Taking some time to enjoy the festivities at this year's Harefest, where the classic tunes are still classic. (John Baker)

Joys of youth transfer nicely to older ages – it just needs a nudge sometimes

I don’t know what it is, but there’s something that’s growing more and more enjoyable to me as I grow older.

I like hanging out with my age group more than I ever have. It’s a strange and wonderful thing and it’s something I think aging kind of does to you – or at least me.

Yeah, I know the stereotype is the aging, grouchy, old fart who is particular about the chair he plops his butt in for hours at a time, the price of cereal, and the TV shows that he might favor. “The world can stay out there, I’m staying in here and good riddance to the lot of them.”

I don’t think that’s as true as the cartoons, TV shows and movies might make it out to be. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed hanging out with folks in my age range more than I do right now.

The commonality of experiences and certain knowledge that our generation had the best music and created the unique tapestry to what were clearly the best of times, all without the aid of technology, is certainly a “we bad” type of starting point.

In a few months my sister and I will host a “meet-up” at Rose City Comic Con for folks in the nerd and pop culture realm who are age 50-over. This will be my third such meeting and the first two proved a theory that I’ve been working under – that there are a lot of older folks inhabiting the nerd and geek realm than many may realize.

That applies to music, too. Over the weekend I was part of another adventure that cruised me back to the glory years of my youth – Harefest.

This tribute band festival, which just concluded its 13th edition, is another place where I run into folks in my age range. Oh, to be sure, there are plenty of younger folks there, but there’s quite the gathering of gray-haired, gray-bearded, balding with the ponytail, bell-bottom, peace sign wearing folks just grooving to the music of their respective youth.

The festival kind of caught the leading edge of the tribute band big wave and is now surfing the barrel toward who-knows-what end. But one thing is sure, there’s a generation out there, my generation, that may be gray, sagging, and confused about the TV remote and their cell phone, but we’ll rise en masse when the chance to rekindle a little youthful feel comes calling.

And that’s what Harefest does – shuttles you back to a time when everything was simpler, including the music, and “chilling out” with your boys or girls always meant music was on the 8-track (or cassette). And I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

Getting a little dose of “the good old days” in a way that really demonstrates they were the good old days on so many levels is something I find empowering and energizing. And I don’t think I’m the only one.

I suspect I know what the character Andy Bernard (The Office) meant when he said, “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.” I don’t pine for my youth, nor think I wasted it (Well, maybe a little), but I do like being reminded of those halcyon days through the most powerful medium my generation had – music.

I thank Harefest for delivering a festival that celebrates the music of my youth, the music I came of age with, and for the chance to share it with my peer group – and yes, the youngsters, too.

It’s a little moment in time, but it’s a moment that makes me smile, makes me sing, and makes me bang my head like in the old days – then take pain relievers the morning after because head banging at this age is no game to be played willy-nilly.

But time has shown me it’s a game worth playing.