Author:
stvinfl (Good Experiences)
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Date Posted: 20:45:56 08/15/09 Sat
The summer of 1973 and especially Watkins Glen was a fantastic experience. At 17, I just graduated high school and my summer job before college was painting an apartment for a lady when my bests friends older brother (all of 22) asked me if I wanted to tag along. After talking my parents into it and getting time off to attend the concert from my lady employer we set out on our adventure. I had a $100 in my pocket and from Westchester County it took a full day riding with 6 other friends in some guys moms sedan.
I remember us having a couple of baggies of weed to split among us (Mexican was all we could get at $20 per oz (remember 4 finger ounce bags of crap mex weed – seed stems and all). While we rode in the car we passed the time rolling all that weed into joints. So most of what I remember was thru the eyes and brain of a stoned zombie for about a week. I remember us getting up there a several days early before the roads became too crowded because I remember parking and setting up camp on the back roads near the concert site. Being fresh out of school, I was amazed at the goings on around me. The couples in the next tent couldn’t get enough of each other screwing each other out in the open oblivious to us guys watching. Drugs were everywhere for sale – pot, hash, opium etc. (My almost worst drug experience was buying what was ‘advertised’ as acid – I was immobile for hours). I remember the guys across the dirt road trashing their car, actually taking a hammer to the body, wind shield, engine –it wasn’t going anywhere after they were done with it.
I remember it was only a short walk to the concert grounds. On advise from our older friend, we set up camp at about the 1st tower of speakers cause he said it would be a madhouse to be any closer. We made a perimeter around our ‘base’ camp using boxes of water jugs. That worked out well cause we or our neighbors were never without water for the duration. I think we were prepared cause we had a cooler with food and liquor. I remember one of my friends saying to put on a nice shirt to ‘get a girl’. That didn’t last long as, due to the sun and heat we were shirtless for much of the day (and what a sunburn we got).
I wasn’t a dead head or into the Allman brothers before then but of course, the music was fantastic - although I remember getting bored when each band member did an extended solo on their guitar or drums, so we passed the time dancing by ourselves or with the people around us, drinking and smoking (we each had a cigarette pack full of joints – so much so that by the end of the show we were trading joints for cigarettes).
Of course we didn’t have the foresight to bring ponchos or a tarp (neither did anyone else around us) so we just grinned and bared it when it started to rain (and did it ever pour – although we did protect the pot from getting wet). After the rain, people were stripping and wringing out their clothes. It was then, when the crowd started to thin that a couple of us went to see how close we could get to the stage. We did get fairly close and stayed there for a while listening to the music but we were in the middle of a mud pond at the foot of the stage with thousands of other wet muddy people. People were covered with mud from head to toe and it didn’t seem to matter to them. It didn’t for us ether as we were realizing that that day was a once in a lifetime experience (they don’t put on outdoor concerts like that any more – such a shame). I don’t know how we ever found our way back to our ‘base camp’ but we did. I remember taking gallons of water jugs and giving each other jug o’ water showers – stripping down to our underwear to get ourselves reasonably clean.
The trip to the port-o-johns was another experience! They were along the side of the fields and each one was overflowing with shit, up to the seat. Waiting with the throngs of other people waiting to use the john I was grossed out and disgusted when I realized I had to place my feet on either side of the seat and stand (squat) to take a dump. I think I used my underwear to wipe myself. (sorry for that last thought)
The concert was over too soon – we stayed around for another day or so while the rest of the crowd thinned out. I remember sitting on the hood of my friends car smoking a joint while he followed the long line of other cars leaving. A TV reporter snapped my picture. I wish I could find out who we was or where my picture is cause damn, it we didn’t bring a camera (another regret).
I was in 8th grade when Woodstock happened. When by chance I googled Watkins Glen 73 and found this site, I was pleasantly surprised people have recollections of this event as well. I’m glad I could share my experiences here. Would I do it again - in a heart beat !!
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