For many people, Woodstock remains a powerful symbol of music, peace, and love. Regardless of the detritus that surrounds the purity of the experience, and by this I mean the association with promiscuity and drug use, it's nice to be reminded every once in a while that Woodstock was less about the irresponsible celebration of our less laudable passions and more about the power of love, as expressed through music, to change lives.
Nick and Bobbi Ercoline seem like an ordinary, albeit, pleasantly quirky suburban couple. We read in the online version of the Times Herald-Record:
She’s a 59-year-old nurse at Pine Bush Elementary School who collects food and clothes for needy children. He’s a 60-year-old retired business agent for a carpenter’s union who does lead and farm worker housing inspections for Orange County. The parents of two sons, Matthew, 30, and Luke, 27, live in a 10-room home on a wooded road dotted with old farms and new houses. An American flag, a statue of the Virgin Mary and a tongue-in-cheek “Hippies Use Back Door” sign greet visitors out front.
But more than a picture of domestic bliss, Nick and Bobbi Ercoline remain one of the most enduring, recognizable figures in one of the most famous concerts in recorded history. When Burk Uzzle took a snapshot of the young lovers sharing a dirty blanket amidst the massive crowd gathered at Woodstock, he provided Woodstock one of its most enduring images, in more ways than one.
Forty years later, the Ercolines are still together. Despite all, they are happily together. In the movie Almost Famous, fictional rock and roll star Jeff Bebe (played by Jason Lee) boasted that rock and roll can save the world. You know what? He's right, but not in the way most people think.
Have a wonderful day!
Photo Credits:
Picture of Nick and Bobbi Ercoline from Woodstock, 1969 comes courtesy of New York Daily News.
Picture of Nick and Bobbi Ercoline today comes courtesy of Times Herald-Record.
6 comments:
How truly inspiring!!
I also love it that the 1969 photo of them was real and not staged in any way. With a lot of fake images making it in print nowadays, I tend to appreciate authenticity like that all the more :-)
Yeah, isn't that awesome? Real image, real love. :D
What an awesome story! That is a really cool picture. :)
That first pic is amazing. Wow. What a great story.
@Daene: It really is an awesome story. Thanks! :D
@Tweet: Yup! It's amazing how an entire era can be represented by one timely picture. :D
Loved this post Johnds! It's really nice to read about enduring relationships, despite the backdrop of where they began :P
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