How many of you remember the days of the big bands, the nightclubs where you paid at the door for admittance, left your coat/hat with the hat check attendant before being escorted to a table by a maitre’d and were seated at a table with a clean white (usually) linen table cloth. ??? Shows were at set times, and always the musicians were in a tux or suit and the chanteuses or singer/entertainer were dressed in formal evening attire.???
Unfortunately I missed all of that. However, my Mother loved all the old movies especially the ones that were musicals. My step father was a musician who played in the big neon lit nightclubs regularly, he was a well known stand up bass player who was always being called in to cover for the big name bands that came into the city to play the clubs. Because in those days, the “known” performers travelled with their own back up musicians when they were short or needed a replacement he was top of the list.. A few times this worked for my benefit.. I got to meet “personalities” that would otherwise not have been accessible to me.
Life was different then, I remember my first summer job, was at a retail shop, we had to dress up, always wear nylons .. no nail polish, hair always neat and in place… It was unheard of for a young lady to been seen in slacks. Dress or skirt and blouse were the order of the day. Do you remember getting a run in your nylons and the “headache” it was to repair them. And ladies.. did you experience the panty hose?
Times change, and so do we. I try to think back, to remember … but it has been too many years now.. the uproar when a starlet was seen wearing slacks and a tailored blouse it was someone tall, slim and very avant garde. Whoever the starlet was, she made the movie magazines and the news tabloids. And when jeans came out… that was another whopper of a storyline. now I see commercials about people who ask to be buried in their jeans. Now.. the less clothes or more revealing an outfit is.. the more attention it gets.
Even the content of the music we listen to is different. All this to say, change is with us and is not likely to disappear anytime soon. How are you coping, do you feel that there is a generation gap? If you could find a way to bring back a part of your past … would you?
There is a musician in the States who is into “jazz” not something I spent much time listening to in years gone by, but since making his acquaintance I have been learning. His repertoire is extensive, he plays with and in many different bands so the range of his musical knowledge is vast, how he plays and what he plays depends on where he is performing and to “what” audience.. Change is evidently very much part of his life on an ongoing basis. His personal expression/likes range also, to me, who is “observing” he has taught me to listen to the music itself, how it all comes together. Words are not his form of expression, musical notes are. His personal way of expressing is through instrumental storylines.
How do you express yourself, has your method of conversing with others changed. Do you listen differently now than you did say, 5 years ago? Can you see the change in YOU. or is it a surprise to you, if someone says to you.. “you’ve changed”????
It is about how we deal with change. It is the only constant in our lives… the more we experience and deal with change, the better/ more well rounded, we become. Your thoughts?
