Friday, June 17, 2005

Getting Old??? Bah Humbug!

"Can you feel yourself getting old? Can you feel yourself getting jaded? There's nothing you can do to stop it. Your once-torrid show-going pace has slowed to a crawl, you can no longer stand sitting through opening acts, you start wishing for anti-smoking legislation instead of bumming cigarettes, your back hurts. Older tracks begin to infiltrate your iPod, new albums have a shorter grace period before deletion, sometimes you chose to just read a book. You start to realize that the bands you're listening to are actually younger than you are, for the first time, and this realization finally breaks the dam you've built against constantly playing Spot-the-Influence. Past nostalgia starts to overtake present enjoyment, and no longer are you a first-order listener, frantically casting out nets to be the first one to the next big thing."

(robert mitchum, Pitchfork media)


Funny, this feeling does creep up on me often, especially at all ages shows, but I usually just take it as a point of pride that I am still hep enough to enjoy what the cool kids are diggin' on even still.

It is true however, that I do find myself bored with what is presented to me as new music oftentimes. This has of course made me dig deeper into the nostalgia of my high school days, and even to explore the outer reaches of the fifties and sixties recently. And who can forget the formative radio listening years of the 70's? A treasure trove is out there to be explored, and I am only just starting.

What I need now is a turntable for the "studio" so that I may create and take a trip back to my times of inspiration by listening to all those old LPs in the archives which I have been hauling around with me for 25 plus years. That's right mama!