It’s been a
while since I wrote on this blog so I thought I’d write a post about the joy of
getting old. Yeah, that’s right. I said the joy of getting old. I didn’t
realise that this was an actual thing until
a couple of nights ago. I mean, who
could possibly feel chuffed about a situation as depressingly inevitable as
that? Me, that’s who. And my friend McG. And several hundred other greying ‘teenagers’
who were in the UEA’s Lower Common Room last Wednesday night. And it was the legendary
hip hop trio De La Soul who enlightened us all to the pure joy of it.
De La
Soul. That’s them in the picture above. Please excuse the awful image quality. There is a good reason for this:
1. 1. The camera on my phone is worse than
the Kodak 110 I had in 1989.
2. 2. Spoken like a true Generation X’er, Plug
1 – or was it Plug 2 – was most insistent
that we ‘put the ******* phones away.
You wanna party with us or watch a ******* movie? Come on,
you guys; I want you to enjoy yourselves now not later on when you watch the
whole ******* thing at home.’ It was a
fair point and one I respect. So I took
my dirty snap in a guilty hurry.
Speaking of
Generation X, I am very definitely am part of it.
I was a sixth-former when ‘Me, Myself and I’ was on the radio. Just... um... let me do the maths... 28 years
ago.
But that
song and the album it came from - ‘3 Feet High and Rising’ - still sounds as
fresh as the D.A.I.S.Y age* it came from.
So fast-forward 28 years and there I was at the UEA with my friend McG
and with a venue full of very happy people.
The De La Soul men were up on the stage illustrating how three is the
magic number, everyone else’s hands were up in the air and the bass was so loud
it was making my jeans vibrate. Then the
bass calmed down a bit. And then it
stopped altogether. Time for some
interaction with the audience.
Plug 1 – or was
it Plug 2 – said, ‘OK, let’s see who’s in the house. Let me hear some noise if you’re aged 18 to
25.’
There was a
big happy cheer from loads of people who didn’t exist when I was doing my A
levels. I smiled at the joyful sound of
their youth.
The men on
stage were impressed. Then one of them –
the same bloke as before who I think was calling himself Plug 1 but who is actually
called Kelvin – said, ‘OK, so who in here is aged 26 to 35?’
Another big
cheer. But I didn’t smile this
time. I was starting to feel the early beginnings
of anxiety. Where was this all leading?
‘Let me hear
it from all the 36 to 40 year olds.’
Oh God. The age bands were getting narrower. I looked at my friend McG and she looked back
at me with an expression of panic that must have mirrored my own. But whatever concerns she was having, mine
were worse. I’d been on the planet two whole years longer than her.
As far as De La Soul were concerned, we might not even be in the same
demographic.
Plug 1 – aka
Kelvin - said, ‘And now we come to my FAVOURITE
people. The 41s and over. I totally LOVE you guys. And WELL DONE on STILL BEING HERE and STILL
PARTYING. LET ME HEAR YOU MAKE SOME
NOOOOOOOIIIIIIISE!
The roof of
the LCR nearly lifted off. It was the
loudest, happiest and most beautiful roar I have ever heard. It reduced the previous cheers to half-arsed pitiful squeaks. I think I was actually crying
with laughter and relief. When I looked
at McG, I think she was too. I haven't laughed so hard in ages. God, I love
De La Soul. That night of hip-hop in ‘Hull - **** sorry - I mean Nor-wich,’
was one of the most fun nights ever. And
those three blokes from the Bronx were better than any anti-ageing cream I have
ever wasted money on. Better even than
Boots Time Delay. Never been so chuffed
and proud and delighted to be forty-five in my life.
*Da Inner
Sound Y’all.
i) I am from mighty Felixstowe (full East Anglian credentials) and
Mal was a fantastic writer and his book 'Life: An Exploded Diagram' is an absolute stormer and one of my all-time favourite reads. I love this book for many reasons but here are just two of them:
