Friday night was djing at Texas Theatre for a burlesque show called "Dallas Dames". It was a mixture of elegant, artsy, fancy dress and raw unbridled She Power with pasties, tassles and not much clothing. All the things you hope for at such a sexy performance. It was fun and enjoyable and the ladies worked hard for the cat calls and cheers.
The next night I found myself surrounded by preteens and small children with their moms ...and everyone in lots of clothes. I was there to see Sedated- a Ramones cover band who put on a great show with the lead singer mimicking Joey Ramones stage stance and vocals pretty well. I was there with my long time friend from the highschool days and fellow Ramones fan.
In fact we had both seen the real Ramones twice in our younger days. Why all the tiny kids though? The next band was a clean cut band of blonde cute 14 year old girls. I guess this is what is called "pop punk" these days by the kids. The old punk in me wanted to run. Run WILD IN THE STREETS- RUNNING RUNNING! But I was there to hang with my friends and spend time together. When the girl sang "we're the new kids in America- you can find us on social media"...Everything inside me cringed and yelled. These were not Kim Wyldes Kids in America...this was a very sterile soccer moms kids... but this was also not my world and I was not their market and demographic.
I sat down and reminisced about seeing The Cramps destroying this very same stage with leather thongs and very real blood. I remembered being a very different kind of 14 year old than these kids. This was Disney approved "punk" with lots of chaperones. This was not the "I'm sneaking into see FEAR with my older sister's ID and no one knows where I'm at" show of yesteryear. I remembered the newness and thrill of live music, of punk. The seedy and raw and real.
It was a fun mental trip to hear The Stooges being played on the sound system between bands. The danger lives on in ancient and timeless recorded formats. I felt old and wizened.
I wasn't going to piss on these kids parade- they were only enjoying what they've been fed and taught. Its a different world where kids don't play outside anymore, everything is packaged in sweetly perfect and digitized packaging and marketed to them non stop. There is no searching and seeking in dark alleys for that album you "heard about" but might not even be real. Theres Google, Siri and Alexa now. There were no older gurus handing down The Clash cassettes like Moses from the mountain.
I enjoyed their youthful enthusiasm and "let others enjoy things". They did after all send me back to my own youth for a moment in time.
How absolutely different.
God Save the Queen -I was born before computers.
Viva 1976!
Question authority kids, question everything.
If the kids are united they will never be divided! Unfortunately the kids can be found on social media...instead of the mosh pit or climbing a tree.
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