Once upon a time, I worked for a bigtime national public radio show. One day, our music producer booked a big act, a big ticket guest who was in the big city to drum up excitement for his new rock opera. Well, it wasn't a new rock opera, but it was a revival of a rock opera that the guy had done back in that decade when things were so much better and cooler than they are now. It was Pete Townshend, the guitar genius from The Who.

Well. The big building that was home to the big radio show was chock full of people who also thought that things were so much better back in that decade when things were so much more important than anything now. Needless to say, Pete's visit caused quite a stir.

Everyone brought in their old "Tommy - the Original Soundtrack" LPs and their "Live at Leeds" on vinyl so that the man who talked about their generation would give them an autograph.

He came into the studio wearing a plaid shirt and jeans... clearly someone told him he was in Canada, because he just NAILED the brand! The old guy asked him about how he deals with the fact that he was a rebel in that great decade and now he's a hearing-challenged 50-year-old. And Pete replied "I know my parents and the generation before me did the best they could. They had a war to deal with, a depression and so on... they had it tough, you know? I realize that now that I'm older. So I finally just forgave them all. Why hold anything against them?"

Ahem. Being a product of the decade after the one that would be the most important one of all time (just ask any of 'em, they'll tell you,) I must say I was taken aback. Talk about your generation! Were those hippies who cast large shadows on my generation, who made it absolutely impossible for us to live up to anything they ever did, really just self indulgent bastards who were allowed to change the rules whenever it suited them? If Pete Townshend was the new boss, the same as the old boss, was there anything at all in my childhood that wasn't a lie?

I touched him anyway. I took my CDs into the studio for him to sign and he shook my hand. There's nothing more to say about this one really.

Tomorrow: Tetched again.
 

44. Entomology is the study of insects while Etymology is the study of words.

45. A quince is a hard yellowy pear-shaped fruit.