The Who are captured forever at the height of their power. Alvin Lee and Ten Years After are also on hand for posterity and a killer blues jam. Janis Joplin sings her heart out, a woman who always gave 200 percent on stage. Yes, these were hard livin', hard rockin' people. They didn't phone it in. Their music grabs you by the collar and screams in your face, "Wake up!"

It seems that since the 60s faded away under a mountain of polyester and other synthetic material, that the world has been replaced by a race of somnambulists. My own personal theory is that technology has made us complacent, comfortable. Maybe CDs have some great innovations, but you had to get up out of your chair to turn over a record. You could see the music in the grooves, the soft parts and the loud parts. Now all you see is your own reflection in a piece of silver plastic.

Luckily we have the ability to record events, thereby preserving not only visible and audible records of ourselves, but almost by accident, examples of what we used to be. It may seem silly to some that these longhaired hedonists say things like "Groovy!" and "Far out!" Mike Myers made a million bucks off of his own twisted version of that attitude.

This is what always happens. The mainstream culture options the counter-culture. It gets hammered and stamped into a thousand shapes, sold like candy. Consumers eat it up because they are too lazy or too disinterested in their own time to look past the slick surface.

I have another theory. People don't really need culture. They just need distraction. The more substance you give them, the less they will like it. For these people, life is a smooth ride down a freshly paved highway with the occasional drive-thru for a cheeseburger. It's a kind of lifestyle that separates one from the earth. These people should just get out and walk under the trees, across the fields. I know it's a big step. It's kind of scary at first, to be without direction, without a map or even an I-pod.

Yes, it was tough being a young hippie in a small town, but I walked everywhere then, even to the library. Even to school! I had my music waiting at home, but the songs were in my head all day. Woodstock was one heck of a concert, but even more than that it's an attitude that you can take with you wherever you go.