Here's to never being too old to rock.

When I was in my teens, anyone in his late 20s seemed old, but as I got into my 30s you had to be in your later 40s and now, as I enter my later 40s, well, no one really seems all that old at all, especially if old means you are done living and, as Townes van Zandt put it (in a different context) just waiting around to die.

This is heartening, to say the least, but especially so as it applies to the world of music. For taking stages around the world are “old” guys and “old” people are going to to see them in droves. Of particular note is James Williamson, who was in the original Stooges with Iggy Pop but left music for decades to become a business executive. Today, following an out-of-the-blue phone call from his true boss (that would be Iggy) he is now back on the road playing hard rock. How cool is that? The man is sixty. Also, think about Jagger out there in his late sixties,or Dylan or McCartney.

Most heartening of all to a guy like me -- a guy getting started late in his quest for rock stardom -- is Buddy Miller. I read recently that he didn’t even make his first album until he was in his early 40s. And now, a mere ten years later or so, he’s recording an album with Robert Plant, who, by the way is also “old”.

So there’s hope for me yet, I think. If I can just make a great album, work hard to promote my work and get a few lucky breaks, rockdom just might welcome me with open, tattooed arms.

Here’s to hoping.