Funny, how people and music get's old

One night I had a friend who'd been in the Navy for many years call me up, out of the blue, and ask if I wanted to go see a concert.

There's a long back-story, but we'd been friends in high school, seen many concerts and loved music. In fact, we'd seen some of the best concerts on Earth during our time...concerts like the US Festival and others (no, not Woodstock). Anyway...

Butch went and joined the Navy after a stint in the National Guard. He served on some aircraft carrier somewhere, for many years. And, this one night he called me up (how he got my number, I'll never know)...to go see a concert, a group we'd both liked many years earlier...a group named "Blackfoot"

Blackfoot was playing at a place called the Buffalo Rose outside Denver, and we both happened to be in the same place at the same time. He had tickets and I was all-in to go see them. Great band, but I didn't realize how the years had passed.

Blackfoot... (for background music)





A really talented group of guys.

So anyway, we went to this (bar) where they were playing. The show was great, and the Blackfoot was just as good as they always were. But, it was a "bar", and it smelled like old stale beer, and there weren't that many people there. I'd seen these guys before when there were crowds of tens of thousands of people cheering, and this night there might have been 200 (maybe 150 or less). They put on a heck of a good show, and we had fun.

When we'd got there earlier that night there was no place to park, but I had a Jeep so I just parked up on some embankment out behind the bar. After the show was over I realized I'd parked not far from Blackfoot's tour bus (like near the back door). I was kind of saddened to see their tour bus was just this old beat up bus, old and run down.

That moment struck me. The legends of Shorty Medlock and others, Lynrd Skynyrd and the great rockers had been reduced to just a cheap broken down old tour bus and some backwater bar. It was kind of sad actually. All that fabulous music sounded the same, but like me many of them were fatter and older.

Shame some of the best music ever recorded is forgotten like that. Some of this newer music will never endure like those songs, but even those old songs aged...like we all do. Sad.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

It is kind of tragic. It reminds me of a theme park I used to go to when I was a kid, 30 years ago. It was called the American Adventure and was very close to where I live. Anyway in the eighties it was all shiny and new and extremely popular. Some of my greatest childhood memories took place there.

Anyway, as the years went by the place got more and more dilapidated and certain rides got closed down for safety reasons until eventually the whole park got closed down. It's so sad to see something so magical to you in years gone by, reduced to a rusty heap of junk.

I know it's not quite the same as an aging rock and roll band but I think the sinking feeling of seeing what once was would be similar.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

i see it here every year.
there is a county fair here that really kind of sucks. it is basically 4H like pig growing competitions and some bull# rides.

but there are bands that play that used to be huge in the 80's. bands that were selling out stadiums play this little fair on some small stage that reeks of animal #.

kind of bums me out

three dog night played there
foreigner played there

i guess they just love to play

a reply to: TinySickTears

Did you get to see Three Dog Night??

man!

For me, I don't care if on big stage or little stage, I'm such a fangirl for (what I perceive anyway) the greats!

originally posted by: auroraaus
a reply to: TinySickTears

Did you get to see Three Dog Night??

man!

For me, I don't care if on big stage or little stage, I'm such a fangirl for (what I perceive anyway) the greats!

No. I can't deal with that fair. Lots of people in a pretty small place. Its in August so it's stupid hot. The whole place smells like animal #

a reply to: TinySickTears

I can't stand crowds myself, unless I am sufficiently primed with amber nectar.

Hot as in hot or Australian-skin-melty-eyes-boiling hot?

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Best concert days and nights spent in a place called WinterLand, in SF.

They tore it down many moons ago. Bill Graham doesn't do Days on the Green anymore either.

Ahh the memories,

Led Zeppelin, the Stones, Santana, Journey , Skynard, AC DC, ZZ Top, Nugent, etc. Full on police riot outside the Cow Place, late 70's, I was there...

It is wise for a band to know when their shelf-life has expired.
Go another direction and avoid situations like this.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk

A really talented group of guys.

Shame some of the best music ever recorded is forgotten like that. Some of this newer music will never endure like those songs, but even those old songs aged...like we all do. Sad.

But that music is not forgotten! Any given day, millions and millions of people listen to millions and millions of songs! Many of yhose songs are called “classic” this genre or that genre. Because the original performers choose to continue to “tour” should be celebrated. I will always enjoy the music of my life while simultaneously enjoying newer music (which is really just music of a different time in my life). Music and its performers will never ever be sad to me (except when artists decide there is no other option than suicide or overdose-death). In fact, I think I’ll go tell Siri to play me some essential classic southern rock while I feed the dogs! Thanks for the post!

a reply to: skunkape23

The amps all go to 11

The only tragedy would be if they weren't still playing.

I'm not at all bummed about people still making music after the spotlight is gone.

If it's in their blood and it's something they need to do in order for life to have balance... then I'd say they were playing music for all the right reasons in the first place.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Saw Alice and Deep Purple last summer with my son. The crowd was mixed with parents, grandparents and kids. So kids in the 20's like mine(27) and some even younger. The music IS enduring.

We all have the duty of keeping the great old music from back in the day alive,and pass it on to our kids.Here's some of my alltime massive faves,this feeds one's soul,not like the stupid crap that so often passes for music these days. This is the music my kids grew up on,and much other ones i did not post now. Our kids never knew the paradigm of being "Sheeple" or "unawake" My husband and i made an oath to each other that if we were to have children,we would never lie to them,about Anything: