Hey Joe

I bet if the Woodstock festival hadn’t been filmed, no one would even remember it. Or rather, those that were there would still be talking about it, but it probably wouldn’t be considered an historic event. Because not that many people were actually there and of those half were too fucked up to remember and the other half recollect the usual festival miseries of bad food, bad weather, and bad bathrooms. Everyone is so attached to Woodstock only because the movie was so good. I imagine the movie is probably better than the experience actually was. I’d say it did a lot to cement the legend of Jimi Hendrix as well. Hendrix had the good fortune to give classic performances at Woodstock and Monterey Pop, placing himself in not one but two of the most memorable and popular concert movies ever made. I’m not suggesting that Hendrix would be any less legendary a musician without appearing in those movies, but it is those performances for which we best remember him.