Oldies and Newbies

Facebook can be a land of wonder, of discovery and, sometimes, a real downer.

the official t-shirt (for now)

As I was scrolling along, I saw that Grace Slick had a birthday last week. Grace Slick turned 83.

Wait a minute. This is the woman who belted out Somebody to Love and White Rabbit. A pioneer. A rocker of epic proportions and someone I'd consider part of my generation. One of the stars of one of my favorite albums, Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow.  (Which, by the way, youngsters, still holds up against anything that's come down the pipe since.)

Grace Slick is an octogenarian. OMG.

You could say (and you'd be absolutely correct) that my musical preferences are stuck somewhere prior to the 1990s. With a few exceptions, I haven't found a lot to get excited about. Rap has never appealed to me. Some of the cross-over country-rock stuff is okay. And occasionally I find a singer who appeals. I'm not even sure what to call modern music.

Admittedly, I haven't paid much attention to the music scene, being content to replay my collection of CDs or tune into classic rock and oldies radio stations. 

I did get a clue, however, from one of my coworkers (Blaise), who plays drums in a band called This Summer. The genre of his band is emo. 

Emo is defined as a type of rock music that resembles punk but has more intricate arrangements with lyrics that have more emotional topics.

Some of my younger readers (if I have any besides my son) have likely reached the eyeroll portion of the program by now. "Silly Boomers," they may scoff.

Indeed.

But being a Boomer doesn't have to mean staying stuck in the past. We are capable of learning new things, and I'm open to giving it a go. While I haven't attended one of their concerts, I have listened to Blaise's band, thanks to the wonder that is YouTube. I have to say, I did enjoy it, although it's more likely I'd listen in small doses. 

Baby (Boomer) steps, I suppose.

If you're curious, here's the video for This Summer. Let us know what you think.

In the meantime, I wanted to share a story about Grace Slick that I found in my travels. In 2017, she allowed Chick-fil-A to use the Starship song Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now in a TV commercial. However, because she abhors the company's views on same-sex marriage, she took all the profits she received from the deal and donated them to Lambda Legal, which works to advance the civil rights of LGBTQ people and those living with HIV. 

Which kinda proves my point that Boomers can be pretty slick. Especially Grace.