When Sha Na Na opened for Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock: ‘Hippies thought they were on a bummer!’

(via yahoo music) by Lyndsey Parker

When most classic rock fans think of the original Woodstock festival, held a half-century ago in Bethel, New York, certain iconic rock stars probably spring to mind. Grateful Dead. Janis Joplin. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Joe Cocker. Sly Stone. And, of course, Jimi Hendrix.

Sha Na Na probably don’t spring to mind.

But the kitschy ‘50s revival act, who’d originally formed as an a cappella group at Columbia University in the late 1960s at the height of hippie counterculture, and had only played seven previous gigs, were unlikely breakout stars at Woodstock ’69 — after the virtual unknowns secured a prime slot right before Hendrix’s weekend-closing set on Aug. 18, 1969. And they went down in history as one of the coolest, most unique acts on the bill. “We were certainly against the grain at Woodstock,” says founding Sha Na Na member Jocko Marcellino.

And incredibly, this was all thanks to Hendrix himself, who discovered Sha Na Na at a Hell’s Kitchen nightclub called Steve Paul’s Scene and convinced Woodstock promoters Michael Lang and Artie Kornfeld to book them for the festival…

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/when-sha-na-na-opened-for-jimi-hendrix-at-woodstock-they-thought-they-were-on-a-bummer-040000126.html?guccounter=1

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