What’s this world coming to if we can’t find a single lost little girl? Dammit Dammit Dammit Dammit. After nearly a month, where is she? No wonder we can’t fight the ‘war on terror’ or stop the drug trade. We may deserve whatever we get.
I guess I really am getting old if I think that music today is deplorable. I stopped listening to the radio about three or four years ago, and don’t miss it. Most of what I listen to is from my collection (several hundred CDs) or music made by myself or people I know. I have several friends who have CDs that should be available world-wide, but don’t. Such is the nature of the biz. I’ll get to them another time, because they deserve some mention.
For now, I’m listening to much older music. I’ve grown to appreciate what would be considered “classical”, altho most of what I like really isn’t “classical”. It’s baroque, it’s medieval, it’s ancient, it’s Renaissance, it’s Elizabethan. I find it takes me back to those days, perhaps literally. If you believe in past lives, then it’s nothing new, just remembering a glint of sunlight on a lock of golden hair. If not, then it’s just good music; truly timeless.
At the moment I’m listening to one of my favourite discs –
On the Banks of Helicon: Early Music of Scotland
Listening to their music reminds me that once this was their world, when they were alive and experiencing it. Now it’s our world, and yet we can still hear the songs they sang. I get the same feeling when I look at old paintings or architecture. Maybe that’s why I’m so drawn to cathedrals. I don’t go to any church, but I enjoy walking the naves and aisles that people long dead once trod through. It’s an amazing thing to wonder if all these things will still be here in the 25th century, long after we’re gone, and it’s somebody else’s world. I really hope so.
I’m a 60’s child. I was born in the Sixties, grew up in the Sixties, I remember the first moon landing. The music of that era still resonates in my bones. You’d be hard pressed to find a non-Beatles song that best sums it up like Scott Mackenzie’s When You Go To San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair). Written, by the way, by the late great John Phillips of Mamas & the Papas fame.
Anyway, I was musing the other day about the people of my generation. What the hell happened to us? As we are now rapidly approaching the deep end of ‘middle age’, it seems we have somehow lost our way. Or perhaps never really got started. It seems that so many people I went to school with never really ‘became’ anything. We just grew up and started getting old. What about our dreams? We were going to do so much, and now we’re stuck with a moron in the White House, the world is labouring under the illusion of the ‘war on terror’, and most of us are content to watch American Idol. Huh?
Not everyone fell through the cracks – I have a very good friend who became an accountant. While not the most glamorous job title, he works for a very large and well-known company. They pay him pretty @#$% well, and he’s constantly traveling around to look at client’s books. Said clients will wine and dine him, and he makes a pretty comfortable living. But he’s an exception. Too many others just twiddle away their time. Me too, I guess. Another fellow I know has lived on both coasts pursuing an acting career. Except for a few shots as “guy leaning on bar in background” on some tv shows, he seems to spend most of his time partying (and lying about his age). A girl I used to date is living alone now that her daughter is in college. She looks like a Grandmother. I saw a recent picture and didn’t recognize her. Another is singing with a tired looking band in a bar in Georgia.
Maybe this happens to every generation – they come out ready to rock the world, and in the end just whimper away to eke out an existence until death mercifully claims them. Maybe I’m indignant because it’s finally happening to us. Maybe I’m frustrated because I recall all those idyllic summer days and know we’re getting a bit short on those. Maybe I should have been an accountant.
Have you ever noticed how something looks authentic just because you read it on the web? For example, if I say:
Recent studies have shown that while hair and fingernails on corpses do not actually continue to grow, they do seem to grimace if you shout in their ear loud enough.
That seemed pretty true, right?
Anyway…
I read today about the death of writer Kurt Vonnegut at age 84. A pretty fair run, but even tho I only read one of his books, I always liked old Kurt. Perhaps it was because he looked like a writer. He was pretty famous for a (then) living author, and he didn’t just come across as any old Joe Blow. He seemed a pretty interesting character. So I’m sorry to see him go.
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In a related topic, I sort of met George Plimpton once. I know, you’re saying, “Who’s George Plimpton?”. Oddly enough, I always thought he was somewhat well-known, which shows what I know. If you did know who he was, good for you. You’re one of the smarter people reading this.
Anyway, I was working in retail at a catalog showroom back in the mid-80’s. Mr. Plimpton walks in, and buys a pair of binoculars. My boss (who knew who he was), actually spoke to him, while I looked on in amazement, like you always do when you’re in the presence of someone who’s famous for anything. Somehow I ended up with the little order form where he printed out his name. I’ve still got it somewhere. The reason it comes to mind now is because of course, Plimpton has also passed away (altho it was some years ago). It’s a little sad when I tell people how I (almost) met George Plimpton, and they look at me blankly and say, “Who?”.
In these Warholian days of “celebs” and “idols”, people who were known for genuine achivements seem a rarity.
