Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 15, 1994 TAG: 9408150078
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LEONARD PITTS JR. KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
DATELINE: SAUGERTIES, N. Y. LENGTH: Medium
State police sealed off the site from all incoming traffic save for shuttle buses; intermittent rain created an 840-acre ocean of mud; officials were openly worrying that continued rain and an expected drop in temperature would create a perfect environment for mass hypothermia; and as the music wound down early this morning, there were fears it could take survivors more than 24 hours to leave the area.
All of which, of course, will only help secure the festival's place in music lore, romanticized and mythologized as surely and as ruthlessly as its predecessor was.
Of course, the prevailing feeling on Sunday was that romance and myth will have to wait awhile.
First, there were more immediate concerns: food, shelter, waste management and the intricacies of navigating a field of chocolate-brown glop so slippery it challenges your balance at every step and so thick it sucks your foot down and tries to claim your shoe. Indeed, there was no small amount of discarded footwear among the litter of the field.
``If I knew it would be like this, I wouldn't have come,'' said D.J. Thies, a 24-year-old Miami man who recently graduated from the University of Miami business school.
``This was supposed to be my last blowout before heading into the real world, you know? Hasn't really lived up to any expectations we all had. I mean, I had a good time, but I hurt my knee just walking through the mud. It kind of went downhill from there.''
The music, however, brought no complaints from any direction.
Sets by big acts such as the Spin Doctors, Arrested Development, Primus and the Allman Brothers Band drew adjectives like ``awesome'' and ``outstanding.'' The Neville Brothers brought their sound - a spicy Louisiana gumbo - to the south stage, weaving bayou magic before a meadow bright with waving banners.
It's just that there were fewer raves for conditions in general.
``It was pretty ugly,'' said Jay Phillips, 27, a grocery store worker from Seattle. ``The food was garbage. They say you can't bring your food in, and the stuff they're serving is just disgusting. If it wasn't for vitamins, I wouldn't have gotten any real food all weekend.''
``There's a lot of weirdos out here,'' groused Noel Hernandez, 30, of Bridgeport, Conn., who works for a company that makes intimate apparel. ``People walking around naked like they were walking through the park. All the mud people sliding down the hills.''
Stephanie Corona, 19, had a complaint, too. ``A lot of people are selling fake acid,'' confided the college student from Frederick, Md., disgustedly. ``There wasn't enough good acid going around.''
Then too, there was general anger that Woodstock '94 turned into a free concert after the crush of people at the gates and the fierceness of the rain prompted ticket-takers to stop taking tickets.
It was a stroke of luck for those not holding tickets, but left those who paid $135 a pop feeling a mite peeved.
``I think it sucks that they let all these people in that didn't pay and the rest of us had to pay,'' said Corona.
by CNB