According
to Eric Barker of the blog ‘Barking Up the Wrong Tree’ (http://bakadesuyo.com/)
the music you enjoyed when you were the age of 20 you will probably
love for the rest of your life. I
recently spent the weekend with my cousins (who are over 40 years of age) at
the same time celebrating another cousin’s 40th birthday. And similar to the past 20+ years, our go-to
conversation was music.
But unfortunately a lot of
people over the age of 40 are no longer regularly going to see live music. I have heard having children, pets, a job,
money, etc. are contributors to people no longer going out to see music. At the same time, since you are never too old
to discover new music, there are some excellent resources. For example, one of my cousins prefers Sirius
XM satellite radio. However, in light of
recent 1990s reunion tours (i.e. Neutral Milk Hotel), music fans (no matter
what their age) are getting very tired of all the snarky hipster critiques. As I still
try to define what ‘kitchen-sink psych-folk’ is, I think yes, it is very cool
to say that I saw G. Love & Special Sauce at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, NJ in
1993 with approximately 50 other people as opposed to their recent reunion stop at Stage AE in Pittsburgh this past
February, but then again it is really at its core only cool to me.
It
is not over at 40 for musicians or their fans. While many people leave
listening to music to those younger, there are others who still have some
impact on today's music scene. We’re conditioned to believe that if we’re
going to be involved in music then we have to do it at a young age.
However, that is not the case.
According to two of my friends who are very invested in music, “The
‘cool’ quotient should be irrelevant. There is simply music you like and
music you do not like. The ‘coolest’ people are the ones who like what
they like without shame and do not bend to hipster peer pressure.
When
I worked in Los Angeles as an intern in the mid-1990s, a guy I became friendly
with swore by the band Oingo Boingo – a band best known for their
semi-theatrical music and high energy Halloween concerts. He confided to me that everyone who enjoys
music roots for their own band/artist the way he pulled for Oingo Boingo. I agree with this thought process and have my
own bands who fit into this category.
One
of my favorite sources for new music performed in a live setting is “Live From
Daryl's House” – a monthly, free, live performace webcast featuring Daryl Hall
and an eclectic guest list. In fact, the
most recent episode featured the band Johnnyswim and although there is not a long list of people who would consider Daryl Hall
cool or the folk, soul, blues, pop music duo of Johnnyswim so cool, I really
dig the program and by coincidence my over 40 cousin was the one who
recommended Johnnyswim in the first place..
Thank
you for reading!
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