30 Years After - AIDS

I read a great article in most recent edition of Walrus Magazine entitled "Life after Death" which is a young gay man's attempt at understanding the cultural divide between him, his "generation: and the generation preceding who faced the 1st AIDS Epidemic.

It is a difficult read.
I remember when gay men were dropping like flies.
It was not pretty.  Even though I do not pinch-hit, many of these fellows were all very talented and vibrant contributors to our society.  Yes, I do have a certain amount of annoyance with anyone who exhibits the stereotypical flamboyant, over the top, limp-wristed "caricature" (Think "La Cage aux Folles") but it is just that a roll-your-eyes displeasure at the overt promotion of sexuality above all else. It took 10 years to unwind much of the mystery behind the disease and there was definite shock that when "Patient Zero" was identified - he turned out to be a gay Air Canada flight attendant named Gaetan Dugas.

The article makes it clear that now, 4/10 Gay men today are HIV+ and they are just as promiscuous as pre-1980.  No-one takes precautions any more because with the expensive drug cocktails freely available under our healthcare system, they have lost the "incentive" to be careful.  In teh old days - it WAS Life or Death - now it is just a annoying drug regime.

One of the best motif's in the article was the (infamous) counterculture representation of AIDS by Toronto artist General Idea - the counterpoint to Robert Indiana's LOVE image.  The article started each letter of each section with this illustration.

But, here is an old fav from Woodstock 1969.

It features Alvin Lee of Ten Years After who are both still going! (except  Alvin split decades ago and tours/records separately.)