‘Geezer rock’ comes to Salinas for baby boomer enjoyment
We baby boomers are crazy about our music. True, we have
wrinkles and gray hair, excess flab and stretch marks, but we still
want to rock ‘n’ roll all night. Or at least part of the night.
‘Geezer rock’ comes to Salinas for baby boomer enjoyment
We baby boomers are crazy about our music. True, we have wrinkles and gray hair, excess flab and stretch marks, but we still want to rock ‘n’ roll all night. Or at least part of the night.
That was evident at a concert I went to last weekend in Salinas.
I sat in my seat at the Fox Theater and watched in amazement as the other concertgoers passed by. I counted maybe two that were under the age of 40. Well, maybe three.
Not surprising, considering that the featured band was Three Dog Night. If you were born in the 1980s or later, I can hear you saying, “Huh?”
The group was a huge hit maker in the early 1970s, generating a string of 15 hit songs such as “Black and White,” “Mama Told Me Not to Come,” and “Joy to the World.”
Not the Christmas “Joy to the World,” but the one with the never-to-be-forgotten lyrics, “Jeremiah was a bullfrog/Was a good friend of mine/Never understood a single word he said/But I helped him drink his wine.”
Poetry, sheer poetry.
At any rate, no modern vocalists have remade any of Three Dog Night’s hits, so today’s youth have no clue who they are.
But to anyone who grew up listening to the radio during the 1970s couldn’t escape them.
By the way, the surge of boomers to concerts is no isolated phenomenon. Last year’s top musical moneymakers were Madonna, Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen – all of whom achieved superstardom more than a quarter of a century ago.
According to the Web site 411mania.com, coming in fourth was The Police and fifth was Celine Dion. Half of the top 20 were older acts, ranging from Billy Joel to the Eagles.
Call it “geezer rock.”
And so, when it was announced that Three Dog Night was coming to town, a number of us old folks got all excited about it. And so about 600 of us trooped into the Fox Theater to see our heroes of yesteryear.
But I have to tell you, when they first came on stage, my first reaction was dismay. “Boy, these guys got old,” I muttered to myself. “What happened?”
Well, 35 years happened.
The two lead singers were thoroughly gray. Nattily attired in suits, with neatly trimmed longish hair, but let’s face it – gray.
The other two original members of the group were pretty wrinkly, with hairdos that looked as though they’d benefited from generous applications of Grecian Formula. The two other dudes were younger but were recent additions to the group.
Basically, just about all of them looked ready for Social Security and rocking chairs.
Yet there they were, ready to rock.
I can’t remember the first song they did – my memory isn’t what it used to be – but by the time they got to “Shambala,” they had me. The harmonies were as good as they ever were. The lead guitarist shredded that thing. The band found its groove and never left it.
By the time they played the final song, “Joy to the World,” the crowd was on its feet, dancing and jiving, clapping and singing along. Somehow, for at least a little while, everyone looked younger.
Myself, I’d been transported back to junior high school days, doing my homework in my room late at night, listening to KDON on the radio, and tapping out the beat with my pencil.
Three Dog Night. I knew all their songs by heart.
