Woodstock - a six lecture series (in-person and Zoom/streaming)

Dr. Mike Daley

A deep dive into the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair, the greatest rock music festival of all time.

Church of the Redeemer

54 years after it happened, the Woodstock music festival remains the high water mark of the 1960s generation. Over three days and nights some of the best musical acts of the era — Jimi Hendrix, Santana, the Band and Janis Joplin among them — performed for an overflow crowd of perhaps 500,000. With its infrastructure completely overwhelmed by the surprise turnout, Woodstock could have been a humanitarian disaster, but instead was a stunning demonstration of the true power of community and cooperation. It was both a celebration of youth culture and, through a hit documentary film and soundtrack album, the symbol of the best of a generation, the Woodstock Generation.Renowned musicologist and public lecturer Dr. Mike Daley leads a new six-lecture series on the Woodstock festival — how it was planned, how those plans went off the rails, and how disaster was averted. But Woodstock was also about the music, and Mike will discuss every act that played the festival, from the legendary to the now-forgotten. Each talk is illustrated with rare photos, video and audio clips and includes a question period.Dr. Mike Daley is a musicologist and public speaker. He holds a Ph.D in music and has published widely on popular music history. Mike's well-received lectures at Curious Minds Hot Docs Theatre, the University of Toronto, York University and at dozens of private groups around the GTA have gained him a strong following.The Church of the Redeemer is a spacious and comfortable (cushioned chairs, not pews)1879 church with excellent sightlines and acoustics. It is conveniently located in Yorkville, close to Bay and Museum subway stations, ample parking and fine restaurants.Series tickets (six lectures) are $84.00 plus HST and fees. Only series ticket (i.e. for all six lectures) are available in advance. Individual lecture tickets will be available at the door for $20, cash only.The lectures will also be available on Zoom and for later streaming; I'll send out links to ticketholders through email.Lecture 1We meet the “Young Men With Unlimited Capital,” four inexperienced promoters who conceived and financed the Woodstock Music and Art Fair. From the beginning, nothing went according to plan, as the festival site was moved far from its original location to a dairy farm in rural Bethel, New York. Still, they managed to sign the cream of rock music circa 1969 to perform. Music by Richie Havens.Lecture 2The muddy fields of Max Yasgur’s dairy farm were soon overrun by tens of thousands, who easily breached the gates and turned what had been a ticketed festival into a free one. Music by Sweetwater, Bert Sommer, Tim Hardin, Ravi Shankar, Melanie, Arlo Guthrie and Joan Baez.Lecture 3Despite the poor conditions and the largely improvised infrastructure, the mood at Woodstock was harmonious. No more than a dozen police officers were present to watch over perhaps 500,000 attendees. Heroic efforts at the medical tent kept the event from turning into a health disaster. Music by Quill, Country Joe McDonald, Santana, John Sebastian, Keef Hartley Band, The Incredible String Band and Canned Heat.Lecture 4Over the course of the weekend, the national news media picked up on the Woodstock story and began to broadcast footage of the unprecedented crowds. As news spread that the concert was now free, an estimated one million people headed to Bethel, New York. Police had to turn away thousands of cars. The organizers eventually had to hire helicopters to shuttle the performers from their hotels to the stage. Music by Mountain, the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, Sly and the Family Stone, the Who, and Jefferson Airplane.Lecture 5As the festival continued, Sullivan County declared a state of emergency and New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller planned to send in the National Guard. He was talked out of it by organiser John Roberts and the cold, sopping attendees kept the peace. Music by Joe Cocker, Ten Years After, the Band, Johnny Winter, Blood Sweat and Tears and more.Lecture 6When the festival was over and the fields were cleared, the promoters were virtually bankrupt. But they had the film and recording rights to the performances, and the Woodstock LPs and film would be wildly popular, tipping the festival into the stuff of legend. Anniversary concerts in 1994 and 1999 failed to recapture the magic. Music by Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Paul Butterfield, Sha Na Na and Jimi Hendrix.

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Woodstock - a six lecture series (in-person and Zoom/streaming)

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Woodstock - a six lecture series (in-person and Zoom/streaming)

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