Op Ed
5 Reasons The Sixties Were Better
A lot of folks will tell you this is the best time to be alive. Look at all the technology. The access to information. We’ve got entertainment coming out or going into every orifice. But some of us are old enough to remember a time when life was a bit simpler – and not just because we were young, although that’s a huge part of it, make no mistake.
Life wasn’t better for everyone in the sixties, that’s for sure. There was plenty of oppression to go around. People still hated other people because of the color of their skin or who they wanted to sleep with. Humans still stole money from each other. In fact, those things have been happening since they invented money, skin and sex – and will likely continue until the Earth resembles Mars. So why then were the sixties better? I thought you’d never ask.
5. You Could Actually Be Alone
Unless you’re stuck on a deserted island or tied up in the basement of a remote cabin in the wilderness, you can’t be alone today in ways that were possible in the sixties. Every kid today has a cellphone tethering them back to home-base. They don’t leave home without that connection, so that they can fill every bored or uncomfortable moment with screen swipes and emojis. In the 60’s you could tie up a sandwich and your little green army men in a bandanna at the end of a stick and get lost in the woods for hours. Do they even make woods anymore?*
4. The Movies Were Better
I know there are examples of bad music and movies from every era, but moving-making in the 60’s was an art. Sure, there were exploitation films and fluff, but theaters were teeming with auteur cinema like Midnight Cowboy and 8 1/2. Even the expensive studio pictures had lasting substance, like West Side Story, Lawrence of Arabia and any number of Hitchcock classics. I’ll put up 2001: A Space Odyssey against any sci-fi film made today.
3. Hope And Change Were Everywhere
Civil rights movements were the real deal in the sixties. Not to downplay the successful movements of our day, but Martin Luther King got shit done. In fact, counter-culturalism was happening everywhere you looked whether you liked it or not – and some of those leaders were killed in the process. People were rebelling against the government and social norms in ways only halfheartedly mimicked these days. Everything from race and gender equality to gay and lesbian issues. You’d think we’d be a lot further along by now, although an African American President and gay marriage is nothing to sneeze at. Did I mention we made it to the moon in a ship made of tin foil and popsicle sticks?
2. The Music Kicked Ass
Are you gonna fight me on this? Can you really compare today’s music with that of the 60’s? The 60’s is when music opened its own mind and invited everyone inside. There was something for everyone. You could turn on terrestrial radio and hear folk, blues, jazz, country, and rock in equal measure. Musicians were bursting with talent. Can you really compare Justin Bieber to Ray Charles? Or Demi Lovato to Aretha Franklyn or Janis Joplin? Can Coldplay ever compare to the Beatles or the Stones? Methinks not. And as good a guitar player as John Mayer may be, he’d be nothing without trailblazers like Hendrix, Clapton and Page. And if you’re gonna try to compare Lollapalooza to the original Woodstock, don’t waste your breath. There were no little boutique booths at Woodstock, I can assure you, and you were about as far away from a latte as humanly possible.
1. No 24/7 Media
There’s a lot of folks on this planet. Shit is gonna happen. But the more you hear about it the more paranoid and anxious you become. Unless you’re the kind of person that can put these things into proper perspective, you might be overwhelmed by factoids whose sole purpose are to make you uncomfortable. I’m not saying ignorance is bliss… oh, maybe that’s exactly what I’m saying.
Let’s put it this way… if the media decided to run stories everyday about folks getting struck by lightening, you’d be anxious about being struck by lighting. Meanwhile, you’re just as likely to win the lottery – and we both know you ain’t never gonna be struck by lighting or win the lottery. In the sixties we learned that the media is the message. We were warned that those that control the media control the minds of the great unwashed – as well as a generous helping of the washed, let’s be honest.
TV was doing everything it could to carry the outdated messages of the 50’s into living rooms everywhere. But not everyone had a TV, and if you did, you had a handful of stations that all signed off when they ran out of stuff to say. Like I’m gonna do now.
*Apologies to George Carlin
Almost every year for the past 6 years and on the same day, I’ve posted the same pic of me in the hospital during my temporary and untimely demise in 2015. A few weeks after I was back to “normal”, I asked Eric “Why’d you take the pics?” And he said, “I knew you would want to write about it if you lived.” Eric was right. Eric was often right and Eric always had my best interest at heart. I am going to miss my friend.
You ever meet someone and become friends immediately?! Well this was not the case with Eric. Before he was my manager at Morgan Stanley, I would often see this 6’4″, giant white guy walk up to the only black woman at work, say something then walk away without any hint of human emotion. Naturally I thought he was a jerk until I asked her “Yo, is that dude bothering you?” She laughed and proceeded to tell me he was a great person, which I ultimately got to experience first hand. Little did I know this Italian from Staten Island was more Brooklyn than most Brooklynites.
Eric was not with the shits!! If there were ever someone who lived their life in direct, honest and no uncertain terms, that would be Eric. He would ask me questions at work like “Why are the other consultants making more money than you?” I knew the answer to that question and so did he. Eric then proceeded to increase my salary by 15K. After arguing with all our managers that “You need to hire Alfred!”, they eventually did 1 year prior to the 2015 incident. In the hospital, one of my friends asked me, “What if you didn’t have health insurance when this happened?” I would be in debt for the rest of my life is the obvious answer. I still am in debt for the rest of my life but at least, it is to those who made sure I had a more enjoyable life and for that, I will gladly repay.
My mom loved to tell me the story of how she met Eric. After they told her I was going to be in the ICU for some time, she told the doctor “Well I’m not going anywhere.” She then hears a voice from that back of the room that says “Well I’m not going anywhere either!” That was Eric and in true form, he was at that hospital every single day until I was discharged.
Eric passed away in December 2021 of stage 4 cancer. After feeling faint on his way to my bbq, he went to get checked out and was diagnosed. During the past 5 years, Eric lost his mom, twin brother and dad. I can’t even begin to imagine what that must have felt like but I’m glad that pain he was feeling is no more.
From being my manager to my business partner, writer, book editor, artistic director, and most importantly, my friend, I am going to miss you MC Krispy E a.k.a “Enrique Pollazo!” And although you told me Enrique means Henry in Spanish and not Eric, it was too late!
Sidebar. The day I was discharged, while everyone was deciding what was best for me, no one had remembered that I would need clothes in order to leave the hospital. Eric shows up (unasked) with all the clothes I had on the day I coded, laundered and ready to go. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve friends like this but i need to keep doing it! Sidebar complete.
Rest in Peace Eric. “Be Good.”
