As I’m writing this, I’m suffering through yet another cold, the third one since Christmas. I was talking with Sean, the new editor on Chevy High and he was wondering why I was still sick. I told him getting old sucks. It seems that my immune system gets weaker and weaker with each given year. I’m sure I could be taking better care of myself, and not doing so is part of why I’m still sick, but since my behaviors have been ingrained in me for the past 30+ years (not exactly sure when they started), even if I was taking better care of myself, getting older definitely plays a role in my slowly declining health. That’s obvious.

I’m also not as flexible and limber as I used to be. My bones make more noises now, and things pop with painful reverberations more frequently. It sucks, but I’ve resigned that it’s part of life. That being said, I really do need to change my habits or I might be a decrepit old man by the time I hit 50.

However, age is also just a number. I know this to be true because as I’m writing this, I’m watching Iggy Pop dance around a stage like he was 20 years old. The only thing age has taken from him is a bit of elasticity in his skin.

I’m watching the Swarovski Style Rocks show on Bravo TV which takes modern music and mixes it with runway models and high fashion. The Iggy and the Stooges performance probably lacked a bit of the older CBGB energy of old, but was lively to say the least. Iggy was so pumped to perform, Samuel Jackson had to cut is monologue short because far be it from him to keep someone from getting their ROCK on.

Much later in the show, Whitney Houston comes on stage to talk about the charity foundation that sponsors the show. It wasn’t but a month ago that I saw some horrendous pictures of Whitney fresh off the crack pipe. She’s my age, but girl cleans up pretty damn good.

When Whitney is done with her speech, she introduces some British girl band called the Sugarbabes to sing their version of Lady Marmalade. They’re not bad, but pretty much same ol’ thing as far as pop stars go. Then they bring on Patty LaBelle to join them.

Ms. LaBelle proceeds to wipe the floor with the British pop stars. At 60+ years, she’s got more power in her voice than all three of the other girls on stage. Of course she’s not dancing around the stage like Iggy Pop, but she’s holding her own. Maybe she has a few more creaks in her bones, but for this moment, she owns that stage, untouchable.

I’m inspired. Time to take better care of the body… as soon as I kick this cold.

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