Lögberg-Heimskringla - 13.12.2002, Blaðsíða 4

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My Career as an lcelandic North American
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On Turning Fifty — The View From Here
John Einarson
WlNNIPEG, MB
Okay, I'll own up. I tumed
the ripe old age of fífty
recently and am not taking it
very well at all. Fifty has such
an over-the-hill thud to it for
someone who has spent the bet-
ter part of thirty years mentally
stuck in hiá teens.
Don't get me wrong; it's not
some mid-life crisis ennui I'm
suffering through. I have no
desire to purchase a sports car,
don leather trousers and hang
out at Coyote's. No, what is nig-
gling at me is the cold realiza-
tion that I'm looking down that
slippery slope - senior's dis-
counts, retirement, suspenders,
iron supplements, golf, ear hair.
Crossing thirty was tough,
leaving my carefree youth
behind to embark on middle
age; forty was okay, a kind of
distinguished age with graying
maturity and wisdom. But fifty?
That's half a century, as some-
one pointedly reminded me.
When I was a teenager fifty
was old. Politicians, principals,
and bank managers were fifty,
and they dressed arfd acted their
age in dull grey suits, argyle
socks and narrow ties. Jeans
and t-shirts (preferably sporting
a vintage band logo) remain my
staple wardrobe away frorn the
classroom.
Despite my age I am defined
by my past. In my 25th year as a
high school teacher, I remain for-
ever linked with my sixties claim
to fame, namely a rock 'n' roll
guitar player who happened to
open for Led Zeppelin. My clos-
est friends remain my old band
buddies from days, and hairlines,
gone by.
I am constantly reminded
of my charter membership in
that over-hyped, day-glow fan-
tasy known as the sixties by my
students who continue to
romanticize Morrison, Hendrix,
Lennon and Young. I never
knew any of the songs my par-
ents grew up with; ask any
teenager today who Led
Zeppelin is. They likely know
more than you.
The worst part of all this is
that I still feel like I'm seven-
teen. Do I act like a responsible,
respectable middle-aged adult?
Hell, no. I'm a sixties-era
teenager trapped in an aging,
sagging, balding body. I'm los-
ing the hair on my head and
gaining it in all the wrong
píaces. I've taken to avoiding
mirrors.
And the world around me
continues to pander to my
teenage fantasies. Everywhere I
look I am surrounded by the
images and substance of my
youth. Oldies and classic rock
radio, movies, television, maga-
zines and books all endlessly
mine that seam of nostalgia sur-
rounding the baby boom gener-
ation. No wonder I don't feel
my age; no one else my vintage
does, either. The world, at least
the commercial world of sales
and marketing, has conspired to
prey upon our youthful long-
ings forever.
What musical did Rainbow
Stage mount this past summer?
West Side Story, first staged
in 1959. Who were the biggest
artists to play Winnipeg in
recent months? Dylan (over
60), Diamond (61), Engelbert
(well into his 60s), Supertramp
(mid 50s) and Cher (only her
plastic surgeon knows for sure).
My eyes welled with tears as
Dylan dipped into his vast back
catalogue for my all-time
favourite, Like A Rolling Stone,
(once I was able to discem from
his mumbling that it was,
indeed, that song).
The biggest.artists present-
ly touring North America
include The Rolling Stones
(three out of five originals, one
well into his 60s) and The Who
(two of the four surviving mem-
bers). Paul McCartney (60) just
wound up a huge stadium trek.
Even a Jerry Garcia-less
Grateful Dead is 'still treading
the boards. What's wrong with
this picture?
"I hope I die before I get
old?" I wonder if The Who's
Pete Townshend, in his worst
acid flashback, ever envisioned
himself an old geezer onstage
still thrashing away to that
prophetic phrase? How absurd
it must seem to still be chanting
that mantra long after your hair
and hearing have left you. One
of the very first bands I ever
witnessed as a pimply-faced git
back in 1965 was the Guess
Who. I recently penned a cover
story on their current reunion
for a seniors' magazine.
Once the voice of teenage
rebellion decried from pulpit to
Parliament, rock 'n' roll has
grown respectable. Now it's Sir
Paul, Sir Elton and Sir Mick
(could Sir Keith be far off?).
Iconoclastic rocker and ex-
Winnipegger Neil Young is
now regarded as one of
rock's elder statesmen. Our very
own Burton Cummings, once
dubbed the ultimate sneering
punk by Rolling Stone maga-
zine, now resides in a stately
Tuxedo manor, drives an SUV,
has a theatre named after him,
and is being féted by the
Govemor-General. What would
his idol Jim Morrison think of
that?
I find it smugly amusing
that the American Idol phenom-
enon drew heavily on sixties
and seventies chestnuts like
Respect, Let's Stay Together,
and Without You to showcase its
young talent. Will Hit Me Baby
One More Time be as timeless?
The current crop of generic
pretty-boy bands and scantily-
clad, siliconed chanteuses
(Shakira is merely a new mil-
lennium Charo) leaves me cold.
The Nirvana/Kurt Cobain
gmnge thing seemed like guitar
for beginners to me while Rap
is for guys who can't sing (Rap
Music is an oxymoron).
As for my listening pleas-
ure my tastes run to those artists
I first discovered in the sixties.
While I still have my old vinyl
album collection in the base-
ment, much of it has been
replaced by compact disks; a
clever marketing ploy to snare
the baby boom bucks. Why lis-
ten to a scratchy copy of Share
the Land when you can pur-
chase the digitally remixed,
remastered, repackaged deluxe
edition complete with bonus
tracks? My recent CD purchas-
es range from reissues of the
Lovin' Spoonful, Byrds, and
early seventies cult folkster
Nick Drake, to Enya's new age
muzak.
Life begins at fifty? .Yeah,
right. Pass me my vinyl copy of
Bob Dylan's Bringing It All
Back Home and just let me sulk.
BARDAl^#*
FUNERAL HOME & CREMATORIUM
Winnipcg'soriginai Bardal Funeral Homcsincc 1894.
843 Sherbrook Street in Winnipeg Telephone 774-7474
1 ........ s
The Iceland Tourist Board
www.lcelandTouristBoard.com
Visit our website to find out more about Iceland
/
Rock ‘n’ Roller is a
Teacher
John Einarson is a
Winnipeg teacher, rock music
historian and biographer who
teaches grade 8, 9 and 10
History and Canadian Studies at
St. John's Ravenscourt. His par-
ents are John Alan "Don"
Einarson originally from Gimli,
who later moved to Winnipeg's
West End and worked for the
Canadian Pacifíc Railway. His
mother is Helen Doreen
Stefanson from Selkirk. John's
grandparents were Kris and
Olive Einarson and Stefan
Johann (known as Steve Riley)
and Steinun Stefanson.
John was a professional
musician ífom the late sixties into
the mid 70s and he continues to
play guitar and organize a popu-
lar Rock Show at school each
year involving between 85 and
100 students. It has become the
event of the year at the school.
John has published eight
books, beginning with Shakin'
All Over: The Winnipeg Sixties
Rock Scene (Hignell, 1987).
Other books include: Aurora:
The Story Of Neil Young And
The Squires (Broken Arrow,
UK, 1991); Neil Young: Don't
Be Denied (Quarry Press,
1992; Omnibus Press, UK,
1993) Magic Carpet Ride
(Quarry Press, 1994) the story
of John Kay and Steppenwolf ,
American Woman: the Story Of
The Guess Who (Quarry Press,
1995); A Journey Through The
Past (Sonnentanz-Verlag), a
Neil Young biography pub-
lished in Germany; For What
It's Worth: The Story of Buffalo
Springfield (Quarry Press,
1997; Rogan House, UK, 1998;
Randy Bachman: Takin' Care
Of Business (McArthur & Co,
2000; softcover edition, 2001)
and Desperados: The Roots Of
Country Rock, published in the
United States in February 2001
by Cooper Square Press, New
York. He has also written for
textbooks, including Brother
Can You Spare a Dime, a teach-
ing kit used to teach the
Depression in Manitoba. It has
an Icelandic component, about
the plight of those living in the
Interlake who organized a
rnarch on Winnipeg.
John has been interviewed
on lcelandic National radio
about his books. He lives in
Winnipeg with his wife Harriet,
son Matthew and daughter
Lynsey.
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