Member-only story
Dear Gen Xer At The Rock Club
A modest proposal for fellow middle-aged music lovers
I’m proud of us.
It takes guts to show our weathered faces at a club filled with beautiful twenty-somethings. So what if a few of them giggle and mock our “Lollapalooza 1991” T-shirts and Day-Glo earplugs?
Just sip on your overpriced club soda with a squeeze of lime and let the laughter roll right on by.
You’re a wizened elder.
A scene veteran.
A survivor.
Rise above.
Hear that Sonic Youth song blaring from the PA between bands? You still have the original vinyl. See the guitarist’s semi-ironic Luscious Jackson concert T-shirt? You saw that tour twice. The drummer’s “vintage” sparkle kit? It was made when you were still in high school.
Just fold your arms and watch the show from your spot along the back wall. That band playing their hearts out up on stage knocked themselves out trying to score this opening slot. They want to be seen by this crowd almost as much as you might want to be invisible.
Imagine that’s you and your friends up there bashing it out thirty years ago. Picture your own children (your nephews and nieces, a band of your favorite Starbucks baristas…
