When I'm 64...

A recent article in the Globe (click on the title of this post to see the article)got me to thinking about what me and the Mrs. will do in order to keep up our chops as we get up there in years. The text of the article is below:




In some ways it's a typical golden-years scene: two dozen senior
citizens gathered at the Florence Community Center, just outside of
Northampton, singing together.

But these old-timers aren't scouring their memories for the words to
a World War II-era favorite. They're learning Sonic Youth's noise-
rock tune "Schizophrenia." And the scene is from a
film, "Young@Heart," a documentary about the Massachusetts chorus of
the same name. The movie began its unlikely trajectory two years ago
as a British television special, became a surprise film festival
hit, was picked up by a major US distributor, and will open in
theaters nationwide April 18.

"The film is having success we never could have imagined," says
chorus director Bob Cilman, who founded the singing group in 1982 as
a way to break up the tedium at a housing project for low-income
elderly where he worked. Over the last 25 years the Young@Heart
chorus has transformed youth anthems into surprising - and
surprisingly moving - commentaries on what it means to grow old.

Their repertoire includes the Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated," the Bee
Gees' "Stayin' Alive," Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," and Bob
Dylan's "Forever Young," and the chorus has become a staple at
cutting-edge arts festivals in Europe.

But while the 27 members of Young@Heart - minimum age 73 - have
traveled overseas more than a dozen times in the past decade,
performing for sold-out houses in Rotterdam, Berlin, London, and
Brussels, the group hasn't made much of an impression stateside.
That's likely to change now that Fox Searchlight - the specialty
film division that made hits out of "Juno" and "Little Miss
Sunshine" - has picked up distribution rights to "Young@Heart."

"It's fun, but a little wearying on many levels," Cilman says of the
attention.

He's on the phone from Los Angeles, one of 15 cities the chorus
members will hit to promote the movie. Fatigue is no small issue,
but according to Cilman they are having "the time of their lives."
Three singers appear at each event, a rotation that will allow
everyone the chance to participate. The entire chorus will perform
in Newport, R.I., on April 27 at a special concert following a
screening of the film.

"Like a comet going across the sky," is how 79-year-old Steve Martin
describes the experience.

Ensconced in a suite at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, Calif.,
Martin - who lives alone in a condo in Springfield - sounds
positively giddy. "At this age we've had good things and bad things
happen to us and you face life with a lot more reality," he
says. "We know in our hearts that this is a one-time shot. It's the
World Series and the Super Bowl and the Olympics rolled into one."


Related

Listen to audio clips of the Young @ Heart Chorus
Official website:
www.youngatheartchorus.com

More: www.foxsearchlight.com/youngatheart