Rock On, Sir Paul!

I wonder what John Lennon would think if he knew that his fellow Beatle, Paul McCarthney, was still rocking and filling stadiums at the age of sixty-eight? Yes, Sir Paul McCartney turns 68 today! So many old rockers are still touring. Many of them, like Paul, could be home collecting their old age pensions! Yet they continue to thrill audiences and perform at sell-out concerts all over the world. They strut their stuff in front of kids who were not even born when their bands were formed! What is about the Paul McCarthneys, the Mick Jaggers or the Gene Simmons that makes people forget that rock is supposed to be for the young? When the Stones played in Regina in 2005, both their concerts sold out in 15 minutes! ACDC tickets sold out in the same amount of time last year. How can men and women in their fifties and sixties seem cool to teen-agers and young adults? How is it that their thirty- year-old songs are still relevant to the children and grand-children of their peers? I think the magic secret is that they so love doing what they do, they just haven't taken the time to grow old. I believe that the love they have for their music and for their industry is so pure that it is contagious - and every new generation wants to be a part of that magic. These people have shown the rest of us coming up behind them that age really is just a number and that if you love your life, you'll live it to the fullest. So, as well as giving us music that will be forever enjoyed, these musicians have shown generations behind them, how to grow old without growing old. Old rockers who keep on rocking . . . it's a good thing.