Preface: This piece is very freeform compared to how I usually write, because there is no better way to relate this experience. Along with my commentary and comments on the social graces are various mentalities that are the modern melting pot of our society. Hopefully you'll catch a little bit of the VIBE that was "Woodstock '99." We all make it what it was, is and will be!

I'd been looking forward to another Woodstock reunion show since '94 (which I also attended). When the lineup was first announced, it was a little on the heavy side, but balanced out with rap, techno and nightly raves (the largest I've ever seen). That line could be used to describe a lot of "Woodstock '99." For those of you who have heard nothing but negative shit, I'd like you to read my story. I had a blast!

The ride to Rome was very interesting. There were so many cars with artwork, graffiti, signs, etc. bound for Woodstock, and when I stopped for gas at Angola (outside Buffalo), the rest area was a parking lot party (so was every rest area I passed). The majority of the cars were heading for Woodstock and the vibe had begun! People were cool in general. People were meeting each other at the rest areas, tollbooths, and anywhere they stopped along the way.

I arrived in the town of Rome, NY around 3 a.m. Friday. Thursday night it took 2 hours to get from downtown to Griffiss Park, a former Air Force base and site of "Woodstock '99." There was a beautifully designed wall of art around the perimeter of Grffiss Park. The artwork was a tribute to Woodstock and hippie culture, past, present and hopefully future. I was then directed to park about 1 1/2 miles (a 45 minute walk) from the wall. But, that was okay. I just wanted to park and start the weekend off right. After christening the parking lot with a couple cans of Guinness, it was time to start checkin' it out.

There were cars as far as you could see, all the way to the wall. This was the on-site vehicle camping lot, so I opted to camp in my van (real rough). It was a long haul to the concert site, but I didn't want to carry all my stuff. My more hardcore friends, on the other hand, decided to camp inside and be in the heart of it all. I walked in with them the first time to see where they'd be camped and to have an alternate site inside for myself.

The site was fucking huge (for lack of a better way to describe it) with camping on grass, bark chips for inside roads, and road signs so you could find your way around. The signs had really cool names like Abbey Road, Thunder Road, Spanish Harlem, Crossroads, and the infamous East-West Highway.

Did I mention it was huge? Inside this massive perimeter of camping there were 2 stages, each at opposite ends of a runway, with P.A. Towers, media, light and sound towers, and jumbo screens on either side. The aircraft control tower was in the center of the venue, with a beer garden and vending around it. Also in the center were the Emerging Artists Stage, Alternative Film Festival, an Extreme Sports Park with nude late night sports, and a Rain Room (complete with a light show at night). At 9 a.m. Friday the place was already awash in people and the vibe was intense.

Picture this - a city of 250,000, formed in a matter of days, comprised of music lovers, artists, musicians, counter-culture people, hippies, and tons of partiers. Could be a volatile mix!? The majority of fans were under 30. What would you expect? To those parents who brought their kids, most of you were completely stupid, some of you (not much smarter) never left your child's side and vice-versa. But, that's still not cool or smart! Woodstock is NOT a place for kids! This weekend was far too much to put a kid through.

The fact that the crowd was younger does not explain the violence Sunday night. I'll get to that - the whole story. In fact, I was proud to party along side of these younger folks and be a part of it. People were sayin' brother, sister, dude, friend, balloons, shrooms, nugs, x, and anything else you could think of. All the drugs that are a part of '90s culture were there, but I saw no heroin, coke, or crack. This should tell you something. The youth of today want to get high just like the youth of 10, 20, or 30 years ago. The drugs are the same, just better quality these days. So, the kids were very kind. I got really buzzed and shared with everyone as much as possible.

People were sharing necessities like ice and water mostly, and Buds and tent stakes and lighters and girlfriends and it was an incredible vibe like none I've ever witnessed. Sounds like a little party thrown by the same guys in '69. That was their Woodstock. By all accounts, especially the band lineups, this was our Woodstock. '94s venue sucked compared to this place, although they could've called it Walkstock '99 because it was a lot of walking, but the land was flat and mostly paved. Once you were twisted you had to follow the road signs. I found myself on the wrong streets a few times over the weekend, but I could always see the control tower as a point of reference. Compared to this, '94 in Saugerties was a complete mess! Sure, Griffiss Park became a mess, but I'll get to that. I promise. Be patient.

So, it's still Friday a.m. and I'm taking my first walk around the entire site. Stopped to say "Hi!" to friends from Jabberwocky in Ithaca, NY who were vending dead-shop type novelties. It sure was great to see a familiar face or two in the Gigundo crowd. After roaming the site and taking it all in early, it was finally time for a nap around 11 a.m. Friday. It was a tedious walk back to the van, but each trip seemed a little shorter. The only problem was trying to go take a nap in the parking lot of the largest party ever.

After wading through lots of tanks and people I crashed for about 2 hours. Waking up, as I have many times in the van at festivals, it took about one second to realize where I was and start the day the second time. First I wanted to meet the neighbors. A cool couple from Long Island was parked in front of me. 2 girls from Washington were on one side selling kind beer. They also had their dogs (more stupidity). Stupidity doesn't necessarily make someone uncool, just stupid. They hardly saw any of the show, but I guess they were into the parking lot vibe. 2 more girls from Cleveland were parked on the other side and they were already partyin' when I got up. After a quick puff down I rounded up the stuff I wanted to take to the inside campsite and headed in.

The sea of people, cars, blanket vendors, and tanks grew to enormity in just a couple of hours. A sled I rigged from a large Rubbermaid lid and a piece of rope was handy as hell to drag everything in, and it worked. More prepared people had wagons, coolers on wheels, etc. I even saw some people with appliance dolly's bringin' in their stuff. You name it and it was there! So, I headed back toward the biggest concert/party in the world.

It was already over 90 degrees at 1:30 in the afternoon, and entrepreneurs were raking it in from $5.00 bags of ice and $2.00 bottles of water. In the lot, I got hooked for $10 for a 12-pack of water. Already having been inside, I knew bottled water there was $4, so I'm glad I grabbed some for the journey. Many miles later I arrived at the inside campsite. After the long walk I was surprised how easy it was to find, but that would change in the next 24 hours. My friends' tent was a welcome sight. I grabbed some nearby shade and the tone of their neighbors immediately. You know how it gets. Overheated and underwater at the closest spot where some very cool people from Jersey were camped. No one was home when I first copped some shade. After a couple minutes a huge, tattooed all over guy showed up and said relax and cool off. His name was Ozzy and his crew from Jersey was very much a part of our '99 culture.

After a long cool down, and another puff session with new friends from Jersey and North Carolina, it was time to check it out again. It took about a ½ hour to get to the west stage area. "Buck Cherry" was on at the time. What the hell were they doing at Woodstock? Cheesy band, but great stage presence and very photographic. I could think of about 50 other bands more worthy of their spot though. And what's up with this cocaine song? I thought we got over that shit in the '80s. I thought wrong. On the East stage at the same time, "Sheryl Crow" was firing up the full shred.

The East end stage would become for the rest of the night with the "Offspring," "Korn" and "Bush." Did I mention the Crow and DMX yet? I was here just fishing around at the West stage for the "Funk-P-Funk," but that's later. After "Buck Cherry" (I hate this band) was the "Roots," who were captivating with their very original hip-hop style. You know you have a phat hip-hop band when "Erika Badu" shows up to jam - and that you're at the biggest concert in the world - which might make her show up. Outstanding! These guys don't need a DJ, they create their own scratch sound. They're funky as hell and a great transition to the "Insane Clown Posse." Fuck yes!

At this point in my Woodstock experience I needed a break. Time for water, replenish the brain a little - don't forget, it was like 95 degrees and the sun was setting. It was amazing how the crowds cleared after each band at the main stages. People came to see specific bands and that was it. It's that throw away mentality that I want to see at work in 20 years, after there is nothing left to throw away. Just see what you want to see and fuck the rest. I'm glad I'll never pay $150 to see a band I could see for $35 or so in a much smaller setting, yet there were people here who came to party and see "Metallica" or "Korn" and that's it.

I'm glad I never adopted such a mentality or I would have never been exposed to "Insane Clown Posse." We've all heard controversies surrounding this band. One label (Hollywood) called it quits when their record was released for a whole four hours and then had it pulled from store shelves. Then those icons in the music biz at Island Records grabbed 'em up and put out their Island debut. I was pretty apprehensive myself when the crowd started chanting I.C.P., I.C.P., I.C.P., I.C.P., I.C.P. You had to wonder what was going to happen when these guys hit the stage. The crew set up a slightly medieval looking set, with sort of gothic overtones. Then they loaded it up with soda pop. What were these guys thinking? The most wicked stage set up I've seen since "Slayer" and they loaded it up with soda pop. The best (as they say) was yet to come.

The crowd were starting a whirl as they chanted in unison I.C.P., I.C.P., I.C.P., I.C.P., I.C.P., and then came the best freak show since Jim Rose. Colorful clowns in huge Mardie Gras type garb come out to dance on the intro. Then come our super heroes - or heroes of the moment. I don't know much about these guys except they sure gave "Korn" a run for their money on the other stage. The crowd went all out, but the pits weren't too threatening. About 10 minutes into the show I found out the deal with the soda pop. They come up with very creative ways of spewing and throwing it on the crowd. Lucky for my open mind, I gave these guys a chance and they never spewed pop in the direction of my camera once. As a matter of fact, I was able to get close enough to get a few photos without getting wrecked. I think a few of the bands that saw my fat as hell camera in the front on the crowd side of the fence gave me a little space and something to shoot. That's right, even in a crowd of this size, people are decent in front in the thick of it and gave me space to shoot some photos. Makes me proud to be there and know that our youth is getting wasted the right way. They still know what's up.

Back to the insanity. Between the Rapper's, who are obviously made up as clowns, and their DJ, who looked sorta like a brown mushroom in the middle of the stage, they were visual and real. The lyrics that were supposed to be so harming to youth were very positive and no more rebellious than lyrics of 30 years ago. Tell the kids what's up and give them direction with a groove and positive message for the future. Mission accomplished. Now it was time to get fucked up. We all heard there would be a "Parliament Funkadelics" reunion with George, Bootsy and Bernie, but I still did not believe it. I so strongly disbelieved it that I went back to the campsite for a while, only to find that my friends had come and gone and Ozzy and the guys were getting' right for the last half of the "Korn" set and "Bush" on the East stage. I'm always one for getting right, so we all enjoyed some beer and kindness and I was getting lost in the vibe.

After about an hour at the camp I was hearing "Flash Light" over the PA at the West stage and headed back. The crowd was a little thicker than I.C.P., but no pits. This meant easy maneuvering and I hope you enjoy one of the black and white shots of the band. This was it. Before I go any further, this was the coolest, kindest crowd; dance your ass to the front, side, wherever you want to go. These people made the groove that made Woodstock move. Let me hear ya say "P-Funk." Out hard and ready, the "P-Funk All Stars" were doing their P-Funk thing - you know - celebrating life, family, friends, unity, music, earth, life - hello, where have you been? These guys were the Hallmark of the '70s black movement. George and the boys electrified the nation in the '70s with their message of funkin' it up and gratefully, amazingly, the message carries forth in '99 at Woodstock. George grooved on out into the P-Funkadelic set that was coming together. A couple brothers were sketching signs on stage to narrate the setting. Celebrating the reunion of P-Funk, and George's Birthday, his fine granddaughter came out for a song of kindness and unity called "Something Stinks And I Was Some." The violinist was an incredible jammer in the set with the funkdelectady soon to be unleashed. Let me hear ya say "Bootsay." After a long calling session from George, and a frenzied crowd response, a huge, yellow and black image appeared on the right side of the stage. It was, in fact, Bootsie Collins in the flesh. I never thought I would see this again, and here was George, Bootsie, and Bernie funkin' it up at "Woodstock '99." What a Friday night - one for the history books! Sorry to give you such a condensed version of the bands, but I hope you get it. Love all, Serve all, Funk and Rock Hard.

When P-Funk was done, so was I, and headed for the van to crash. The first rave of Woodstock was kickin off, but after everything since I left home Thursday night, I needed some rest. The problem was it was still hot outside and I'm still in the middle of the biggest party ever, so it's not easy to sleep. On my journey back to the van I came across a parking lot vendor who I had met early Friday morning. This guy made $95,000 in about 11 hours in the parking lot and now he was leaving. He made his cash, as many people did, and left. I finally crashed about 3:30 to the thumping of the Rave. One day done!

Saturday at about 10 a.m. someone was knocking on the van and waking me up. Do I have any beer for sale? Sorry, but I'll give you a warm one. No thanks. Well, thanks for waking me up. The Saturday party has begun. A quick breakfast puff with the girls from Cleveland and I moved the van down closer to the wall and headed to town for supplies. The Cleveland girls came along and it was a fun ride to the wall. They wouldn't let us leave and come back with the van so I had to park it. The hike to downtown Rome was about one mile. That was fine on the way out, but the way back was rough with all our stuff. Luckily we caught a shuttle that dropped us off at the van. Awesome! The trip to town was interesting, with kids on the streets selling water to get home and all kinds of street vendors. You name it, again, you saw it. The good folks in the town of Rome welcomed concert goers with all types of original signs - in their yards, on their roofs, etc. The amount of business that came in for the event surely helped the depressed economy of Rome since the Air force base was shut down.

It doesn't seem like it would take so long to go a mile away, do some shopping, grab a bite to eat and return to the site. but by the time we hit the grocery store and the Blimpie for a sandwich, it was already about 3:30 p.m. When we returned, the girls were all stoked up to see "Dave Matthews Band." They probably had the largest crowd of any band that weekend. The East stage and the airstrip was solid with people. We got as far as the media booth at the right side of the stage and it was way too congested to get any closer. Matthews delivered with a grade "A" performance. I don't know where he found the guys in his band but they are exceptionally tight and highly talented. I only lasted for about an hour in the hot sun and huge crowd, but it was well worth it.

Time to head back toward the West stage, but not before cooling off at the alternative film fest. "Tommy" was being shown, and if I wasn't in the middle of the biggest party anywhere, I could've fallen asleep right there on the concrete floor. Not quite. Too much was happening to sleep. I walked over to the Jimi Hendrix red house exhibit. There was a jumbo-screen with Hendrix playing live. Also a 15 minute film of various historical images of Jimi merchandise including concert videos.

Then back to the West stage, which by now was known as the kinder, gentler stage - a perfect reference since Mickey Hart (former drummer for the Grateful Dead) and his band "Planet Drum" were hitting the stage. Mickey was the only performer from '69 to return for '99. "Dave Matthews Band" was tight, but "Planet Drum" was rhythmically perfect. There was a true sense of positive spirit as the band performed tracks from their new "Supralingua" CD. They flowed in and out of so many rhythms, and the girl playing the talking drum, the highlight of their set, was playing the "Grateful Dead" classic "Not Fade Away." The entire crowd was dancin' and it really felt like Woodstock.

Next up was "Rage Against The Machine" on the East stage. Another huge mass of people, with small, sporadic mosh pits that gave a break from the thick crowd if you were willing to cut through. There was no doubt who was on stage. Rage was Ragin'! I've never seen so much energy on a stage with the crowd matching in response. They were no more or less political than usual. We know they're all about politics. Hey guys, give the preaching a break - we came to party!

While I love heavy music, the "Chemical Brothers" on the West stage seemed way more like a party than "Metallica," and it was closer to the van, so I headed over to techno-central. Anyone who saw this set knows you didn't need chemicals to enjoy the mind-blowing lightening effects. This ended up being the big daddy of raves at Woodstock '99. Infectious beats and dancing bodies filled the West strip, and although Saturday night was winding down for many people, "Metallica" was firing up the East stage, and the ultimate rave with "Fat Boy Slim" was the all-nighter. Damn, I missed Saturday night live. Ha! About an hour of the rave was all I lasted and I really wanted to get some rest for day three.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday - fires, riots, violence. . . Bullshit! Let me take you through day three as it happened. I woke up to music from my new neighbors who parked after I crashed. It was already noon so I figured I'd catch a shuttle to town for ice and other replenishments to get through Monday morning. The shuttles were running really slow so I walked into town, shopped, and caught a shuttle back. I haven't mentioned the heat lately but it really never cooled off all weekend. Trudgin' across the parking lot, mile after mile, I came upon a couple guys with Djembe drums and Bob Marley playing on their stereo. It looked like a great place to rest for a minute and cool off. Good call! Cool People! The one dude runs Global Alliance for intelligent arts, producers of "Drums Around The World," an annual Worldwide drumming day held on the last Sunday in August. I was so lucky to run into such cool people. Obviously there are going to be some jerks in a city of over 250,000 and I witnessed the beginning of the end at about 2:30 p.m. while I was hangin' out with the drummers. This was when fans started tearing down the wall, breaking it into pieces and taking it with them. We watched as a couple security guys on A.T.V.s were forcing people off the wall, but think about it. A hell of a lot of people were leaving, and a few guys on A.T.V.s aren't going to stop thousands. Eventually, security was told to let them take it down. They split and the wall came down completely in a couple hours.

Here is where you find out what happened to security over the weekend. The first security person(s) I saw at "Woodstock '99" were on Friday morning around 9 a.m. in the parking lot selling wristbands for whatever they could get. Real nice! To those security people: "You thought no one would care. I care! You show a crowd of a quarter of a million people that security doesn't care on the first morning of the festival then what do you expect? What are the security companies doing with employees like this?" Event promoters only use licensed, bonded security companies and I'm sure the promoters of this event used numerous different companies to have enough peace keepers at the park. It's too damn bad that so many hired security people were bailing out on their jobs in order to join the party. I don't know how accurate this is, but I heard that on Saturday over half of the security was gone. By Sunday, these guys were just not around. Outside of the few guys on ATVs, the only other security I saw on Sunday were at the actual stages. I don't blame the actions of stupid people on the promoters. I blame it on a total lack of security presence by Sunday night.

Ah, Sunday, what a scene! The heat was still with us, but the recycling and trash people have also disappeared. The smell of rotting food permeated the food vending areas by Sunday. There were full garbage cans with huge piles of trash around them and this was pretty disgusting. The J-Jon Contractors worked all weekend suckin' out the shit. Those guys deserve a little credit for stickin' to their jobs. Enough negativity for now, back to the bands.

I only saw a few bands on Sunday, starting with "Collective Soul." Catchy pop-rock with a clean delivery, "Collective Soul" was well known enough to have the crowd singing along with many of their lyrics. After they were done there was a black and white cartoon on the big screens about the real stone age. Fred, Barney, Wilma, and Betty as hippie stoners. This film was hilarious. You've never seen Bedrock like this!

Next on the West stage was a very well received "Godsmack." Riding on the wave of their platinum debut, these guys were no rookies on a stage. Their front man, Sully Erna, does vocals, guitar, and percussion. This band had the magic, you know? The magic that sparks in a new band when everything clicks perfectly. This was the only new band at Woostock that I'll travel to see again.

Tight and crunchy, crunchy goodness. That's a good description of "Megadeth," who played next, but their crowd was definitely larger. Dave and Marty still have the magic after all these years. It must be their clean lifestyles. Heavy bands, pay attention. "Megadeth" still packs 'em in because they never lost their spark. Bottom line - they still write quality songs.

After "Megadeth," I rounded up my stuff at the campsite and took it to the van. At this point the festival site was completely falling apart. I expected people to steal the road signs and anything they could grab as souvenirs. I didn't expect to see a group of people on top of a pile of rocks with an ATM machine on top of it. They were trying to break in by smashing it with rocks. Good luck. This was the first indication of what was to come, and I saw this on the way to the van. I also ran into my friends for the first time in a couple days and I just said I'm going to see the Chili Peppers and the rave with Perry Farrell. Little did I know what was next. By the time I reached the East stage again, the "Red Hot Chili Peppers" were already on stage.

After catching only a few songs, some assholes started a fire in the yard. What for? It's still like eighty-five degrees out and there was no good reason to start a fire. Assholes! The Peppers stopped playing and Anthony asked the crowd to let the firemen in to put it out. The crowd obliged and the Peppers came back out. Guess what they played next? Their tribute to Jimi Hendrix, "Fire." I love their version, but this was not the time or place for this. There's nothing like instigating an already volatile crowd. Fires were springing up all over the place. It was so fast and the place just went to hell. I headed back to the van to wait and see if there would be a rave or not. Prior to this, the only violence I saw all weekend was one guy getting kicked out on Saturday, and a group of mud people and a group of beer drinkers getting into it about the finer points of what the spirit of "Woodstock '99" was about. It certainly was not about telling anyone else they were wrong in what they were doing. Some mud and beer cans were thrown and no big deal.

Now the cops are inside the site for the first time all weekend, and they are telling people to leave. Meanwhile, more assholes show their true colors and loot and light up a bunch of storage trailers. Guys in yellow peace keeper shirts are selling the yellow shirts. The big problem is the guy I saw also had a security laminate - that piece of shit thief!

Don't blame the Promoters! Blame the couple hundred jerks that thrashed the place. In a city of 250,000, on a Holiday weekend, I guarantee there are a couple hundred jerks causing trouble, but no city is made up entirely of '90s party culture except this one. This had the potential to be a hell of a lot worse, but it didn't happen. I was safely home by 6 a.m. Monday with memories that will last forever.

Hold On! There were two standout bands that played the Emerging Artists Stage worth mentioning. "Full Devil Jacket" was a high-energy, hard rockin' outfit. Great presence on stage and worth checking out. The other one was "John Oszajca," who had one of the most diverse bands I've ever seen. The groove was more in the mainstream rock style but he had a DJ, a female vocalist in what looked like a cheerleader outfit, and even a three-piece mariachi band. John sang and played guitar and looked like Michael Pare in "Eddie and the Cruisers." His bass player and drummer jammed like they were brothers, and this band gave us a very satisfying set. Don't ever forget quality music. With everything else that was going on all weekend, the music is still the core of it all.

To Michael Lang, Ossie Kilkenny, and John Scher, Thank You for the best weekend ever. To everyone who was there, Thank You for being a part of it. To the schmucks who caused the problems. Fuck you! Don't come to the next Woodstock. I may just be another face in the crowd at the next one, but when you show your true colors and start wreckin' the place, you are leaving if I have to subdue you and throw you out myself. Just don't show up.

I'm looking forward to seeing you other two hundred forty nine thousand, eight hundred people who were the spirit that made Woodstock what was, and is, in the true spirit of Woodstock. In my opinion, the true spirit is what the hippies in '69 showed the world. Love, caring, sharing, and respect for your fellow man. That's what it's all about, BABY!