1969 - Living In the Past?



listen to: Jethro Tull: Living in the Past

Returning to our old lives was impossible. So much had changed in our absence, before us lay a summer of music, expressive and raucous, enhanced by a fresh free spirit, enhanced by reefer/hash. Our old friends embraced us and led the way. I fell in, and found an exciting perch on the edge of a new craziness.

Our parents took us to Provincetown to see Richie Havens at the Blues Bag club. Uncensored P’town was a summer Greenwich Village: an artsy, musical, hipster circus atmosphere that enchanted and unsettled me. But the drums of change were calling, and I was caught up in the beat.

In late June, my best friend, Barbara Gregson, and I hitched a ride with Dede and Becky to the Newport Jazz Festival. I recall the frenzy and seduction of the music. She remembers:

 "We walked along with swarms of people, to the ticket booth and were told the show was sold out. We stood around for a minute or so and the next thing you know, people before us and behind us pushed the walls down, we just gingerly walked in... LA De DAh!... with a sea of people around us. Jethro Tull was playing as we came onto the concert grounds. We moved up front and I remember sitting next to some nice hairy people. They were passing pot and a gallon jug of red wine around, of which we partook, of course, and passed it down the line. We had such fun and had great seats; I don't remember how we got home..."

Later, we were deemed too young to go to Woodstock, so we will always be grateful to Newport and the mob.


Betsy (& Dede) got to go to Woodstock!


Note from Wikipedia on the 1969 Newport Jazz Festival: Miles Davis noticed and appreciated the spirited nature of the younger audience. But some clashes did occur. Excess crowds of several thousand who had been unable to obtain tickets filled an adjacent hillside, and the weekend was marred by disturbances including fence crashing and crowd surging during the most popular performances.