COVID Senior Lockdown, Day 26

Sorry about the irregular posts. Been busy.

But right now, the missus and I are unwinding with a 2017 Steve Winwood concert on some obscure internet channel. We unplugged last month, dropping expensive and unreliable cable for a new universe of OTT (internet delivered) entertainment. It’s a little harder to figure out, but has led to some gems, like this. Steve Winwood playing the best from his career is a time capsule and a clear example of how Rock and Roll is a music form unlike any in popular music history. He is playing 50-year-old songs that are still rock songs. If you asked your parents in 1990 to play something from their collection 50 years prior, it would have been a swing vocal with a Big Band. Good for Sinatra historians, but not relevant. However, 50 years ago from today was already the second generation of rock. The principles of Rock and Roll echo through six decades of popular composition.

Today is the 50th anniversary of the day Paul McCartney announced the breakup of the Beatles. God, what a shocker that was. With no internet, email, social or cell phones, the news still spread like wildfire. No one has ever had a larger or more enduring impact on popular music than the Beatles. Go ahead, argue with me. Any hit record of today has roots in their stuff, as they had roots in Buddy Holly and Little Richard. The Beatles changed the rules and fed the fantastic, exotic, thrilling cultural revolution of the 60s. And after eight short years, they were done. But the catalog and the impact are immense and timeless.

Stevie had his first hits in 1967 as a 16-year-old wunderkind with the Spencer Davis Group. Then Traffic, then Blind Faith (the first Supergroup), then other collaborations, then solo hits in the 80s that introduced him to a whole new generation (and the missus loves), and still cranking today. We saw him in Baltimore about 10 years ago. Small stage, small band, awesome show.

These are the guys we Boomers proudly love They’ve been with us since we were kids, and the fact that they are still out there gives us energy and hope. And you hear their voices and melodies and power chords in every song since. Rock and Roll will never die. OK Boomer, my ass.

- Guy