Gracie Slick and Jefferson Airplane sang about love, war , sex and drugs from Height Ashbury in the 1960's.

Last night I thought I was going to the Las Vegas Hilton to see the "Star Trek" adventure, compliments of a friend. She had free tickets and invited my 15 year old daughter and a friend along as well.

"Starship" has one of the original Jefferson Airplane members along with what looked like two members who have been with Mickey Thomas for awhile and three hired hands.

Most of the band are too young to remember the original Mickey Thomas-which explains why he wanted to sing his newer music(We Built This Country on Rock and Roll) and whipped through White Rabbit and Ask Alice-

Nothing ages me more than watching the remnants of a fine music group.

I am not one for going to oldies music concerts. Music grows and changes as we do and those memories connected to concerts long ago lose their luster-I don't want to remember Pink Floyd in my fifties-ruins my brain waves-the ones which pull up files of rockin-euphoria-moments in the music!!

We baby boomers need to get over ourselves-god I used to cringe when my parents listened to old music and refused to look outside their memories for all that is art today.

So Mickey, I know you need to make a living-just do it on your name-try something new. You still have the voice.

And the rest of you traveling minstrels from long ago??? I'd rather remember your best if you don't have plans to make more....

Are Protests Dead???

I was a little girl when the National Guard shot and killed four Kent State College Students protesting the Vietnam War

This image, along with the image of the assassinations of John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King remain in my mind and spirit -not an etching but a scarring-of turbulent and chaotic times-older brothers, cousins, older sisters' boyfriends and young dads were drafted - over thirty thousand men died-in a war we believed, would eradicate Communism in Vietnam.
Those protests helped end the war-and the collective activism built cohesion ,

I was asked by MoveOn.Org to participate in protesting the Bush decision to escalate troops in Iraq.

Talk about a Deja Vu moment-escalating troops?!-a mere 15 people signed up for the protest in Las Vegas.

I know that we have more than 15 people in the city of Las Vegas who believe this war we are in is nothing but heartache and loss. That the boys we are sending to Iraq to fight a war we were misled to believe was important is now wasting life after young life -and if you knew anything about the thousands of men who died in Vietnam-you would want to bring our men and women home -yesterday.

So many of us had lost someone during the 10 years of Vietnam-so many-it was commonplace to count the related dead - while sitting in our high school classrooms-the void -huge gaping gash of lost fathers, brothers, boyfriends left a generation of children, born in the sixties and early seventies without family, or growing up without fathers in the home.

The POW bands we wore, the hope some would still be alive-
ask John McCain how he survived-ask John Kerry how it felt each day to wonder if it would be your last.

The lack of protest reflects our country's belief we can no longer make an impact on government. The lack of outrage does not seem to be a support of our government but a sense of overwhelming helplessness. As if we are so small (as one citizen)we don't matter anymore-the government is bigger than the people.

We not longer can claim we are a democracy when we believe we do not have the will, the right, the belief that we, as people, citizens of the United States elect and send who we believe to represent our interests to the seat of of our government.

How sad for us-losing our sense of freedom-sense of indignation and demand for justice.

Is the protest dead?
Perhaps -I have this post 60's heart (although I wasn't quite the 60's generation) that somewhere that sense of spirit I deeply love, that sense of passion-I embrace, continues to exist-
to save us from our apathetic sense of hopelessness.