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Instructors to relive Woodstock for roundtable
The Advocate
Two MHCC instructors, Kerry Pataki and Bob Watkins, will relive their time at Woodstock during the Historians’ Roundtable Wednesday in Room 1001 from noon to 1 p.m.
Pataki and Watkins will talk about their experiences at Woodstock and discuss whether a “Woodstock Nation” ever existed.
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History instructors Pat Casey and Elizabeth Milliken will host the event and moderate the discussion, which will include a question-and-answer period. Casey said the History Department planned the Historians’ Roundtable around Woodstock because it is the 40th anniversary of the festival.
Casey said Woodstock Nation is a term used to describe the people who attended the festival and the way people of all walks of life came together to celebrate life.
The organizers of Woodstock were expecting 200,000 people for the three-day event, but more than 450,000 showed up — and then it rained. Casey said, “We took a situation that could’ve been chaos and came together as Woodstock Nation.”
Four months later, in December, a festival called Altamont was held in California and was dubbed “Woodstock West” because it was trying to recapture the spirit of Woodstock. But Altamont became known for the four deaths that occurred there, especially the death of 18-year-old Meredith Hunter, who was stabbed and beaten by a group of Hell’s Angels during the Rolling Stones performance.
Casey said it is often believed that Woodstock Nation bloomed in the summer and died in the fall at Altamont.
But Watkins said, “Nothing was born at Woodstock and died at Altamont.
“All the things that occurred at Woodstock were already happening.” He referred to Woodstock as a coming out party.
“It was the toughest, hardest festival I’ve ever been to and yet people really were getting along. I’ve gone to four-hour concerts were people have been nasty and irritable, but I didn’t see that at Woodstock,” said Watkins.
Watkins said, “The freeform nature is what made it (Woodstock) special.” He pointed out that the music was also freeform during the festival and that “one of the iconic songs was Richie Havens’ song ‘Freedom’. ”
“It was just filling time, but with great style,” said Watkins about the song Havens created on stage during the festival.
Casey described the way people came together during the festival as “a sense of community” and he said it was “almost socialism in a sense.”
Watkins said, “You can’t plan a festival like Woodstock.”
Since 1996, the Historians’ Roundtable has focused on an event from 40 years earlier. Casey said he thinks this will continue and speculated that next year the Historians’ Roundtable may be about the Kent State shootings in Ohio, when the Ohio Army National Guard killed four students in 1970.