The 50th anniversary of Woodstock is a year away. That will be a milestone for “My Generation.” Who was I back then? A “good girl” from suburbia who had just gotten her driver’s license two days before the unprecedented cultural explosion we did not yet know would define our generation. Now I am an artist (who qualifies for senior discounts) revisiting my own long and winding road to Woodstock, armed with a sketchbook, a scrapbook, and always tuned in to quirky facts that amplify what was simply billed as “three days of peace and music.” As we now all know, it was so much more.
I live just 60 miles, or one hour, from this hallowed hippie ground, yet I had never even done a drive-by. Last December I visited the museum dedicated to all things Woodstock, and down the rabbit hole I went. I wandered the exhibits and started to think about who, and where, I was when Woodstock took control of the zeitgeist of a troubled, yet hopeful America.
By The Time I Got To Woodstock is the illustrated memoir I am immersed in, determined to finish in time for the 50th anniversary.
Rock icons Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Jim Morrison died, all at age 27 (all drug-related), soon after Woodstock. According to Michael Lang’s The Road to Woodstock: “The Doors were at the top of our list, but since Jim Morrison’s arrest in Miami in March, he’d become really paranoid. He told his booking agent he didn’t want to play Woodstock for fear of being assassinated onstage.”
Today is the anniversary of Morrison’s death—July 3, 1971. He was in a bathtub in Paris, and I was in the ocean at Stone Harbor, NJ. It was the summer before I moved to New York City to go to art school and (I thought) become a fashion designer.
What I didn’t know then was that what I really wanted to do was draw. And eventually, archive memories.
This summer I get to do both.
art & text copyright Sharon Watts 2018
Dirndl Skirt Gatherings 
I enjoyed reading this and the art work is GREAT. I love your style. Love,Mom xoxo..
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I’ve come a long way from those Beatle portraits!
Beautiful my dear
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Thank you!
Looking forward to what’s ahead.
V.A., thanks for weighing in!
This brings back lots of memories of a different time and place when we were all trying to figure out our place in the world. I think that one of the best things about getting older is that I have a much better sense of who I am. Love the picture. It’s so true that people are strange only when you are a stranger.
Thanks, Sheryl! If we’re lucky, things fall into place and we can enjoy the perspective, too, on where we came from and who we were 🙂 AND are now.
What a great idea. I love the drawing you shared. I’m finding the music of my youth (especially mr. leather pants morrison) is a great addition when having sex. I’ve written about that. Just can’t beat our generations music. I can close my eyes and it’s music porn (in a good way). https://sexover60.wordpress.com/
Glad you liked it! And as for your point, there’s nothing like Marvin Gaye! But, he wasn’t at Woodstock 🙂 Also, the music conjures up a lot of memories and associations that can add (or subtract) to “sex over 60.”