Remembering Woodstock: Jefferson Airplane : Rolling Stone

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Jefferson Airplane

Grace Slick: I have a bladder the size of a dime, and I couldn't go to the bathroom all night. I'm real fastidious. I like toilets that flush. I like showers with plenty of water pressure. I'm kind of a spoiled brat, but it didn't bother me at the time. We all thought it was funny. And the audience was the same way, despite the fact that they were in the mud and there were about twenty outhouses way the hell across the other side of the field.

We'd been up all night, and I sang the goddamned songs with my eyes closed, sort of half-asleep and half singing. We could have probably played better if we'd been more awake, but part of the charm of rock & roll is that sometimes you are ragged. Fuck it. You don't like it, leave.

Paul Kantner: We always, liked to go into water of untested depth, so we went to Woodstock with open minds. And it was fucked up, which was good. If it had been a total New York hype and completely organized, then it would have been really fucked up. But the sense of chaos and anarchy — two of my favorite words — prevailed and made it what it was. No fences, no security, none of that shit.

I got high on acid, walked around, hung out. People were setting up tents and campfires, cooking, swimming and dancing. It was like a children's crusade. And it was a great social experiment. It simply hadn't happened before. It was akin to white-water rafting in that you never know what's around the next bend and you're not even worried about it because you're too busy pushing yourself off the rocks.

Marty Balin: I was drunk, and I passed out on the roof of some automobile in a car caravan. When I woke up, I was at Woodstock. At the hotel, I played poker with the other musicians to pass the time. I remember Janis was winning most of the time. Janis, Hendrix, the Who, Sly, Crosby, Stills and Nash — all kinds of people would sit in for a few hands, then it was "Okay, the helicopter's leaving. Time to go." It was fun. People playing cards, jamming, partying. It was fun. People playing cards, jamming, partying. It was kind of like a fraternity rush.

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