Hey, Ebbie:

Ah,, the fifties. Poodle skirts and duck tail haircuts. Happy Days with the Fonz. You could still get cherry coke at the soda fountain then, and records still only cost a nickel on the jukebox. I think that we agree. Nostlagia has a way of overlooking all the God-awful stuff that us humans do to each other. That's why I think it's hard to see how people could wax nostalgic about these days. But, I think that they will.

Remember Vietnam and the civil rights movement? To some extent they've become oldies of their own, with their own soundtrack, and tie-dyed shirts at Walmart. There was nuthin good about the Viet Nam War or the hate crimes of those days, but even that seems to soften as the years go by.

And sixtieschick... No, I didn't feel that way at all. I felt like there was some sort of mystical convergence happening and I soaked it up. Appreciated the openness and excitement, and to a great extent, just lived in the moment. Dave was right, though. From 1960-64, everything was exploding in the Village, and I don't think that anyone who was there during that time was thinking to themselves "If only I had been here ten years ago." People who came in after most of the coffeee houses on McDougal and Bleeker Streets were closed and the places that were left had high cover charges understandably might have felt that way. But even then, there was still a collective of people and music that thrived... perhaps in smaller venues with smaller crowds. I went down to hear Tom Paxton in the 70's and it was great to hear him again. It was different... no question about that. Where I could hear him while nursing a cup of coffee with no cover charge at the Gaslight Cafe in the early 60's (and Dave too,)
I had to buy tickets a couple of hours in advance and go in for a "show".

I guess the point I'm trying to make, along with just asking questions, is that no matter how disgusted we get about the present, and how much it may become blurry and in slow-mo in the years to come, that doesn't mean that there aren't some things that are happening right now that we shouldn't appreciate. And not let them slip past us while we're angry about those things we should be angry about.

Gotta be a balance in here, somewhere..

Jerry