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Tomorrow night, Lay it All Down, for Melanie

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Melanie (Courtesy photo)

A friend of mine in 1969 asked if I wanted to go with him to this concert called Woodstock in upstate New York.

I was totally into Jimi Hendrix (in fact I'd just seen him at a Boston Garden concert) and Janice Joplin, not to mention Canned Heat, Mountain, Jefferson Airplane, Joe Cocker, 10 Years After, The Band, Blood, Sweat and Tears, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (whom I saw at the new Boston Garden about 10 years ago.

And so as I write the opening graphs to a column about Melanie (who played Woodstock but whom I hadn't heard of at the time) who plays at the Rochester Opera House tomorrow night, the one thing that gnaws at me is simply, "Why the hell didn't I go?"

Too far to travel, girlfriend at the time wasn't into it, too many people (400,000), somewhat scary.

And so I didn't go to what was the seminal cultural and musical "happening" of my generation.

And so today, I find myself blowing the dust off Melanie's 45 single that is stored in a top shelf of a downstairs coat closet. It took me two searches to find the yellow Buddah label. For some reason, I thought it was black. And I played "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" a few times.

It was bought 45 years ago for 79 cents up at the GEM store in South Hingham, Mass., where I used to buy at least one 45 every week with my allowance for mowing the lawn or raking leaves or money I made working at the post office as a YOP (youth opportunity) employee. (Btw, I made $2.83 an hour and that was damn good money for a kid those days.)

Anyways, Melanie wasn't among the highlight acts at Woodstock. Most didn't even know her. But she said in an interview with The Lebanon Voice it was one of the most transfixing moments of her life.

"It just resonated," she said. "I went on that stage an unknown and I left it a celebrity."

If she just plays her set list from Woodstock, which she made up spontaneously as she performed, I'll be happy. In "Beautiful People" she'll be singing the song that catapulted her to European fame even before Woodstock; in "Animal Crackers" she shows her delightful quirkiness and sense of humor and in "Birthday of the Sun" she shows she can wail like Janice Joplin.

But if I can just get greedy here, I also want the incredibly sad and soulful "Save Me," "Look What they Did to My Song, Ma," and without a doubt she has to play I mean has to "Brand New Key."

(Note to Melanie: You didn't have a playlist at Woodstock, but you got one for Rochester.)

If she plays all the songs I want, or none at all, however, it doesn't matter.

I didn't go to Woodstock in '69, so I'm going tomorrow night.

Peace, brother, it's gonna be groovy, a real happening.

I might even wear some flowers in my hair.

To watch a clip of Melanie at Woostock, click here.

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