Good old days

I agree with the glowing review Robert Hilburn wrote regarding the Simon & Garfunkel concert at Staples Center on Monday night (“Sounds of Comfort,” Nov. 19). I would like to add my own commentary on what a pleasure it was to be a member of that particular audience.

These bald heads and bad backs kicked off the age of rock ‘n’ roll. Most people seated at that concert were a part of, or lived through and understood, the first huge civil rights movement, the space age, the new frontier called the computer age. We were involved in sit-ins and protests and anger at the Vietnam War. We questioned and criticized our political leaders; we ran naked through fields with flowers in our hair and experimented with drugs and the new sexual freedom.

All these people sitting so respectfully and paying homage to the lyrics of the songs from another age, when words really mattered as much as the music, were all smiling and tearing up for the same reasons. We were cherishing our memories of true freedom and exploration and recalling those special times in our lives that the songs evoked.

I also suspect that we were all sharing the sadness of the world our children have inherited, where they do not enjoy the freedom of playing outside with the neighbors until after dark.

It was an amazing concert on so many levels.

Randi Mont-Weiner

Chatsworth