Reliving History

There comes a time in maybe everybody's life when they idolize the Woodstock generation. All of us, at one point or another, yearn to have been there for the protest marches, for the drug culture or for the fashion. But most of all, people want the music. Everyone wishes they had been present in 1969 to soak up Woodstock like little sponges, then to tell their friends later, "I was there, man. It was amazing."

Unfortunately, that can't happen — at least, not until time travel is made publicly accessible by the government. But thanks to the likes of the band Runaway Express, the Woodstock experience is still around. A recreation of the event will be presented tonight at the Swallow Hill Music Hall to celebrate the release of Runaway Express's shrine-like album, simply titled Woodstock. The band went to great lengths to put the culmination of the hippie generation into a nice little forty-song record, which includes faux news bulletins describing the scene, poetry and original songs that fill in all of the plot holes.

The show starts at 8 p.m. at the Swallow Hill Music Hall, 71 East Yale Avenue, with an $18 cover at the door, but $15 tickets are available, along with more information, at www.swallowhill.com.