In the world of punk music I find myself reaching the age of “todd-ler” (pun intended). I only really got into it a couple of years ago after sitting around one day realizing I keep playing the same old music, nothing new. Granted the old stuff is good but there won’t be any new “Foghat” or “Grand Funk” or “Beatles” or “Zeppelin“, to name a few.

So I started surfing the web and remembered my son going to the yearly Warped Tour so I went to their site, looked at the list of names playing that year, 2007 (at this time I had actually heard of only 3 of them) and started researching some of them and found I loved the music. Thus began my so-called mid-life crisis of punking out. Mid-life crisis, some guys buy Harley’s, I go to punk shows (it’s much cheaper). I say mid-life cause, well I am an old guy. Let’s put it this way, I was out of high school when the granddaddies of U.K. punk, Johnny Rotten And The Sex Pistols, were big……that was some 32 years ago for you youngsters.

I also find it interesting that a lot of the punk bands today have members that are well into their 40’s and the crowds just eat them up. It’s great!

Some of the “old” bands are still out there rockin’ away such as Aerosmith and of course AC/DC but there’s something about paying $100 for a ticket to watch a “big screen” from a half a mile away while the “new” punk bands you can see for $10 to $20 and can usually get to within a couple of feet from the stage and how many times do you get to get your picture taken with the band after a show? (below is me with lead singer Wednesday 13 and lead guitarist Acey Slade of the band Wednesday 13…sweet, oh I’m the guy in the middle….just in case you weren’t sure….oh to have hair again).

Over the last couple of years I have been lucky enough to see numerous bands of numerous styles whether it be hard rock or ska or new wave or pop or psychobilly, it’s all been great music with great live performances, just an awesome experience, one of which I plan on continuing through the years.

Another thing that really like about these shows is that even though none of my “peers” have the same liking of music as I and some even like to poke fun at me for liking this type of music, it’s so great going to a punk show and rockin’  out with another 400 or 500 people and realizing…I am not alone.

So if you had a passion for something once upon a time, find it again and embrace it…it beats sitting on your butt whining about what once was.

Punk on!!

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