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" You know you&amp;#039;re getting old when one of the pop sensations of your youth is appearing at a non-profit, volunteer-run theater that seats 150 people two towns over from where you live deep in the suburbs. Twenty-five years ago, though, he was the headliner at my very first concert. And it makes me wonder: Who&amp;#039;s the has-been here?  I wish I could say that my first concert was the epitome of cool. The Rolling Stones at Shea Stadium or Springsteen at Madison Square Garden, for example. But, if you don&amp;#039;t count my trip to see H.R. Pufnstuf at age five, my first concert starred Marshall Crenshaw, who appeared at the arena inside Six Flags Great Adventure when I was 16.  That&amp;#039;s right: My first concert was free with admission to an amusement park. From my seat in the arena, I had views of the Log Flume that overlooked the Food Court.   Slurpie, anyone?  My brother drove me to the concert in his Camaro with the T-tops out. When it ended, we got some soft-serve ice cream with sprinkles before we headed home, listening to Crenshaw&amp;#039;s (one and only) Top 40 hit, &amp;quot;Someday, Someway,&amp;quot; on cassette tape.   I guess all the other kids were at the Meadowlands passing around illegal substances at the Grateful Dead concert. I, on the other hand, went home to cut my new Crenshaw concert tee into an off-the-shoulder Flashdance style fashion statement.  I wonder why I didn&amp;#039;t have a date to the Homecoming dance.  Anyhow, when I read in the local newspaper that Marshall Crenshaw will be appearing at a place that holds Open Mic night on Mondays in the local Presbyterian church, I felt as though my long-time hunch was confirmed: I am not, nor was I ever, cool.   And at 41, there&amp;#039;s little chance that I can start being cool now. Certainly not with a mini-van full of handi-wipe containers rolling around every time I brake. Or with a plastic Burger King Princess Leia toy that my six-year-old neighbor gave me for my desk.  No, I am not cool, and I&amp;#039;m perfectly happy with that. Because in a few years, my kids will want to go to their first concert. And I will take them to the arena inside Great Adventure, and then to the food court for some ice cream, before we head out with the handi-wipes rolling all the way home. And that&amp;#039;s cool with me. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting/a2296/good-grief-012308/>