Livin' the '60's in the Slow Lane

Tyler's "Rolling Stone" magazine arrived the other day in the mail. You might wonder why an 18-year old would be getting "Rolling Stone." It's really quite simple. A kid came to the door hawking magazines and Tyler couldn't say no. So he orders "Rolling Stone." I'm pretty sure he's never even opened an issue (probably because I throw it in the trash every time it comes). He's too young to be reading such inflamatory stuff. Heck, I'm too young. As much as I love music, the articles tend to ruin my perception of people I might admire. I read part of an article on Justin Timberlake one time. He used the eff word one too many times for my liking. And I thought he was such a nice boy. He's the only celebrity I ever saw on "Punk'd" that never cussed.

Anyway, the issue that came this week was the 40th anniversary issue. I was just a wee child of eight when it made its debut. Living in the midwest we barely knew the 60's were happening, except when it came to the civil rights movement. I remember very clearly my dad telling us that MLK had been killed. And RFK, too. The only hippies I knew were Bill & Widgie (pronounced wee gee) Lovell. Bill had a music store that had electric guitars in it and Widgie had a Janis Joplin thing going on, minus the drug overdose. But they went to our church, so how far out could they have been?

Back to anniversary issue of RS. There was a whole slew (what's a slew anyway?) of interviews with different people who lived the 60's and are still lucid enough to talk about it . . . George McGovern, Jane Fonda, Jackson Browne, Martin Scorcese and Jack Nicholson (just to name a few). Jack's always been just a little off the bubble. They asked him about the 60's and he says that, curiously, from about 1967-1972 he just kind of gave up dates. He called it "contemporary thinking" and "no conceptual realities." I think it's called narcotics. Heavy narcotics. He says he remembers things that happened during those years, he just can't remember the dates. Then he goes on to admit that there are things that happened that he doesn't remember. Really, Jack? And guess what? He was on an episode of "The Andy Griffith Show" titled Aunt Bea, the Juror. That's a looong loonnng way from the crazy Shining gig, eh?

What do I remember about the 60's? It was idyllic. There were about 20 kids on our block and in the summer we'd play Kick the Can for hours and hours. We'd hunt crawdads in the sewer (eyew) and come running with our nickels when we heard the ding, ding, ding of the ice cream truck. In the afternoons, my mom would put a sheet down on the living room floor (because the window air conditioner was in the adjacent dining room) and we'd have "horizontal hour," a concept my dad learned as a church camp counselor. The kids hated it; mom lived for it. I remember Pizza Hut coming to our town and my dad having a rather spirited conversation with a guy (hey, I think it was a hippie) during dinner about the song playing on the juke box, "Mama Told Me Not to Come." I think it was by Three Dog Night and I'm pretty sure it was about drugs, or the war, or both. I was so naive. And I totally remember going to see "Sgt. Pepper" at the movies. Why would my parents let me go to see a movie completely inundated with references to drugs? It was a cartoon! THEY were so naive. Of course, the adult themes went completely over my head. I was in love with "Nowhere Man." So my memories of the 60's are pretty much the "Wonder Years." It was a good time.

Rock on . . .