What Are You Listening To?

[Motor City Sonics]

This weekend on 107.1  (stylized as 107one in Ann Arbor) we are doing a celebration of Back To The Future.   It turns 40 on 7/3 and at 8am (the time when the movie starts) - -every hour we are  featuring a different year (in random order, starting with 1985, of course).  It's the Time Travel Weekend.   We're covering 1980-2025 and the key to a special weekend like this is playing a lot of OH WOW songs that people don't hear much, but were huge in their day.   This is a massive undertaking, as we are a small station, with basically two people doing all the grunt work  - and this has been 80% on me, (curating the playlist, finding and loading the music, writing and producing all the between-song imaging).  because it was my idea and I am the Program Director.    Our station has never really done a specialty weekend like this before (because we're such a small staff.   But, it should be a fun listen, if you're looking for something a little different.  You can stream us at annarbors107one.com. 

Anyway, I am putting together the songs for 1999 and came across this one-hit novelty song and as I was loading it into our system this morning, I found this incredibly moving, even though I had heard it 1,000 times, but not for over a decade.  Maybe it's because I am 60 now and regretting a lot of things that personal fears prevented me from doing.   I hate fear.  It can be all-consuming.   Can't get the years back.   I just wish I approached things then with the "who gives a f what anyone else thinks" attitude I have now.   

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of '99:

Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; or never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine

Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4 PM on some idle Tuesday

Do one thing every day that scares you

Sing

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts; don't put up with people who are reckless with yours

Floss

Don't waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself

Remember the compliments you receive; forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements

Stretch

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't

 

 

Get plenty of calcium

Be kind to your knees, you'll miss them when they're gone

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't
Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't
Maybe you'll divorce at 40
Maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary
Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance; so are everybody else's

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it, or what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own

Dance

 

Even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them

Do not read beauty magazines; they will only make you feel ugly
 

Get to know your parents; you never know when they'll be gone for good

Be nice to your siblings; they are your best link to your past and the
People most likely to stick with you in the future

Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you
Should hold on

Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard

Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft

Travel

Accept certain inalienable truths: prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old-- and when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders

Respect your elders

Don't expect anyone else to support you

Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out

Don't mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it
Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth

But trust me on the sunscreen

[Biff Mayhem]

Last night in Traverse City. They were tight and energetic. Not bad for some old farts! Was first row and got a pick. Normally getting a pick wouldn’t excite me but I’ve seen them 7 or 8 times and hadn’t got a pick before.