Topic: VH1 Is Depressing

[trapeze]

And I'm not just picking on VH1. It just seems that that is where this particular thing happens more than other places.

I am talking about, of course, seeing a 1970's era rock band performing in concert. Don't get me wrong...the music is still pretty good and usually well performed. The problem with the performance is the physical appearance of the band members. Some of these guys are in their seventies and maybe eighties. And you know what? More power to them for being able to put on a good performance at that age but...

...It's just damned depressing to see them plagued with the ravages of aging because it is an "in your face" reminder to those of us who grew up with these performers that we are getting on in age, ourselves. I like the music and I certainly appreciate the energy and effort put into it but it just brings me down at the same time. I hate to admit it but I'm being honest here.

Example: I saw Emerson, Lake & Palmer in the late 1970's on their "Works" tour. They were an incredible act. Three guys with an absolute warehouse full of equipment on stage (well, except for Greg Lake who made do with just the one bass guitar). Keith Emerson had a mountain of keyboards and a really cool portable keyboard that he wore slung around his neck like a guitar that would blast a jet of smoke or fog out the end with a super bright light. And Carl Palmer had a dense spiderweb of drums, gongs, cymbals and other percussionist stuff that surrounded him so thoroughly that I still don't know how he got in and out of it.

Well, I just saw a 2010 performance on one of those odd music channels like VH1 by ELP and it was at once nostalgic, beautiful and disturbing. The music was performed nearly flawlessly especially with the same flamboyance that I remember from Emerson and Palmer. But they were clearly as old looking as they are in a strictly chronological sense. Greg Lake was probably double the weight that he was thirty years ago where Emerson was withered and Palmer was kind of saggy looking when he took off his shirt during the inevitable drum solo.

So the thing is...it's depressing to see these things because it reminds me of my own mortality. I don't mean that it reminds me that I'm going to die. I mean it reminds me in a most personal way that I'm a shadow of my formal physical self. It underscores the multitude of cues that I daily ignore: My bifocals, the hearing aid for my left ear that I refuse to wear, the arch supports that I wear, etc.

I'm still a strong and vital person but I'm not a kid anymore and damn it, I resent it. Watching the rock and roll performers of my younger days while inspiring (that they can still do it) just hits a little too close to home and, yeah, it's a bit of a downer. I'm happy but  I'm just not happy to be on the downhill side of life. Older, wiser and wealthier only goes so far.

[trapeze]

One more bit of bitching about seventies era rock bands...

With few exceptions (Little Feat would be one) I really do not care for current versions of a band that have perhaps one or maybe two original members.

The reason that this annoys me so much is that I once (in 1980, I think) shelled out good money to see what amounted to a completely fake Deep Purple concert. The band had exactly one member (Rod Evans) who had ever performed in one of the band's incarnations. The show was a total disaster and Evans was later successfully sued for the fakery by the original band members. Of course this happened in the pre-internet era where radio stations were paid to promote concerts rather than tell the truth. Something like that could not be kept secret today. I had gotten third or fourth row seats to that concert and believed (based on promotion lies) that I was going to see a reunited Deep Purple. I walked out in disgust during the opening song and many, many other audience members also left. That was deeply disillusioning.

Seeing The Who after Keith Moon died (which I did) just wasn't the same, either. And I can't imagine going to see The Who now that John Entwistle is gone. It would be like going to see McCartney and Starr performing as The Beatles.

So, when I see other bands do this (Journey comes to mind with their Steve Perry sound alike guy from some tribute band) it kind of pisses me off. Plus it also reminds me yet again how much time has passed since the old days.

Seriously...how far will this nonsense go? Will Journey still be performing in another fifty years when none of the original line up are alive? Maybe they will use animatronic band members. But I guess Elvis impersonators have been doing this crap for decades now so who knows?

[Pandora]

It's my theory that the inflicted infirmities of age are a paring away of the materially extraneous as a way of disconnecting us from the corporeal body.  A reminder that where we're going, the flabby, blind, deaf, bone-porous skinbag we've become will be a burden we'll happily discard.

Free bird, fly.

[trapeze]

Still, there should be some kind of earthly reward for having learned that your wife is always right and that all herbal products promise to reduce stubborn belly fat. It just doesn't seem right to have figured out so much stuff and not have a physical way of enjoying the fruits of wising up.

[Pandora]

Still, there should be some kind of earthly reward for having learned that your wife is always right and that all herbal products promise to reduce stubborn belly fat. It just doesn't seem right to have figured out so much stuff and not have a physical way of enjoying the fruits of wising up.

And who sez there isn't .... elsewhere.  Maybe you'll get the body you've always wished for. 

Is it heaven if dogs aren't allowed?

[trapeze]

Still, there should be some kind of earthly reward for having learned that your wife is always right and that all herbal products promise to reduce stubborn belly fat. It just doesn't seem right to have figured out so much stuff and not have a physical way of enjoying the fruits of wising up.

And who sez there isn't .... elsewhere.  Maybe you'll get the body you've always wished for. 

Is it heaven if dogs aren't allowed?

I was specifically omitting the afterlife in that last rant. Personally, I subscribe to the afterlife that C.S. Lewis described in "The Last Battle" where there is no pain, infirmity or unhappiness...such things just not being possible.

No, that was merely a fantasy rant about how things ought to be as I if am somehow wise enough to make such pronouncements. I have no illusions that I am.

[Pandora]

As you will.

[IronDioPriest]

It does seem a cruel irony that our physical vitality and our earned wisdom are at roughly opposite ends of the age spectrum. What could I have accomplished if at 18 I possessed the wisdom of myself at 49? 89? What could myself at 89 accomplish with a bit of that 25 year old piss n vinegar.

But that ain't how we're built. We're meant to learn - and earn - from our mistakes. Mistakes take time.

As a former performer, I marvel at the cats who can still get up there and do it. They're old, yeah. But I know what it takes, and have a fine appreciation for what motivates them, and the challenges they must overcome to fulfill their motivation.

My wife and I took our teenage boys to Milwaukee on the 4th of July to see Alice Cooper and Iron Maiden. Aside from the lines on the faces, these acts have not lost a beat. And I mean that literally. Cooper and Bruce Dickinson in particular were as active, vital, and entertaining as they were 30 years ago. In some ways, even more so, because their craft is even more honed now than it was back then.

That is atypical, I know. Some continue on way long after they should have hung up their 8 inch heels and makeup (hint, KISS). But for those who still got it, I say, more power to em, even if they have bellies and grandchildren. You only go 'round once.

[Libertas]

I know where Trap is coming from, it's not so much the performers as it is the reminders that the ravages of aging are gaining on us.  I am not as fit, quick or strong as I used to be, nor is my eyesight and hearing perfect, I am far from decrepit and still fully functional and useful, but my beam creaks and my boards moan, but the Cap'n is still sharp so I sail on.  It is what it is...

[trapeze]

Sadly, the Rolling Stones will still be performing when they all use walkers.

[ToddF]

I OWN that ELP 40th Anniversary concert.  Yes, it's Greglake the Hutt (he's been fat since the late 80's) , but I think Emerson looks pretty darn good for 67 and Palmer is in great shape for 62.

Journey?  Journey was Journey before Steve Perry.  Journey is still Journey after Steve Perry.  Journey was always a Neal Schon outfit.  I think Arnel is a tremendous singer myself.  And he's had more of a career than just cover bands.

As for the one original member and...yes, I agree 100%.  At least you got the original singer that sang Hush.  The Quiet Riot touring has one original member...the drummer.  Molly Hatchet?  It was zero for awhile, now the lead guitar is back to make it one.  I think the Byrds toured once with just a drummer.  Asia was just Geoff Downes for 15 years or so, before reuniting.   Foghat?  Just the bass/drums now.  Kiss?  Sure I'd like the other two members back but it's always been a Stanley/Simmons led outfit.

Sometimes it works if the band is good enough.  I love Yes no matter who's in the lineup this year, as they seem to always attract the best for replacements.

[Alphabet Soup]

Sometimes it works if the band is good enough.

I recently had the privilege to do the sound mix for The Brothers Four - a folk and traditional song vocal group that has been in existence (in one form or another) for 50 years now. Although they are individually getting up there in years (ain't we all?!) they put on a great show.

Naturally a substantial part of their allure is the fact that their music is timeless.