Middle Ages

I was downtown for a hot minute this afternoon to get a key made at Henley's, a local locksmith. Across the street, a live band was playing behind the Wild Goose Meeting House. The musicians and the crowd were very young, which led me to conclude that they were probably college students -- I'm going to go out on a limb and guess Colorado College. When I parked my car, they were in the middle of performing a Rolling Stones song (I think it was Start Me Up), then they went into a rendition of Don't Know Why by Norah Jones. What a strange segue! These very young people were playing music that appeals more to middle aged folk (or older, even). I get the Rolling Stones song, it's rock and roll no matter how you slice it and it ain't ever gonna get old. But that Norah Jones song? It's straight up soft jazz, really. Utterly soothing. Don't get me wrong, I love that song and the whole album is fantastic, but it isn't exactly dance music (behold the people gamely attempting to dance to it -- it's just not possible).

As I was driving home, I kept wondering why on earth these 20 year old musicians would be in into slightly snooze-y Norah Jones stuff, and I realized that they were playing songs that reminded them of their childhood! Their parents must have had that Norah Jones album, which came out in about 2003 if I remember correctly, and of course the Rolling Stones appeal to many generations; no doubt the parents of these kids listened to the Stones, too. So there you go. Weird mix but it makes sense when you look at it from that angle.