Serenity Gardens (06.03.19)

Happy birthday (almost) to me. Rocking Serenity Gardens on a Monday night. Photo by Kat.

As my audience at Serenity Gardens last night heard way more times than they ever wanted, this week, I am turning 50 years old. I've known many people who turned 50... friends, coworkers, relatives. Most of them, at the time, claimed to feel better than they assumed they would at this age, and now that I'm here, I agree. It's a phrase I've heard my whole life... "50 is the new 40", and it sounds like a load of shit, honestly. I think I'm doing pretty well at 50, at least in the important aspects of being relatively healthy and having maintained a good set of priorities, and having had what I consider to be a fortunate life thus far.

Here's a funny thing: it's always said that a person tends to be liberal in their youth and grow more conservative as they age. In my case, I was somewhere between centrist and apathetic for much of my youth and early adulthood, and have grown exponentially more progressively liberal and politically active starting in the early 2000s and ramping up in recent years. Apart from generally doing things ass backwards, perhaps that's been a driving force in retaining my youthful vibe, assuming I have one.

In any case, it's super hard to be objective about one's self and the generation surrounding you. Instead of just going on instinct -- which will also tend to favor one's ego -- I try and use a little actual evidence that a good number of people who are the same age as me in 2019, those born in 1969, seem to be a little less old than 50-year-olds of years past. I mean, come on.

Dave Grohl. Jennifer Aniston. Paul Rudd. Matthew McConaughey. Jack Black. Gwen Stefani. Jay-Z. Donnie Walburg. Cate Blanchett. Ice Cube. Gerard Butler. Christian Slater. All born the same year as me. That's not bad company to be in. Even looking at non-celebrities, like my high school classmates and so on... most of the 50-year-olds I know, both men and women, seem to look pretty good for their age. Most of them don't look like the 50-year-olds I knew growing up. They seem healthier and less aged overall. Why? Well... I could speculate that compared to previous generations, mine has prioritized healthy activities and habits. We're probably more likely to exercise and eat better, and less likely to smoke and drink and so on.

Me on the verge of my 50th birthday. I don't think I look old. I don't feel old. I'm not even worried about being old. I sometimes worry about not getting old, but that's a topic for a whole other blog post. Photo by Jess Smith in Joshua Tree, May 2019.

And, of course, there's the superficial side. It could be said that people these days are a little better at hiding their age than past generations were. Here's something you may or may not know about me: I don't give a flying fuck about looking old. Some of the coolest, hippest, most influential people I know of are way older than me. I don't dye my hair, I don't use any special skin stuff or hair product. I don't do almost anything beyond basic hygiene things. So, if I look a certain way that seems younger than my years, it's just good genes and pure luck, I suppose. I do work out daily, which may help a bit, but I do that just to feel good. Any benefit of youthful attractiveness is purely a side effect.

Old Man Sings at People
It really did turn out to be a great final live music show of my 40s at Serenity Gardens. We had a super crowd, with a whole bunch of my Zakster friends/fans in attendance. For the second show in a row at Serenity, I had the incredible Grace McDunnough playing before me, and she is absolutely one of my personal favorite SL performers of all time. Grace and I go way back, and I enjoy her every bit as much as a human being as I do a fellow musician.

Serenity Gardens makes me comfortable as a performer, which means I'm less inhibited and more likely to do a fun show. Photo by Kat.

Side view of me rocking. Photo by Kat.

The amazing Grace McDunnough! Awesome like a possum. Everyone loves her, or at least everyone should. Photo by Kat.

I had briefly considered doing an entire set of songs from 1969, but... nah. Don't get me wrong; there are a ton of great songs from that year! But really, I don't like limiting myself in that way, and besides... if it was going to be my birthday show, I wanted to play more of a variety of stuff that I personally enjoyed. So I did.

Serenity Gardens set list...
Airport Bar (Martin Courtney)
This Afternoon (Zak Claxton)
Carry Me Ohio (Sun Kil Moon)
Gardenia (Iggy Pop)
Pecan Pie (Golden Smog)
Peace Love & Understanding (Elvis Costello)
Old Man (Neil Young)
Badge (Cream)
Free Man in Paris (Joni Mitchell)
Daniel (Elton John)
Radio Free Europe (R.E.M.)
Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie)

Big thanks to every single person who came out to my unofficial birthday show, with special super thanks to the following who helped support it!
Kat Chauveau, Nina Brandenburg, dls Falconer, Diana Renoir, bblbabe Resident, Trouble Streeter, love2play2 Resident, Andydennis Enchanted, TheaDee Resident, Asimia Heron, Kat Claxton, go2smoky Resident, Tyche Szondi, and the fabulous team at Serenity Gardens, Tilly Rose and Ilsa Wilde.