Just a few years ago I would go out at least once a week and plunk down $5 in a music bar, often having no idea what I was going to see. I didn't care, I just wanted to watch people attempt greatness; if they got there all the better, but the attempt was what it was about.

The last time I drove 25 miles expressly to hear music was at least three years ago, though. The show was at Smith's Olde Bar, which I always thought drew an older crowd, but I felt like the chaperon of a high school field trip. Everyone looked so young!

More recently I went to this local dump called Swayze's because it's a very short drive. This place mostly features 20 year olds playing death metal. Watching these bands I realized rock 'n' roll stopped progressing in 1988. These bands sounded just like the ones I was hearing at the Wreck Room 20 years ago; everybody's ripping off Reign in Blood. But anyhow, I only went to Swayze's twice before I realized A.) It's geared towards 15 year olds (no alcohol), so I look like a pedophile hanging out in the back, and B.) Watching 20 year olds with mega-expensive Mesa Boogie amps playing death metal to five people is depressing.

So the crowds are so young that I feel way out of place. Also, the days of the $5 cover are largely behind us. The first rock 'n' roll show I ever saw was Aerosmith on the Permanent Vacation tour. It was $17.50. A month later I saw the opening night of Jimmy Page's one-and-only solo tour, and that was $16.50. Now bands you've never heard of expect you to pay $15 to see them in a bar! Maybe when Jimmy Page and Steven Tyler join your band!

When we had a local music radio show that played local bands it gave me a better idea who was worth my time. Nowadays I just open Creative Loafing and stare at a bunch of unfamiliar names, then close it up and listen to an AC/DC CD.

MySpace has filled the radio void, I guess. Now I can listen to dozens of people within 50 miles of my zip code with just a few mouse clicks, and I don't spend $1 on gas or sit through an entire set hoping the next band is better. Usually after I hear a couple of tracks, though, I say, "Oh, yeah, I've heard that kind of thing before," and then close up MySpace put in an AC/DC CD.

Also, as I turn into more of an old fart, I begin thinking about what I would do if I got a flat tire at 2 a.m. Once when I was 20 I got lost on my way home from the Wreck Room and spent an hour driving around neighborhoods I had no business being in after midnight in my dad's Lincoln Town Car. Though I realized there was danger, it didn't really faze me. If that happened now I'd probably grip the wheel white-knuckled the whole time.

So what I'm saying is I've gotten old.