ON LEARNING IT WAS FIFTY YEARS AGO TODAY

When I was a kid if a grownup said to me, "50 years ago today, 'X' happened," I would have thought, "Geez, that's like two lifetimes ago!"  Well, it has happened to me. I am the one thinking about  major events in my life and how long ago they happened. It was not two lifetimes ago.

I am not, and have never been, a nostalgic sort.  I do not keep old 60's and 70's music playing around me. The good old days, at least for me, are mostly just old days. But, during the last couple of months three huge events were reported on by the media, 50 years after they occurred. These three events were very important for me because they changed the way I thought about life during a period when my teenage brain was beginning to accept real knowledge and form real opinion.

The first, one of the saddest days in my life, was November 22, 1963. John F. Kennedy was assassinated, his young wife by his side to witness the horror. I was in my Biology lab class when the news was broadcast over the school intercom.  It made for an awfully sad day and weekend.

As I have written before, Kennedy's death changed every bit of history going forward for me. His death ended the effort to stop the war in Vietnam and to bring peace between Cuba and the United States. And, like tens of millions of us, it meant that dreams of a government based on the fantasy of Camelot was just that, a dream.  Kennedy's violent death was a harsh slap of reality.  

On February 7th of this year we were reminded with tributes that it was the 50th Anniversary of The Beatles landing in America at the newly named Kennedy (formerly Idlewild) Airport.  The foursome was a great diversion for an America still struggling through the loss of a beloved President. Their interviews and performances on the Ed Sullivan Show were truly a bright spot, especially for American kids my age.

The tributes for the Fab Four were pretty amazing to watch.  On the Grammy tribute to The Beatles, 23-year-old Ed Sheerran, acoustic guitar in hand, sang a haunting version of In My Life, a song I consider one of The Beatles' most memorable. John Mayer and Keith Urban, two performers I would never have put together, were absolutely wonderful together singing, Don't Let Me Down.

Even more incredible were the number of people singing along in the audience.  Age made no difference. Teen idols to 70's rock stars sang along to every song played.  I kept thinking, "When I was their age would I know 50-year-old songs word for word"?  Would I care?  Sadly, the answer is no.

The Beatles are important to me because they began my more broad-minded approach to music.  Prior, I was a huge fan of Motown's dance-ready sounds and rhythms.  I spent my Friday and Saturday nights out dancing.  And, I mean every weekend.  It was a great place to meet girls and, because I danced well, I was very popular.  The Beatles, believe it or not, led me to classical music, to jazz, to blues, to musical places I had never been.  Even now I still pursue new sounds...rap, hip hop, and more.

The last of these iconic moments occurred February 25, 1964, when Cassius Clay met Sonny Liston in the ring in Miami Beach, Florida, for the heavyweight championship of the world. The young Clay, who at 18 won the light heavyweight boxing gold medal at the 1960 Rome Olympic games, was the decided underdog.

Liston, a former felon, was known for beating his opponents into submission early...first round early. Clay, with the exception of the Olympics, was known mostly for his mouth. The Louisville Lip predicted he would "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee." He did.  Sonny Liston failed to rise from his stool to fight the 7th Round. Liston's face was bloody and swollen, as if attacked by a hive of bees.

The following day the world  met Muhammad Ali for the first time.  Now it seems everyone in the world knows that name and the man to which it belongs.  Ali used his new-found podium to tell his fellow Americans that black people were citizens also and deserved the same rights as whites.  He told the U.S. Government that the war in Vietnam was wrong, then went to jail for refusing to be drafted to fight it.  He traveled the world as an ambassador of honesty and goodwill. I am afraid if he had lost to Liston that night 50 years ago, we would have never had the chance to hear from and understand this man.

A half century is a long time.  Men have flown to the moon.  Men and women are living in outer space. Communication is cordless and worldwide instantly. Even this humble blog is read in countries as different as France, India, Russia, Poland, and Colombia. That is both humbling and amazing.  And, life continues.