Reflections Of A Boomer（英文）

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Historical September 1994 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.

You could have called it the cveryperson’s Woodstock. Even though I briefly entertained thoughts of heading east for the 25th anniversary• observance of peace and love in New York with my son in tow, I couldn’t rationalize the bucks and vacation time it would sct me back.

When the news came that we wouldn’t be attending the shindig at Saugerties, my enterprising teenaged son came up with a much more cost effective solution: Pointfest.

For those of you not fortunate enough to have a pre-generation Xer in your midst on a daily basis, Pointfest was an event sponsored by FM 105.7 “The Point,” built around the work of alternative rock musicians locally and nationally known at Riverport in mid-August.

The radio dial in my car is riveted at 105.7, “The Point,” which seems to be the gold standard of local rock radio, to hear my son and his friends tell it.

When the car radio works at all these days we enjoy listening to groups like Crash Test Dummies, Smithereens, Nirvana, Offspring, The Stone Temple Pilots, Meat Puppets and countless others.

The tie-dyed, dreadlockcd, nose-ringed, long-haired, buzz-cut, booted-up MTV generation blended nicely with the few thirtyfortysomething boomers for this middle class musicfest immersed in bass and beat. Aside from a very small minority who might have downed too many brcwskys, the gathering seemed much more wellmannered than we were at a similar gathering long ago.

While we may not have had Joe Cocker, Crosby, Stills and Nash or Richic Havens, we had equally entertaining musicians–most notable, The Might Be Giants, Lisa Loeb and the Violent Femmes. 1 might have once told you that I wasn’t a fan of alternative rock, but I think I’m beginning to like it.

It stands to reason that you begin to like almost anything if you’re exposed to it long enough.

But Woodstock had nothing on us—we had INDOOR plumbing, refreshments, phones, ATMs and yes, even mud. Throughout the day some, like my son, managed to slip in the mud. Still others frolicked in nature’s elements and later trekked up to get refreshments in their Birkenstocks on Doc Martin’s, literally covered in the stuff. . Like many such tribal gatherings, a certain amount of goofiness was present. Between groups an inflated, knotted garbage bag was batted about the audience as a sort of free-form recreation. Still others flattened their large waxed jumbo soda cups and flung them about as improvisational Frisbees. Green hair, moose antlers and T-shirts touting everything from Graceland to Abbey Road could be seen, too.

There seemed to be an unusual number of Lollapalooza veterans, Judging from the T-shirts. Or maybe Lollapalooza’s T-shirt concession did a booming business.

But that’s just part of the fun that turns a headbanging bash in a major-league people-watching opportunity. Baseball strike? What baseball strike?

The music of generation Xers (ages 18-29) is fused with a lot of energy, and sometimes even a message.

While they have rightfully expressed some discontent with the world they are inheriting from the boomers, it seems that there really aren’t that many differences between US. Many of us chose to protest the Vietnam War, impeach Nixon, trip out and topple the military-industrial complex–the establishment.

To some degree, . mainstream culture embraced some of the ideology offered up in the 60’s -70’s era, but we didn’t entirely change the world. We, who have turned the corner on 30 or better, never succeeded in accomplishing a number of our goals.

We never succeeded in putting an end to poverty. And while we’re a more politically correct bunch becoming more sensitive to a multicultural, global society, we haven’t eradicated racism. Even worse, sexually-transmitted diseases can now be life-threatening.

Each generation seeks to make its imprint on society,., and may be critical of its elders—just as we were and arc.

The world is an even harder place to grow up in these days where the military draft is no longer a challenge, but finding a decent job is.

As we. thirty-fortysomethings stubbornly gray in our “relaxed” stone-washed denims, we should contemplate the trials and tribulations of what it means to be young. At the very least, we -should give a listen to the concerns of the Xers and perhaps those even a bit younger in our midst.

We could learn something, you know?

Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, September 1994.

Read this article in the original newspaper issue.

Original source: SD_Times1994_09.pdf, printed page(s) 7; PDF page(s) 6.