It's Only Rock and Roll

I managed to catch a bit of the inauguration speech on TV yesterday, and then I came home and got on line to read the rest. There was one thing in particular that President Obama ( doesn't that sound good?) said that really struck me, and got me to meandering. He said that 60 years ago his relative (did he say dad or granddad?) would not have been served in some restaurants in this country.

How much the face of America has changed in just one generation. It's amazing really. I had not thought about it, I mean, as far as I can tell we are all one big family. President Obama's remark made me think of all the un-sung heroes of the civil rights movement and I pictured all the missing ( ie: disappeared while working for the civil rights movement, presumably buried somewhere in the deep south) and forgotten civil rights workers, lined up in heaven watching Obama take his oath.

It also occurred to me that the baby boomers always said they were going to change the world- "peace and brotherhood, man" and this moment in history clearly confirms that they were right. I mean, 60 years!It seems like a long time, but honestly, in the history of the world, it's a really, really, short time. From "you can't eat here" to "please be our president". And they made it happen, those baby boomers, while literally stoned out of their minds a large percentage of the time. Amazing.

I was thinking about the beginning of peaceful race relations in this country and I'm no historian, but it came to mind that rock and roll had a hand in all this change. Back in the early days of rock and roll (not really early, that would be the late 20's and early 30's when rock and roll was a infant) like about the time rock and roll became a young adult, the 50's.

This country was still really segregated, but artists like Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Carl Perkins and Elvis were playing some really hot tunes and no one seemed to care if the band was white boys or black men, as long as they rocked. Anglo kids were going to the other side of town to hear these legends and in the process, finding out the other side of town was not that different. Meanwhile the African American teens were having to put up with this invasion, made some reconnaissance missions of their own and came up with the same conclusion.

I'm sure there was a lot more to it than that, but you get it. It was the music that gave them a bridge to cross. And they did. And look what happened.

Then in the 60's it continued with more music, less inhibitions and a philosophy that loved everyone. I recently saw an interview with Deepak Chopra and Robert Therman and Deepak was saying - everyone wonders where the 60's went, well it's right here in front of you, we are the 60's, we haven't gone anywhere, we just look different now. Now we are expanding our minds in a different way, with similar results. Rock on Deepak.

By the 70's the freaks were fully indoctrinated to the idea that it didn't matter what you looked like or where you came from. If you wanted to party, then party it was, turn up the music and the peace and brotherhood vibe resonated even stronger. Well, like I said, I'm no historian, but it looks like the boomers did change the world, in their own unique way.

Right now it's easy to look around and see lots of things about this country that need changing. There are plenty of things wrong. But you know, Obama's remark made me realize that there are a lot of things right as well, and maybe we are all just so used to living in the land of the free that sometimes we take it for granted. I'm thankful I caught a bit of that speech, it really gave me something to think about.

Peace Man.