From a newsgroup post dated August 14, 2009:

Julie and I attended a 40th anniversary Woodstock tribute at the Strathmore Music Hall in Rockville tonight. It was really good. An outfit called Bandhouse Gigs put it together, using a lot of local talent and a few not-so-local folks.

We were impressed enough to buy CDs by two of them, blues singer Patty Reese (who did the Janis Joplin numbers) and a band called GHz (who did the Hendrix segment). I already had a CD by Bill Kirchen, who covered John Fogarty’s role in the Creedence Clearwater Revival medley.

(Yes, they sold CDs in the lobby — and why not? Capitalism isn’t that weird.)

Several acts were covered by made-for-the-occasion bands, mixing and matching musicians; the group they put together for Santana’s “Soul Sacrifice” was really, really good, and the Sly and the Family Stone set had the audience on their feet and dancing.

There was a fair bit of overlap with the movie and the albums, but they did try to include some other stuff, so for example there was a Bert Sommer tribute (Paul Simon’s “America”), and Joan Baez was represented by both “Joe Hill” and “Ain’t No More Cane on the Brazos,” the latter of which I had never heard before.

There were songs I hadn’t heard in many, many years, like John Sebastian’s “Younger Generation.”

It was a three-hour show — but that’s counting a twenty-minute intermission. Still, we felt we got our money’s worth.

Been awhile since we’d seen as much tie-dye as that, or as many peace signs.

Besides acts already mentioned, I’ll want to check out the Cravin’ Dogs, Crimestoppers, and the Tone Rangers.