The other night I was sitting out on the ranch, the sun setting the moon rising. I sit under the gazebo watching the sky, feeling the cool breeze and just feeling so entertained by the sounds, smells and sites of the desert sky. This is entertainment that never changes. The sky is always just outside my door. Sure, I could go inside, turn on the cooking station, read a book, go online, because entertainment comes in so many forms, still sitting under the sly, well it got me thinking…

Besides watching a night sky what did people do the decade I was born to entertain themselves? I was born in the late 50s, 1958 to be exact, and the 50s introduced us to a variety of things that could entertain us and keep us busy and happy, well not like the sunsets, still, people were entertained in the 50s.

For adults and kids all over entertainment came in 1955 when Disneyland opens for business in California. This would become an icon for fun and entertainment for all ages. This really was exciting and got kids away from TV.  Yes in the 50s technology advanced and we started placing our kids in front of the TV for entertainment. In fact, even in the 50s, scientist did a study and found that even though TV was new to people, kids spent six hours a day in front of TV that was as much time as they spent in school.

In the 50s toys were exciting too. The Hula Hoop, Slinky, Silly Puddy, Lego’s, Lincoln Logs, Lionel Trains, Mr. Potato Head, Whee-lo and Barbie were introduced. If toys did not entertain, then games sure did and oh what games were given to us in the 50s. Games such as Yahtzee, Candy Land, Monopoly, Chutes and Ladders, Parcheesi, Sorry, Scrabble, and Chinese Checkers entertained both young and old.

What could be more entertaining in the 50s but the introduction to “rock and roll?” I mean really music with soul has always been around but grownups and uptight people needed to give music with soul a name so they called it rock and roll. Most of us know it started before the 50s however, in 1952 Bill Haley, formed the Comets which now can be considered the first rock’n'roll band. 1952 was also the year in which Bob Horn’s “Bandstand” TV program began and eventually became Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand.”

Music was entertaining. No matter what you did, there was music, and much like the night sky, it still remains a staple to our entertainment and another staple that still remains; Playboy. Yes indeed, men lined up to get their monthly eye candy and entertainment and they still do. For those with a sense of humor and wit, in 1950 Peanuts the comic strip begins and in 1954 Dr. Seuss introduced us to Cat in the Hat. The 50s was a time for wonderful literature and to name them all would be a ten part article. Lord of the Rings came out, The Catcher and the Rye captivated us, The Martian Chronicles caught our attention, Fahrenheit 451 made us look at the future, and Lord of the Flies sent us on an adventure many of us won’t forget.

Every decade produces great entertainment for us all to enjoy but I can’t help but think the 50s gave us so much. Rock and Roll, classic books, toys that we still play with today and a plethora of other entertainment that shaped how we see entertainment. Still, I think my sunsets on the ranch is the best entertainment.

Recently I was talking to my cousin who will remind you on a daily basis he is about to be 18 years old and will be an adult. He has made a choice not to drive nor hold a job. Of course to me, this is not 18 year-old behavior, but who am I to talk? I mean in my day, when you were 16 you learned to drive, got a job, and you got a car and acted like an 18 year old-years before you actually turned 18 and it got me thinking…

I’m not sure what kids today are complaining about. They say they don’t want to work and jobs don’t pay well. Yet in my day the minimum wage was anywhere from 1.60-2.30 an hour. You worked all day to make about 20 bucks. With today’s standards, that is what a kid spends at Starbucks. What happened to our kids of today?

I think there are several things. First they are now calling kids today the “Me generation” and though for many cases, this is very true, I would be more prone to call them the kids of virtual reality generation. Most these kids have friends they have never met. They live in the shadows of Facebook and say they have tons of friends, but much like many kids that are 16 and 17, they have yet to date or be kissed. It’s hard to give a real kiss to a friend on Facebook.

I feel so sorry for these kids today because despite all their technology and their virtual lives, there are things they will never experience.  Can you imagine a kid getting up to turn the TV station? Most laugh when you say it used to be you had to move if you wanted to change the station. Today kids can watch TV on their cell phones or computer.

When I was younger, you would get a real voice over the telephone and not just a recording. You could actually get an operator and pay a bill, not have to push a button, and get questions answered. Kids today will never experience that sort of compassion over the phone. Pretty soon, they will never know what a drive-in bank teller was; they are quickly on their way out.

Here is another thing kids won’t have a chance to experience; Square flash bulbs. They used to be so incredible to me. I could stick the square on my camera, which by the way actually was loaded with real film. You would get a chance to get four flashes to capture your memory and then pop it off to place another cube on the camera. Sometimes if you took the cube off too fast, it would burn your finger tips. In addition, kids today will never experience the anticipation of waiting for your film to come so you can see your pictures.

Maybe that is the biggest thing today’s kids will never experience; anticipation. That word no longer exists. Everything is instant. You can’t get a hold of someone at home; you can call their cell phone, page or grab them on Facebook. We live in a disposable society.

I feel sorry for kids of today because they will never experience a thing called albums. The art on albums were incredible and the sound of  vinyl, well it just can’t be replaced, even the smell of an album when you first opened it as unforgettable. In addition, they will never have to get off their behinds and turn these wonderful black disks over and place the needle gently on the record. Listening to music was a ritual. It was a verb that required an action. We worked to listen to our music, which at times, I felt made it sound better.

Growing up in Tucson, there was nothing like a drive-in movie. We no longer have these and are being charged a fortune to go to a theater and being crammed like sardines to watch a movie only to have to sit in front of some kid who goes to movies so they can text their BFF.  My neighbors on the ranch rent movies and put them on a projector outside and has created their own drive-in so their 17 year olds have the honor of watching a movie out under the stars.

So many kids today sadly, will not have the opportunity like we had to experience so many things that had touch, texture and smell. Certain things we did actually required us to move a body part besides a finger. Which is why I have no doubt diabetes is on the increase for kids. We don’t move, then we get stagnate and it affects our health. We had real friends, not virtual friends. We lived in a real community and grew real gardens, not Farmville and an online community. We did not send virtual hugs to people we never met, we hugged people because we knew and loved them. Yep, things in my day you could actually touch, taste and smell. I like some of today’s technology, but wish we could integrate real life with virtual life.

Often when we think of music, we think of heartwarming songs, or love. We think of emotions or some sort of statement. Music is wonderful for that. However, the other day I was watching TV and Tiny Tim came on and sang “Tip Toe through the Tupils” and it got me thinking…

In this new world we live in, we have forgotten a very basic and that is humor. It used to be way back when, songs with humor ruled the radio stations. Why not? Life is hard and people take things so seriously that heart attacks and strokes are happening more and more. I think we are trapped in reality TV, politics and awaiting for the end of the world in 2012  and have forgotten a very simple thing; How to laugh.

Music used to make us laugh. It sometimes made no sense or it could make plenty sense. I mean really who ever heard of a Purple People Eater or the Monster Mash? Well only people who wore a  Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini singing My Ding a Ling. And if we listened and enjoyed it too much, we would all be afraid that they would be Coming to Take us Away.

They just don’t do fun songs that much anymore. Oh yeah we can thank “Weird Al” Yankovic for great parodies like  Eat It, Fat, White & Nerdy, Addicted to Spuds, Amish Paradise, I Lost on Jeopardy and much much more. Indeed he has found his fortune in making us laugh out loud once again. Before Weird Al we had Ray Stevens who did The Streak, Ahab The Arab and Gitarzan. He made us laugh with his original songs, but today we have so little that make us laugh.

I mean yeah I can laugh at some of the artist that people like these days, but most of them take themselves so seriously that I don’t even bother. I am talking about just fun songs like Rubber Biscuit, Alley Oop, Snoopy vs. the Red Baron, Dead Skunk, The Name Game, King Tut, Wildwood Weed, Charlie Brown, Disco Duck, Junk Food Junkie and yes indeed I am sure I have left quite a bit out.

Being a retired musician, I understand how “important” it is to get our message out. To have people really listen to our music, but at the same time, I believe we can use music to make people laugh. Many artists just don’t use humor in music anymore. I am unsure why. I think musicians take themselves too serious, but quite frankly, we need a little lift with our music.  There are so many bands and music out these days and with Youtube more and more people are making it and truth be told, there is a band on every street corner who think they are the next greatest thing.

So why are we not using humor in music anymore? Have we really forgotten how to laugh?  I don’t know but this sure has me thinking that perhaps I should take my musical talents and begin to spread humor around rather than another love song, or another break up song, or another tweeny bopper song, or useless song where you can’t understand the lyrics or the costume, We need to just make nonsense music to help us get through this nonsense world of ours.