In 1970, firmly into my life's fascination with music, I was sitting in a theater absorbing the Woodstock movie. I was knew about the event, after all, the MSM was overhyping the Peace, Love and Understanding movement.
The Richie Havens segment in the movie was stunning and put the WNEW-FM favorite in an entirely new light. While his songs and interpretations were already first class, what got me was how hard he worked in his performance. When sweat pours off me, like it did on Havens in that scene, I'm working my ass off. I never saw a performer work like that, nor a guitarist strum that intensely. I wouldn't be surprised if his fingers were bleeding. The segment ends with Haywood rising from the stool and capers off the stage still playing, his guitar drifting away like the fade ending a record.
That is the way I would like to remember Richie, putting it all into his trade. We should all have his passion in what we do. Richie Havens has now found the "Freedom" that a peaceful Eternity brings.
He captured a moment when Music was the way we found out our messages. He was a snapshot of how a voice, guitar and a belief was the Facebook of the late 1960s. In the short time between Woodstock and Altamont, when we really believed it could happen.
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