I met Batman.
When I look back on my first six and a half decades of a lifetime immersed in pop culture, meeting TV's Batman Adam West (in costume!) in 1987 is one of many little moments that illustrate how lucky I've been to stand in my particular places at my particular times. Man, I got to see Mickey Mantle hit a home run. I talked to a Beatle. I saw A Hard Day's Night at the drive-in, Star Trek and The Monkees on first run (and reruns and reruns and reruns). Micky Dolenz re-posted an essay I wrote about the Monkees. Harlan Ellison tried to set li'l high-school me up with a college girl, though I'm pretty sure he was joking. I got a surprise phone call from Joey Ramone, a compliment from Joan Jett, and was scowled at by Gene Simmons.
My grandparents taught me how to fish. I heard Top 40 AM radio in my brother's red convertible, my other brother tried to show me how to throw a football, and my sister hipped me to the Kinks. My dad coached my Little League team. My mom drove me to stores to get comic books. I bought comic books for their twelve-cent cover price, then their fifteen-cent cover price, and now their $3.99 and up cover price. I visited the office of DC Comics, and (on a separate occasion) met Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman.
I've written for comic books. I've written books. I've sung on stage as the guest of a rock 'n' roll band. I've traveled, across the country and across the Atlantic. I tried out for a game show. I co-host a radio show. I married the love of my life. I'm a proud, proud father. Life goes on.
I'm 65 years old, and I'm not merely okay with that--I'm good with that. As my first superhero used to say: I yam what I yam. I wish my body had fewer aches, but I'm very happy to have lived in a time of such wonder.
Um. I'm still HERE, too.
Whatever era your life has occupied, I bet you have your own flashpoints, your own memories. I know they weren't all happy. But I hope some of them were. I hope there've been enough happy moments that you can recall and say, "That was special."
Family and friends, books and movies, people to see, places to be. Tsuris to endure, sunshine to pursue. Stories to write. Songs to play. A life to keep living.
So let's turn it up, shall we? Spin the Ramones' version of "I Don't Want To Grow Up," sing and/or shout along, and flash one select finger at the forces that try to bring us down. Grow up? As always: Don't want to. Won't need to. Ain't gonna. This is what rock 'n' roll radio sounded like on another Sunday night in Syracuse this week.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream, and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio
You can read all about this show's long and weird history here: Boppin' The Whole Friggin' Planet (The History Of THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO).
TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS are always welcome.
Carl's new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get Carl's previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.
DISLEXIA: At Least (Kool Kat Musik, Snowball)
Howard Cosell told me to shut up.
ReplyDeleteA) Like he's the only one who ever said that to you; B) Like you're the only one HE ever said that to.
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