I turned 33 earlier this month, and for the last few years, I have felt very alienated and out of touch with pop culture and the entertainment industry. I often get the impression that most pop music, a lot TV (at least over-the-air), and many films today are designed for the under 30 crowd. Over 30 people get relegated to a diet of re-run entertainment instead of new stuff that they could enjoy. This gives us nothing to look forward to. Am I off base in this judgement? If so, what new music and TV is there for us?

I'll take the re-run music I grew up with over the crap being produced today! Daughtry....HAH! He only has one tone....decent but boring! Goo Goo clusters, Quarterback, Green Hay, and the like! BLAH! Pituey!
Hell I even have all of the Gilligan's Island shows on DVD. Much rather watch those than most TV these days! Ginger or Marianne....now there is a debate we should start a thread about!

Alfredo....you just starting into the mid-life thing a little early. It hit me at 40!
Just go out and buy a nice car that you really can't afford....it helps a little. Try and outdo your kids with a better stereo system than they have, more CD's, beat them......at XBOX....you thought I was gonna say something else didn't ya...., and when they are not looking try and re-coup for the next head to head! LOL

I don't get caught up in pop culture anymore. I doubt I was really into to begin with. When I used to be on the air at Z100 in early to mid 90s I was just naturally around the "buzz" of the day. But outside of the station I was a homebody. My kids were younger and I needed to be home.

Today as a mid-lifer my entertainment comes mainly from the internet. I rarely go out and see first run movies. As a matter of fact my kids saw the first 3 episodes of Star Wars this past week along with my wife and I. Finally all of my son’s legos that had Star Wars characters were making sense to him. (I have not seen the last 3 Star Wars movies and don't plan on it.)

I rarely listen to the radio, I don't own an iPod or any portable music maker, and our TV is a 13 inch color Zenith with rabbit ears, (at least 12 yrs old). We don't have cable TV, and the DVD player is on my laptop.

When I do the dishes and I actually want to listen to music the first CD I reach for is Earth, Wind, and Fires Greatest Hits.

I could care less about American Idol because mean people suck. Gilligan's Island and MASH re-runs would be my favorite TV with an occasional sports event, but even today the Superbowl can't keep my attention much past halftime.

However this weekend I will be going to a concert that features two outstanding guitarists John Standefer and Doug Smith. These guys have won national and international guitar picking contests. Both guys are local. To me that's where the real entertainment is in our local talent.

Maybe I'm REALLY old, but ... Pop Culture? Isn't that the bacteria growing in a can of pop that's been open for too long?

I got upset with the dude at circuit city yesterday. Was browsing in the section titled "ROCK" in the I's then down to the H's......I low and behold there was that skank Paris Hilton's CD right there up front in the "H" section. I told him if at the very least put it in the "G" section for garbage! LOL He actually got an indignet look....younger kid....and said that it was pop/rock! I laughed and took my Iron Maiden up to the front and left!

Hypothetically, I have considered, what if I had turned 30 in the late 1980s? I guess that I would have found a good portion of the pop music of the day (Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, most of the heavy metal stuff) not listenable. However, at that time, there were also older people putting out music that I would have enjoyed (Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, Mike & The Mechanics, etc.) In the 1990s, hits by artists with this type of demographic appeal were largely "moved" to AC, Hot-AC, and Modern-AC stations. But where are they today? Should I be listening to country music instead?

Alfredo- Maybe mainstream music is the last thing you should be listening too. I did turn 30 in the 80s and worked for several radio stations that did play a lot of what you listed.

I would suggest checking out independent artists, or NW talent. We are loaded with great bands, singers and musicians throughout the NW. I have posted this web site before but try www.nw-radio.com. I just checked it out on line and usually they have audio streaming but it may be down currently.

But it's worth checking into.

Chris-
Ironically, this is what I might end up doing. The reason I feel that this is a bit ironic is that when I was in high school and early in college, I went through a phase where I completely shunned contemporary top 40 music and music videos and other contemporary offerings of major record labels, opting instead to listen to punk rock and older music that had stopped being cool to most people (like disco and 70s funk). In the late 1990s, I discovered the then-new Modern-AC radio format and CHR and for a brief, shining moment, everything was cool. This might have been driven by the fact that I had been volunteering at a university radio station for a few years, and I had become somewhat jaded with the large quantity of amateur quality CDs that we received. I longed for something a little more polished. After about 2001-2002, things were different somehow.

There are really two reasons that I brought up this topic. The most obvious was that I'm curious whether people my age enjoy new entertainment and where they find it. The other question in my mind is, is the entertainment industry really changing (and is part of this because of the Internet/music downloading)? What is the future of music and entertainment?

I agree with the suggestion Chris made. There is a lot of great stuff, right here in PDX --and it's easy to see live. For me, live often makes a difference. It's way too easy to produce some well polished studio stuff these days.

Live shows carry some energy and human content often missing from a lot of works these days.

You might also consider international music. The pop scene in the States does limit ones exposure to all the styles being performed these days.

If you want to do it on the cheap, give allofmp3.com a try. Right now, it's still up, pending WTO and RIAA legal challenges. For 10 bucks, you can sample a lot of tracks. ($.010 per, on average)

Some genres are often represented very differently overseas. I've been surprised more than once by some European or Asian interpetation of a given style. They will blend them too.

I've found a lot of current music decent. Once in a while I find a group that's just great and I'll go deep for interesting tracks. If you are even a little bit interested, it's probably worth your time to dig deeper into their works.

I'm 39 (shit, 40 is coming up fast!) and I get my new music and entertainment from:

-recommendations of friends (some younger and older)
-internet discussions
-used CD's (for digging deeper into an artist of interest)
-KNRK
-blogs! (the music linked by many bloggers I find interesting is also often quite interesting!)
-internet audio streams
-suggestions from music store people.

About 70 percent, of what I consider new, comes from other people. The rest I stumble into just exploring from time to time.

Missing....do you Like Solo Hagar at all?

I just bought "I Never Said Goodbye" and it is one of his better works. I was shocked when I found that Eddie Van Halen actually played the Bass Guitar while Sammy was back on the lead guitar! Classic Sammy at it's best! His newest CD (I keep having to correct myself as I still refer to them as new albums) has a very definite country flair to it "Livin it Up"! Both worth a listen!

I like a lot of ethnic music listen to a lot of Latin music. I have background in Spanish as well as some other languages. I Like The Arts Channel snippets of opera, jazz show tunes love the old film shorts in black and white. Some mideast music Ive enjoyed but don't know the artists.

Haven't listened yet!

I'll snag a tune or two off of either Utube or allofmp3 and check it out.

(Been on a retro kick, working on KSKD playlist stuff. Digging deeper on some artists on that list.)

Alfredo,

May I suggest picking up an issue or two of Entertainment Weekly magazine if you're not familiar with it? It's not like People mag/rag; it covers movies, music, books, TV, and it's not completely geared to mindless Paris Hilton-type junk, and it's hip and funny with great suggestions on entertainment and music that's new and interesting, and they have great articles and interviews almost every week. It can also be scathingly funny. I look forward to it every week!