I hate nostalgia. I mean, I hate being nostalgic. I mean, I try to fight the impulse. I don't want to live in the past. I don't think the past was better than today. I mean, I was younger in the past, and I did things back then that I wouldn't do now, and some of those things were really cool and some of them were really stupid, and sometimes I'm just amazed that I've made it this far.
I do miss people from my past. And if you live long enough, you really do learn what "death" is; death is an emptiness, a hole in the fabric of existence, a lack, a void.
I love pop culture (oh yeah, I sometimes hate it too), and I love lots of music and movies from the past. My favorite era of music ranges from about 1965 - 1975. I just think lots of really great music was made in that period, AND, music at that time had a much bigger social/cultural significance. At least that's how it seemed to me. Movies too. Those post Easy Rider early seventies movies were amazing.
Now, I listen to that music and watch those movies, but when I do, I don't long for a now long gone past. I listen and watch because that music and those movies still resonate with me today. At least some of them do. And the really good ones really still hold their power.
But today there is really great music, and there are still great movies too. And in some ways because of the technology, more people have the means to make really great work for a fraction of the cost. Which means many, many more bands and artists doing their thing. It's overwhelming how much good music is being made today.
Still, sometimes I see or hear something and I do get a twinge of regret about another world, another world that no longer exists. And I do remember. A friend sent me an email this morning with this photo attached… Jimi, Mad Magazine - 1967 at the Warwick Hotel near Central Park New York… oh man! I mean...