It’s been said, and often repeated, that “If you remember The Sixties you weren’t really there.” Well, Mike Greenblatt was really there and he does remember! He stood (sat/lay/slept) front and center “at the head of the whole shebang” to become part of (and a bare witness to!) the pivotal, pinnacle 60’s Hippie Happening and greatest social-political-spiritual-satyrical event of the 20^th Century: the magical, mystical, mythical “WOODSTOCK Music & Art Fair.”

In this riveting, delightful, incisive, outtasight WOODSTOCK odyssey, Greenblatt recalls his personal experiences with (and without) traveling companion Neil Yeager on the road to enlightenment and Max Yasgur’s farm in the pastoral little town of Bethel (“House of God”) New York, U.S.A. It was Yeager, now a self-help guru, who reminded his reunited-after-30-years friend Mike of the whole “Music-As-Salvation” concept that was revealed in Max’s hallowed field “on one long, mind-blowing, late summer weekend in August of 1969.” Greenblatt writes: “As long as the music was playing, we were good. The music was everything.” That weekend’s theme and the important life lesson learned remained and became the Zen mindset that has imbued true believer Mike’s entire concert-going life since:

“Just listen to the music… and all will be revealed.”

Greenblatt has unveiled a splendid, commemorative patchwork quilt and flashback tapestry of recollections and reflections that he masterfully crafted out of bits borrowed from nine cited books or memoirs and pieces of in-depth interviews he conducted over the decades with 32 of his Woodstock Nation compatriots. His own glorious prose goes from good trips to bad, from happy to sad (“Laughing Girl” and “Crying Girl”), from ecstatic to bummer and from front page hype to backstage drama. Both the highs and lows, baked and froze, intimate and outlandish are freely exposed, passionately explored, fervently fleshed out and deliciously displayed for all to see. [“The whole world is reading!”]

Incredible, fascinating, illuminating stories bring to light and life several unsung performers (Bert Sommer, Tim Hardin, Melanie, Quill), unreleased (hence widely forgotten) performances (by Keef Hartley Band, Mountain, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Blood, Sweat & Tears,) and the unheralded yet indispensable contributions of several Woodstock Ventures staff and crew members. Find out who coaxed Stage Lighting and Technical Designer Chip Monck into becoming a reluctant and “mildly terrified” emcee; How the Production Coordinator, Booker and “Adult In The Room” John Morris averted WOODSTOCK’s becoming a possible precursor to the horrific Kent State University massacre and Attica State Prison fiasco; Why Technical Director/Designer Chris Langhart is Mike’s “Festival MVP” and why Greenblatt still thinks Country Joe McDonald was “the heart and soul of Woodstock.” (McDonald wrote a loving, reverberating, clarion-call forward for the book.)

Carlos Santana and his drummer Michael Shrieve add unique backstory and context to their spectacular coming-out party set. CCR’s drummer Doug Clifford and bassist Stu Cook share invaluable insights and opinions about their bands’ experiences before, during, and even years after the concert. Fito De La Parra’s recounting of his band Canned Heat’s long, strange trip to and from the venerable venue (arriving by highjacked helicopter and departing in a “lowjacked” limousine) is hilarious. Now a Princeton, NJ attorney but then a 19-year-old fan in the front row, Scott Stoner’s eyewitness account of the infamous on-stage “surreal dustup” between political activist Abbie Hoffman and The Who’s guitarist Pete Townshend is a knockout!

Flush with fabulous photographs with many clever captions, this book is a fantastic, fabulous and far-out way to experience “3 Days of Peace and Music” as if you’re there in person. (Even if you weren’t the first time. Or you were, but really don’t remember!) It’s also a beautiful Golden Jubilee gift to the Woodstock Nation that could serve to spark the imaginations, rekindle the flickering flames of memory, and relight the faded glory of original “Aquarian Exposition” veterans. May it also inspire surviving “Keepers Of The Flame” to recapture, reclaim and reflect some of the Light, Spirit and Love that was shared a half-century ago “up the country” on Yasgur’s Farm. Amen!

—Dennis McDoNoUgh