1963
In 1963, we lost our 35th President John F. Kennedy to the rifle firing assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, who was also gunned down only two days later. Live by the sword, die by the sword. Civil rights, integration and Kennedy’s Civil Rights Address were some of the hot topics of 1963.
There were several song titles on the Top 100 Hits from 1963 list that I reviewed for our manifesto:
The End Of The World by Skeeter Davis (NO WAY)
Blowin’ In The Wind Peter, Paul and Mary version
I’m Leaving It All Up To You, Dale and Grace (Making the world a better place is up to all of us)
However, I selected the Impressions song, “It’s All Right” as the fourth song for our Boomer Manifesto.
Despite the lousy economy, high unemployment, record setting home foreclosures and the ongoing war in Iraq and Afghanistan you have to believe, hope and/or have faith that “it’s all right.” Or at the very least, it will be all right. If not, then the alternative is to live with a defeatist and negative attitude.
It's All Right, Impressions
When you wake up early in the morning
Feelin' sad like so many of us do
Hum a little soul
Make life your goal
And surely something's got to come to you
And say it's all right (it's all right)
Say it's all right (it's all right)
It's all right, have a good time
'Cause it's all right, whoa, it's all right
Now everybody clap your hands
Give yourself a chance
You got soul, and everybody knows
That it's all right, whoa, it's all right
The world will always be in turmoil. Always has been, always will be. But that shouldn’t stop us or prevent us from keeping a positive mental attitude about life. Make life your goal. Give yourself a chance. And just as importantly, give others a chance as well.
What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other? - George Eliot
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Friday, November 5, 2010
Boomer Manifesto – the Musical - You Can Depend On Me
1961
I Fall to Pieces by Patsy Cline finished #1 on the Top 100 Hits of 1961. A great song, that's for sure, but there is no way that song title is going to be part of our Boomer Manifesto. We cannot fall to pieces! We need to be whole. For ourselves, our families and our generation. Particularly, our families. According to a Pew Research study The Return of the Multi-Generational Family Household "The multi-generational American family household is staging a comeback..." and (Boomers)"...offers its elderly parents about 50% more grown children with whom they can share a household if and when their life circumstances (such as widowhood, declining health or poverty) take them in that direction."
Social networking sites such as Facebook, Eons.com and TBD.com can attribute a lot of their growth due to the influx of Baby Boomers that want to use such sites to connect or reconnect with peers that are from the same generation, have similar issues (health, financial, spiritual), concerns and experiences. We go on Facebook and reach out to our 'friends' when we are in need of support. We believe that if we post our worries on Facebook, we can depend on our friends, some we haven't seen since high school, to lift our spirit, fill a void or 'be there' by offering up encouraging words, verses and offers of prayer.
That is why I selected You Can Depend On Me by Brenda Lee from 1961 to fill the second position of our manifesto.
If you ever, ah, if you ever need a friend
I'll be yours right by your side ah until the end
and
I wish you success
And loads of happiness
Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. ~William James
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Boomer Manifesto – the Musical - Let's Think About Livin'
1960
The first baby boomers turned 14 in 1960 and were getting their groove on to songs from the Everly Brothers, Elvis Presley, Chubby Check, Roy Orbison and Connie Francis. In 1960, the use of birth control pills and Hugh Hefner opening the first of his Playboy Clubs in Chicago were at the fore front of the sexual revolution. The US sent the first troops to Vietnam. John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson were elected President and Vice-President respectively, and Bedrock’s first family, The "Flintstones", made their television debut. Cathy’s Clown by the Everly Brothers finished in the no.1 spot on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 chart. Here is the link to my music source: http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1960.htm
The song from 1960 that I selected for our Boomer Manifesto – the Musical is:
Let's Think About Livin' by Bob Luman
Let's think about living
Let's think about loving
Let's think about the whoopin'
and hoppin' and boppin'
and the lovie, lovie dovin'
Let's forget about the whinin' and the cryin'
And the shooting and the dying
And the fellow with a switchblade knife
Let's think about living
Let's think about life
Corny lyrics? Yeah they are corny, that’s for sure. But the title of the song is appropriate as the first entry of our manifesto, our “declaration of principles and intentions as we go forward.” Let’s think about livin’! We sleep walk through most of our day. We don’t appreciate the little things in life. Stop and smell the roses? Who has time! Do you focus too much on the future and not enough on the now? Do you find yourself wishing your life away planning how you are really going to enjoy life on your next vacation, the following weekend or when you retire? That isn’t living. That’s planning. Remember: Learn from the past; Live for today; Plan for tomorrow. Now get out there and work in some more daily lovie, lovie dovin and less whinin’ and cryin’.
Every man dies. Not every man really lives. William Wallace
The first baby boomers turned 14 in 1960 and were getting their groove on to songs from the Everly Brothers, Elvis Presley, Chubby Check, Roy Orbison and Connie Francis. In 1960, the use of birth control pills and Hugh Hefner opening the first of his Playboy Clubs in Chicago were at the fore front of the sexual revolution. The US sent the first troops to Vietnam. John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson were elected President and Vice-President respectively, and Bedrock’s first family, The "Flintstones", made their television debut. Cathy’s Clown by the Everly Brothers finished in the no.1 spot on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 chart. Here is the link to my music source: http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1960.htm
The song from 1960 that I selected for our Boomer Manifesto – the Musical is:
Let's Think About Livin' by Bob Luman
Let's think about living
Let's think about loving
Let's think about the whoopin'
and hoppin' and boppin'
and the lovie, lovie dovin'
Let's forget about the whinin' and the cryin'
And the shooting and the dying
And the fellow with a switchblade knife
Let's think about living
Let's think about life
Corny lyrics? Yeah they are corny, that’s for sure. But the title of the song is appropriate as the first entry of our manifesto, our “declaration of principles and intentions as we go forward.” Let’s think about livin’! We sleep walk through most of our day. We don’t appreciate the little things in life. Stop and smell the roses? Who has time! Do you focus too much on the future and not enough on the now? Do you find yourself wishing your life away planning how you are really going to enjoy life on your next vacation, the following weekend or when you retire? That isn’t living. That’s planning. Remember: Learn from the past; Live for today; Plan for tomorrow. Now get out there and work in some more daily lovie, lovie dovin and less whinin’ and cryin’.
Every man dies. Not every man really lives. William Wallace
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Introduction to the Baby Boomers Manifesto – the Musical
Baby Boomers Manifesto – the Musical
From what I recall, The Musical Age of Reckoning for me began around the time I entered my teen years. I was born in 1954 so around 1967-8 at the young and impressionable age of 13 or so, I can remember spending many summer nights hanging with my friends, listening to ‘acid rock’ on a buddy’s boom box for hours. Songs like Light My Fire (Doors), Born to be Wild (Steppenwolf) and White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane) all had a hypno-psychedelic ‘feel’ to them. The message of the lyrics were discussed at great lengths, most of which we never could reach agreement on except to say they were ‘so cool and deep.’ See for yourself:
Eventually me and my buddies, all of like age and social stratum evolved into hippies, replete with long hair, ripped jeans, army coats, black light posters and ‘down with the Establishment” mindsets.
Music was, and still is, a very important part of my life. Quite often, memories buried deep within the recesses of my mind are floated to the surface of my consciousness because of a song. Melancholy, happiness and spirituality can be heightened or enlightened by a song. The power of music can be experienced through your emotional connection to a song. To me, music is important because of the impact it can have on your state of mind.
I know my family and friends all love music as well. My contemporaries, most of whom I’ve reconnected with on Facebook, occasionally post links to concerts and ask about certain songs from ‘back in the day’. The love of and the connection to music is universal.
But enough of the serious side of music. I thought it might be fun to go through the top songs of 1960 through 1978 and see if I can extract a song title from each year to create the Baby Boomers Manifesto – the Musical. Baby Boomers were born between 1946 – 1964. I added 14 years (Musical Age of Reckoning ) to the boomer birth years and that is how I ended up with selecting songs from 1960 through 1978. Each new post will have a song title and why I selected that song to be part of the manifesto. When I am finished, Boomers will have 20 song titles (I'll add a bonus song to round it all out) that I think we can use to "publicly declare as our intentions, opinions, objectives, or motives". In other words, our manifesto.
I hope you enjoy it and have fun. Please feel free to express your opinion of the song selection. Got a better selection? Comment to the post and let me know. We’ll make this a joint project!
From what I recall, The Musical Age of Reckoning for me began around the time I entered my teen years. I was born in 1954 so around 1967-8 at the young and impressionable age of 13 or so, I can remember spending many summer nights hanging with my friends, listening to ‘acid rock’ on a buddy’s boom box for hours. Songs like Light My Fire (Doors), Born to be Wild (Steppenwolf) and White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane) all had a hypno-psychedelic ‘feel’ to them. The message of the lyrics were discussed at great lengths, most of which we never could reach agreement on except to say they were ‘so cool and deep.’ See for yourself:
The time to hesitate is through
No time to wallow in the mire
Try now we can only lose
And our love become a funeral pyre
Try now we can only lose
And our love become a funeral pyre
or
One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Eventually me and my buddies, all of like age and social stratum evolved into hippies, replete with long hair, ripped jeans, army coats, black light posters and ‘down with the Establishment” mindsets.
Music was, and still is, a very important part of my life. Quite often, memories buried deep within the recesses of my mind are floated to the surface of my consciousness because of a song. Melancholy, happiness and spirituality can be heightened or enlightened by a song. The power of music can be experienced through your emotional connection to a song. To me, music is important because of the impact it can have on your state of mind.
I know my family and friends all love music as well. My contemporaries, most of whom I’ve reconnected with on Facebook, occasionally post links to concerts and ask about certain songs from ‘back in the day’. The love of and the connection to music is universal.
But enough of the serious side of music. I thought it might be fun to go through the top songs of 1960 through 1978 and see if I can extract a song title from each year to create the Baby Boomers Manifesto – the Musical. Baby Boomers were born between 1946 – 1964. I added 14 years (Musical Age of Reckoning ) to the boomer birth years and that is how I ended up with selecting songs from 1960 through 1978. Each new post will have a song title and why I selected that song to be part of the manifesto. When I am finished, Boomers will have 20 song titles (I'll add a bonus song to round it all out) that I think we can use to "publicly declare as our intentions, opinions, objectives, or motives". In other words, our manifesto.
I hope you enjoy it and have fun. Please feel free to express your opinion of the song selection. Got a better selection? Comment to the post and let me know. We’ll make this a joint project!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Boomers: Is oatmeal our fountain of youth?
Check this out:
http://tinyurl.com/33ufkzx
Oatmeal outranks almost every other breakfast cereal and most whole-grain breakfast products. Oatmeal is also regarded as a super food when it comes to supporting digestive health.
http://tinyurl.com/2v456er
Oatmeal is rich in soluble fiber which reduces LDL (bad cholesterol).
http://tinyurl.com/2ftm9zq
Each year, about 570,000 Americans die of cancer; fully one-third of these deaths are linked to poor diet, physical inactivity, and carrying too much weight. One recommendation: add oatmeal to your diet.
http://tinyurl.com/27su9kp
100 Candles on Her Next Cake: Her usual breakfast: orange juice, oatmeal, a banana and black coffee.
Why am I bringing up oatmeal? Because two oatmeal ‘events’ happened to me this year and I think when something as inane as oatmeal comes into your life in one year, you need to sit up and take notice.
I’ll begin with the second oatmeal event of the year. Our four year old granddaughter spent the weekend with me and my wife. We sat down to breakfast Sunday morning with our granddaughter who started poking and picking her way through a small plate of cut up waffles coated with cinnamon sugar and butter. Me and my wife had our usual; oatmeal. Our granddaughter looked over at my wife’s bowl and asked "Why do you eat oatmeal?" My wife told her it is because we are getting older and we eat oatmeal because our doctor told us too. Upon hearing that, she looked up from her plate and asked, “If you eat oatmeal, will it make you younger?” Oh how we wish!
The first oatmeal event occurred in March of this year. I was in Las Vegas with a fellow boomer. We’ve been to Vegas 5 times together and until this year, we ate and drank as most people do when they travel to Sin City. Breakfast always consisted of the ham and eggs special which included a slice of ham the size of your plate, hash browns, toast, bacon or sausage, eggs, coffee and an occasional Bloody Mary. Or maybe we’d venture over to The Original Pancake House for the signature Apple Pancake breakfast, coffee with a side of bacon.
These times they are a changin’
So what did we do different this year. Well for starters, on our last day, we could easily recall exactly the number of alcoholic drinks we consumed over the four days we spent in Vegas. And our breakfast?
Oatmeal. Each and every morning. With coffee and no Bloody Marys. We split a bagel and ordered sides of fruit. On the very last morning, my buddy decided we deserved a treat for being so health conscious the whole trip. He called the waitress over and ordered a side of turkey breakfast sausage for us to split. Delicious.
Ahh, the aging of the Boomer is best put into perspective by the following quote:
"Once we sowed wild oats, now we cook them in the microwave." - Anonymous
Oatmeal might not be our fountain of youth, but it might just help us to live longer.
http://tinyurl.com/33ufkzx
Oatmeal outranks almost every other breakfast cereal and most whole-grain breakfast products. Oatmeal is also regarded as a super food when it comes to supporting digestive health.
http://tinyurl.com/2v456er
Oatmeal is rich in soluble fiber which reduces LDL (bad cholesterol).
http://tinyurl.com/2ftm9zq
Each year, about 570,000 Americans die of cancer; fully one-third of these deaths are linked to poor diet, physical inactivity, and carrying too much weight. One recommendation: add oatmeal to your diet.
http://tinyurl.com/27su9kp
100 Candles on Her Next Cake: Her usual breakfast: orange juice, oatmeal, a banana and black coffee.
Why am I bringing up oatmeal? Because two oatmeal ‘events’ happened to me this year and I think when something as inane as oatmeal comes into your life in one year, you need to sit up and take notice.
I’ll begin with the second oatmeal event of the year. Our four year old granddaughter spent the weekend with me and my wife. We sat down to breakfast Sunday morning with our granddaughter who started poking and picking her way through a small plate of cut up waffles coated with cinnamon sugar and butter. Me and my wife had our usual; oatmeal. Our granddaughter looked over at my wife’s bowl and asked "Why do you eat oatmeal?" My wife told her it is because we are getting older and we eat oatmeal because our doctor told us too. Upon hearing that, she looked up from her plate and asked, “If you eat oatmeal, will it make you younger?” Oh how we wish!
The first oatmeal event occurred in March of this year. I was in Las Vegas with a fellow boomer. We’ve been to Vegas 5 times together and until this year, we ate and drank as most people do when they travel to Sin City. Breakfast always consisted of the ham and eggs special which included a slice of ham the size of your plate, hash browns, toast, bacon or sausage, eggs, coffee and an occasional Bloody Mary. Or maybe we’d venture over to The Original Pancake House for the signature Apple Pancake breakfast, coffee with a side of bacon.
These times they are a changin’
So what did we do different this year. Well for starters, on our last day, we could easily recall exactly the number of alcoholic drinks we consumed over the four days we spent in Vegas. And our breakfast?
Oatmeal. Each and every morning. With coffee and no Bloody Marys. We split a bagel and ordered sides of fruit. On the very last morning, my buddy decided we deserved a treat for being so health conscious the whole trip. He called the waitress over and ordered a side of turkey breakfast sausage for us to split. Delicious.
Ahh, the aging of the Boomer is best put into perspective by the following quote:
"Once we sowed wild oats, now we cook them in the microwave." - Anonymous
Oatmeal might not be our fountain of youth, but it might just help us to live longer.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Boomers: Health Care Reform and You
The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not. Mark Twain
I think the health care reformers skewed the above quote a little bit when they were drafting health care reform. Perhaps they see it as follows:
The only way to keep your health care is to pay more in premiums, drink the 'kool aid' we serve you and do what you'd rather not.
You can’t ignore it. You can’t sweep it under the rug. It is the 600 pound gorilla and it’s chasing after you. It’s Health Care Reform. Maybe you aren’t affected at the moment, but you will be soon enough. Whether it’s through higher premiums, higher co-pays or even having your health care coverage dropped by your employer, you will be touched by this quagmire.
Look at the headlines.
Sullivan responded to Blumenthal saying the new rates included "very rich benefits" mandated by federal law.
Thanks to a little-noticed clause in a 1996 law, retiree-only health plans are exempt from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that went into effect last month."
The federal government has granted 30 companies and organizations one-year waivers to exempt them from one of the newly-implemented health care reforms.
The latest issue: Waivers granted to big companies who suggested they might drop coverage for their employees rather than comply with new government demands.
A victory for the states opposed to the health care reform legislation played out this Thursday. Federal Judge Roger Vinson of a U.S. District Court in Florida allowed a lawsuit brought by 20 states to proceed.
For those of you who are retired and are under your former company’s health care insurance and want to add your children 26 years of age down to 19 on to your policy, you could be out of luck. The new health care reform bill allowed big business to weigh in with complaints that “Employers say they might drop retiree coverage altogether if Congress were to force them to extend dependent coverage…” The current bill passed, granting big business their wish to exclude their retirees from adding their adult children onto their current health care insurance.
If you believe this is just plain wrong and want to make your opinion know, please visit:
http://capwiz.com/abtr/issues/alert/?alertid=18506501 , fill out the information and send a message to President Obama and Washington that says Boomer Retirees should not be shut out just because we are retired.
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