We've been up in western Massachusetts for the past week, and while coming home today we decided to hit up Woodstock since it was on the way.
FemRabbit and I pulled into town around 11, and drove down through town looking for some interesting shops, or museums--and yes, we were well aware that the actual concert happened in Bethel. Anyway, the town is pretty much full of hippie head shops (obviously), and shops that cater to baby boomer hippie ideals without being overly weird (Life Is Good). Finally we found the chamber of commerce, which was completely overshadowed by the various tents selling tie dye shirts, pipes, and Don't Tread On Me flags. We walked in, and were greeted by an aging hippie woman, who was nice enough. After she told us a 15+ minute story about her and her husband's travels in WV, she showed us some literature. Turned out Pete Seeger was going to be in town doing a small show for one of the public radio stations. Then he was going to lead a peace walk. Being a big Pete Seeger fan, I was completely into staying overnight at the local KOA, and checking out the show. Well, turns out that the show was sold out so no staying but we decided to check out the Woodstock Museum--not the Bethel one (which we were told was "super corporate" and "owned by a former Marine" so it was "neutered of the truth". Who knows, but the prospect of seeing a museum 10 mins away as opposed to driving 1.5 hours.
What transpired can only be described as being let into the wild and wacky world of hippiedom. We put in the address into the GPS and it takes us all these back country roads to a residence. That was probably the first tip-off, but we soldiered on--with aging, hippie waving us in all the way. We get out and he says that the movie has already started, but we can join in, and then he'll show us the first part. We walk in and sit down. The movie in the process of playing in a mish mash of era images with acid tent projections flying around the room. Not to mention he was running around lighting incense. For the next 30 minutes we were inundated with flashing lights, colors, and images while the story of hippie was told. When the movie ended, he came out and talked to us about legalizing pot--at great length. He also kept alluding to his past of living "on the underground". Trust me when I tell you this--by the time he started going into Hopi Indian lore and how they were the first hippies, and into Aztec history my wife and I were thinking this was the greatest way to experience Woodstock. Apparently we rubbed off on him because we were invited to a POTluck party at their place later that evening. We politely turned that down. No doubt it would have been worth it though to gain even more hilarity, but we had some miles to cover. He also took us on a tour of his compound. Complete with a peroxide pool, and abandoned tour bus, which was actually kinda cool how they used to travel the country in it.
All said, there technically wasn't a museum there. Really it was this guy's way of showing his films to the public for $7 a person. However, it was sanctioned by the state of NY so who knows. If yr expecting to see paraphernalia of the concert, better go elsewhere.
I will say though that he was pretty cool in trying to get me and my wife tickets to the sold out Pete Seeger show. He was offered tix but turned them down, but tried to get them again so we could go. Would have been pretty cool to stay and see the show had he come through for us.
The real thing though we had to find was this:
Yup, we found it. We rode up and there was a guy and a girl out front about our age, so we popped our heads out of the car and asked if we could take some pics. They said sure, so we took some pics with us in front and talked with them. Turns out the guy was in a band, and his guitarist's dad owns the house. They actually invited us to stay there, that they were playing a show there that night. Once again we said, we needed to move on. Yes, we completely lamented that fact for a good hour, and kept saying "should we go back?" I mean, how many times can you hang out in Big Pink. In the end, we figured that it would be kinda weird to be at their party--even if their hippie love was welcoming. Still, it was a dream come true to walk on the property and see the house. In a way that is my Graceland.
So, what turned into an impromptu exit off the highway ended up being a great little afternoon. I liken it to that episode of Seinfeld where Kramer does the real Kramer tour. All that was missing was the bagel bites and mini-Snickers.
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