There were no focus groups to run a name by in 1969 when organizers settled on “An Aquarian Festival: Three Days of Music and Peace,” and ever since, the massive music marathon that ensued in a muddy field in upstate New York has just been known as Woodstock.
Focus group or not, somebody must have known there would be good vibrations in that name: The town of Woodstock was known for its artist colony in the early 20th century; they had their own wild festival every summer. In fact, Woodstock the music festival was held 60 miles away at a dairy farm in Bethel. Name aside, the event was not only epic, it defined an epoch.
Marking that mid-August anniversary in 21st century Central Florida, we get to reflect on all the movements of that era: anti-war, civil rights, women’s rights.
Oh, and the movement one generation called dancing and another generation called on drugs. Now that the former is the age of the latter, there’s no gap to speak of. But there’ll be plenty of dancing this month at various events honoring those flower-power pioneers and their fine taste in music.
To set the tone, the documentary film “Woodstock” airs at Stuart’s Lyric Theatre at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, followed by talk-backs with the film’s still photographer, Barry Z. Levine, who shot 300 color photos during the festival (talk about focus!) Levine’s wife, Linanne Sackett, has created a book around those photos. She, too, will be present.
For the past 28 years, the historic downtown of Stuart has held a Dancin’ In The Streets festival in August. This year, it falls on Saturday, Aug. 22, and will include more than 20 bands on five stages beginning at 3 p.m. and lasting until midnight. Food, drink and merchandise vendors, as well as kids’ activities keep folks fed, hydrated and entertained while music plays on the Riverwalk as well as at the Lyric Theatre, where Grammy-nominated Flashdance-era singer Taylor Dayne performs two shows, at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Dayne scored 18 single hits in the 1980s and ’90s to make it to the top ten in Billboard magazine. More recently she recorded the dance hit “Beautiful” in 2008 and “Floor on Fire” in 2011.
The 2015 version of the annual summer tour Hippiefest wends its way around Florida’s major cities, stopping at Orlando’s Plaza Live theater Sunday.
Imagine a ‘70s-themed costume party with four live bands for entertainment. Rick Derringer, Badfinger featuring Joey Molland, Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, and The Family Stone.
The Family Stone, with three original members who played with Sly, includes Cynthia Robinson, a pioneering black female trumpeter and mother of Sly’s daughter, Phunne, who’s also performing with the group as lead singer.
The band’s other founding members on the tour, saxophone player Jerry Martini and drummer Greg Errico, are both white. That made news back in the day because the two were the first to integrate a major soul band; their presence provoked the Black Panthers to demand of Sly Stone that he replace them with black musicians.
Sly held firm on his line-up, but he quickly fell apart personally as addictions took hold. By 2011, he was reported to be living out of his car in San Francisco. Then in January of this year, he was awarded $5 million in a suit against his production company, manager and attorney over royalties Stone claimed they had received without his permission.
