Well, folks, no news, stop the presses deal, we are losing them rather quickly it seems. Our favorite musicians...... OK, it's been going on a while, we lost many years back.... but the road is winding down, melancholy red sun dipping, all that stuff....
I remember when I was about 10 years old in 66..... collected Beatle Cards (for you young 'uns they were like baseball cards but with The Fab Four on them) and they had one...... It was before they even did "When I'm 64" on Pepper..... It was a card that had artists rendition of the Beatles all in their late 60's of age. It was SHOCKING! Our favorite guys OLD! It was almost blasphemy of sorts, insulting the young lads. It was a card me and friends laughed our heads off on....
And McCartney is here rockin'..... he looks like that card with dyed hair being the difference now. Good for him! Ringo looks great, but, ummm, like that card. The other two, God Bless, have taken the raft across the Nile so to speak.... and all the others. I suppose we could really depress ourselves and do a comprehensive list of fallen rockers and bluespeople and oh yes bluegrass and country and soul and where do you stop. It really is the list of who were your particular hero's. Not some giant list.
But it is kind of awkward, we don't really talk about it. But some of them play past when they should, or more frequently sing past when they should, as musicians can keep chops, but voices don't lie (Hello Bob The Great 
I say) Some of them look a wreck and you think, do they own mirrors? (joke) but it is hard to watch. And the Happy Birthday So and So, who turns 73 is getting a little easier to take, but they still wear leather pants? I have to make light because my hero's are getting pacemakers and body parts. Being they mostly are a decade or more older than me, it is getting like Wham, Wham, Wham in the music headlines.
I guess maybe part of why I love the vinyl. Live in the past..... big jackets with big pictures of young Johnny Winter, pics of when The Band were all here and life was grand for them... Waylon sitting in a bar ready to kick some @ss.... Neil Young in his twenties our hippie gladiator..... Gregg in the Brothers and Sisters time on a horse..... Garcia in front of that old barn with the big flag, along with the rest of that rag tag army..... meandering ramble over......
Yup, We're all aging and often don't recognize our own changes as we see ourselves so briefly in the mirror as we brush our teeth. It's gradual but then you see a photo of a family gathering only 3 years ago and you see the difference.
The Road can sure catch up to our heroes and they have to stop touring and start picking up dates just close to home. Fans lose sight of 'em and then lament their passing wondering where have their heroes been this past decade - what were they doing ? Who were they playing with ? How did I miss that ? I didn't even know they were dealing with poor health !
Time waits for no-one !
Good post Bird.
I remember thinking when the ABB were surprisingly hitting their stide again in the early 1990s, that the originals were old guys, but still could bring it. Now I look back & realize they were in the '40s. Gregg & Dickey look like absolute athletic studs at the MTV Unplugged filming. Young bucks!
Your post also reminded me of how I got sad the last time I watched the Woodstock movie. I was just born when Woodstock happened but I'm the youngest of 4 boys and became an "old soul" in musical tastes. Cream blew me away when I was 13 and '60s / '70s music was in my full middle-school age rotation.
Anyway, I wasn't sad necessarily because some of the Woodstock artists have passed on, as much as I was because of all the young people in attendance. I'm not sure why but I thought "their youth is just a memory." Your post reminded me of that feeling.
I do feel fortunate to have seen some musical icons from decades ago before they left us: SRV, Sinatra...Billy & Leon from Skynyrd...Richard Wright...playing with the '80s/90s Floyd. And via ABB Beacon guest or Wanee appearances with the ABB I got to see Johnny Winter, Hubert Sumlin, Little Milton, Levon Helm and others. I give some credit to the ABB for sharing their stage with some of their influences over this past decade.
I do need to catch some of the classic guys still playing while I have my chance...with Merle being near the top of that list.
