by Kevin Holten

Created on: December 16, 2007

Is there a music God?

I mean, is there a music Wizard behind a curtain somewhere that makes these kinds of decisions as to who can still perform and who can't?

"Sorry Paul," he says, "I'm going to have to pull the plug on that upcoming concert of yours."

"Why is that?" Paul asks.

"You're too old," the Wizard says casually.

"But I wasn't last week!" Paul declares vehemently.

"That was last week," the Wiz responds, "now get out of here!"

Quite frankly, I might buy a ticket to a Paul McCartney concert when he's eighty if he can still hit the high notes. And the Rolling Stones are and always have been a black, southern blues band hiding behind a rock and roll facade and we all know how long those old guys go on, forever, or until they peel the guitar from their dead, wrinkled hands.

And why not? You don't throw out a fine wine once it's been aged to perfection do you? Nor do you swig it like it's a cold beer on a hot day.

Times have changed, music has changed, artists have aged and so have you and they need to adjust their act and you need to adjust your listening habits.

You shouldn't expect them to act like teenagers at the age of sixty plus and they shouldn't have to contend with old fans acting like kids when they come to their concerts because guess what? You're old too!

There's nothing worse than having to watch someone try to act half their age. Like a retired woman dressed in college garb with wrinkled arms and facial skin stretched tighter than a trampoline tarp. Ugh.

Musicians ARE musicians and performers and celebrities and icons. What else do you want them to do, become bus boys or oil company executives or newspaper publishers?

"Hey, whatever happened to Greg Allman?" you ask.

"He's a railroad conductor now," they say.

"Does he sing to the passengers occasionally?"

"Sometimes."

"Too bad, because I'd like to see him perform again."

"Well you didn't buy a ticket to his last concert so he had to quit."

"Oh."

You see, you, me and we are the Wizard. We make the choice and no one makes us. Artists depend on you and always have.

Some of those millions that they have tucked away in bank accounts was the lunch money or beer money or gas money that you sacrificed as a young person when they finally came to your city. And that's okay because they've given you hours of listening pleasure at parties and bars and at home while you were cleaning the kitchen or showering or sweeping out the garage or whatever.

And yes, while they earned the millions they also generated millions with their concerts and albums and created profits which helped build that new arena in your city and gave you a job and other people jobs and other benefits that you don't even realize.

So when they go away so does their profits and the promoter's profits and the arena's profits and the stage hand's profits and the t-shirt vendor's profits and the security personnel's profits and the parking lot attendant's profits and the city's profits and the music company's profits and the many jobs that everything they do generates.

Because writers have to write and singers have to sing and performers have to perform, that's what they were made for. So I say let them go on forever, for them and for you and for me and for we.

But remember, times have changed. Savor don't gulp.

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