goin' down to ol' geezerville

sounds like a country song, no?

today is the 50th anniversary of the U.S. debut of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the beatles

i discovered this album when i was 10 years old when the album was a mere babe of 10 years old too

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is a masterpiece, i was obsessed by it, the music, and esp. the lyrics, i knew i was going to be a writer when i studied those lyrics, i didn't know what kind of writer, but somehow i was able to sync the complexity of the songwriting by lennon/mccartney with writing, i was a shitty student, but even in my essays in grade school began to take on the color of this music, i even pasted them into my own texts, while a little later i started writing my own lyrics, which led, obviously to poetry

i knew i wouldn't become a musician but i knew language, even if i didn't display any outward talent, was my thing, but i did entertain for a while of becoming a lyricist, such are the fancies a boy in love with the beatles

but i titled this little essay goin' down to ol' geezerville for the hard fact of this album turning 50 today, while Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band heralded the Summer of Love, which itself is observing its 50th anniversary this summer, this was the season when peace, love and understanding, as practiced by the hippies in the Haight, among other places, seemed more probable than perhaps any other moment in popular history, and in that space and time of hope, innocence, renewal, sex, drugs, rock&roll, anti-war and civil rights movements, this was when i made my own debut, i was born 50 years ago in the Summer of Love, when the beatles released their great album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and for a moment or two perhaps we could, in a violent age, sue for peace, get it, and build a juster, fairer, more equitable society

but that seems like such an antiquated notion for our day, only geezers who think like hippies, like me, still believe in the common decency of human kind, and that we may still build a better society

so yes, i turn 50 next week, and for my pains i get an AARP card in the mail yesterday, no, this is not some junk mail addressed to the household, this was a membership card with my name, and a letter addressed to me, and we all know what that means, an invitation to join the AARP is proof that i am now joining the geezerly ranks and heading down to geezerville