The "Woodstock" music and message is alive today. The difference between now and then is

that then the recording companies and radio were much less centrally controlled by a few mega-corps, and that those corps were less consistent and diligent in preventing populist or anti-establishment, pro-peace, anti-hate voices from being heard via the media they controlled. A bit more short-term profits oriented. The seeking of greater profitability naturally led to consolidation, as the bigger fish continued swallowing the smaller.

Once capitalism evolved to the next stage of monopoly capitalism, its agents began using that power to exclude voices which even raised questions about "the system." That did not stop artists and musical poets from telling the truth about how things are in this world, but it did keep them from getting millions of dollars of hype and publicity and being included on the playlists of the bigger chains. The result -- Disco and MTV and Pop and CW and Easy Listening. Sure, several dissident voices got through and made bucks for the owners, but they were just were just isolated voices in the sea of nonsense noise, and never enough come even close to defining the music and sentiment of a whole era. That is the difference. The corporate TV media aired 1000 pro-Iraq-War "experts" and three "anti." They do the same in music.

So we don't hear the voices of today's "Woodstock" artists as easily as then. They are not silenced, merely stifled.

I've included this link in my sig to help make those voices found and heard more easily. The site is very large but spottily maintained, so re-visits have revealed both new stuff and some killed links.

Take a listen. The difference between now in then is not so much in the music and message as in the ways distribution is being controlled, and, on the plus side, the way we the people can find alternatives that bypass that controlled messaging.

http://www.benfrank.net/nuke/Free_Peace_mp3s.html

There is a lot of relevant music out there new and old, from america and elsewhere. I listen to a French radio station via internet. It's amazing how american musical forms such as blues, rock, rap, folk, etc have influenced world music. I find it to be an exciting time to be immersed in music right now with all of the sharing of styles and collaborations between artists happening on a global level.

If you listen to commercial radio, or even highly genrefied sattelite radio you aren't going to really hear what is going on out there.

Try to find groups like Blackalicious, the Dining Rooms or Bumcello. Or Micheal Franti and Spearhead, or even the newest songs from older artists such as Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen. You don't hear them on commercial radio.

Those out there who think modern music is all Britney Spears dreck are woefully wrong and missing out on some of the best music of the new century as well as some of the best from back then that you somehow missed the first time around.

If you want to see where REAL music has gone in the last 40 years try:

Radio Sing Sing- http://www.sing-sing.org/ -From Paris France -truly freeform radio without borders playing quality music ( I am currently listening to Dizzy Gillepsie, earlier they played Morcheeba, Bo Diddley, Funkadelic, Roy Orbison, Nick Cave and a host of French and world artists too numerous to count.

and Radio Paradise- http://www.radioparadise.com/ - from Paradise, Ca. Many old favorites here that anyone of the woodstock era would recognize along with intriguing new music from both old artists and new.

I love 60's music, but music didn't end then and there is a lot more great stuff out there. It just isn't mainstream anymore, which is not necessarily the fault of the artists.