Prologue

In Los Angeles, where I live, especially in the summer months when the temperatures are sizzling, it’s not unusual to have unhealthy air quality alerts. During these alerts, elderly people and individuals with asthma or other lung conditions are advised to stay indoors. When I was a young man, I cavalierly pooh-poohed unhealthy air quality alerts. What’s a little dirty air in LA, I thought, the city that once had smog so bad, you could barely see across the street? I was youthful, I didn’t have asthma or any other breathing problems, so as far as I was concerned, the alerts did not pertain to me.

Recently, we had an unhealthy air quality alert, only this time, when it got to the “elderly people” part, I was jolted by the realization, “Oh, my God! They’re talking about me.”

Same thing with smoking. Before I quit, I was a heavy smoker, so heavy in fact that I smoked unfiltered Camel cigarettes. When people said, “You know, each cigarette you smoke cuts fifteen minutes off your life,” I laughed it off and said, “I’ll worry about that when I’m old.”

Well, now I am old, and I am worried about that.

Yes, it’s true. The thing I never thought would happen to me has Happened... I’ve become an old man. I don’t feel old, and I don’t really act old, but the sad fact is, I am old. This wasn’t supposed to happen to me! I was supposed to be the only human in history to stay young forever.

I’m sure just about everyone who has survived long enough to be called a senior citizen has had similar thoughts when they realized that their younger years had imperceptibly slipped away. Like me, they were probably told by an elder to appreciate their youth because it goes by fast, and like me, they probably said something like, “Yeah, okay.” George Bernard Shaw had it right when he said, “Youth is wasted on the young.”

When I was around nineteen or twenty, I genuinely thought I had it all figured out. I hated when older people said words to the effect of, “You’ll understand when you’re older,” or “Wait until you’ve had more experience.” Pshaw, I thought. I didn’t need to wait until I was older or until I acquired mor seasoning. I already knew all the answers. I would be a successful musician making a ton of money, I would marry my girlfriend, Shelly Dunning, and we would live happily ever after.

Boy, was I wrong.

What I’ve learned over the years is that life is a tumultuous journey full of bumps and detours, and that fairness and justice often have very little to do with how things actually turn out. Most of my life lessons have been learned the hard way, and many of the difficulties I encountered were of my own making. I was insufferably cocky and full of myself and didn’t want to listen to anyone who saw things differently. Still, I aimed high and managed to achieve a degree of success as a musician, a radio disc jockey and a record producer before I found my true path as a writer.

As a front-line baby boomer, I was born shortly after World War II to a man and woman of the Greatest Generation, who like so many of their peers, had become part of the burgeoning middle class. Being a Michigan boy, I was infused with good Midwestern values such as honesty, common courtesy and respect for elders. I was taught to be self-sufficient, to use good judgment, and to stand up for what I believed. Millions of other baby boomers were raised with the same values.

I was a child in the cold war era of the 1950s and came of age in the turbulent 1960s. I bounced through the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, and eventually found my way into the new millennium relatively unscathed. It’s been quite a ride. From my current perspective, I realize I’ve had a blessed life. Yes, I crashed and burned more than once, but I was fortunate to do many exciting things that most people don’t get to do. I certainly haven’t been cheated.

American Boomer was written during the pandemic lockdown of 2020. The stories herein are evocative of the years I have lived as a baby boomer, and while not intended to be a comprehensive exploration of my life, this book hits the highlights, warts and all. Out of respect for privacy, and to prevent unpleasant lawsuits, many of the names have been changes.

If you’re an elder like me, the eras covered in this book and most of the vernacular will be familiar to you. If you’re a younger reader and some of this material seems foreign to you... that’s why God invented Google. Regardless of your age, I think you’ll enjoy this book and maybe even find little snippets of yourself in its pages.