The first time I saw and heard Richie Havens was at the infamous Woodstock Music and Art Fair at Bethel, New York on August 15, 1969. This was a pivotal moment for me and was an amazing transition to adulthood.

I had recently graduated from high school in Highland Park, New Jersey and I was soon to be on my way to one of the only colleges that would have me. It was located in central Kansas and I felt lucky that any school would accept me.

Ritchie Havens was the first performer on the first day of the festival. This was long before we knew that the enormity of this concert had made the front page of The New York Times.

I witnessed a black man wearing a dashiki, sweating profusely, playing guitar and singing accompanied by another guitarist and a conga player. Was this folk music? Was it Rock? Well it didn’t matter because on that late Friday afternoon my heart and soul were affected in a way like they were never touched before. This was all so different from my previous experiences.

He was strumming the guitar and dancing around the stage inviting us to share his spiritual awakening playing before a half million emotionally starved young folks.

He sang a powerful antiwar song called Handsome Johnny and out did the Beatles With a Little Help from my Friends. His renditions of The Beatles and Bob Dylan tunes were often more memorable than the originals. In any case, Havens versions seemed to take me way outside myself to a land where pain was felt, but the opportunity for change hung in the air like a ripe piece of fruit.

His closing song was Freedom; according to Woodstock lore, he created this song on the spot. At this moment I was totally mesmerized by the song, his singing, playing and how he had the audience screaming. Woodstock was Richie Havens; the epitome of the hippie generation. The love he cast upon us created an environment that made it possible to let our guards down and truly live in peace for three days. He taught us how to love each other and some of us have never forgotten that lesson.

Years later I share Woodstock memories with my friends Kenny and Jimmy. The time passing only makes these memories stronger and I am deeply mourning his loss like he was a close friend and in some ways he was.

A couple weeks after Woodstock, the plane landed in Salina, Kansas. Air view, the land was entirely flat and missing the Atlantic Ocean I grew up with. I was totally intimidated by my surroundings. My PE teacher informed me I had to cut my hair to remain in his class.

I didn’t venture far from my dorm room where I majored in LSD. During those many acid trips, I listened to the calm, soulful voice of Richie Havens. I discovered the albums Mixed Bag that came out in 1966, the album titled Richard P. Havens 1984 and most of all Stonehenge. Gail(my future and present wife) and I would wear that record out. I tried to interpret his lyrics and understand his message. I believed he was singing about how to capture that one elusive, fulfilling, wonderful moment when all confusion disappears, but at age 18, I was not aware that holding this moment for eternity is impossible. He also sang about life being a dream and you can float along inside of it or take control of your destiny.

He sang about the quest to seek out the truth and how just when you think it is totally understood, it somehow slips away only for the journey to start all over again. Richie Havens taught me to always look for truth and the search for it is what gives life beauty.