Which Is Scarier?

I was about to flip off the TV last night when I saw what was playing in real-time: a B-52s concert on PBS, recorded live in 2011. Fascinated, I dropped into the couch like a baked potato and watched for a while. I’ve always liked the B-52s, from the time I first heard “Rock Lobster,” back in the day.*

Thirty or so years later, they still sounded pretty good. But when my daughter came over and said, “Wow, I thought they’d look older. They look really well preserved,” I winced a little. Because I was kind of thinking just the opposite. Not that they don’t look well preserved, but the truth is, I still picture them as they looked, well, back in the day. Their stage moves had that slightly awkward quality of aging rock stars still trying to look young. I thought with a shudder of how I might look, up on stage, trying to come off as vibrant and hip. [Ow.]

But what really got me was the shots of the audience, wearing silly headgear and gyrating to the music. And that’s when I wondered which is scarier: the sight of an aging rock band still truckin’ on, or the sight of the aging Boomers who turn out to see them? Speaking, you understand, as an aging Boomer.

On the other hand, they all looked like they were having a really good time—so who am I to criticize? Besides, as I zoned out and listened, I got an idea that I needed to help me work out problems in my current chapter. Keep on truckin’, guys!

*circa 1979 or 1980