Bridging the generation gap with Boney M.

A pretty unusual phenomenon occured this Saturday: i woke up at nine that morning. Even more phenomenal was the fact that i was gung-ho about getting a lot of things done - search for documents, meet a driving school instructor about my license, go to the tailor's, watch movies... and suddenly i remembered that there was a concert to attend in the evening! Boney M! I wouldn't miss it for the life of me! Unless, of course, i didn't have good company to go with. Fortunately, i did. N and my dad.


Thoroughly excited i was about his coming along for the concert - his first in a lifetime. Dad's 70 now, so he's grown up on Boney M songs. So has mom, but she refused to come. (When we went back home and gave her an account, she regretted it badly though.)

Marcia Barrett was fabulous. There were people of all ages swinging to the eternal tunes that she and her fellow bandmembers had sung. Young, olg, grandfatherly, surly, teens, us... Definitely a Kodak moment for families who came there together.

Surviving three bouts of cancer and getting on the stage after close to two-three decades is not a joke. And her energy, her stage presence were something else. So was that note of mischief in her voice when she spoke. Loved her laugh, loved watching her perform. So did everybody else.

Some things that popped into my head during the concert:
a. What must it have been like for her to sing all those songs again after so many years, and without the rest of the Boney Ms around too? What memories must that have brought back to her?
b. Will her children and grandchildren carry forward her legacy?
c. Was my dad enjoying the concert?
d. Was my dad uncomfortable in the crowd?
e. Did he hear the 'chutya's and 'fuck's that N and i kept using?
f. Where did Marcia Barrett get her eternal youthfulness from? Life isn't kind to anybody, so how did she manage to keep her spirit alive? Through the songs?
g. Was my dad enjoying it?
h. Damn, should i get off that chair, was i attracting too much attention by standing on it to watch her perform?
i. The fireworks were the perfect way to end an unforgettable concert.