Woodstock

There are roughly half a million valid Woodstock stories, personal ones of lives transformed by the three days of peace, love, drugs, music and mud experienced by the masses who made their way to Max Yasgur's Catskills dairy farm for the legendary festival in the summer of '69. Director Ang Lee has chosen just one for "Taking Woodstock," a meticulously rendered and achingly authentic portrait of a time and a place that is, by turns, sweeping and...

Richie Havens, the veteran folk singer whose frenetic guitar strumming and impassioned vocals made him one of the defining voices and faces of Woodstock and 1960s pop music, died Monday of a heart attack at his home in Jersey City, N.J. He was 72. His death was confirmed by his booking agent, Tim Drake. The Brooklyn native with the powerful ripsaw voice galvanized rock fans as the opening act at Woodstock, the festival billed as "Three Days of Peace and Music" in upstate New York in August 1969.

Michael Ramirez's cartoon, "You reap what you sow" (July 29), was so off the mark that I almost missed the obviousness of his message. Blaming the youth of the 1960s for the youth of the 1990s is an easy conservative stance that conveniently excludes three decades of radical change in American culture and industry. The original Woodstock's relatively peaceful gathering was a far cry from the media-saturated, advertiser-bloated, $150-a-ticket monstrosity of its namesake. A gaggle of miscreants, in what was essentially an untroubled crowd, behaved violently, the media sensationalized the incidents and the "summer of love" got blamed; what tripe.

At the Woodstock music festival in 1969, the British blues-rock band Ten Years After burst onto the U.S. music scene with a searing rendition of "I'm Going Home" featuring the fleet-fingered Alvin Lee whaling away on guitar. When the "Woodstock" documentary was released the next year, the band's 11-minute version of the song - and Lee's guitar virtuosity - were regarded as a highlight. His speedy, taut playing would earn him the unofficial title of "the fastest guitar in the West.

A feature-length film capturing Jimi Hendrix's extended 1969 performance at Woodstock will be screened in theaters starting later this month for the first time. “Hendrix 70: Live at Woodstock” includes 14 performances such as his rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “Purple Haze” featured in the original “Woodstock” theatrical film, plus “Spanish Castle Magic,” “Red House”  and “Lover Man” and “Izabella,” “Fire” and “Villanova Junction” as Hendrix introduced his new band, Gypsy Sun & Rainbows.

Graham's lament over the devirginization of rock 'n' roll was heart-wrenching. No doubt Graham cried bitter tears as he packed them in at the Cow Palace during the '70s and early '80s. Woodstock didn't change rock music from an art form into a corporate industry: The promoters did. NICOLE DILLENBERG Glendale

As the 25th anniversary of "Three Days of Peace and Music" nears, some say that too much has been made of the musical lovefest that took place Aug. 15-17, 1969, near Bethel, N.Y. If it were up to them, the nostalgia would fade away. And that's just the musicians who performed there. Steve Hochman talks to Joan Baez, Carlos Santana and some of the other artists who are willing to remember the cultural milestone.

I'm sick of Woodstock. I hope the reunion is a financial disaster so we'll never see another one. With the Cal Jam and Us festivals, the six-figure-attendance rock extravaganzas have been done to death. But, just like the overpriced concert tours this summer, this anniversary has to be milked for every dollar possible. (I like the Eagles, though. They were worth every cent of the $12.50 I paid to see them in '79.) Wood$tock, indeed. Hey, where can I get one of those hats? How about a T-shirt?

I enjoyed Randy Lewis' album review ("Groovy Sounds, Again," Aug. 9). In late June Sony/Legacy released a series of Woodstock recordings titled "The Woodstock Experience" featuring complete sets by Johnny Winter, Santana, Sly & the Family Stone, Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin. Joplin's set is a revelation. It's a shame the Who's set has not been released; I have the bootleg of their performance, and it's quite good. Greg Stanford Sherman Oaks

A feature-length film capturing Jimi Hendrix's extended 1969 performance at Woodstock will be screened in theaters starting later this month for the first time. “Hendrix 70: Live at Woodstock” includes 14 performances such as his rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “Purple Haze” featured in the original “Woodstock” theatrical film, plus “Spanish Castle Magic,” “Red House”  and “Lover Man” and “Izabella,” “Fire” and “Villanova Junction” as Hendrix introduced his new band, Gypsy Sun & Rainbows.

The camp has grown so big that it needs addresses. Debates are held at No. 199 Tent Blvd. Haircuts are on the house at Benny Zeevi's flower-decked tent, where the motto is "Life is beautiful, love will prevail. " There's even newspaper delivery, including a pile of financial papers plunked down on the sidewalk next to a tent with a "People Before Profits" sign. Photos: Tel Aviv tent town Part Woodstock, part boot camp, Tel Aviv's burgeoning protest encampment has become a small-scale experiment in a utopian society and a challenge to the established social order.

In a celebration of some of the greatest moments in rock history on film, the American Cinematheque holds a three-day rock documentary fest, including a Rolling Stones double feature Thursday of Stephen Kijak's "Stones in Exile" and the Maysles brothers' "Gimme Shelter." Also showing: D.A. Pennebaker's "Monterey Pop," Mel Stuart's "Wattstax" and the director's cut of Michael Wadleigh's "Woodstock." Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica. 7:30 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. Check website for prices.

Inglourious Basterds Universal, $29.98/$34.98; Blu-ray, $39.98 Cannes audiences largely dismissed Quentin Tarantino's long-gestating World War II adventure, but actual moviegoers and a brilliant marketing campaign turned this talky, unusual action picture into a surprise hit. It's heartening to know that a slow-building story (more than half of which isn't even in English) about cartoonish Nazi-hunting soldiers, tragic cinéastes and the perils of propaganda can win over crowds expecting a bloody romp.

At first, an Illinois chiropractor was miffed when he opened a shipment of supplies last week and noticed tufts of fur. Then he spotted a black-and-white cat that had hitched a ride from Texas. "My first reaction was, I didn't know what kind of animal he was, so I closed the box back up," said Brett St. Aubin, clinic director at Chiro One Wellness Center in Woodstock, Ill. The stowaway's collar identified him as Cody, 2. The cat had jumped unnoticed into the roughly 2-by-3-foot box as it was being packed, said Marie Webster of Dallas, whose daughter is Cody's owner.

Oscar-winning director Ang Lee, attending the Hong Kong premiere of "Taking Woodstock" on Wednesday, said his next project will be an adaptation of Canadian writer Yann Martel's bestselling novel "Life of Pi." The fable about a boy and a tiger who survive a shipwreck won Britain's most prestigious literary award, the Booker Prize, in 2002. Lee said he is still working on the script. Lee told reporters he's baffled by the poor box-office results of "Taking Woodstock," which had earned $7.45 million in the United States as of Tuesday, according to the tracking website Box Office Mojo.

Shaun Duffy and Sophia Costas never suspected they'd chosen a career path that would eventually require them to find 6,000 people willing to grow out their body hair. "A lot of the looking for extras in 'Taking Woodstock' was about hair," said Costas, who, along with Duffy, served as extras casting director on director Ang Lee's new film about the landmark music and cultural event. "We couldn't have any really short haircuts. And because several people appear nude in the movie, we also had to make sure that they had hair in all the right places!"

Rock 'n' roll is in the air this weekend as the American Cinematheque screens a Frank Zappa double feature: 1971's "200 Motels " and 1979's " Baby Snakes" tonight at the Aero Theatre. And on Friday the Aero will show a new 35-millimeter print of director Michael Wadleigh's cut of his 1970 Oscar-winning "Woodstock ," with an introduction by Hal Lifson, pop culture historian and author of "1966! The Coolest Year in Pop Culture History." www.americancinematheque.com 'Night Flight' salute Meanwhile, the Don't Knock the Rock 2009 festival winds up tonight at the Silent Movie Theatre with a tribute to "Night Flight," the seminal late-night show from 1981 that included music videos, short films, cartoons, interviews, concerts and cult movies.