Rock Concerts for Old Folks

 

by Pa Rock

Aging Citizen Journalist

Jamie Lee Curtis, a prolific Hollywood actress and former "scream queen" (so noted due to her work in "horror" and "slasher" films of a few decades ago) added some significant luster to her already  formidable film resume last Sunday night when she picked up the Oscar for Best Performance by a Supporting Actress in the hit film, "Everything Everywhere All at Once."   Curtis, the daughter of film legends Tony Curtis ("Some Like It Hot") and Janet Leigh ("Psycho"), is a face that is so ubiquitous in the world of entertainment, that she is generally regarded as readily recognizable, but her Oscar-winning role as a harried desk jockey for the IRS certainly broke new ground.  I was well into the movie before I sussed out who was playing that role.

But Sunday night's Academy Awards was not the only time this week that Jamie Leigh Curtis made the news.  She also received a flurry of press coverage over a suggestion which she has been encouraging fellow entertainers, and especially the musical mastodons of the mid-to-late 20th century, to act their age and hold their musical extravaganzas in the afternoons rather than after dark, a move that would get those of us of a certain age home in time for a full night's sleep.

In a recent interview  Curtis said that she wanted to see Cold Play at 1:00 p.m.  -  before adding, "I will come and hear your five-hour concert, Bruce (Springsteen) at two o'clock, and I'm gonna be home and in bed by 7:30."

Early next month I plan to be at a John Mellencamp concert in Kansas City.  The show starts at 8:00 p.m., and considering the price of the ticket, should last at least two hours.   I will be there and I will enjoy it, but I won't enjoy knowing that as the curtain is going up for the evening's performance, my 75-year-old body is telling me that I should be at home crawling into bed.  And the 71-year-old star up on the stage will probably be having similar thoughts as he starts his second late-night in a row of trying to entertain drowsy geriatrics in Kansas City.  

Buy a clue, John.  Many of your fans are now retired and have their days free - and some of us would pay the same money for an afternoon ticket and be just as happy with the purchase and the experience - maybe even more so.   And a matinee would probably suit you better as well!