My Music Memories - Chuck Hickok '69

by Chuck Hickok '69

The crowning event of the "Flower Power" era of the late '60s had to be Woodstock, the gargantuan outdoor music festival in upstate New York during August of 1969, the summer we graduated from high school. That historical celebration of the counterculture, dubbed "Three Days of Peace and Music," typlified what an extraordinary time it was to be an adventurous and free-spirited teenager.

From Woodstock69.com: "True believers still call Woodstock the capstone of an era devoted to human advancement. Cynics say it was a fitting, ridiculous end to an era of naivete. Then there are those who say it was just a hell of a party."

I loved the music and the message of Woodstock and it will always remind me of that transitional summer from high school to college, and points beyond. (My time of "leaving the nest," so to speak.)

Here, in no particular order, are some of the rock and roll tunes that always take me back to those wide-eyed high school days leading up to that magical summer:

• Spencer Davis Group, "Gimme Some Lovin'"
• Buffalo Springfield, "For What It's Worth"
• Moody Blues, Days of Future Passed LP with "Nights In White Satin"
• The Who, "Won't Get Fooled Again"
• Procol Harem, "Whiter Shade of Pale"
• Rolling Stones, the Beggar's Banquet album with "Sympathy For the Devil" and "Street Fighting Man"
• Jefferson Airplane, "Somebody To Love" and "White Rabbit"
• Beatles, 1968, "Hey Jude" plus The White
Album and 1969, the Abbey Road LP with "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and "Carry That Weight"
• The Doors, "Light My Fire," "Back Door Man," "The End" and "Roadhouse Blues" (1970)
• AND Jimi Hendrix, the "Are You Experienced" and "Electric Ladyland" albums.

Hendrix never ceased to amaze me and when I finally saw him in concert (spring, 1970 at the old OU Fieldhouse --- just a few months before his death), I was totally blown away! I couldn't believe some of the things he could do with a guitar, left-handed and with an upside down Fender Stratocaster, no less.

He was one of my favorites during that freshman year at college when Carlos Castaneda ("A Separate Reality"), Zap Comics and black light concert posters were cool. I'll always remember with great fondness that year of insanity in Walker Tower and songs like "Hey Joe," "The Wind Cries Mary," "Voodoo Child" and "All Along The Watchtower." Insanity, you muse? Just go ask Alice when she's ten feet tall...

The attached photo was taken at a "Torch" Yearbook Staff party for graduating senior members, May 20, 1968 (at the residence of Patty Perryman, class of '70). I'm the one at the bottom, and clockwise from me are other junior staff members (class of '69) Eleanor Weisman, Bill Russell and Janet Morgan. Hope you can use this.

- Chuck Hickok '69
La Mesa, CA
November 24, 2002

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