I’m not sure whether a “generation

I’m not sure whether a “generation gap” exists, but if it does, I hope I’m still standing on the youth’s side of the gap. I may be 50 and then some, but I still like to rock. When I was a teenager, I listened to all of the new rock and roll music, and I really got into it. But, unlike a lot of my friends who decided that good music died after the 1970s, I kept on listening to as well as rocking to new and unique music. I have to admit that rock and roll has changed since I was a teenager, but it is still about using rhythm to express feeling.

Some of the changes have been very positive. Advances in technology have made personal recording simple and given us access to music on the Internet. Nowadays, you can’t throw a stone without hitting someone that has made their own CD. You don’t have to just listen to music made and sold by big record companies. Many groups send their music straight to community radio stations. This allows for truly new music to be heard that record companies have never even touched. I play drums for one such group myself.

My daughter is an actual teenager and she is thoroughly disgusted by my listening to and playing, as she puts it, “those awful tunes.” Classical music and playing the piano appeal to her. She pretends to show concern by making comments like, “You should turn that stuff down or you will hurt your ears,” but I know what she is really trying to say is that she finds my music absolutely offensive and does not have patience for it. I don’t get too upset, though. And I don’t worry about my music having a negative influence on her. In any case, she is probably right about my ears; I likely have lost some hearing from going to too many loud concerts as I have. I can’t say that it wasn’t worth it, though. If I had to do it all over again I would do it all the same except I would protect my ears better.