This weekend, new movies and albums are dropping, all from artists and superstars who are in their 80s.
"Killers of the Flower Moon" is the latest film from Martin Scorsese. Next month, the legendary director of films like "Taxi Driver" and "Goodfellas" will turn 81 years old.
Fifty-nine years after releasing their very first album, the Rolling Stones are back with a new record. Lead singer Mick Jagger turned 80 this year.
And 81-year-old singer Barbra Streisand has been busy writing a new memoir.
They're all part of a class of octogenarian entertainers refusing to let age slow them down. Dolly Parton is also releasing a new book and her 49th studio album in November. She's just a relative youngster, though, at 77.
Whether it's movies, books, or music keeping artists young at heart, studies show the arts are good for the rest of us too. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, studied 400 older adults who sang in a choir, finding it helped curb feelings of loneliness and led to a sense of belonging.
For more than three decades, the nonprofit organization Arts for the Aging has helped older Americans in the Washington, D.C. area express themselves and live better lives through painting, dancing, and music. Their programs are both in-person and virtual.
The benefits of engaging in the arts are many, says Arts for the Aging Director and CEO Janine Tursini.
"We really believe that all individuals have a need to engage in self-expression," she says. "Ten weeks of regular arts participation can actually make the brain stronger. Increased resiliency, neural connectivity, self-awareness, and memory processing. These are real and juicy accomplishments that the arts make. I think the arts really are a saving grace."
Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Woods says one of his secrets to staying young is staying active.
"I keep my chops together between gigs. You've got to keep your fingers moving when you got to our age," Wood told an audience at the recent unveiling of the band's new album.
For Scorsese, it's about keeping his mind curious.
"If I'm curious about something, I think I'll find a way, if I hold out and hold up, I'll find a way to try to make something of it on film," he says.
Nobody can stop getting older, but the arts may just be our modern-day fountain of youth.
Clayton Sandell
