Getting younger by the moment

Had to share this back of a 1964 baseball card, brought to life on the blog of Keith Olbermann of MSNBC:


Bennett apparently did find the Fountain of Youth.

Past or present

Let's talk about the concept of the aging rock musician.

Back in the 1960's and 1970's, we never really thought about acts that would be playing 30 and 40 years in the future. We all sort of figured once a band had its moment or two, it would slowly disappear into the mist. Las Vegas? Hah.

Clearly, that was wrong. Take a look at the concert listings these days and it's an exercise in nostalgia. I saw America listed as playing a free show at Artpark in Lewiston last week. I saw that band perform at the Syracuse state fairgrounds in September of 1975, along with the Beach Boys, the Doobie Brothers, and Jefferson Starship, New Riders of the Purple Sage, and the Stanky Brown group.

The aging process for musicians, though, is full of trap doors. Yes, a band can play the same songs over and over again to baby boomers and make a decent living in the process. It can also try to stay relevant by writing and recording new songs -- no easy task with shifting audience tastes. "Hope I die before I get old," indeed.

Which brings us to Todd Rundgren's show in Buffalo on Wednesday night.

Rundgren had a bunch of hits in the Seventies. He's been a producer for some top acts over the years, and is still churning out new music. Good for him.

However, he played for two hours on Wednesday. Care to guess how many songs I had heard before? One, "Real Man." No "Can We Still Be Friends?", no "Hello, It's Me," no "Road to Utopia." And so on. What's more, the music Rundgren offered was pretty loud. The man can play an electric guitar, but his songs have a different style than they did 35 years ago.

Two moments from previous concerts came back to me during the course of the night. One was Billy Joel, who at some point once said during a show when he was about to play a new song, "I know you are saying, 'Yeah, that's cool, but what about the old stuff?' Don't worry, we have it all timed for maximum effect." And then there was the time the Who played a show consisting of Quadrophenia and a handful of other hits. It sure felt like an exercise in cashing in on old popularity and nothing more.

I heard from two other people around my age at the Rundgren show. One was impressed by his virtuosity with the guitar. The other had enough of unfamiliar, loud songs and a crowded hot club, and walked out early.

It's not easy to keep everyone happy, and it sure is tough to find that middle ground. I wouldn't want to be stuck playing "Nights in White Satin" 150 times a year in order to pay the bills, as members of the Moody Blues are no doubt doing. But I wouldn't want to turn my back on my most productive and popular period either.

Maybe that's one of the reasons why Bruce Springsteen has my admiration and respect in such matters. Yes, he has to play "Badlands" and "Born to Run" at every show with the E Street Band, but he also is writing new music and tries to mix up the set list as much as possible. Springsteen even played "Pretty Woman" Thursday night in Munich as a request.

Todd, I appreciate your efforts to grow. But don't forget what got us there, either.

A century of progress

Co-worker Mary Kunz Goldman made an interesting point in her blog today. (Note: this in itself is not noteworthy.) It prompted a comment from me on her site, but the more I thought about it the more I realized it deserved more than that.

After mentioning that Jackson's newer material hadn't been heard on the radio much lately, she writes, "I have also not heard 'Beat It' for years. Or 'Billie Jean.' Which makes me think: They will not be listening to these songs in 100 years. Sorry."

I think that's a safe guess, but not for the expected reasons.

One hundred years ago, we were going through something of a transition in the music business. For generations, music was passed along in two ways -- through the composer and/or live performer (sometimes the same person). The composer would sit down and write something, and it would be performed somewhere else. The good stuff -- let's include material by people like Bach and Mozart, for example -- survived. So, if you had a dinner party, you'd pick up the sheet music, get someone to play the piano, and you'd have your post-food entertainment. Or, you'd go to a concert hall and hear someone perform some songs in front of a few hundred people.

What was the music that stood the test of time back then? The "classical" stuff, obviously. Some Broadway-type musicals could be carted around the country easily enough and performed. And then there was folk music. The number one song on July 1, 1909, was "Shine On, Harvest Moon," which was part of the Ziegfeld Follies, so I guess it fits into the musical category.

But change was on the way. The Victrola was just coming into its own as a consumer good in 1909. Suddenly, a performance could be captured for posterity. Singers and musicians could pick up fans in a great hurry.

Think about what's happened to music technology in those 100 years. People used to listen to a song at a time on 78's, which eventually led to 33's (more music by one artist without the listener getting up to change albums), which led to cassette players, which led, sort of, to 8-tracks (oops), which led to compact disks, which led to iTunes and the whole digital revolution. We've gone from record needles to computer chips in my lifetime alone. Then there's the issue of amplification, which means that hockey rinks and football stadiums can be filled with sound. Thousands can share the same musical experience instead of just those within the sound of the voice or instrument.

Meanwhile, the music itself (just ponder electric guitars and synthesizers) and the people who play it have changed in that time too. My guess is that the singers were mostly on the generic side until the 1940's, when particular bands and singers became closely associated with certain songs. In other words, you could draw a line from Frank Sinatra (who became the first star as we define it now) to Elvis Presley (who capitalized on the rise of the rock and roll) to the Beatles (singers who could write great songs) to, yes, Michael Jackson, a crossover artist who made us one nation under the same groove for a few years.

Jackson was one of the last artists who made Top Forty music matter back in the early 1980's. After that, the music business fractured and you could no longer drive down the Thruway hearing the same song on every station from town to town any more. How many artists can fill a stadium for a concert any more? Music is still finding an audience, of course, but the hip-hop crowd looks a lot different than the country crowd, and so on down the line, and there's isn't much mixing.

Which gets us back to Mary's point. We'll still be listening to some of today's music in 100 years, because we'll be able to do so. Sinatra will make some swoon. The Beatles will always leave listeners admiring their artistry. And Jackson will be around when people want to dance. But mostly, the people of the next 100 years will be listening to their own fresh music, reflecting their own times and delivered to their ears in ways that we can't begin to imagine.

And I kind of like that idea. Hope I'm around to hear as much of it as possible.

Going, going ...

I think this is my last picture of the demolition of Memorial Auditorium. I try not to shoot empty fields.

There was a ceremony of sorts today on the site, as a variety of politicians gathered for the usual dull speeches. They did open the time capsule from 1939. According to the headlines in the three-cent paper of the day, the Soviet Union was acting war-like toward Finland. I smell trouble ahead there. Plus, they revealed the winning photographs in the contest to determine the best picture of the demolition. There was a general consensus that the second-place photo (which had "Buffalo" of "Buffalo Memorial Auditorium" just starting to come down at the beginning at the project) should have won.

Must have been 500 people there today at least, if you don't count the politicos who ruined their shoes by walking in the mud. I'd say 499 of them had cameras.

Never-Never Land, Indeed

My favorite anecdote about Michael Jackson comes, from all people, Joe Barbera. He wrote a book called "My Life in Toons." It's pretty interesting, if you enjoyed the Hanna-Barbera cartoons of the 50's and 60's.

Anyway, Barbera tells the story about one of his most prized possessions, an autographed picture of Michael Jackson. M.J. signed it along the lines of "Thanks for bringing to life the great characters who were my only friends during my childhood." Such a line could keep psychologists at work for months.

Much has been said during the past few days about Jackson, who certainly ranks as one of the most influential musical and cultural influences in the past century or so. I can't complain about the amount of coverage he's received in the past few days. Jackson was a huge celebrity, and he died suddenly at a relatively young age. That's news.

The problem centers on what comes next. It figures to get mighty ugly.

Jackson was always an odd personality as an adult, and some of his actions may not have been technically illegal but were certainly inappropriate. Those will be rehashed. His parents are already claiming title to his affairs; that's going to be complicated. Throw in the usual autopsies, toxocology reports, tributes, etc., and there will be enough news printed about Jackson to kill some forests in the coming weeks. That's fine, and natural.

What really scares me, though, is how the "tabloid" press is going to handle this one. This story is going to go on and on and on. You think "The Insider" and "Entertainment Tonight" went overboard on Anna Nicole Smith? Think of what they'll do about someone who actually has talent.

It's tough to know how much coverage is too much in a situation like this, thanks to a high level of interest. But I have every confidence that if there is a line, we'll be flying past it in a couple of weeks, if not sooner.

Poor Michael. I don't think he ever had much of a chance at living a normal life. I'm glad he's missing what's ahead.

Meet the Beatles

The 2004-05 high school basketball season was one for the books by Western New York standards. That was the year when Niagara Falls was at its peak.

The Wolverines featured two sure-fire Division I talents in Paul Harris and Jonny Flynn. Harris was The Buffalo News player of the year in the spring of 2004 and 2005. Once Harris graduated, Flynn followed by getting the same honor in 2006 and 2007.

In that magical 04-05 season, Niagara Falls dropped out of its conference to play a national schedule. Few local teams could stay within 30 points of it. Our high school writer, Keith McShea, called the team "the Beatles" as a way of pointing out just how popular this group was. The phrase stuck around the office.

In the spring of 2005, Harris was the big star. There was talk that he could go immediately to the NBA. He was an amazing athlete in high school, doing essentially whatever he wanted on the court. A 6-foot-6 forward who could jump and rebound, he didn't have much competition. Flynn played Scottie Pippin to Harris' Jordan back then, although he certainly became a top-rank player in his own right.

Harris took a year to go to prep school and then went to Syracuse. He was the one with the big reputation. Flynn followed him there in the fall of 2007. Would Harris be one-and-done and then off to the pros?

It didn't quite work out that way. Harris was a good player for the Orange for three years, but didn't really have a natural position. When you are 6-6, you really need to be a good outside shooter to get to a level of stardom. Harris could do some scoring inside and rebounding, but he never dominated. Meanwhile, the unsung Flynn built a reputation as one of the nation's best point guards. His big moment came in the six-overtime game against Connecticut in the Big East Tournament.

When the SU season ended, there was talk that the team might be the best in the country next season if it stayed intact. But it didn't. Flynn heard the stories that he'd be a top pro pick, and entered the draft. Meanwhile, Harris and Eric Devendorf, who seemed to only have NBA-level tattoos, surprised everyone by turning pro.

Tonight, it was Pippin's turn to shine. Flynn was taken with the sixth pick overall by Minnesota. Vast NBA riches await. Meanwhile, Jordan, er, Harris, wasn't taken at all on Thursday. He'll probably end up in Europe. It reminded me of draft day about 24 years ago. Ray Hall was the big star at Canisius, but it was Mike Smrek who was the second-round draft choice and the person who won a ring with the Lakers.

It's fun to guess the future when looking at high school players. And sometimes you're wrong.

Whitewater walk

It was a perfect summer day today, and Jody and I both had the day off. No time to write an angry blog about anything. Instead, we played tourist up in Niagara Falls, Ontario. I always wanted to walk along the rapids in the Niagara Gorge. Today we paid our $9.19 each (Can.), took the elevator down 70 meters, and went for a waterfront stroll. Here's the best of the pictures; click on it for a bigger image:

I feel more relaxed already.