No Way In Hell!

I am NOT stodgy. I may be old but I am not stodgy.

Yeah...right! Tell that to my daughter...

Over the years she has tried to get me to listen to "her" music. I have tried and, in most cases, I have, in a word, hated it.

I must admit that I was surprised by the Jonas Brothers, the occasional Miley Cyrus hit and one song called "Forget You" (I think) by some R & B guy.

Other than that the hip-hop/rap stuff she enjoys has left me cold. I am a musician and really love all music, from opera to country, but rap seems so redundantly boring...musically.

I was impressed by The Last Poets and by the late Gil Scott-Heron but modern music is much too processed and posturing for my taste. It's more about attitude than it is about music. The songs seem to be almost completely devoid of originality and, in some cases, the shameful, almost plagaristic, sampling reduces the songs to mere copies and not very good ones at that.

But then something happened to me recently.

I worked at a Chris Brown concert.

I WAS BLOWN AWAY!!!!!

It was one of the best concerts I've ever been to. I saw Sly and The Family Stone. Twice. I saw Billy Joel. I saw Poco. I saw Aerosmith. And all of those shows were in the sixties and seventies when those bands were new and fresh. They were wonderful events.

But this Chris Brown guy. OMG! LMAO! POS! HOLY COW!!

He can dance (oh boy can he dance!) and sing and is a great entertainer. His dancers were wonderful, the band was unbelievable and the sets, lights, videos and special effects were terrific!

I even liked most of his material. Still not my favorite but pretty damned good nonetheless.

I am a convert. I am a believer. I AM A FAN!

(Note: Whatever has been going on in his personal life doesn't detract from his talent. I'm not even sure of the details...violence of some sort. If true, I don't approve...but his private life has nothing to do with his abilities which are almost overwhelming!)

So, if you see a gray-haired guy, about 5'9" tall and a bit overweight, walking down the street with his hat on sideways and his pants falling down don't cross over to the other side.

It'll be me. It will be up to you to decide whether I'm being hip and "rappish" in all of my "gangsta" regalia...or just being old...and stodgy...!