Dazed and confused? Not me. I’m just Lost in the Cheese Aisle.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

THE BEATLES, STAR WARS, AND NOW THIS

Every once in a (long) while, a piece of Pop Culture comes along that affects me on a deep emotional level, deep enough to cause me to look at the world differently.

One Sunday night in February, 1964, I saw the Beatles make their American debut on The Ed Sullivan Show.  The landscape of music was forever changed for me that night, as it was for so many others of my generation.  A mere three years later, the Beatles once again sent seismic shocks through popular culture with their release of their landmark Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album.

Watching Star Wars for the first time, in the summer of 1977, I marveled at the grand adventure taking place on the big screen.  The opening shot of the Starcruiser passing overhead, filling the screen with its immensity, by itself was enough to convince me that I was seeing something extraordinary.  Movies would never be the same after that.

On a more personal note, hearing (and seeing live performances of) Philip Glass’s Akhnaten - and John Adams’s Nixon in China and Doctor Atomic - cast my interests onto a whole new trajectory.  Modern opera would become a fascination, a whole new viewpoint for me... a sea change from my prior focus on 1970’s rock.

Such moments - those that so deeply impact our cultural bedrock - are rare.  But now I am pleased to present something that may have the same kind of effect on the way we all see and experience life.

Meet the Kelly Family...



No... no need to thank me.  Just enjoy!

1 comment:

Houston Steve said...

And this is what happens when Mr. Natural is permitted to procreate.