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VOL.29, NO.6
Shades of gray keeps it rockin’
Music’s lifelong benefits Studies back him up. Emory University
PHOTO COURTESY OF MARK PUCCI MEDIA
By Barbara Ruben Ken Hunter got hooked on playing guitar back in the fourth grade, when he and a classmate went on their first “tour” — to other classrooms to play and sing in Everly Brothers-type harmony. By age 10, they played on Falls Church-based WFAX radio. And even though as a kid Hunter was rejected from “Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour,” the Woodbridge, Va. resident is still playing guitar 58 years later in a rock band called Shades of Gray. (No, not that “Shades of Gray.” Its members all have gray hair now.) The Washington area is home to numerous bands whose members have playing for decades in local bars, school stages and town squares. Bands like the Nighthawks, based in Maryland, play locally much of the time, but also tour nationally and produce CDs. For some, like Shades of Gray, the band is an accompaniment to full-time careers in other fields. Hunter, for example, does production work at radio station WMAL, and has also been a disc jockey at a number of stations. Steve Andrzejczyk (An-dre’-zik), who works at the Beacon part time managing its website and social media posts, plays in not just one, but two bands in his free time: 49¢ Dress and Big Lunch. Both bands play a range of rock songs, from 1960s hits to recent top 40s songs. That means the bands draw a diverse crowd dancing to the tunes at outdoor summer concerts — from boomers to toddlers. While the 49¢ Dress band has members born in three different decades, all those in Big Lunch are over 50. Andrzejczyk first picked up a guitar at age 12 and hasn’t stopped playing since. “I’ve always loved music, and can’t imagine it not being a part of my life. When I’m not playing, I’m listening,” said Andrzejczyk, who is 59 and lives in Silver Spring, Md. He said he enjoys the social aspect of being in the bands as well. “I’ve read playing music keeps the mind sharp as you age, as does social interaction. So combining the two has to be a good thing,” he noted.
5 0 JUNE 2017
I N S I D E …
LEISURE & TRAVEL
Sublime wine and scenery in central Virginia; plus, traces of tango and the Pope in Buenos Aires, and last call for Amtrak’s long-distance train trips page 47
ARTS & STYLE
The Nighthawks, a rock band founded by Mark Wenner (front right), have been playing locally and around the country for 45 years. A number of local rock and blues bands feature musicians who have been performing for decades — and have the gray hair to show for it.
neurology professor Brenda Hanna-Pladdy found that playing an instrument for 10 years or more is associated with greater cognitive abilities in older adults. The results of the 2011 study were published in the journal Neuropsychology. “Musical activity throughout life may serve as a challenging cognitive exercise, making your brain fitter and more capable of accommodating the challenges of aging,” Hanna-Pladdy said. “Since studying an instrument requires years of practice and learning, it may create alternate connections in the brain that could compensate for cognitive declines as we get older.” The musicians in the study of people aged 60 to 83 had better visual-spatial memory, better ability to name objects,
and greater cognitive flexibility — the brain’s ability to adapt to new information. Another study found that older adults with musical training are better able to perceive speech in a noisy environment than non-musicians — even if they had only four to 14 years of musical training decades earlier. They also had better auditory working memory, according to the study by Northwestern University researchers published in the Journal of Neurology in 2013.
Better with age Band members say that age brings positive changes to the dynamics among the players. “One of the biggest problems in groups See ROCK BANDS, page 56
Powerful performances in The Father at Studio; plus, our new book review column, Bob Levey, and a former slave home at the Museum of African American History and Culture page 53 TECHNOLOGY k Add safety tech to your car
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FITNESS & HEALTH k Women and heart health k Reducing pesticide risk
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SPOTLIGHT ON AGING k Newsletter for D.C. seniors
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LAW & MONEY 32 k Seniors and student loan debt k Consider target-date funds LIFETIMES 39 k Newsletter of the Charles E. Smith Life Communities ADVERTISER DIRECTORY
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