CN FORUMS ARCHIVE Telescope Reviews: Sweet, Semi-Sweet, and the Bitter-Sweet Spots

John,

The #5 Bushies stick to the stubs like a horse fly sticks to a cow pie. I will post a photo ASAP. I was supposed to get together today with Steve M. to take photos of my bins, but his slipped disc slipped again, and the union doctor put him on R & R for the rest of the week. I keep telling him that he's getting too old to lift the end of a bus with one hand while changing the tire with the other, and to use a jack like the rest of us mortals, but being a black belt karate champion, he has a tendency to become overconfident of his physical prowess. Hope Amalia's reading this.... :-)

You've reinforced both axioms I recently posted about music nostalgia.
#1 that as music lovers grow older they cling to the popular music of their teenaged years.
#2 that generations other than Baby Boomers -- even Gen X head banger Baby Busters -- like at least SOME Classic Rock, and everybody loves the Beatles.

Commentary: Being the most requested song on the radio, "Stairway to Heaven" may have worn out its grove by overexposure, however, members of the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Clash, Joy Division, The Cure, The Slits, etc. grew up listening to Led Zeppelin, the Stones, Vanilla Fudge, early Kinks, and other hard edged Classic Rock groups and were also influenced by the protest movements of the 60s, ipso facto, there would be no punk rock w/out Classic Rock, just as their would be no alternative rock w/out punk.

Similarly, there would be no Classic Rock w/out the blues, rockabilly, Jazz rhythm combos, Texas Swing, and other influences including Les Paul, who invented the solid body electric guitar and pioneered the technique of multitrack recording.

My own tuppence is that punk rock was a reactionary movement against the flowery, flacid pop and disco muzak of the era and the androgenous dress and posturing of former hard rockers like a Ziggy transformed Bowie and the prancing Jagger, who began to wear women's make-up and girl's dresses. On its most basic level, punk represents an attempt to reclaim the raw s-exual masculinity of early rockers such as Elvis Presley. Although many punk rockers wore eyeliner, which would seem contradictory to my thesis, if you look at early Elvis, his eyes are very dark with long lashes, and it LOOKS as if he has eyeliner on. Rather than being effeminate, the eyeliner is to exaggerate the natural darkness of most men's eyes whereas women apply light colored shades of eye make-up to their uppper eyelids to soften their image (except, of course, female punk rockers).

I now add axiom #3: some music from a generation NOT related to yours could be halacious to listen to.

In my personal hell, Clash, the Sex Pistols, and Courtney Love are playing 24/7. :-)

I also wonder what the cultural influence is on a generation that grew listening to lyrics such as:

"God save the Queen/The Fascist regime/There's no future in England's dreaming/No future for you."

as compared to:

Love, Love, Love.
Love, Love, Love.
Love, Love, Love.

There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game.
It's easy.

Nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time.
It's easy.

All you need is love.
All you need is love.
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need.

In case you got this far and was wondering about the relevance of all this music talk to the topic of the thread, it is that wide field binoculars with a good sweet spot are an ideal choice for concerts, particularly Pink Floyd concerts where there's a lot happening on stage at the same time. :-)

-- brocknroller