Thursday 28 November 2013

Dear John

I caught a discussion on BBC Breakfast yesterday about the price of show tickets. Never mind the second mortgage needed to see the Monty Python reunion, it was guest John Robb, the writer, journalist and musician, who held my attention. Here's a man in his early fifties, with a distinctly severe haircut,  in a jacket just as sharp, open neck black shirt and big-buckled creepers... and he looks great. You can see he's getting older (as we all are) - he's more lined with a heavier brow and a little rough around the edges.  That's fine, it suits him.


I don't subscribe to the idea of being an old punk; those days are over and, the way I see it, they were meant to be short-lived.  Can't see the point in trying to look exactly the same as I did decades ago - apart from anything else it seems to lack imagination. However, I love to see someone getting older without completely losing their edge, and I reckon John's doing that.

It's about how you age, isn't it?  It inevitably brings more creases, but that doesn't mean you stop ironing them out of your clothes. You don't have to start wearing shapeless trousers and beige anoraks, unless you really want to, of course. Not every man could (or would like to) carry off the John Robb look, I'm sure, but I'm so glad someone can!

And, personally, I love to see a few age lines on a man's face.

'We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.'
George Bernard Shaw



6 comments:

  1. I do agree - a 'youth craze' should be just that! I just like the way some people naturally retain whatever bit of edge it was that got them into the youth craze in the first place, or whatever it was about the youth craze that got into them - without actually continuing along the obvious route, which, as you say, is so dating. People like John Robb seem to have got it - they carry it off regardless of age - and I love it. Ultimately it's all about who you are and not what you wear but there is that point where the two meet, I think.

    Oh no I couldn't be doing with conversations like battles either - not in any context - who can be bothered?! I'd like to think we all grow out of that but I've realised not everybody does...






    ReplyDelete
  2. I think you have to be able to carry it off....'mutton dressed as lamb' comes to mind....but there is nothing wrong with a little edge....but is there anything worse than 'old farts' wearing 'that' single earing or getting 'that' tattoo or having 'that' lottle pony tail.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is a subtle thing, yes! I've just replied to Yve above with how I see it - the 'mutton dressed as pony-tailed, pierced, tattooed lamb' is trying too hard and it shows, whereas the guy with that natural edge is just... well... fine. In fact, very fine, by me! ;-)

      Delete
  3. You are making sense, Yve! :-) I know what you're saying; I think the thing is that it can be quite a subtle difference between looking liking the 'oldest swinger in town' type thing (god, even using that phrase must date me!) and just having something that sets you apart without being contrived. 'Defiantly clinging' has a desperation about it, just carrying it off naturally doesn't...

    I too hate the whole thing of measuring ourselves against others and impossible yardsticks, I think it's worse now than it's ever been in so many ways, especially for women, and I'm actually really grateful not to be young any more for that reason!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Never understood "getting work done" - weird. I watched Manilow on that Children in Need thing the other day - what the hell??!?!?! Barry Mannequin more like, more plastic on stage than in my vinyl collection - and it just frankly looked awful compare with say Robert Plant who may look a touch weather beaten but much more authentic.

    I never bothered to look at the Python tickets - I had years of seeing many many gigs - I think now I'll just go to little local ones from now on, much better value and I'll at least be in the same postcode as the performers

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Totally agree, Furtheron. When I see someone who's "had work" I actually think it makes them look *older* due to the very fact that they obviously felt they should do something to try and make themselves look *younger*. Ironic! Plastic faces (and bodies) just look horrible to me... plastic, exactly...yeugh... And you have to wonder how long they're going to last, all this cosmetic surgery hasn't been around long enough for us to know, really, has it?!

      Delete

Please come in, the door is open

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...