Who Do I Think I Am??

This one's about the era, black, and amberlamps.

BCF PROMPT: "What historical time period would you live in that you have not previously lived in? (i.e. If you've lived in the 70's you can't say you'd like to live then.)"

What's up, "Blogging Circle of Friends " ? I told myself I'd wait until noon for a "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS"  prompt. It's almost 1pm my time, and still nothing. Doesn't matter; it's an unofficial month anyway, it's almost summer and it's nice out so nobody else seems to be participating, and I'm running out of internet to bore myself with.

So here's the skinny: I was born in 1975, so that eliminates anything from that point after. Which I'm fine with. Let VH1 do the recapping of those "eras". My take on them is cartoonish at best.

I think, in terms of times I can most closely relate to, I would have to say I wish I were a teenager in the late sixties/early seventies. So that covers roughly a decade before I was born, but slightly older. I'd be old enough to remember JFK getting shot, but too young to understand why (much the same as when they made the announcement over the loud speakers when I was in kindergarten the day John Lennon died).

Vietnam protests. If I were anything close back then to the person I am now, I'd probably march against the war. I'd burn my draft card, and maybe a few bras as well . But who's to say? Given my family's military history, maybe I would've enlisted (since I almost did after graduating in '93) instead. It's one of those scenarios where we say we'd know what we'd do, but we really don't know until we're faced with it.

The Beatles and Beach Boys in their prime. The Who and Led Zeppelin. Woodstock. All those seminal moments in music history! Couple that with television changing and morphing into color and something closer to what we'd come to know for decades, and seeing how it would all start to make sense, rather than just accepting it for what it was in 1984 or 1994 or 2004.

Baseball was America's Game. Corporations had sway, but they didn't control everything the way they do now. Advertising was just that, and not some "shove it down your throat" money fiend. "Mom & Pop" stores were ran by real moms and pops, and not overseas oil barons. Everything was lower, wages and prices...but you got more and better stuff for your buck.

Can anyone tell me why we should feel any safer in this generation as opposed to the time between 1968 and 1973? Nobody's cured murder or cancer. Phones may have been tapped but your cloud wasn't. You could play up and down the block and when the streetlights came on, you went home. And if you didn't, you accepted your punishment because it was "character building", meaning you were less likely to do it again.

I could go on and on, but you get my point. There are times when I feel very strongly that I should've been born under a different regime. In a different place and time. I catch myself occasionally daydreaming about it, but then realize it does no good to fantasize about a bygone way of living. There's too many problems in the present to worry about the past.

30DBC PROMPT: "Black"

Boom...one last refresh and there's a prompt that's been sitting there for twenty minutes. One word. Five letters. Black.

I'm going to do all I can to avoid any reference to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ChbxMVgGV4. But I'm feeling very vague. I'm not even wearing any black today. I tried wearing my black Chucks a few weeks ago and my ankle was having none of that.

But try this on for your eyes' size...black's not really a color or a race or a bean or a sea. It's a state of mind. It goes beyond my hipster black sweaters and tight jeans with the black Kangol pageboy hat turned backwards and black-rimmed glasses. It's a feeling. It's not just:

"Fade To Black" by Metallica
"Back In Black" by AC/DC
"Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos" by Public Enemy
"Black Betty" by Ram Jam
"Black Red Yellow" by Pearl Jam
"Black Or White" by Michael Jackson
"Black Cop" by Boogie Down Productions
"Fell On Black Days" by Soundgarden
"Black Day In July" by Gordon Lightfoot
"Black Magic Woman" by Santana

Nor is it limited to anything by these musicians: The Black Keys, The Black Eyed Peas, Frank Black, Black Sheep, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Black Crowes, Ritchie Blackmore, Black Sabbath, or Black Flag.

It's all in how it makes you feel inside, and how you project it outward. I got nothin' else really. Black is back. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVSGsdCVxmc

MUSICAL BREAK!!

Between the era and the color, there's just too many to choose from!

VITAL STATS:

I appreciate spell-checkers, but all this talk in the news recently about government surveillance, iWatches and Google Glass has me wondering...will we ever see the day that a spell-checking program comes along that can differentiate the usage between "an" and "and"? Because for some reason, my typing style doesn't lend well to me striking the letter "d" the way I should. I feel my finger hitting the key, and I feel the key going down, but I don't see a "d" on the screen as much as it should be there.

Activity time! Share your favorite artists and songs featuring the word black! Clint Black doesn't count, because country music doesn't count. But "Blackened" by Metallica counts.

And that's where I'm leaving off on this fine Saturday afternoon. Enjoy the rest of your weekend...I won't be participating in the "Sunday Review" tomorrow because basically there's me and like, two or three other entries to talk about. So I guess I'll see ya Monday! Peace, watch out for the brown acid, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!