[Mb-hair] Rock Me, Zarathustra (Or, Titan's Calling)

[Jim Burns]

'There just could be, a whole new group, being introduced to the music
of Rado, Ragni, and MacDermot....

(These thoughts inspired by a couple of new New York radio series, and
"oldies rock radio," in general....!) 

Jim Burns
____

"Rock Me, Zarathustra (Or, Titan's Calling)" 


I don't think you have to be an inveterate SF buff, to realize, or
remember, that part of the utter exuberance of the '60s, was the space
program. 

We use to launch rockets, with men, on a fairly regular basis, and every
time, was a first time, as NASA, and America, raced to make Kennedy's
deadline, of a man on the moon, before decade's end. 

And it was so much of this great music, that was the soundtrack, for so
many of us, of those aspirations. 

If you were the right age-- 

No, if you were of the right set of mind-- You absolutely believed that
certainly by the turn of the millenium, mankind would have several
addresses, nearer to the stars. 

(And would have, if Nixon hadn't essentially cancelled the space program
on a cold day, in 1969. NASA presented him with the natural extension of
the moon program. Hard to believe, in retrospect, but we were all set to
have "Man on Mars," IN 1980! Nixon cancelled what was supposed to have
been the last three Apollo missions, and nixed everything but the space
shuttle's development--which was particularly odd, since it now had no
where to go to....) 

The lifestyles shown in 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY weren't necessarily
science fiction, but what was simply the normal projection of where our
technology could have been allowed to take us. 

But even if, by today, we had our vast space stations, and cities on the
moon, and sojourns to the Red Planet, and beyond-- 

Surely, a destiny that would have been worth meeting up with-- 

It occurs to me, that our past-- 

Our youths, and childhoods, as it were-- 

Would, of course, have remained the same. As would this music, that so
many of us love. 

But it's the prism through which we hear it, that would have changed. 

Our perspective. 

And, it's fascinating to consider if there would have been "oldies"
shows emanating from, or, more likely, receivable, on these trans-earth
outposts... 

:-) 

One other thought, quickly, something I've touched upon, before. 

The radio, and television, broadcasts, from years past, are still
travelling outward, amongst the stars. 

Shows from the '60s, are just now making their way, to some of our
closer stellar neighbors. 
Which means, as you're listening to some of these musical celebrations,
some civilization, some where, maybe out around Rigel, might well be
enjoying their first taste, of some of the very same music. 

...One aspect of the future, inevitably, catching up with the past that
might have been. 

Jim Burns (James H. Burns)