the buzz log

Welcome back to the Age of Aquarius.

The 1969 music fair of Woodstock, New York, lasted only three days, but its aura as a musical turning point, a generational uprising, and a countercultural shift has persisted for 40 years. With its ruby anniversary this week—though no official 2009 fair—the event is inducing extended flashbacks and commercial hysteria. Below, just some of the buzz Woodstock still delivers.

What's This Love City?
It's not just AARP card-holders in a Woodstock haze. Searches into the "woodstock" phenomena (up 354% to make the top 2,500 terms on Yahoo!) come from kids, as well as adults trying to recapture the love fest. Older folks have been twice as likely to reminisce about "woodstock 1969." What the kids are looking up: What's this faded breed called "hippies"?

Talkin' About My Generation Gap
Woodstock gave '60s America more than Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin at their peak. It defined what the Mercury News calls the "moment when youth culture crystallized in the 1960s." The festival is also inspiring surveys about today's social gaps. Good news, according to the Pew report: There's not much of a gap between the old and young, and rock leads musical tastes. Bad news: Race and class struggles continue.

Selling Woodstock Boogie
Counterculture quickly translated into consumer culture, and that hasn't changed. The 40-year psychedelic flashback has so far hashed out a documentary, rockumentary, an Ang Lee movie, the festival producer's memoir, a $600 limited-edition book set, and a six-CD box set for $79.98. (Yes, CDs, and your parents would've lucky to have them.)

Purple Haze of Memories
No shortage of mindtrips about the event. For a shot at collective consciousness, the 400,000-some attendees (and wannabes) can piece together that "singular moment" through Woodstock site's cozy social networking and WikiStock.

More unreliable memories can rely upon Woodstock producer Mike Lang's recollection via a book excerpt from Rolling Stone, or on two opposing "I Was There" perspectives: NYT's reflection on the festival's "muddy grace" and Newsweek's dour take on the "massive, teeming, squalid mess." An interesting read: a July 23, 1969 Boston Phoenix article, which asked, "Can a Pop festival, in its first year, find happiness and success as a 'three-day festival of peace and music'?"

Dance to the Music
Above and beyond all was the music. The Brisbane Times' "Where Are They Now" checks up on the acts' current careers, and the Los Angeles Times covers the brotherhood that continues among the surviving brethren. Below, the artists who still put out celestial vibes 40 years later.

1. Jimi Hendrix
2. The Who
3. Santana
4. Grateful Dead
5. Janis Joplin
6. Creedence Clearwater Revival
7. Sweetwater
8. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
9. Joe Cocker
10. Joan Baez
11. The Band
12. Jefferson Airplane
13. Arlo Guthrie
14. Richie Havens
15. Ravi Shankar

Filed under: Concerts, Music, History

Important safety tip: Do not do anything stupid or violent in the presence of Tim McGraw. If you do, there is an excellent chance he will pull you up on to the stage by your belt and shove you into the waiting arms of security.

Such an incident transpired at a recent concert. An audience member apparently struck a woman. Whether on purpose or accidental, we're not sure. What we do know is that Mr. McGraw did not like what he saw. After motioning for security, the leather-vested singer personally yanked the offending fan on to the stage and tossed him over to a collection of burly guards with a look of disdain normally reserved for stepped-in dog feces.

Video of the dustup soon hit the Web and searchers went wild. Lookups for "tim mcgraw" surged 181% and related terms like "tim mcgraw fight" and "tim mcgraw concert" spiked enormously. Newspapers, websites, and blogs picked up on the story and recapped it blow-by-blow. People magazine notes that "the man and McGraw seemed ready to get into a full-fledged fracas, with McGraw cocking his fist back as if to throw a punch." iVillage explains that after the ruckus, Tim "went right on singing." A consummate gentleman and a true professional—no wonder wife Faith Hill wants him all to herself.

Filed under: Concerts, Country Music

Coachella is one of the biggest music festivals in the country. People of all ages travel to the California desert to see the biggest acts perform. In other words, it's kind of a big deal. And it all happens this weekend.

As you read this, the young and fearless are loading up their cars for three days of rock, roll, and overpriced bottled water. Searches on "coachella" recently jumped 31% and will continue to climb through the weekend. Not surprisingly, Californians are most interested in the festival, but Texas and Arizona are also hitting the Search box in droves.

The lineup, as always, is impressive. On stage will be great acts like Prince, Portishead, Death Cab for Cutie, Fatboy Slim, and Roger Waters. Also performing will be Jack Johnson. Searches on all the performers are on an upswing, but Mr. Johnson leads the pack for reasons we're loath to explain.

Johnson or no, Coachela is a hot ticket. But what if you don't have the means to attend? Fortunately the handy-dandy Web has you covered. This article from USA Today explains that AT&T will be broadcasting portions of the show on its "Blue Room" web site. You can enjoy the musical stylings of the acts without the heat stroke. Huzzah!

Filed under: Concerts