Hey, everyone. My wife and I spent the evening watching old videos on you-tube. I really enjoyed this and we do this fairly often. We search for old concert appearances of entertainers we like. Some of the ones we watch are from the 1950's and 1960's, as well as later ones. What a wonderful archive of film has been preserved. My great, great grandchildren will be able to see the singers that used to rock the world. They won't have to take anyone's word for how good these people were, they can see for themselves. It would have been a shame if future generations could not see a young Jerry Lee Lewis rock that piano or John Fogerty shred that great sounding guitar.
Tonight we watched Joan Baez and listened to that phenomenal voice sing Diamonds and Rust. We saw Judy Collins perform Both Sides Now. A 30 year old Neil Diamond rocked Sweet Caroline, Forever In Blue Jeans and other tunes in a live show from by-gone days. There is really no price that you could put on the value of these things and indeed, you-tube doesn't charge a cent for them. We watched a young and healthy Whitney Houston sing I Will Always Love You. Simon and Garfunkel, Linda Ronstadt, Peter, Paul and Mary, the Eagles, along with a host of others, made a surprise visit to my living room. They were most welcome.
Can you imagine what a treat it would be for the relatives of performers who have died, if they could see mom or dad perform? Generations from now, these archives will be a blessing. Many of the films have been uploaded by regular folks like you and I and they are to be commended for their efforts.
Speaking of music, I was playing an old song on keyboard today which brought back some memories. One Tin Soldier was a song from the classic film titled Billy Jack. It is a song with a message and typified the thinking of we teens who came of age in the turbulent sixties. It is the story of a kingdom on a mountain. They were rumored to possess a priceless treasure and the valley people wanted the treasure for their very own. The mountain people said they would be glad to share with their brothers from the valley. The valley folk weren't too big on sharing, so they attacked the mountain kingdom. They killed every man, woman and child. Then they turned over the stone where the treasure resided. On the stone was the message, Peace On Earth. Treasure indeed. Every time I hear the song, I see Tom Laughlin (Billy Jack) walking out in handcuffs.
If you think that's a bit corny, you should see the movie. You have to understand, we were a bunch of hippies, back in the day. We had been raised by a 'dot the eye and cross the tee' generation of WW2 and we wanted to break loose a bit. Anything different was cool with us. Now we try to forget that we were once long-haired freaky people. Seriously though, I loved the song, the movie and the generation, with all their baggage. If you like this film, go back and watch it's predecessor, called Born Losers, in which Billy Jack deals with a murderous motorcycle gang. Not a show for the squeamish, I assure you.
If I could choose from all of history, I'd choose that time to be a teen. Just glad that I survived it, I think. I also think that our time spawned a lot of creative and impractical people and I suppose that the world needed a dose of that after a generation that had to dedicate themselves to grim things like survival. My book called Climber's Reward is set in this time frame. When I speak of it, I speak from experience.
If I may brag a little, I think that my generation had some of the greatest cars ever. Friday nights teemed with Z-28 Camaros, Mustangs, Roadrunners, Dodge Super Bees, Barracudas, Corvettes and the occasional 2 seat Thunderbird.
In closing, let me say that we take you-tube for granted. It is really a cool thing.
From the author's green retreat, I'm CE Wills.
Tonight we watched Joan Baez and listened to that phenomenal voice sing Diamonds and Rust. We saw Judy Collins perform Both Sides Now. A 30 year old Neil Diamond rocked Sweet Caroline, Forever In Blue Jeans and other tunes in a live show from by-gone days. There is really no price that you could put on the value of these things and indeed, you-tube doesn't charge a cent for them. We watched a young and healthy Whitney Houston sing I Will Always Love You. Simon and Garfunkel, Linda Ronstadt, Peter, Paul and Mary, the Eagles, along with a host of others, made a surprise visit to my living room. They were most welcome.
Can you imagine what a treat it would be for the relatives of performers who have died, if they could see mom or dad perform? Generations from now, these archives will be a blessing. Many of the films have been uploaded by regular folks like you and I and they are to be commended for their efforts.
Speaking of music, I was playing an old song on keyboard today which brought back some memories. One Tin Soldier was a song from the classic film titled Billy Jack. It is a song with a message and typified the thinking of we teens who came of age in the turbulent sixties. It is the story of a kingdom on a mountain. They were rumored to possess a priceless treasure and the valley people wanted the treasure for their very own. The mountain people said they would be glad to share with their brothers from the valley. The valley folk weren't too big on sharing, so they attacked the mountain kingdom. They killed every man, woman and child. Then they turned over the stone where the treasure resided. On the stone was the message, Peace On Earth. Treasure indeed. Every time I hear the song, I see Tom Laughlin (Billy Jack) walking out in handcuffs.
If you think that's a bit corny, you should see the movie. You have to understand, we were a bunch of hippies, back in the day. We had been raised by a 'dot the eye and cross the tee' generation of WW2 and we wanted to break loose a bit. Anything different was cool with us. Now we try to forget that we were once long-haired freaky people. Seriously though, I loved the song, the movie and the generation, with all their baggage. If you like this film, go back and watch it's predecessor, called Born Losers, in which Billy Jack deals with a murderous motorcycle gang. Not a show for the squeamish, I assure you.
If I could choose from all of history, I'd choose that time to be a teen. Just glad that I survived it, I think. I also think that our time spawned a lot of creative and impractical people and I suppose that the world needed a dose of that after a generation that had to dedicate themselves to grim things like survival. My book called Climber's Reward is set in this time frame. When I speak of it, I speak from experience.
If I may brag a little, I think that my generation had some of the greatest cars ever. Friday nights teemed with Z-28 Camaros, Mustangs, Roadrunners, Dodge Super Bees, Barracudas, Corvettes and the occasional 2 seat Thunderbird.
In closing, let me say that we take you-tube for granted. It is really a cool thing.
From the author's green retreat, I'm CE Wills.
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