Metalhead tattooed grannies: The times are changing

One of my favorite pastimes is people watching, observing how people behave in public, how they act and what they do. Please, don’t misconstrue this. I’m not stalking. It’s people watching when you observe groups of people publicly. Stalking is observing individuals privately, and it usually involves an obsession.

Watching people at a mall is observing; following them home is stalking.

Anyway, making observations has been both an avocation and a vocation for me. During my reporter days, it was part of the job to observe people and events, like meetings, public appearances, court sessions. Then I’d go back to the newsroom to report on my observations for our subscribers and readers.

When you observe people, you notice little things and trends. For example, during the last couple of years or so, I’ve noticed more seniors wearing T-shirts adorned with pictures and logos of musical performers. It’s not surprising seeing folks in my age range wearing Willie Nelson and George Strait shirts, or Reba McEntire and Tanya Tucker shirts. Considering the aging Parrothead demographic, it’s not unusual to seeing our age group in Jimmy Buffet T-shirts isn’t unusual. I’ve been a Jimmy Buffett fan since I saw him many moons ago for 50 cents at the East Texas State University student union coffeehouse.

However, I’ve noticed more and more of us with gray hair - at least those who still have hair - wearing rock band T-shirts. Not just The Beatles of the Rolling Stones, which I expect. Even the occasional Led Zeppelin and AC/DC T-shirts can be seen on folks who probably bought the shirts in the tour year listed on the back during the bands’ heydays.

No, what makes me smile is seeing one of us oldsters wearing heavy metal band shirts and realizing they probably still listen to metal music. Not that long ago, people our age didn’t wear band shirts and listened to Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Benny Goodman, and Glenn Miller. Radio stations that played those artists as easy listening when we were younger now play our soft rock and pop music as easy listening.

It’s surprising, but fun, seeing someone who looks like a stereotypical grandpa or grandma wearing a Black Sabbath, Megadeth, Pantera, Metallica or Iron Maiden T-shirt. I like to imagine them in front of the stage at a heavy metal concert in their T-shirts head-banging right alongside their grandkids. We may have to grow older, but we don’t have to grow up.

Another observation I’ve made also has to do with appearances and apparel. Folks literally wear their politics on their sleeves today. And their chests, their backs, and their heads. I’ve learned first impressions can be misleading. It might be an understatement to say the Twin Lakes Area is a somewhat conservative region. Even calling it an understatement might understate it.

So it’s not unusual to see an older guy, or even gal, wearing a red MAGA cap, or a Trump cap or T-shirt. Seeing conservative messages and slogans, “Don’t Tread on Me” imprints, copies of the Gadsden Flag, and right-wing images on T-shirts and caps is common. What I find surprising is how many of the men wearing them have not just long hair, but long ponytails and braids. Often they wear huge beards, too. It’s not just older folks, although I’ve seen a lot of white and silver ponytails underneath a MAGA cap.

Once they would have been considered long-haired freaky people, like the song says. They would have been seen as hippies, who generally were left-leaning liberals. Conservatives wore short hair, buzzcuts and flattops, and were clean shaven. Not any more. Like another song says, the times they are a-changin’.

A third observation involves the ladies out there, particularly those born when Ike and JFK were headlinemakers. I see more and more women of a certain age with tattoos. Some appear to have had their ink for a while, but there seems to be a growing number of ladies whose tattoos are fairly recent acquisitions. As with the folks wearing rock and heavy metal T-shirts, it’s surprising to see someone who puts you in mind of Grandma Walton with a rose tattoo.

Seeing an old man with tattoos isn’t unusual. My Uncle Lee was in his 70s and had a faded hula girl on his right arm that was tattooed there while he was stationed at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii before World War II. Seeing older women with tattoos, however, remained unusual until recently, Now it’s common for young woman, and those approaching middle age, to get tattoos, which means in 20 or 30 years seeing tattooed women won’t be surprising,

I’ve seen grandmotherly types with a tiny tattoo on a wrist or ankle, some with bigger tats on their arms or lower legs, and a few with a whole sleeve tattoo down an arm. Again picture Grandma Walton with ink from wrist to shoulder. Some obviously got in early when women began getting tattoos, but I’ve noticed more and more women in my age group and older just now getting ink. Some may disagree, but in a way I think it’s cool.

I look forward to encountering someone who brings all three of these trends together. Picture it: You’re stopped at a traffic light when a little old lady from Pasadena pulls up beside you, Motorhead blaring from her car stereo as she sits there wearing her MAGA cap and sleeveless Slayer T-shirt with “Hot Granny” inked across a heart tattoo on her upper arm.

Yep, as another song says, the times they are a-changin’.