THE FUNDAMENTALS, AS TIME GOES BY

…The band that put the Fender Guitar on the map!

 

Remember when there were only three TV networks?

 

I recall, as do many of those in my generation, when I was in high school how my parents would complain about the rock music we would be listening to, and especially after I joined a rock group back in the 60’s.  As the old saying goes, “What goes around comes around,” and just as our parents didn’t understand our music, today I have a similar problem with much of today’s Rap, and what some of them today refer to as “Hip-Hop”.  It sure doesn’t sound like what my generation called “Hip-Hop” back then.

 

Well, this week another example of growing up and growing old and becoming like our parents, it hit me again.

 

I was reading the newspaper...yes, the old fashioned printed newspaper, (even though most of the news for my articles does come from multiple on-line publications), I was this time reading about the latest Emmy award winners.

 

But as I read through the winners, and noting which shows had received the most nominations, I realized with only a few exceptions, I didn’t recognize the names of but a few, (maybe 3) of the TV programs that had won an Emmy.  

 

I then had to remind myself that at back in the 60's, there were only the 3 broadcast TV networks of CBS, NBC and ABC.  Since those good old days, after cable TV and satellite TV became a reality, there are now somewhere between 250 and 600 TV channels.  In fact, I recently tried to Google “How many TV channels are there available in the United States?”  I never did get a straight answer, even from Wikipedia.  It kept sending me to areas like: “How many TV sets there were in the US.”  There were many articles coming from all directions, but no way did I find a stated number of TV channels.

 

I then started looking at the winners of some of the other award programs.  When it came to the Country Music Awards, once again I didn’t recognize but a couple of those award winners.  After going through a number of different areas that have award programs, I realized that other than those areas in politics and those reporting the news, I really didn’t recognize hardly anyone under 50 that was staring in today's movies.  It was the same for those on regular weekly syndicated TV shows; or those younger stars in today’s R&R groups; and even in Country Music, very few did I recognize and it's the same for those in today’s major sports!

 

I guess this is what happens when one gets older and is focused on what has become a  much more narrow view of the world.

 

Today I can tell you many things about what’s going on in the different areas of national politics, what’s going on in Washington DC, what’s going on with Russia, North Korea, China, and because of my wife, I am aware of what’s happening in the world of alpacas, and what and who are on the Food Network.  As for today's TV, other than House of Cards, Game of Thrones, old Law & Order Shows, NCIS, MSNBC and the Food Network, I am way out of today's mainstream television.  (But I will say that I do know a lot more about what’s available via AMAZON Prime.)

Yes, the world has changed a lot, and now it been announced that after 60 years, the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is finally coming to San Jose.  Well, that took way too long.  But being retired today, I could seriously care less.

 

I guess it’s all just the natural progression of what happens when the technology races past humanity's natural aging process.

 

As someone once said about today's technology, “Just grab you hat and your ass, and hang on!!!!

 

 

That has started sounding like pretty good advice. 


So, now I'll just sit back, open my Kindle reader and begin re-reading my new Amazon purchase of George Orwell's: 1984.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2017