Richie Havens will be 2009 Master Musician

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July 2, 2009

By CHRIS HARRIS, CJ Staff Writer The Commonwealth Journal Thu Jul 02, 2009, 09:50 PM EDT

The granddaddy of all outdoor music festivals has to be Woodstock. Held in the summer of 1969 in rural New York, the festival served as a watershed moment for an entire culture, ushering in the music and values of the generation to come.

The first act those gathered on that now-famous farm would see was Richie Havens.

Originally slotted to be play fifth on Woodstock’s opening day, Havens instead went first, as tensions over how the counter-cultural crowd would react allegedly scared other performers from going on stage.

The crowd greeted Havens excitedly, and Havens scheduled 20-minute set turned into three hours. It included the song “Freedom,” one which was woven by Havens on the spot but has since gone down as one of the era’s most beloved anthems.

Now, 40 years later, Master Musicians Festivalgoers will get a little taste of the man — the legend — himself.

This year’s featured Master Musician, Havens will perform at the Master Musicians Festival on Friday, July 17. Havens will be honored as 2009’s featured guest, and will join the 16-year long list of “Master Musicians” that the festival has honored, including Robert “Junior” Lockwood, Doc Watson, Honey Boy Edwards, Pinetop Perkins and Vassar Clements – all masters in their own genres of music.

“I’ve always joked that I don’t think I ever want to see what a crowd of 100,000 people look like in person,” said MMF staff member Robyn Baker. “I can’t imagine what it would have been like to be in that field with the quarter to a half million people reported to have been at Woodstock.

“But what would be a great thing to experience is about five to ten thousand people at MMF chanting and singing “Free-dom” before Richie Havens leaves our stage in the summer of Woodstock’s fortieth anniversary.”

The news that Havens would be appearing at Somerset’s own two-day outdoor music festival has already made waves.

"Ticket buyers calling us to place orders by phone keep asking how in the world we managed to book Richie Havens to come to Somerset,” said Baker. “Apparently, we’re not the only ones to realize how phenomenal this is.”

Advance tickets will be available by phone at 677-2933 and at Citizens National Bank, Monticello Banking Company, and the Somerset Pulaski Convention and Visitors Bureau until July 16.

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Pulaski carries Girdler to win

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, it was impossible to miss the colorful signs dotting nearly every Pulaski roadway. The names in the race for the 15th State Senatorial District seat popped out: A.C. Donahue. Chris Girdler. Mark Polston.

Once citizens hit the ballots, however, the results mirrored the dimensions of the signs themselves: Chris Girdler stood the tallest.

Girdler, deputy district director for Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers, ran away with the votes inside Pulaski County’s borders, earning 3,926 votes for 62.05 percent of the total number cast.

That number more than doubled the next highest vote-getter, businessman Mark Polston, who raked in 1,624 votes for 25.67 percent.

However, Polston — who owns Classic Carpet, a home-flooring business located just off the southern 914 bypass — can claim a moral victory ... three of them, in fact. In all three counties in the district other than Pulaski — those being Adair, Casey, and Russell Counties — Polston actually edged out Girdler.

In Adair, Polston beat Girdler 629 to 394. In Casey County, it was 538 to 417, and in Russell, it was 1,862 to 1,038.

Polston said he just “couldn’t pull it out with the numbers” and that “the machine worked for” Girdler in Pulaski County.

“I think that was their strategy — I think they had a Pulaski County strategy all along,” said Polston. “They played the political game well.”

Polston said the difference between his and Girdler’s campaigns was that “mine was a very, very grass roots campaign,” he said. “I did not have a political machine behind me. I understand how this process works, and in this instance, he prevailed.”

As for why Girdler didn’t take three of four counties, the winning candidate — since there are no Democrats in the race, winning the Republican primary was effectively a final victory for Girdler — said he didn’t have an answer for that.

However, “I believe things happen for a reason and I hope the long and strenuous campaign will only heighten my desire to move beyond the bitterness and partisanship of the recent past,” said Girdler.

“Regionalism is a goal of mine, and I look forward to helping all four counties,” he added, noting that he campaigned heavily in each of them.

Sen. Vernie McGaha, the long-time state senator whose seat the candidates were vying for, actually supported Polston after Liberty’s Todd Hoskins dropped out of the race earlier this month.

Donahue, a local attorney, got 556 votes in Pulaski County, 8.79 percent of the vote. He only received 145 votes in Russell County, 74 in Adair County, and 75 in Casey County, where hometown candidate Hoskins almost matched him with 71 votes despite no longer being officially in the race.

Polston said he’s “still digesting” what happened, and though “the process has been a very good experience for me,” he wouldn’t commit to running again in the future. “I wouldn’t shut the door to anything, but I’m not opening any doors either.”

Still, “I think I got a lot of people involved in the process that had not been involved before and would not have been otherwise,” he said. “A lot of people got out and worked really hard, got motivated to talk to friends and neighbors. I think a lot of people became involved through this campaign that are going to be involved for a long time.”

Girdler stressed his “positive message” and said that Rogers is a “mentor and good friend” that he would turn to for advice in dealing with a frequently combative legislative body in Frankfort, one for which Girdler hopes to help change the culture.

Girdler said that he was “confident and optimistic” during the day Tuesday because he’d “worked extremely hard.” Nevertheless, the realization that he’d won gave him “chill bumps,” he said.

“I’m absolutely honored,” said Girdler. “The position of state senator is more than an honor, more than an office. It’s a charge to keep, and I will give it my all.

“I pledge to be the people’s state senator,” he added. “I look forward to working with everyone to move this region forward.”

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