"Nothing is new under the sun"!
Oh really?
One could say, "Look who's talking!", or "Consider the source!", the latter being my favorite go-to maxim.
For if anyone is averse to "the new", it's been me.
Born in 1944, I've always referred to myself as a "50's-60's" person.
Meaning, I STILL see Bob Dylan, the Beatles & the Stones, Janis & Jimi, and yes, even the Haight-Ashbury as starting points to the definition of ME!
(Not forgetting Henry Miller, Norman Mailer, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, The Graduate, Easy Rider, and I Love Lucy!!)
But what about NOW?
Today?
The NEW?
And more to the point, how do I move from THEN to NOW, without removing the foundational entities that formed, and TRANSformed, me?
Let me give you some examples.
In 1964, before I turned 20, I "discovered" the Beatles and Bob Dylan.
Almost back to back.
First, of course, came the Fab Four when they appeared on (and I saw them!) on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Followed soon thereafter by their movie "A Hard Day's Night", and their having several Number One Top 40 singles.
Then, a few weeks later, I was on a blind date with an attractive "Beat" girl--meaning she wore a white turtleneck sweater and black fishnet lace stockings and boots ("made for walkin'"??).
We were in a cafe, talking, and listening to a "folkie" singing a Dylan song.
My date asked if I like him.
"Not familiar with him."
"Oh, you have to get his new album, "Freewheelin'"!
Long story short, I go to a "record shop" the next day and ask the clerk for the new Bob "DIE-lynn" album.
That was the LAST time I mispronounced Bobby's name!
(P.S. That girl and I never dated again, as I recall!)
So that was how it all started.
Me discovering "the new".
But being that "60's guy", it was a long time before anyone REALLY new entered my world.
And then it became like a tsunami, as author after author, and band/singer after band/singer took the "60's" from my register and made it the 60's AND the 90's and the 2000's!
But let's return to the 70's for a minute.
That was when I "found" Kurt Vonnegut.
It again took a girl to open up my narrow world.
(This girl was then my best friend, and had been since we met in the Fillmore West on July 5, 1968!)
Lee (the girl) had been asking me to read Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five" since it came out in 1969.
And I'd refused, telling her I wasn't into "cult" authors, and didn't like books (or movies) about war!
Finally, in 1975, when I was working in a used bookstore in Arcata CA, I "found" Mr Vonnegut!
I read "Slaughterhouse Five", and LOVED it!
But I loved not just THAT book, but Vonnegut's writing style, his seemingly simplistic overuse of repetitive words or phrases, like "So it goes.", or later, in "Slapstick", his "Hi ho"s.
So I went back to "Player Piano", his 1952 novel, and worked my way through all of his (then-) 11 published novels & collections.
I still consider Vonnegut my favorite novelist.
In moving from the 60's to the 90's--from the Beatles to "the new"--I wasn't completely ignoring "the now".
I liked The Police, Tom Petty, Joan Jett, among a few others.
Fast forward to about 2002, to Lincoln City OR, where I was a cashier in a Chevron Food Mart.
I was then about 57 or 58, and had a young (19 or 20) co-worker, a guy.
One day, we were hanging out waiting for customers, listening to the radio.
I told him I liked whatever song was then playing.
It was sung by Sheryl Crow, whom I knew nothing (or almost nothing) about.
So, similar to that 1964 blind date experience, I found myself in Astoria OR in a "CD" store searching out Sheryl Crow CD's.
I found her Central Park concert, where she played with several name musicians, among them the Dixie Chicks.
You guessed it!
Loving Crow (and about to eat it---so to speak! LOL), I ALSO then sought out the DC, and "found" their "Goodbye Earl", my favorite Chicks song to this day!
Speaking of "Earl", I'd also seen around that time the DC's video of that song, starring "NYPD Blue"'s Dennis Franz as Earl.
You guessed it again!
Since the show began in 1993, "NYPD Blue" had been my favorite TV show, with Franz my favorite actor!
See how all of that came together?
From "Blue" to Crow to the DC--boom, boom, BOOM!--and I'd moved 30 years into "the new".
BTW, that same guy told me I would "love" a group called Garbage!
I thought---a band called GARBAGE??!!
But again, I bought their first CD, and fell in love with Shirley and the gang!
In 2007, I found myself in jail for 4 months.
(The last time I'll ever spend behind bars!)
Anyway, seeing 120 days standing before my eyes, and not liking my "roomies" or the lousy movies they let us watch, I turned to my old standby, books, to save the day(s).
In those 120 days, I read 107 books!
Yes, that's correct--I said 107 books in 120 days!
(I'd kept a list of all of them!)
Since my selection was limited, I had to turn to "new" writers--ones I'd heard about (having worked 9 years in bookstores!), but hadn't read!
(Besides "cult" writers, I was also somewhat averse to "popular" writers, and "best sellers".)
Well, among those 107 books were titles by....
Janet Evanovich
Robert B Parker
John Sandford
J A Jance
Sue Grafton
Patricia Cornwell.....
and maybe 2 or 3 others!
Yes, I'd again "found" someone(s) "new", and loved them!
Well, let's bring this story to the present day!
Because I've AGAIN found some "new" to add to the "old".
And I have Netflix, Xfinity, Amazon, and Rolling Stone to thank for introducing us!
I have a habit of buying books and DVD's, but then taking weeks, even months, to get around to reading or watching them!
Same goes for my two magazine subs--Track and Field News, and Rolling Stone.
I sometimes have a backlog of several MONTHS of issues sitting around unread!
So one day recently, as I was working my way through the spring and summer months of RS's unread issues, I "found" their review of Courtney Barnett's CD "Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit".
Then I read their big article about her.
Yep, I went online to Amazon, and ordered that CD.
I got it, listened to it once, and Ms Barnett became an instant love affair!
(She's an Australian lesbian--outed, with a long-term partner--so my chances with her, however limited they were--dropped to ZERO!! LOL)
I then bought her "Double EP" CD, and love that one too!
I Googled her, and found FULL concerts of her on YouTube, and various short interviews---all of which I LOVE!
This, all in just the past few WEEKS!!
I own over 700 movies on DVD!
(Never liked to rent!)
But however varied--and great!--my private collection is, I want more!
Thus, my joining Netflix, taking them up on their 30 day free trial offer!
(I'll probably cancel before having to pay!!)
In just the past ONE WEEK, I've discovered two TV shows I'm adding to my list of All-Time Greats!
First came the Australian (sic!) "women in prison" drama called either "Wentworth" or "Wentworth Prison".
In the space of less than 3 days, I watched all 34 episodes from its 3 seasons of existence (2013-2015), with each episode running about 50 minutes!
One ep after another after another!
Each one "forcing" me to watch the next!
(Their 4th season begins next April!)
After "Wentworth", I still had 3 weeks left on my Free Trial!
So, having loved Jane Fonda in "Peace, Love, and Misunderstanding", I found her "Grace and Frankie" show, new this year, and a "Netflix Exclusive".
I've seen just the first 3 (of 13) episodes so far, but Sheesh!, I just started watching it TODAY!!
(Well, about 10-12 hours ago, just after midnight!)
You can safely bet I'll have the other 10 episodes gobbled up, like I plan to gobble up my turkey & trimmings Thanksgiving meal in a few days!
Another title/author/singer/ARTISTIC ENTITY to define my "new", always keeping the "old" (and once-upon-a-time NEW!) as my BFF!
How about you?
What (or whom!) is NEW in YOUR life?
