Jazzing up rockplosive

OH YEAH, I'll tell you something...I think you'll understand. When I'll say that something...I want to hold your hand...

And so they held each other's hands, the eyes locked in a deep gaze, hearts all aflutter and the rest of the world ceasing to exist. Uhmm...romance was surely in the air. So were the lads from Liverpool! The Beatles triggered a `warm gun' called `happiness' - yes, Sergeant Pepper was bang on target - made everyone `free as a bird' and took them on a `Magical mystery tour'.

There they were a motley group of old-timers and the young as well, all kicking off their shoes, setting down the backpack of life for a while and gazing across the tune-filled valleys of the past. A past that is infinite; fresh as a flower and timeless like nostalgia. The past and the present were fused in a bond, turning all the night time into a day. A rock `n' rolling day.

One moment it was the ultimate romantic inducer, the next it was boisterous, driving an instant surge in the veins. And those ripples in the mind. Like pain to a poet, nostalgia is the catalyst for good ole' rock. As John Lennon put it, "wood becomes a flute when it's loved" and yes, past becomes the present when it's evoked.

The denizens at the Outswinger pub decided to revive all those good ole' days - they've called it the Swinging Sixties - for one full week, beginning June 15. Well, the flower power was in full steam what with the Beatles, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel and the likes on a roll.

"Sixties were the beginning of the change, be it music or society at large. Our effort is to introduce Hyderabadis to the rock explosion of that period. The whole theme is about this very beginning of real music," the pub's deejay, Sean Miller, explained. "We are covering all its avatars in the '60s, be it rock, jazz, blues and more," he says.

Yes, with Beatles' conscience of an entire generation, Dylan's dramatic expansion of rock's lyrical and poetic possibilities, Rolling Stones' soulful blues, Simon and Garfunkel's folksy rock, Jimi Hendrix's sound-drenched psychedelic excursions and the era of the individual and the original unplugged, Woodstock, "rock music was a soul-baring expression for love and life," Sean seguines.

It's a literal travel back in time. Psychedelic colours, polka dotted shirts, crew cuts, drinks named after popular numbers - Mrs. Robinson, Sgt. Pepper's lonely heart's club, some from Liverpool, yellow polka dot bikini and what have you!

Who are the fab four? What is CCR? Questions rocked the revellers. The early bird gets a bright yellow T-shirt from Lipton Ice Tea, co-sponsors of the event with Smirnoff. "I was surprised by the rapid answers. A sizeable number knew their music and were tripping on the golden oldies," Sean says.

"It's a great high playing numbers which the crowd love. It just goes on to show how big the ocean called music is," Sean says more. Now, `You know what to do', right?

By K.V.S. Madhav

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