Sunday, August 17, 2014

On This Day in History - August 17 End of Woodstock Festival

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

 
 

 
 
 

Aug 17, 1969: Woodstock Music Festival concludes           

On this day in 1969, the grooviest event in music history--the Woodstock Music Festival--draws to a close after three days of peace, love and rock 'n' roll in upstate New York.  

Conceived as "Three Days of Peace and Music," Woodstock was a product of a partnership between John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie Kornfield and Michael Lang. Their idea was to make enough money from the event to build a recording studio near the arty New York town of Woodstock. When they couldn't find an appropriate venue in the town itself, the promoters decided to hold the festival on a 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York--some 50 miles from Woodstock--owned by Max Yasgur.  

By the time the weekend of the festival arrived, the group had sold a total of 186,000 tickets and expected no more than 200,000 people to show up. By Friday night, however, thousands of eager early arrivals were pushing against the entrance gates. Fearing they could not control the crowds, the promoters made the decision to open the concert to everyone, free of charge. Close to half a million people attended Woodstock, jamming the roads around Bethel with eight miles of traffic.  

Soaked by rain and wallowing in the muddy mess of Yasgur's fields, young fans best described as "hippies" euphorically took in the performances of acts like Janis Joplin, Arlo Guthrie, Joe Cocker, Joan Baez, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Sly and the Family Stone and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. The Who performed in the early morning hours of August 17, with Roger Daltrey belting out "See Me, Feel Me," from the now-classic album Tommy just as the sun began to rise. The most memorable moment of the concert for many fans was the closing performance by Jimi Hendrix, who gave a rambling, rocking solo guitar performance of "The Star Spangled Banner."  

With not enough bathroom facilities and first-aid tents to accommodate such a huge crowd, many described the atmosphere at the festival as chaotic. There were surprisingly few episodes of violence, though one teenager was accidentally run over and killed by a tractor and another died from a drug overdose. A number of musicians performed songs expressing their opposition to the Vietnam War, a sentiment that was enthusiastically shared by the vast majority of the audience. Later, the term "Woodstock Nation" would be used as a general term to describe the youth counterculture of the 1960s.  

A 25th anniversary celebration of Woodstock took place in 1994 in Saugerties, New York. Known as Woodstock II, the concert featured Bob Dylan and Crosby, Stills and Nash as well as newer acts such as Nine Inch Nails and Green Day. Held over another rainy, muddy weekend, the event drew an estimated 300,000 people.

Today

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

682 - St Leo II begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1180 - Yoritomo Minamoto leads uprising against Kiyomori Taira who installed his grandson, Emperor Antoku, to the throne
1544 - Imperial/English armies occupy Saint-Dizier France
1563 - King Charles IX of France (13) declared an adult
1577 - Peace of Bergerac: Political rights for Huguenots
1579 - Francois van Anjou visits English queen Elizabeth I
1585 - Antwerp surrenders after 8 months siege by duke of Parma
1590 - John White returns to Roanoke, Virginia to find no trace of colonist's he had left there 3 yrs earlier [or Aug 18, 1591]
1648 - -20] Battle at Preston, Lancashire: Henry Ireton beats Scottish
1717 - France, Russia & Prussia sign agreement
1743 - Sweden & Russia sign peace treaty
1787 - Jews are granted permission in Budapest Hungary to pray in groups
1788 - Losantville, OH (now Cincinnati) founded
1795 - Slave revolt at Knip plantation, Curacao
1796 - English beat Bataafs navy in Saldanha Bay
1807 - Robert Fulton's steamboat Clermont begins 1st trip up Hudson River
1808 - Napoleon asks King Louis for Holland brigade towards Spain
1827 - Dutch King Willem I/Pope Leo XII sign concord
1834 - Charles Darwins reaches top of Campana Chile
Naturalist Charles DarwinNaturalist Charles Darwin 1835 - Solymon Merrick patents wrench
1836 - British parliament accept registration of birth/marriage/death
1836 - HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin leave South-America for last time
1846 - US fleet officer Robert F Stockton annexes California
1858 - 1st bank in Hawaii opens
1859 - 1st air mail (in a balloon) took off from Lafayette Ind
1862 - Confederate troops under Kirby Smith enter Kentucky
1863 - Federal batteries & ships attacked Fort Sumter in SC
1863 - Skirmish at Calfkiller Creek (Sparta), Tennessee
1866 - Bathe & Prussia signs peace treaty
1869 - 1st international boat race (Thames River, Oxford beats Harvard)
1870 - 1st ascent of Mt Rainier, Washington
1870 - Mrs Esther Morris becomes 1st woman magistrate (South Pass, Wyoming)
1876 - Opera "Götterdämmerung" premieres in Bayreuth
1877 - Asaph Hall discovers Mars' moon Phobos
1879 - Ferdinand de Lesseps forms French Panama Canal Company
1883 - The first public performance of the Dominican Republic's national anthem, Himno Nacional.
1891 - 1st public bathhouse with showers opens in NYC (People's Bath)
1891 - Electric self-starter for automobile patented
1892 - Russian/French generals Obruchev/Boisdeffre signs Duple Alliance
1894 - Phils get 36 hits, Sam Thompson hits for cycle beating Louisville 29-4
1896 - George Washington Carmack discoveres gold in Klondike region of Yukon
1897 - W B Purvis patents electric railway switch
1903 - Joe Pulitzer donated $1 million to Columbia U & begins Pulitzer Prizes
1904 - Boston's Jesse Tannehell no-hits Chicago White Sox, 6-0
1905 - Dutch government of De Master begins
1907 - Bishop forbids Christian membership in Dutch Textile Union
1908 - B Tarkington & HL Wilson's "Man from Home," premieres in NYC
1908 - Bank of Italy opens new HQ at Clay & Montgomery
1908 - Projection in Paris of the very first cartoon, Fantasmagorie realized by Émile Cohl.
1914 - French troops under gen de Castelnau occupy Chateau Salins
1914 - Lithuiana surrenders to Germans
1915 - German troops over run Kovno Lithuiana
1915 - Hurricane strikes Galveston, TX (275 killed)
1915 - Mob lynches Jewish businessman Leo Frank in Cobb County, Ga after death sentence for murder of 13-year-old girl commuted to life
1916 - Bulgarian offensive in Macedonia
1917 - Italy declares war on Germany & Turkey
1918 - British troops attack Baku Azerbaijan
1918 - Samuel Riddle buys Man o'War for $5,000
1918 - Turkish troops overthrow Caukasus
1918 - Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated.
1920 - In memory of Ray Chapman (died Aug 16), Yanks cancel game with Indians
1924 - French-German trade agreement signed
1926 - Greek-Serbian/Croatian/Slavs peace treaty signed
1933 - Lou Gehrig breaks record by playing in his 1,308th straight game
1933 - Lou Gehrig plays record 1,308th consecutive game
1933 - Soviet Union test GIRD-R1 rocket ("Object 09")
1938 - 1st aircraft owned by Forest Service in service (Oakland)
1938 - Henry Armstrong won his 3rd concurrent boxing championship
1939 - "Wizard of Oz" opens at Loew's Capitol Theater in NY
32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt 1940 - FDR & Canadian PM William M King agree to joint defense commission
1940 - Greece mobilizes
1940 - Hitler orders total blockade of Great-Britain
1941 - German raider attacks Dutch SS Kota Nopan
1942 - 1st European bombing run undertaken by US forces
1942 - 1st US/8th Air Force bombs Europe
1942 - Task Force 17 leaves Pearl Harbor under adm George Murray on Hornet
1942 - Transport nr 20 departs with French Jews to nazi-Germany
1942 - US bombers staged 1st independent raid on Europe attack Rouen, France
1943 - 498 British bombers attack Peenemunde
1943 - Gen Patton enters Messina, completing conquest of Sicily by Allies
1943 - US 8th Air Force loses 60 B-17O at attack on Regensburg/Schweinfurt
1944 - 4th Canadian Armour division occupiers Trun Normandy
1944 - Canadian 2nd division conquerors Falaise Normandy
1944 - German fieldmarshal Model replaces von Kluge in Normandy
US General George S. PattonUS General George S. Patton 1944 - Russian troops arrive at Austria-Prussia border
1944 - US 12 Army corp occupies Orleans
1944 - US 320th regiment infantry occupies Châteaudun
1944 - Yanks Johnny Lindell ties record with 4 consecutive doubles in a game
1945 - Indonesia (Dutch E Indies) declares independence from Netherlands
1945 - Koreas divided on 38th parallel with US occupying the southern area
1945 - Indonesian Declaration of Independence.
1946 - Arthur Honegger's 3rd Symphony "Liturgique," premieres
1947 - The Radcliffe Line, the border between Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan is revealed.
1948 - Alger Hiss denies ever being a Communist agent
1948 - Phillies commit 8 errors in a game
1948 - Tom Henrich hits his then record tying 4th grand slam of season
1950 - Indonesia gains independence from Netherlands
1950 - Pee Wee Reese (Dodgers) & Sam Calderone (Giants) hit inside park HRs
1951 - 18th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: Cleveland 33, All-Stars 0 (92,180)

1951 - Hurricane winds drive 6 ships ashore, Kingston, Jamaica
1952 - "Fallout" 1st used (NY Times)
1952 - Betty Jameson wins LPGA World Golf Championship
1953 - Addiction: First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous in Southern California.
1955 - Hurricane Diane, following hurricane Connie floods Connecticut River killing 190 & doing $1.8 billion damage
1956 - Bundesverfassungsgericht bans KPD in West Germany
1957 - Richie Ashburn, fouls hit fan Alice Roth twice in same at bat 1st one breaks her nose, 2nd one hits her while she is on the stretcher
1958 - Bonnie Hoffman wins LPGA Kansas City Golf Open
1958 - World's 1st Moon probe, US's Thor-Able, explodes at T +77 sec
1959 - 7.1 quake strikes Yellowstone National Park
1959 - USSR & Iraq signs contract for building Iraqi nuclear reactor
1960 - Francis Gary Powers U-2 spy trial opens in Moscow
1960 - Gabon gains independence from France (National Day)
1960 - Indonesia drops diplomatic relations with Netherlands
1961 - Kennedy administration establishes Alliance for Progress
1962 - Beatles replaces Pete Best with Ringo Starr
1962 - E German border guards shot & kill Peter Fechter, 18, attempting to cross Berlin Wall into western sector
1963 - Jim Hickman becomes 1st NY Met to hit for cycle
1963 - Oriole's Dick Hall retires his 28th consecutive player in relief
1964 - Boycott scores his 1st Test Cricket century, 113 v Aust at the Oval
Beatles Drummer Ringo StarrBeatles Drummer Ringo Starr 1966 - Pioneer 7 launched into solar orbit
1966 - Willie Mays takes 2nd place on all-time HR list
1968 - Dick Beyers (Dr X) beats Verne Gagne, to become NWA champ
1969 - -18] Hurricane Camille, kills 256 in Miss & Louisiana
1969 - 51st PGA Championship: Ray Floyd shoots a 276 at NCR GC Dayton Ohio
1969 - Carol Mann wins LPGA Southgate Ladies' Golf Open
1969 - NY Jets beat NY Giants 37-14 in their 1st meeting (pre season)
1970 - Venera 7 (US), 1st softlanding on Venus, launched
1972 - Phillies Steve Carlton wins his 15th straight game
1973 - Lee Trevino's 1st hole-in-one
1973 - Willie Mays hits 660th & last HR (off Don Gullett of Cincinnati)
1975 - Jo Ann Washam wins LPGA Patty Berg Golf Classic
1976 - An earthquake & tidal wave in the Philippines kills up to 8,000
1976 - Big win for WI at The Oval Michael Holding 14-149 for match
1977 - Russian nuclear sub "Artika" is 1st to North Pole
1977 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1977 - Thomas Wessinghage/Harald Hudak/Michael Lederer/Karl Fleschen walk world record 4x1500m (14:38.8)
1978 - 1st successful crossing of the Atlantic by balloon (3 Americans)
1979 - 2 Russian passenger planes collide above Ukraine, 173 killed
1979 - Monty Python's "Life of Brian" premieres
1980 - "Blackstone" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 104 performances
1980 - Beth Daniel wins LPGA Patty Berg Golf Classic
1980 - George Brett goes 4-for-4, raising his batting average to .401
1980 - Azaria Chamberlain disappears, likely taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the most publicised trial in Australian history
1982 - LA Dodgers beat Chicago Cubs, 6-5, in 21 innings (game completed 8/18)
1982 - South Bend, Ind jury acquits self-avowed racist Joseph Paul Franklin
1982 - The first Compact Discs (CDs) were released to the public in Germany.
1983 - -19] Hurricane Alicia, kills 17 in Texas
1984 - Pete Rose returns to Cin Reds as player-manager (gets 2 hits)
1985 - 1,400 meatpackers walk off the job at a Geo A Hormel & Co plant
1985 - Rajiv Gandhi announces Punjab state elections in India
1985 - Sara Trollinger forms House of Hope in Orlando
1986 - Bronze pig statue unveiled at Seattle's Pike Place Market
1986 - Cindy Mackey wins LPGA MasterCard International Golf Pro-Am
1986 - Pat Bradley wins LPGA Nestle World Golf Championship
1986 - Rioting at DMC concert, 40 injured
1986 - Red Sox trade shortstop Rey Quinones & pitcher Mike Trujillo to Mariners for shortstop Spike Owen & outfielder Dave Henderson
1987 - Bunt single gives Paul Molitor longest hit streak of 1980s at 32 games
1987 - Dow Jones Industrial Avg closes above 2,700 for 1st time (2,700.57)
1987 - Mohammad Ali elected to "Ring" magazine's Boxing Hall of Fame
1988 - Butch Reynolds runs world record 400m (43.29)
1988 - LIRR says Penn station will get air conditioning in 1991
1988 - NYC 1st case of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (9 year old Bronx boy)
US President George H. W. BushUS President George H. W. Bush 1988 - Republicans nominate George Bush for president
1988 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1988 - Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.
1989 - 32nd Walker Cup: Britain-Ireland, 12½-11½
1989 - Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken moves into 3rd place (1,208th cons game)
1990 - "Exorcist 3" premieres
1990 - Carlton Fisk hits White Sox record 187th HR
1990 - Phyllis Polander sues Mike Tyson for sexual harassment
1991 - Royals Warren Cromartie's 1st major league HR since 1983
1992 - Kevin Gross of Dodgers tosses only 9-inning no-hitter of season, a 2-0
1994 - Lesotho king Letsie II fires premier Ntsu Mokhehle
1994 - NY Central park reservior officially named after Jackie Kennedy Onasis
1995 - China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1996 - Soyuz TM-24, launched into orbit
1997 - 79th PGA Championship: Davis Love III shoots a 269 at Winged Foot GC
Heavyweight Boxing Champion Mike TysonHeavyweight Boxing Champion Mike Tyson 1997 - First of America Senior Golf Classic
1997 - Macy's Tap-o-mania
1997 - Weetabix Women's British LPGA Open
1998 - Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admits before the nation that he "misled people" about his relationship.
1999 - A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes İzmit, Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.
2004 - MD5 collision found by Chinese researchers.
2004 - The National Assembly of Serbia unanimously adopts new state symbols for Serbia: Boze Pravde becomes the new anthem and the coat of arms is adopted for the whole country.
2005 - The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of the Israel unilateral disengagement plan, starts.
2012 - Three members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot are jailed for two years
2012 - Gay pride events are banned for a century in Moscow



1227 - The Mongol conqueror Ghengis Khan died.   1587 - Virginia Dare became the first child to be born on American soil of English parents. The colony that is now Roanoke Island, NC, mysteriously vanished.   1735 - The "Evening Post" of Boston, MA, was published for the first time.   1840 - The American Society of Dental Surgeons was founded in New York City, NY.   1846 - Gen. Stephen W. Kearney and his U.S. forces captured Santa Fe, NM.   1894 - The Bureau of Immigration was established by the U.S. Congress.   1914 - The "Proclamation of Neutrality" was issued by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. It was aimed at keeping the U.S. out of World War I.   1916 - Abraham Lincoln's birthplace was made into a national shrine.   1919 - The "Anti-Cigarette League of America" was formed in Chicago IL.   1920 - Tennessee ratified the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Amendment guaranteed the right of all American women to vote.   1937 - The first FM radio construction permit was issued in Boston, MA. The station went on the air two years later.   1938 - The Thousand Islands Bridge was dedicated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The bridge connects the U.S. and Canada.   1940 - Canada and the U.S. established a joint defense plan against the possible enemy attacks during World War II.   1958 - Vladimir Nabokov's novel "Lolita" was published.   1963 - James Meredith graduated from the University of Mississippi. He was the first black man to accomplish this feat.   1966 - The first pictures of earth taken from moon orbit were sent back to the U.S.   1980 - George Brett (Kansas City Royal) had his batting average reach the .400 mark.   1981 - Herschel Walker of the University of Georgia took out an insurance policy with Lloyd’s of London. The all-American was insured for one million dollars.   1982 - The volume on the New York Stock Exchange topped the 100-million level for the first time at 132.69 million shares traded.   1982 - The longest baseball game played at Wrigley Field in Chicago, IL, went 21 innings before the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Cubs 2-1.   1987 - Earl Campbell announced his retirement from the National Football League (NFL).   1990 - The first shots were fired by the U.S. in the Persian Gulf Crisis when a U.S. frigate fired rounds across the bow of an Iraqi oil tanker.   1991 - An unsuccessful coup was attempted in against President Mikhail S. Gorbachev. The Soviet hard-liners were responsible. Gorbechev and his family were effectively imprisoned for three days while vacationing in Crimea.   1992 - Larry Bird, after 13 years with the Boston Celtics, announced his retirement.   1997 - Beth Ann Hogan became the first coed in the Virginia Military Institute's 158-year history.   1997 - Patrick Swayze received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.   1998 - Mrs. Field's Original Cookies announced that they would acquire the Great American Cookie Co.   2004 - Donald Trump unveiled his board game (TRUMP the Game) where players bid on real estate, buy big ticket items and make billion-dollar business deals.



1807 Robert Fulton's steamboat, the Clermont, began its trip up the Hudson River to Albany. 1863 Fort Sumter, S.C. was bombarded by Union ships during the Civil War. 1896 Prospectors found gold in Alaska, a discovery that set off the Klondike gold rush. 1945 Indonesian nationalists proclaimed independence from the Netherlands. 1962 18-year-old Peter Fechter was shot and killed by guards at the Berlin Wall, spurring riots. 1969 Hurricane Camille devastated the Gulf Coast, killing 248 people. 1978 The first successful trans-Atlantic balloon flight landed outside of Paris. 1987 Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler's second in command, committed suicide. 2008 U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps won his eighth gold medal, breaking the record set by Mark Spitz in the 1972 Games. Phelps also set the record for the most golds in a single Olympics.

The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

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