Despite a dearth of creature comforts compounded by rain, the mud, hovel-like overcrowding with attendant poor sanitation, and paucity of comestibles, a sense of camaraderie and intimacy pervaded this crowd of nearly half a million souls' in quest of some ineffable musical experience. Legends came: Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Joe Cocker, Blood Sweat and Tears, Ravi Shankar, the great Hendrix, the list too long to print. It was the end of a decade of anti-war revolution on college campuses from infamous riots at Berkeley to the even more disgraceful events at Kent State. And yet it ushered in an epoch of peace and love and non-violence by this "hippie" generation. It was the summer of 69'……1969 that is, and I am referring to Woodstock. Decades later many attendees wistfully recount satisfying their amorphous craving for transcendence…..but the more remarkable thing about this historic event, is despite the traffic jams, bad weather, and every other conceivable logistical nightmare, there was practically no violence.
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