I just watched the second of 2 documentaries about the disaster that was Woodstock ’99 (Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage on HBO and Trainwreck on Netflix. I thought the Netflix one was the better of the 2).
It’s given me a lot to think and reflect on. For me it is a strong cautionary tale of what can happen when you think what the world needs is yesterday’s solution from yesterday’s people.
The first Hullabaloo!, my rave promotion, was exactly 25 years ago. It would be prime nostalgic pickings to try and bring it back in some way. The thing is… the thing that came back would not be the thing that once existed.
When raves first came about in the 90s, it was entirely youth driven. There was no older generation. Twenty years before raves there was disco. There was zero nostalgia. We had no disco DJs amongst us. It was all teens and 20-somethings.
I had no mentor. I made everything up as I went. That feeling of doing something never done before was really exciting and was tangible.
When I watch the documentaries about the failure of Woodstock ’99, I see promoters in their 50s, who think they have the answer for what ails the world. That was a losing proposition from the moment it was conceived. There was also a complete capitalist clash with the peace and love ideals of the original movement.
They spoke about how after losing money on the prior events, they had to make money this time.
I’ve written previously about how I suffered for years not charging appropriately for my events and time. However, that is my older-self looking back on that. If I threw events today it would be profit-first, and even that would take away from what was being created. My suffering and deep service to what I was creating was a huge part of the “secret sauce” of what was created because everyone felt it. I wasn’t the only one who felt like that back then and that all contributed to a greater scene.
I am out of touch with what drives teenagers and young people these days. The music that moved me is not the same as what moves teens today. In the documentary, promoter Michael Lang spoke about how he didn’t even know who the musical acts were.
Now, I remember being in high school and seeing a few “hippie kids” who dressed like they were from the 60s, and I’m sure the same is true today with kids who worship the 80s or 90s, but they are outliers and not representative of the entire generation.
The old hippie slogan of “don’t trust anyone over 30” applied then. This plays out with the derision of things like “OK Boomer”. I vow not to be that old person telling young people what they should be doing.
It’s not surprising that the last attempt at doing a 50 year anniversary for Woodstock in 2019 was an even bigger failure that didn’t even happen with tens of millions of dollars paid in advance to music artists flushed down the toilet.
I’m fine with leaving the past in the past. I’ll write and share what I’ve learned, on my blogs and in my books, but I know better than to try and recreate something that can’t be recreated.
The paradoxical thought is that I DO have a lot to contribute and be a mentor today. I often wonder what might have been possible if I had a mentor in my life then the way I could be for someone else today. Honestly, back then I’d likely not even have welcomed it. The youthful arrogance that I had to go it alone and do it by myself. The wiser version of me today sees things different.
The difference now is I know my role, and offer guidance from a place that whatever it is, it has to be in support of what is new and different. Not something done before, and not trying to recreate something I did decades ago.
