Woodstock logo. The bird was an inflatable that seems to have lost it's wind
(you can't see the bird too well in the small photo). Bad angle, so sue me.
And since I knew you wouldn't pay attention to the logo in the last section,
I'm including it here as big as it gets
No Peace
There was this sort of hippie dude there. I think he was at the last one ('94)
'cause I kinda remember hearing about him or someone like him on the news.
Anyway, he took a bunch of pizza boxes and made a giant peace symbol under
which he spelled out "ON EARTH". Then he took full garbage bags and made an
upside down heart around the rest. Finally, he stripped, knelt in the middle,
and prayed(?). Folks piled up garbage barrels to stand on way up high to get
the whole thing in their photos. I didn't bother since the storm had blown
most of the artwork away. Sorta changed the meaning (whatever there was) of
the thing (kinda like "what peace?"--a foreshadowing of the night's events).
Food, Food, Food
These are shots of some of the food stalls near the West Stage. They go on
as far as the eye can see. And there are more. Many more. And after we eat,
what do we do? Leave our trash on the ground, right? Sorry. I promise. No
more soapboxing!
Noah's Ark
Okay, so there's no ark, but there is a rainbow. Yeah, you may have to squint
(especially you AOL users). There's also a kite. See it? Earlier in the day
there were folks riding around on kite powered carts and (kite powered) inline
skates. I think this is just a plain old kite.
Fountain
So, they had these drinking fountains: huge concrete barrels with pipes that
originally ended in standard fountain taps. But these eventually got removed
and the water just bubbled out continuously. The pressure was often high
enough for you to douse yourself, which was particularly useful given the
temperature. Usually, the pipes were spraying over the edge of the barrels,
but I caught this one in a more picturesque arrangement.
Reflections
As I said, the pipes were usually positioned to pour over the edge and the
system wasn't really designed for that. That is, there was no real drainage,
so of course everything got flooded. One advantage to this situation is that
most people were loathe to wade through the "lake" to this particular set of
porta-johns, so they were always clean and stocked (TP). Note the artistic
composition, trying to catch the reflection of the sky in the water. Just
wish I could get rid of the garbage.
Renegade Drum Corps
Since no one was using the trash barrels for their intended purpose, some folks
decided to turn them into drums. I first noticed this early in the morning on
Saturday and they were still going when I passed around 9 on Sunday. When one
drummer got tired and left, there were plenty of others willing to step in and
take over. Awesome! In the background you can see the Emerging Artists Stage
were (I guess mostly) unsigned bands played and where the all-night raves were
held.
Central River
I'm not quite sure where this flood originated--no water fountains to be seen.
The upstream photo (the second one) was another artistic attempt: note the
reflections of the people fording the stream. There was no getting away from
the garbage.
Two Miles
The two main stages were about two miles apart. Look closely at the center of
the horizon of the first photo and you'll see the towers of the West Stage.
Same thing in the second photo for the East Stage. And the designers ignored
the "shortest distance" rule; you couldn't walk a straight line from one to
another.
Mud(?) Pit
This is the mud pit at the end of the East Stage. Mostly I think the mud was
created by the overflowing water fountains (which were eventually turned off)
although I've heard rumors that some porta-johns were tipped over at some
point. I'm trying to ignore that thought (no, I never dove in).
I Really Was There
At one point, after agreeing to take someone else's photo, I asked for a return
favor so I could prove I was there. You can see the East Stage over my
shoulder. To the left of the photographer were several truck trailers. I
believe these were the ones that got burned.
East Stage
Here's the East Stage. This photo was taken at a point where the mud flats
began to dry up. Actually, earlier in the weekend, the center of this area
was a lake (from the water fountains) but after they turned them off, it dried
up a bit. Still, it provided an excellent way to burrow into the center of the
crowd, as they tended to stay away from the center. Better for me.
Bottle River
One favorite activity of "youngsters" today is apparently throwing things into
the crowd ahead, especially water bottles (usually empty). Since the East
Stage faced something of a ravine, the water bottles tended to roll downhill
and collect. Here's a shot of some people trying to wade through the river of
bottles.
Exactly Where Was I?
It's kinda hard to tell from these photos (maybe you should refer back to the
full East Stage shot). I made my way up the center of the crowd and stood
right behind the control tower. Of course, I couldn't see the stage from
there, but I could see the video monitors just fine and I was in the middle of
the music and the energy. Fine for me. Kick a few bottles out of my way, toss
off my sandles, and I was a happy puppy! Unfortunately, I didn't realize that
they were just putting up the tapestries on the stage framework or I would have
waited until they were done to take these shots. Since I was almost out of
film, I couldn't snap the final result.
Looking Back
From where I was standing, I turned around and grabbed this crowd shot. You'll
notice it doesn't look too crowded around me, but that's because most people
wanted to see the stage (remember the control tower). Look off to the sides
and as far back as you can. And this was probably only half the people!
The End
Well, I did try to capture the fires, but of course it was too dark and didn't
come out. You probably saw all that on the news, anyway.
Day By Day
My Woodstock'99 Experience
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