Woodstock gears up for 40th anniversary -- china.org.cn

Their hair may be going grey, and they may move a little slower, but Woodstock fans are gearing up for the legendary music festival's 40th anniversary. Organizers of the 1969 rock concert were in New York City on Thursday promoting "Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music", the four-hour director's cut of the 1970s documentary about the festival, which features rare and never-before-seen footage.

The rare footage, which will be released by Warner Home Video on Blu-ray and DVD, includes an extra 2 hours of performances by 13 groups including Santana, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Joan Baez, Canned Heat and Sha Na Na.

Joel Rosenman, 1969 Woodstock Festival Producer, said, "It's an interesting historical look at the context of the festival as well as the festival."

The iconic 3-day festival was held from August 15 to August 18, 1969 at Max Yasgur's dairy farm in the rural town of Bethel, in New York. It is now regarded as one of the greatest moments in the history of popular music. More than 500-thousand young people converged on the rain-soaked farm to attend the event, which became symbolic of the slogan, "Make love, not war".

Joel Rosenman said, "Today Woodstock has an opportunity to let people know that we're as a planet facing issues that are in a way more threatening than the ones we were facing in 1969. The fact that you're not being drafted to fight in Iraq or Afghanistan, does not mean it is not important to pay attention to Iraq and Afghanistan. Woodstock has to find a way to make the issues facing this planet, even though they mature 200 years from now, we have to find a way to the action that's needed, urgent today."

Fans hoping for an anniversary concert, however, shouldn't hold their breath.

Michael Lang, 1969 Woodstock Festival Producer, said, "It's a tough year for those kinds of events. We want to do something free and the economy is difficult. So it may or may not happen. But that would have been nice."

With just over 2 months until the anniversary, 64 year old Lang agrees he's running out of time.

(CCTV June 6, 2009)