6/26/2012 – So the kids are still alright

When I start to feel old I strap on a guitar and I don’t feel old anymore. Guitars are the closest thing to the fountain of youth that anybody has ever come up with. When I start to despair over…well….anything….I put on a great rock and roll record and I instantly feel better. It’s a drug that doesn’t leave you hungover….as long as you don’t give your kids control of the radio in the car.

Imagining a world without music is scarier than diving into Orwell thinking it’s gonna be A. A. Milne. It’s rat on the face scary. And for those of us saved by it as teens, it’s even more important now. It’s one of the few things that’s never let us down.

I think about age every day. Things hurt that didn’t used to hurt before. It’s harder to get up from under the covers. My hair is changing colors. My 10-year-old outsmarts me on a daily basis. I’ve spat out Townshend’s line “hope I die before I get old” 1000 times, but I never meant it. And Townshend didn’t either. What we both want I think is to live without aging. Being old is one thing. Getting old is another. Not sure which is worse.

But then again, BB King still plays 300 nights a year. You can’t call it a young man’s game anymore. Young punks might snicker at Jagger prancing about and shaking his ass as he nears 70. Jagger famously declared that he wouldn’t be caught dead singing “Satisfaction” at age 30. Keith Richards is still getting stoned and falling out of banana trees. But then you step back and think…..what the hell else is Keith Richards gonna do? He plays guitar. That’s pretty much all he does. He’s never had an actual job. We just expect him to stop because it offends our punkish sensibilities? Nah…that’s elitist. That ain’t rock and roll. So what if the Stones haven’t made a great record since “Some Girls”. Lots of bands haven’t made a great record….ever. Leave them the fuck alone to do what they do.

Speaking of records, we think we’ve just made a pretty good one. Hopefully it’s not our last. Time will tell, as it always does.

Hell, this shit is hard. Leaving it to the kids ain’t fair. Bumps and bruises are like tattoos. You should show ’em off. Lets folks know you’re serious. And nothing says you’re serious more than putting your time in. Digging. Scratching. Searching for that lost chord. That perfect note. Pure and easy. Like a breath rippling by.

So the kids are still alright. Even if we’re not kids anymore.

In a bit..

–tf

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