Bob Casale

Used to be our heroes O.D.'ed.

Now they die of old age.

Once upon a time Devo remade "Satisfaction" and after taking us back in time, devolving to a sound earlier than the art rock and corporate tunes that dominated the airwaves, they broke ground in video and inspired us by demonstrating that art is all about conception, execution comes last.

In other words, where was Devo coming from?

Now we wonder where we're going to.

As the baby boomers age, some are defying this. Dieting down to nothing and wearing their children's clothing, they believe if they just look young, they will be. But as Bob Dylan so eloquently sang:

"For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes must get lonely"

In other words, if Bob Casale can die, I can too.

And it's coming, it's inevitable, and it's just beginning to dawn upon the baby boomers...that they, like their music, is not forever.

It's weird getting old. Because like Grandpa Simpson you want the old days to come back, and you understand the game. NBC is owned by nobody, run by the megalomaniacs at Comcast and ultimately reports to Wall Street. So rather than continue to employ ratings champion Jay Leno, they hand the reins to Jimmy Fallon and get the complicit press to trumpet this fact and we oldsters are sitting at home thinking there's been nothing new in late night since Dave went on at 12:30, and we'd all rather watch the DVR, if not Netflix. Reading the news you'd think Fallon won the gold medal, when the truth is he's got a show produced by an ancient comedy titan featuring people desperate for exposure.

That's right, Lorne Michaels blew up Saturday night television and hasn't done anything innovative since. But he's smart and rich and gives good parties so he gets a pass in this world where you coast on what you've done before when we see what you're doing now is not worth the attention.

Even Devo is coasting.

After scoring films and television, Mark Mothersbaugh reunited the troops with Bob's brother Jerry and found out...nobody wanted to hear anything new, but many wanted to experience what once was. They wanted to whip it good. In other words, Devo went from cutting edge to nostalgia.

And David Bowie was so busy being cutting edge he missed the target.

And Paul McCartney releases new music that none of his old fans want to hear.

And the youngsters all want to sell out to corporations in order to get rich and win.

And I'm stuck in the middle with you.

We remember when a record could change the world. When rock stars were revered for who they were and what they said as opposed to the shenanigans featured on gossip blogs. When we laughed at no talents instead of giving them a pass like the one Ryan Seacrest and his Kardashians get.

But admit you're old and you're deemed irrelevant.

That's the innocent, wet behind the ears youngsters' refrain. You're old, as if the pejorative were enough to scare people into submission.

But the truth is, it does.

But the funny thing is except for tech, now dominated by the not so young, youngsters are not pushing us out of the way, just demanding the keys to the car, like a teenager requests of his parents, not because he can drive any better, but just because he believes he deserves it.

The train is idling on the track.

Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison never made it to the station.

Along the way we lost Marc Bolan in a car accident, John Lennon in a tragedy, and Les Harvey died on stage before he got his one big break.

But now, more important than your chart position is your cholesterol number. Cancer can strike at any time. When your chest thumps you don't think it's anxiety or too stressful a workout, you think the end is nigh.

And you realize...

We're sailing into the sunset.

We made history and soon we will be so.

Everything we thought so important is fading away.

We went from testing limits to being the limit.

So, so long Bob 2. I bought all those records, you weren't the star, but I knew who you were.

So long cutting edge videos, they can only be done once, and they were, in the eighties.

So long KROQ, which once pioneered bleeding edge music and was the sound of a generation.

So long MTV, which was so busy casting aside generations it didn't realize there was no core left to appeal to the next.

So long percolating in your local market before bursting upon the scene as a phenomenon, if anyone of note is creating in Akron, we know immediately.

And so long the rock dream.

We wanted to rock and roll all night and party every day.

Now we want to live in gated communities, get up early and turn the sound down.

Don Henley said we wouldn't go quietly, but the truth is we are. Because we just did not see it coming. We just did not believe our time would ever end. We screwed and divorced and didn't plan for retirement, believing life was one big rock festival, but now ticket prices are prohibitive and you don't want to go and you see everybody imitating what once was and you say so but nobody is listening.

Because it's not our world anymore.

Rest in peace Bob Casale. I hope when my time comes I can see it coming. Because to be cut down when you still have gas in the tank, when you still have dreams, when there's so much more you want to do and didn't get around to...

Is tragic.


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