The event was chronicled in the 1970 documentary film "Woodstock," as well as the accompanying soundtrack album. It became a historic event not only because of the musicians who played and the huge numbers in attendance, but also because of the lack of violence for such an enormous gathering. On the third day, an intensive rain and lightning storm drenched the area; people kept celebrating in the mud. Levitan, who was there for the final two days, was pictured in Life Magazine during the downpour, with a group of kids standing out of the rain underneath a sheet of plywood. "When I got back to Kennedy Airport, I had missed my flight, but I connected with another one and flew to Israel," he related. It was during the flight over the Atlantic Ocean, that Levitan discovered his picture in Life. "It was an international issue, and I remember thinking, ‘Oh boy, I hope my parents don't see this,'" he grinned. "And then my next thought was, ‘Well, maybe I'm not in the domestic edition.' "
Micronesia RPCV Bob Levitan remembers Woodstock
A concert to remember ... if only he could
By CURT SYNNESS - Independent Record -
08/21/09
Caption: Life - This scan of a photo that was published in a 1969 issues of Life magazine shows Bob Levitan (with hat and glasses) at Woodstock. The original caption read, "Using their heads, a group find shelter under a sheet of plywood."
This week marks the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, and at least one Helenan was there, although he remembers very little about the experience.
"I could say, yeah, I remember some of the acts, or that I remember watching Jimi Hendrix play the national anthem, but it wouldn't be true," admitted Bob Levitan, 57. "I just can't recall hardly anything, other than being there. But you know, I've seen the (Woodstock) movie so many times, it's almost as if the memories are mine. But they aren't."
What Levitan does know is that he ran away from home in the summer of 1969. Scheduled to start his senior year at Helena High that fall, the 17-year-old instead bought a plane ticket for the East Coast with intentions of going to Israel.
"I made it to New York City and had a ticket for Israel," Levitan recalled. "I went downtown looking for some ‘real hippies,' and sure enough, I found them. They were going to a concert in upstate New York, so I went along for the ride. Of course, no one knew at that time that it would turn into the epitome of all rock concerts."
The Woodstock concert took place on a 600-acre dairy farm, between the towns of Bethel and Woodstock, from Aug. 15 to 18, 1969. During the four days of festivities, 32 acts performed outdoors in front of a crowd that unexpectedly increased to about 400,000 people.
Some of the bigger names performing were Santana, Janis Joplin, Sly and the Family Stone, Jefferson Airplane, Joni Mitchell, Richie Havens, Joe Cocker, Joan Baez, Canned Heat, Country Joe and the Fish, Arlo Guthrie, Hendrix and the newly formed Crosby, Stills and Nash.
The event was chronicled in the 1970 documentary film "Woodstock," as well as the accompanying soundtrack album. It became a historic event not only because of the musicians who played and the huge numbers in attendance, but also because of the lack of violence for such an enormous gathering.
On the third day, an intensive rain and lightning storm drenched the area; people kept celebrating in the mud. Levitan, who was there for the final two days, was pictured in Life Magazine during the downpour, with a group of kids standing out of the rain underneath a sheet of plywood.
"When I got back to Kennedy Airport, I had missed my flight, but I connected with another one and flew to Israel," he related.
It was during the flight over the Atlantic Ocean, that Levitan discovered his picture in Life. "It was an international issue, and I remember thinking, ‘Oh boy, I hope my parents don't see this,'" he grinned. "And then my next thought was, ‘Well, maybe I'm not in the domestic edition.' "
The very same photo appears in both the "Best of Life," and Life's 25th Woodstock Anniversary editions.
Levitan spent four months in Israel, working on a kibbutz - an Israeli collective agricultural community - picking oranges, bananas and cotton.
He returned to the States and his hometown that December, and was able to graduate from HHS in the spring of 1970, despite missing almost a third of the school year.
Since then he served a three-year stint in Micronesia with the Peace Corps and earned a degree in geology from the University of Montana. Levitan has worked for the state of Montana for the past 20 years, and is also in the process of obtaining a nursing certification.
He described telling his Woodstock story many times over the past four decades, but has yet to meet anyone in Helena who was also at the concert.
"There certainly could be someone else here who was there, but I haven't met them yet," he said.
And if he ever does, perhaps they could fill him in on what he missed.
Reporter Curt Synness: 449-2150 or curt52s@bresnan.net.
