Today's showbiz puzzler: Why are so many old folks still so cool?

Showbiz is supposed to be a young person's game, even though the shelf-life for every new Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga grows shorter and shorter every year. But if you look around, you start to notice that our favorite geezers aren't giving up center stage so easily. Jack Nicholson is 73 and still totally studly, judging from how many hipsters want to hang out with him courtside at Lakers games. And, of course, Betty White, who's 88, hosted "Saturday Night Live" a while back and got the show's best ratings of the year.

I had my own personal oldster fest this week. On Tuesday, I caught an early screening of Clint Eastwood's upcoming film, "Hereafter," and though it's too early for a mini-review, let's just say that Eastwood, who turned 80 this year, is still The Man when it comes to making movies, showing off a range and depth that puts him right up there with John Huston, Robert Altman and the other great old masters from past ages. Last night, I took my 12-year-old boy, who's learning to play boogie-woogie piano, to the Hollywood Bowl to see B.B. King and Buddy Guy, a pair of blues giants who are pretty much the last major living links to the golden era of the blues.

B.B., who is 84, is finally showing his age, sitting down through his whole set and largely doing shtick with his band. But Guy, who is 74, is still as full of swagger and sex appeal as any rapper a third of his age, showing off the guitar pyrotechnics that made him an enormous influence on such guitarists as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jonny Lang. It was Clapton who once said that "Buddy Guy was to me what Elvis was to others--he's without a doubt the best guitar player alive."  

Guy was in rare form, playing his guitar with his teeth, behind his head and, in the middle of a steamy rendition of Albert King's "Drowning on Dry Land," taking it out into the crowd, strutting his stuff through the first 50 rows of the Bowl. One thing about having played gigs for 50 years is that you really soak up every great trick in the book, so what stood out about Guy was his showmanship. As my kid put it: "He's a great guitar player, but what surprised me was that he's really funny."

Whenever Guy would sing some especially R-rated lyrics, he'd smile and say, "Hey, it wasn't me who wrote that!" He is so good that he even got away with doing a montage of tunes from his favorite guitar slingers, doing note-perfect imitations of Hendrix, Clapton and others. Unlike a lot of oldsters, Guy doesn't look down at his nose at hip-hop, simply reminding his audience that if they are offended by rap trash-talking, bluesmen were doing the same thing long before Too Short and Young Jeezy came along. (Guy's daughter is the rapper Shawnna, who worked a lot with Ludacris in the early 2000s.)

Anyway, it was a kick seeing a 74-year-old dude still at the top of his game. So what makes Buddy and Jack and Clint so cool? I think they earn their street cred for doing something well for so long that we realize that their gifts come from the inside, not just from being in fashion or having a sexy body. The next time anyone in Hollywood wants Nicholson for one of those "Bucket List"-style crazy old coots comedies, they should give Buddy Guy a call. He's got great comic chops, tons of charisma and energy to burn. Seeing him effortlessly work the crowd last night was a heady reminder that age really is just a state of mind. I have to admit--people like Guy and Eastwood make growing old look awfully enticing.  

Photo: Buddy Guy performing at the Montreux Jazz Festival last month. Credit: Jean-Christophe Bott

Comments

[BaDaBoom]

WHAT A STUPID ARTICLE. THERE'S NOTHING ENTICING ABOUT GROWING OLD. IT'S A DRAG. AS FOR NICHOLSON, WHAT'S ATTRACTIVE ABOUT A DOUBLE CHIN, AN UNFLATTERING GUT, AND BEING BALD. THE ONLY ATTRACTION ABOUT NICHOLSON AND THE ELDERLY EASTWOOD IS FAME AND MONEY, THEY'VE EACH GOT LOTS OF BOTH. DOESN'T PATRICK GOLDSTEIN HAVE ANY BETTER TO OFFER READERS OF THE LATIMES? CHRIST, WHAT CRAP!

[D.Roy Atkinson]

Thankyou Mr. Goldstein for a column full of the joys of being alive. I for one am happy that Clint Eastwood and Jack Nicholson are still active-both with new films out late this year. Eastwood is an inspiration. Remember in the 1950s after he was dumped from Universal's new talent program, people were advising him to try another line of work. But he eventually landed a tv show and kept going. Now he is the closest thing we have to a Hawks,Huston or Altman. I gather he may tackle a screenplay involving J. Edgar Hoover next.I sometimes wonder if even his old nemesis,Pauline Kael,would be impressed by Eastwood's longevity and diversity.

[Suzanne Lainson]

Hey, I liked the article. When I was a kid, I used to watch old movies on TV and also go to movies with my mother, so I became a fan of people 40 years older than I was. And then I was exposed to the next generation of stars who have also grown older and in some cases passed on: Robert Duvall, Paul Newman, etc.

And it's nice to think that some of my generation might still be leaving an impression when we all get older.

It's hard to know who among those younger than myself will still be around, but the career cycles of musicians in particular seems to be growing shorter and shorter. (Of course, it was short for some legendary 60-70s stars, too, because they overdosed and died young.)

[az66]

one thing that makes old folks seem cool is the fact that young folks today like dadaboom are so square by comparison. What has this generation given us culturally besides paris hilton, ug boots and recycling flared pants, disco (techno), and heavy metal. Lamest generation ever. They killed popular music, they killed t.v. and idiot corporate america still panders to them as if they matter. Kids must have awfully big allowances nowadays to have this kind of crapulent marketing pull.

[jad]

Well, BDB, perhaps the reason you feel this way is that when you yourself get old, you will be fat, boring, impotent, and have nothing to offer but upper-case laden invective on a comments page.

[JDR]

Thanks for the article. Buddy Guy is the real deal!

[Micah]

I enjoyed the article and just want to add the names of some of my heroes to the list of elderly badasses:

Bob Dylan
Kris Kristofferson
Leonard Cohen
Marianne Faithfull
Al Pacino
Charles Bukowski (dead now, but still, he was coolest as an old man)

That's just off the top of my head...

And I'm 31, by the way.

[brian]

I am going to see Buddy in York, PA in Oct. I can't wait. I am 26 and so glad my parents set me on the right track by not letting me watch mtv when I was little. I think it all comes down to respect. I feel like an old man saying this but this generation has no respect for anything that isn't the current flavor of the week. Then its on to the same exact product in different packaging. Stupid internet, rotting kids brains!

[Doyle Dean]

Why are so many Old folks still Cool?, why sheeet brother it is because the sun shines on those that are hip to the ways of the world! We came into this scene and saw up front how hung up and twisted a scene that this world really is, and as a matter of natural will and grace chose beauty over ugliness, violence and the pretentiousness of suburban life.
today in 2010 it is worse than it was in 1959 back then we had something to look foward to, it was called the future, well folks here we are, And "WE Have Hit The Edge and Are Sliding Sideways" into a world of empty tomorrows. Doyle Dean

[Braddah]

Interesting that no older women are listed.