This song is not my normal musical style, it is harder and coarser than my usual fare, but the picture it paints of the roads I've walked got me thinking about how things have changed. I guess for me, a great song may be great because of the score or the lyrics but this one is great because of the intellectual journey it launched.

While listening, I was thinking about how things have changed in the 30 (yes thirty) years. Three decades technology explosion, science has been in full tilt techno boogie mode, and you know how evil the Boogie Fever days of Disco were.

From 78 rpm LPs to 33 1/3 and 45s to reel to reel, 8-track, and cassettes to Compact discs to where we are today with iPods and iTunes.

From octopus-like antennas which picked up 4 or5 tv stations (if you were very lucky), to huge eyesore satellite dishes, to today's 18 inch satellite dishes and cable companies who provide 500 channels, not only in color but in High Definition Dolby Digital Surround Sound. Techno boom strikes the television world as well.

Do you remember the day the new TV guide came out and you were thrilled to see "The Wizard of Oz" was coming on TV, or "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, or "Frosty the Snowman" or whichever show you looked forward to seeing all year?

I think back to the days when I was rooted to the TV on Monday nights watching CBS to see the latest adventuress of Hawkeye, Hotlips, BJ and Radar, or the daily doses of Oscar and Felix on WPIX in NY. Now I have no clue when my favorites are actually broadcast because I can download them into my iPod or buy them on DVD when the sets are released so that I can watch when I want to. Others have tivo and can digitally record them and watch (without commercials) at their convenience.

How things have changed...

In those days, I couldn't fathom having 200 records. Now I walk around daily with 600 cds in my iPod waiting for me to choose John Denver or Def Leopard, Beethoven or Boston, Dean Martin or Dr. Demento. Back when a new album came out you would head to your favorite music store to consult with your fellow audiophiles. Now we can download the music from iTunes and never leave the comfort of home.

Do you remember playing Monopoly, Risk, Backgammon, Checkers, Chess, or Rummy with your friends or family?? Do you remember the long summer days running around playing baseball, football, tag, capture the flag, or hide and seek?? How about the days when no one was around and you simply tossed a rubber ball against the side of the house knowing before long Dad would come out and yell at you because he feared your ball would break a shingle? Now with the blessings of Technology we have playstation, x-box, and computer games so Dad never has to worry about the siding on the house.

Long past are the days of hitting the public library to research a term paper, knowing that the class nerd already had the book you needed and it wouldn't be back until the paper was due (no wonder that kid got beaten up all the time). Now you fire up the computer and surf the web looking the answer to the questions of Life, the Universe, and Everything.

With all of the technological wonders you would think we would be in Nirvana, no not the band, the place that is the complete opposite of Newark, New Jersey.

What went wrong?? Why are we closer to Newark than we once were??

Wasn't technology supposed to free us? Wasn't it supposed to make our lives easier? Didn't Hanna-Barbera promise us George Jetson's push button existance? Where is my robot maid and talking dog?? Granted Astro wasn't the most eloquent orator but he could be understood easier than any NY City cabdriver (foreign or native).

I think about what J. Robert Oppenheimer said after creating the atomic bomb

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds."

Like everything else, technology came with a price. Back in the 70's most familys had 2 parents: one worked and brought home the green, the other took care of the house and the family. The former being important but the later being the more challenging and more difficult job. Now both parents are working to not only keep up with the Joneses (no not Jenna and the Joneses - the neighbors), but also to keep up with our ever growing tech addiction. What are the unsupervised kids doing with neither parent home to keep them from having fun (assuming there are 2 parents but that is a different topic)??

The kids are planted in front of the TV watching Bart Simpson or at the Computer playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, gorging themselves on junk food. What values are the kids learning?? We learned sportsmanship and fairplay from our games. We learned teamwork. We learned social skills and we got exercise. The kids today learn how to be verbally abusive from Bart and Cartman and they learn how to steal a car, rape a woman and then beat her up from Grand Theft Auto. It is no wonder society is getting harder and colder and more and more violent.

I know the generational gap has always been in place with music but look at the radical songs of my youth compared to some recent songs. "The Times They Are a Changing" and "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" were aimed at stopping a war. "We Almost Lost Detroit" and "Poison Power" were geared to either get rid of nucular power or make it safer. "To the Last Whale" was in hopes of
preventing extinction to the planets largest mammal. Radical songs of today include... "Cop Killer," "Freak Like Me," or "Bedroom Boom." Our morals are going down faster than an Intern in the Oval Office. Do you remember the days when Rob and Laura Petree, a young loving couple slept in pajamas in twin beds on the Dick Van Dyke Show?? Now you can see almost everything on Network television from scantily clad women, to a woman crawling up from waist level under the blankets, to Dennis franz's rotund and bare buttocks on Prime Time TV. Could the music and other imgry be leading to more and more babies having babies? Certainly not Dennis Franz, but the others ... something to think about.

The spiritual and moral decline is not the only damaging effect we have seen with the techno-curses. We also have the physical ramifications.

It seems that with the blessings of ever increasing computational power we also have the curse of ever increasing waistlines. We have an epidemic of obesity. As a kid, do you remember seeing as many overweight people? This has led to an epidemic of physical ailments like high blood pressure, heart problems, and diabetes. Not to mention the emotional issues that have led to the explosion in the use of antidepressant medications.

Did technology cause this or was it simply a willing accomplice? Are the increases in the tech world leading to an increase in avarice??

No, I'm overreactting and being an alarmist. Never in the history of Earth has a society achieved technological advancement only to collapse later... Or have some societies risen and fallen??

Did you know that the Aztecs performed brain surgery long before Europe found the Americas... Where are they now??

We all know that the Roman Empire conquered most of the known world at the time... But fell under the weight of it's excesses.

To get biblical with you, what about Sodom and Gomorrah?

Many of you know that at one time I was so wired that I would sit in front of a computer for up to 72 hours at a time. I would see the sun 1 day a week. Now I'm the last person to suggest forgetting our technology. In fact you can take my iPod from me only if you pry it from my cold dead fingers. But maybe we need to focus on our Tech addiction. Come on boys and girls say it with me...

"Hi, I'm __________ and I'm a tech-junkie"

Where is the 12-Step Program for Tech addiction? Do you need Tech-aholics Anonymous? Let me ask you a simple question to get the answer... when you declared being a tech junkie did you say the name given to you at birth or did you say your screen name?? If you used your screen name you are a tech junkie.

We can not dispose of the tech - pandora's box is open and we must live with the plagues that were released, but remember Pandora's box also carried hope.

Look to moderation and balance for the solution.

Who has ever ordered Sweet Pork? What about Sour Pork? I didn't think so, but I bet most of you have had Sweet AND Sour Pork. What is Yin without Yang??

We must marry Technology with Philosophy. We must temper Power with Grace. Rights always come with Responsibility. Punishment must be meted out with Compassion, and most importantly Knowledge must be used with Wisdom.

The web is a great place to meet people with similar interests, but only in the real world does that hackneyed LOL carry the joy of laughter.

There is no better way to listen to John Denver's "Mother Natures Son," than on a mountain near a waterfall and Otis Redding's "Dock of the Bay" is far more soulful on an ocean harbor. With the blessing of the iPod you can put these things together and feel the power of both on a deeper level.

Marry your tech with the real world. Let it enhance your existance rather than dominate it.

Maybe even unplug your tech for 30 minutes a day - the soul you save might be your own.

Once upon a time all of my writings were done on a keyboard, but lately I do my writing in the old fasioned way, with paper and pen. Recently I've even been doing this with my iPod idle and my musical muse has been fulfilled by live people on stage creating their music with wood, wind, wire and voice.

So why not just go out there and give yourself over to the non-electrified world and "Live it Up" but that is a different song, for a different day.

05/29/06