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McSweeneys Warning: Satire Ahead

McSweeneys Warning: Satire Ahead

by | Jan 8, 2023 | Music

I LOVE McSweeneys but I must WARN YOU, there is some satire ahead. If you are a super literal person, you might not want to read further if you might be offended by someone being offended about your age, or being “older.” Disclaimer aside, I have been on the older side of youthful mocking and criticism for the crime of being older and I’ll provide some examples after this quote.

You, woman with the long grey hair, dancing right in front of the stage, don’t do that, what you’re doing there. It’s not good. And you, next to her, same thing. I know the music is good, but this is no way to respond. They are like wizards casting a spell on us. You should be mesmerized, rocking hypnotically, but you are doing some weird kind of twitch…Mcsweenys in “an open letter to the aging hippies dancing at the tinariwen concert“.

Here in Portland, Oregon there are plenty of aging dancing hippies at nearly every concert except maybe the hardcore punk scene. Even still I have experienced ageism the now politically correct term to describe prejudice and stereotyping of older adults, but it can also be reversed in essence where everyone is stereotyping everyone else based on age and a host of other traits and attributes. Wikipedia defines ageism as:

Among them were prejudicial attitudes towards older people, old age, and the aging process; discriminatory practices against older people; and institutional practices and policies that perpetuate stereotypes about elderly people.

I AM that old woman with white hair dancing like a dervish near the front of the stage. It feels great to get out with other people (I still mask, covid is still a thing) and move my body to live music. I see people of all ages when I go to a show and that helps me to not feel conscious or “out of place.” I have several friends my age or older, so older than 66 years old and they too are doing what they’ve been doing their entire lives, dancing in public. 

That includes Tinariwen (Vancouver Folk Festival 2011)

Leon Russell Dead at the Age of 74

Leon Russell Dead at the Age of 74

by | Nov 13, 2016 | Blog, Entertainment, Music

I first saw Leon Russell in 1970 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. It was the Joe Cocker, Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour and I wasn’t yet thirteen years old. The counselors for the “youth group” my parents had sent me to with the intention of pointing me in the direction of growing up to be an obedient civil servant (until I got married), had planned the trip to a real concert for all the kids ages 12 and up. In retrospect, I feel confident none of them knew what they signed up for by their reactions once the concert was underway.

Once the concert started, I was mesmerized. I had found my people, my tribe. There on stage was Joe Cocker, Leon Russell, Billy Preston, Rita Coolidge, a row of what I can only at the time describe as hippies lining the back of the stage, a woman holding a baby and a dog sleeping on the stage.

Leon Russell played piano, Billy Preston played a Hammond Organ. I had never in my short suburban life seen or heard people who had long hair, patches, long skirts, just total freaks! If I took anything away from that night besides recreating in 3D, the “muscle arm” image on the album cover, in my junior high ceramics class, it was that as soon as I was able I had to find “those people.” I did find those people a little later in Topanga Canyon, which is the beginning of another chapter.

Russell was such a talent, playing with many musicians and bands including Badfinger, “A song for you” also released in 1970 has been recorded by over 40 artists, he produced tracks for Bob Dylan. His honky-tonk southern blues piano style, songs, and music live on. What a sad election week with the loss of Russell and Leonard Cohen.