Time
Keeps flowing like a river
To the sea,
To the sea

(Bonus points to anyone who correctly guesses the group that sang that song, what album it's from, and what year it was a single.)

I know very little about metaphysics and even less about metaphysical jargon. However, I do suspect that time probably does flow from a source pool of infinity. We can talk about things being old or standing the test of time, but we speak of time only in measures that we can understand.

How does that concern fashion, style, music, etc.? Time keeps refreshing itself. Just like the Cabaret song lyrics go, "Everything old is new again."

P.J. O'Rourke once wrote to the 1960s-obsessed Generation X'ers in a 1993 Rolling Stone column, telling them that they needed to find their own niche in the world. What if, O'Rourke theorized, he and his peers had been so attached to their parents' music and clothing? Had that happened, the world would once again be be-bopping and zoot-suited. But then, don't you know, Gen X did dip into the 1940s for inspiration. Hence, the Squirrel Nut Zippers and the Cherry Poppin' Daddies. (To be fair, the youth of the '70s and '90s came close to their own formula with punk and grunge, respectively.)

My wife is currently into '50s style skirts. They are the latest trend. Everytime she comes home with another piece of clothing that looks like it came off the set of Laverne and Shirley, and I ask, befuddled, "What did you get that for?", she replies, "Because it's 1950s style!" (I do prefer her in mini-skirts, I'm afraid.)

How about the world of music? I could write a book about that. Take The Darkness for instance, a band that has appealed to the 12-25 age group who are too young to remember glam rock. While Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, and Kiss are still active, the Darkness has taken elements from all three to craft a rock music style that is infectious in its guitar grooves and falsetto fulminations. The British group Coldplay dips into Beatlesque territory because that is a style that is always fresh despite the sound being 35 years old. Everyone knows The Stereophonics' "Handbags and Gladrags," with lead singer Kelly Jones putting on a perfect Rod Steward voice. The record market is awash in disco compilations. R & B and hip-hop are always dipping into songs from the '70s and '80s to provide the background to their songs. Steely Dan broke out of their retirement and into very fertile ground. And on, and on, and on. In fact, I suspect that if a group could release an album with songs running the stylistic gamut from '50s do-wop, to '60s psychedelia, to '70s funk, '80s new wave and '90s indie, they would probably walk away with a chart buster and several Grammies.

We are living in a very interesting time. The late '90s and the early '00s have not so much engineered a sound or look of its own, but a mesh of past styles to create something eternally retro.