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WOODSTOCK: A NEW NATION part 7 Book excerpt from "Aquarius Rising" by Robert Santelli SATURDAY, AUGUST 16 Rosenman had always feared what might happen if the music, for some reason, was not able to continue. What would the kids do? Would they reject the "beautiful people" attitude and go on a rampage, raising hell in Sullivan County? Or would they remain calm and understanding? Rosenman did not want to be responsible for this decision, but he knew he had no choice. Each second that passed brought catastrophe closer to the festival. Finally he did what any nervous, paranoid, and unsure promoter would have done in a similar situation: he went ahead and told the electrician to do what he had to do without cutting the juice! After he gave the order, Rosenman wanted to be someplace far away. Maybe India or the North Pole. Anywhere but on a dairy farm in New York State with the lives of so many well-behaved kids resting on his decision. He swallowed hard and hoped for the best. Meanwhile the music continued to blare from the stage. Rosenman paced the area behind the stage. He kept waiting for some giant orange and yellow flash to light up the sky. Time seemed to pass at an agonizingly slow pace. All of a sudden he noticed the electrician breaking through a crowd of people with a smile that covered two thirds of his face. Things had gone well. The electrician had run the power from the exposed lines to other lines that were still underground without incident or loss of power. Rosenman breathed a giant sigh of relief. Mission accomplished. Saturday's music line up was much more ambitious and energetic than Friday's. Only one folk artist performed, the zany John B. Sebastian, who appeared on stage wearing a multi-colored tie-dyed shirt and a pair of pedal pushers, and dedicated one of his songs to a young mother who had given birth at the hospital tent. Otherwise the lineup was comprised of full-on, top-notch rockers: Canned Heat, Janis Joplin, Country Joe and the Fish, The Who, and the Grateful Dead. There were some lesser-known acts on the billing as well: A band from Boston called Quill, the Keef Hartley Band, and Sha Na Na, a group of college kids from New York City who performed a series of satirical interpretations of the life-style and music of the 1950s. Dressed in T-shirts, white socks, and leather jackets, with their hair slicked back, the group choreographed their way into the hearts of the Woodstock crowd. Santana, the volatile Latin rock group that capitalized on the immense talents of founder and lead guitarist Carlos Santana and the vibrant beat of the congas and timbales, had the crowd up on its feet for most of their set. The group Mountain shelled festivalgoers with the piercing sounds of Leslie West's lead guitar. Both these acts used their successful shows at the festival as springboards to stardom in the following decade. But the performance of the day, and quite possibly of the entire festival, was that of Sly and the Family Stone. Sylvester Stewart (Sly Stone) and his band had been revving audiences up all summer. Sly ran his life and his music at high speed, and used an audience's frenzy as fuel for his act. At Woodstock the dashing front man had a gathering of almost a half-million young people from which to garner strength. Just a few hours before the sun was to rise, Sly Stone came onstage donned in an elegant white and mauve fringed outfit. The night's darkness dramatized both the performer and the excitement that surrounded the stage. Larry Graham's bass pulsated with the riff that opened one of Sly's biggest hits, "Dance to the Music." "Dance! Get up! Dance to the music!" Sly Stone bellowed to the crowd. Backstage Janis Joplin and Grace Slick were dancing and clapping their hands. "Get on up! Dance to the funky music!" Four hundred thousand souls were up on their feet. The Family Stone horn section emitted a volley of background rhythm as the clapping and shouting and bouncing of the crowd made the earth shake with cadence. "Dance to the Music" was in full swing, and Sly Stone was king of the world. Without pausing, "Dance to the Music" gave way to "(I Wanna Take You) Higher." Sly's music showed its power as never before. "What we would like to do is sing a song together. . . . We would like to sing a song called 'Higher,' and if we could have everyone join in, we'd appreciate it." The crowd responded with a devastating cry of impatience and energy. "Wanna take you higher!" "Say higher and throw up the peace sign. It'll do you no harm. Wanna take you higher!" "Wanna take you higher!" Stone shot up the peace sign at full arm's length, and his fringed shirt flapped with the motion, suggesting that the performer had grown wings. "Higher!" The audience echoed Stone's commands feverishly. "Way up on the hill, higher!" "Higher!" "HIGHER." "HIGHER.. ." The drums rolled, the horns blared, and all of Woodstock was racing. The energy could have lit up New York City for a month! "HIGHER!"
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