I first listened to many of the classic rock albums of the late sixties in my cousins room. He was a life guard at the country club. I spent the summer with my cousins while my dad finished writing his dissertation for his Ph.D. We would come home from the pool and do whatever chores there were to be done around the house and then listen to records and hang out in his room.
He had joined the Columbia record club with its introductory offer of around a dozen or so albums for two cents. The catch was that you had to buy a minimum number of albums during the next year. I suppose it wasn’t that bad a deal if you were going to buy records regularly anyway.
He had The Rolling Stones His Satanic Majesty’s Request, Santana Abraxas, Woodstock, Crosby, Stills, & Nash first album and Deja Vu, and a bunch more that don’t come to mind right now. He had one of those record players that would automatically change records so we put on a stack when we went to bed and they played long after we went to sleep.
It was the summer between my sophomore and junior year. I had long hair and played electric guitar. I considered myself a hippie. I was really just a naive kid. I wanted to rush head long out into the big wide world. Of course there were nasty things out there. We were fighting a war in Vietnam and boys and girls only a couple of years older than me were going off to fight and die, or worse, come home missing parts of their bodies and souls.
I lived a charmed existence. I still do. I’ve learned that we make our own luck. But I still have to admit that I dodged some extremely scary bullets in my life. It was an exciting ride.
Life has slowed down a little. I go to bed early and get up early. Only because my job requires it. That’s what I tell myself anyway. I still enjoy sleeping in and staying up late. I can’t pull all nighters any more though.
I miss playing rock music with people. I know people that like to play folk and Americana music. I have fun playing that genre but I wish I could find a band that liked to play classic rock. I keep looking but I haven’t found a group yet.
I don’t have enough hours in the day to play in a band on top of work and my writing commitments that I’ve made to myself. Maybe someday when I’ve cut back on the hours of my day job I’ll actively seek out a rock band to play with.
Time passes. The older you get, the quicker it flows. You’ve got to enjoy life while you’re living. Keep your priorities straight and your powder dry.
Sweet dreams, don’t forget to tell the ones you love that you love them, and most important of all, be kind.