American greats and great Americana To say that the United States have received a lot of criticism in the past few years, is putting it mildly. America's reputation has crashed in the public opinion. American politicians have turned from liberators into warmongers, American society from a shining example into a cradle of violence, and American culture from cool to commercial. Still the “greatest country on earth” has a lot to offer: wonderful national parks, great music, entertaining movies, cutting-edge science and technology, etc. Here's a selection by the students and teacher of the 6th year of English at the CVO Waregem Anzegem Tielt of Waregem, Belgium. The texts have been written or compiled by the students between April and June 2008.
06-07-2008
Woodstock 1969 music & art festival
Woodstock was one of the most impressive rock festivals in history. It was held in the U.S.A. on August 15-17, 1969, near Wallkill, about 100 km from New York. Originally the festival was to be held near the town of Woodstock (hence the name) but no field in Woodstock was large enough to accommodate the expected one million visitors. The big rock festival had a peaceful character (the slogan on the poster read: "three days of peace and music") and became the symbol of hope for a political and cultural renewal of society. These views and ideas were shared by the emerging generation in the western world. Woodstock is seen as the mother of all festivals.
Eventually some 500,000 visitors turned up. This was much more than the festival was planned for but everything went smoothly. The campsite and all of its surroundings were used. All roads to the festival were parking spaces. Even the army was deployed. The organisation asked soldiers to help the crowd with bread and water. Financially the organisation was a disaster, with a final loss of more than $2,500,000. A certain John Robert accepted to pay off the debts in return for the right to all film footage of the festival. He has been paid back many times.
Many popular artists from the time were contracted, amongst others: Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Richie Havens, Sweetwater, Joan Baez and Joe Cocker. It was quite exceptional that the stars of the moment: the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan were not present at the festival. Woodstock remains in our thoughts and remains etched in memory.
