Christmas 1971 and Holiday NFL

 

Even as a young kid, I was interested in rock music.  I believe the first LP in my collection was the "Woodstock 2 soundtrack" on a Christmas morning as a five year old.  This was given to me by my parents.  Now, the first thing you might think is "Why would Greg's parents think that a five year old boy would like obscure live Jimi Hendrix jams, CSNY and Melanie on a double LP?".  This is a very valid question.  Even now, with God knows how many records, CDs and sound files I have in my possession, I have never heard Jimi Hendrix's "Get My Heart Back Together" or Mountain's "Blood of the Sun" in any other context except on this record via my shitty blue plastic record player that was in my room.

In retrospect, it's sweet that my parents decided to fed into my interest in rock music.  My parents had no knowledge or interest in rock.  They somehow threaded the needle of the 1960s by graduating college in 1962 and had me before the Beatles blew up past being a teen sensation.  When you watch documentaries on the late 60s, it's all protest marches, free love and groovy outdoor music festivals.  My parents would have been pushing a baby carriage, totally into the "Hello Dolly" and "Fiddler On The Roof" soundtracks and driving my father's company car station wagon.  They missed all of it.  All that crazy 60s stuff was just something on TV news for them.  Their lack of a grasp on the Beatles catalogue always blew my mind.  They knew "Hey Jude" and "Eleanor Rigby" and that was about the extent of it.  So how in 1971 was one of them at a department store record section and thinking, "I'll bet that kid of ours would really dig that "Woodstock Boogie" jam from Canned Heat on Side 4."?

My theory is that it was a moment of weakness where "We should feed into his interest" was met with "I don't know anything about rock, but I did hear that this Woodstock thing was a big deal".   What is perplexing is why they got the weird outtake laden "Woodstock 2" release as opposed to the absolutely classic "Woodstock-Music From The Original Soundtrack' LP.  I am chalking it up to having no awareness of the genre or, speaking frankly, a large price difference in Woodstock 2 over Woodstock at the register.  I mean, I was five, so it's not like I would have been aware of the Jimi Hendrix canon anyway, much less be able to grasp what the fuck was going on there.  I can say honestly, I tried to get into that record from Age 5-13, and it was only when I cracked the code on Jefferson Airplane on Side 2 as a 15 year old that I could wrap my arms around the rest of the record.

I don't think I ever properly thanked my parents for that Xmas present because I was a little fuck looking for his next toy, and I thought the record sucked until I was 15.  It's not when you get some distance from some of these presents that you can see the love that went into them.  That gift wasn't the record per se, it was supporting something I was interested in despite neither of them having an grasp of why anyone would be interested in that area, much less their little five year old son.  That indulgence is quite a nice gift, and probably one of the reasons I have spent most of my adult life writing stupid little songs and traveling around singing them.  Sigh.  I should have said something.

One thing I will say is this...  I like Baltimore today.  I am not a believer in the Houston Texans, and even less so without Tank Dell.  Stroud has regressed, and if the Texans can't get a running game going Stroud will look crappy in three-and-longs.  The Texans don't really have much to play for, and Baltimore has a lot riding on this game with needing a win to try and get the AFC North crown and home playoff games.  I got on it late, but I'm on Baltimore -6.

Current Record:  31-28-1