Celebrated Summer!

The end of summer and the onset of fall has always been a time of conflicting emotions and upheavals in daily life. Part of me has always loved the sense of impending change and the crispness in the air. The end of the oppressive heat of this summer was welcome. The slow death of the flora is sad and unwelcome. Bob Mould said it best (as he often does) in the closing lyrics to "Celebrated Summer":
Then the sun disintegrates between a wall of clouds
I summer where I winter at, and no one is allowed there

Do you remember when the first snowfall fell
When summer barely had a snowball's chance in Hell?

That lyric always captures how I feel at the end of the summer.
Devlyn has begun sleeping in his "big boy" bed and has also figured out how to open his bedroom door. This means that several times during the night, he ventures into our room to demand a bottle or a snuggle. I'm hoping that as the fall season progresses Devlyn makes some changes and begins to sleep through the night.
Devlyn continues to be fascinated with all things musical. Among his current favorites are the old stand by guitar and a new addition, the giant piano keys that he operates by dancing on them with his stocking feet!

Summer Breeze

We traveled to northern Indiana (Amish Country) to join several of my siblings and their children/ grandchildren for a week of family vacation. I'm not fully convinced that any actual vacation occurred. I know I was really looking forward to getting back to my social service job so that I could take it easy. My hope is that my son had a great time and can begin to build memories that will carry into his adult years. He really enjoyed being with his cousins, both young and old(er). He swam in the lake for the first time, he rode on a boat for the first time and he built his first sand castle.
I know that I carry memories from childhood of summers spent at the lake (but the lake was a different location every time). There is a soundtrack that accompanies those memories. My early summers occurred during the first half of the 1970's and that soundtrack reflects the music that pumped from my siblings transistor radios. I still remember my sisters applying copious amounts of baby oil to their skin while Seals and Croft's "Summer Breeze" crackled over the air waves courtesy of WOWO.
I try to be careful about what music works its way into my son's memories. Many of his cousins were listening to current favorites like Justin Beiber and the Jonas Bros. I hope Devo's memories are punctuated by the sounds of Rancid, The Clash, and Trombone Shorty.
These summer days are going to fade very soon. As the long hot days shorten and cool down I imagine Devo falling to sleep at night smiling about the time he spent at t he lake this summer with his cousins and aunts and uncles.

The Zoo, The Pool and The Ting-Tings!

It has been a very busy summer and an exciting week in particular. Devlyn, Megan and I made our first trip to the Indianapolis Zoo. Devlyn really liked the aquariums and the aquatic life. He also liked feeding the giraffe. I was excited to see Devlyn recognize things like ducks, fish and "Meow-Meows".

As the days grow hotter and Hotter, Megan searches for creative and fun ways to entertain and stay cool. One of Devlyn's favorite past-times is being in the water. He has no fear of it and doesn't seem to be afraid to put his head under water. The toddler pool at Bryan Park is fun but on a hot afternoon when getting too far from home isn't an option, Megan is really good about filling up the wading pool.
Our summer music listening has continued to revolve around mod revival, early Springsteen, some smatterings of new wave and the sound track to Yo Gabba Gabba! One of the bands that appear on the show, and that Devlyn particularly likes are "The Ting-Tings".
It has been such an exciting and busy summer. I'm looking forward to the rest of it.

Parotitis, Nova Mob and Laughter

Tuesday found me returning to the walk-in clinic with swelling in my jaw. The Doc told me it was Parotitis. I'm glad they knew what it was and that they gave me a scrip for a stronger anti-biotic. When my wife, Megan saw me she said I looked like John McCain. Now, the 103 degree fever I had on Monday and for most of the previous weekend did not keep me home or in bed. As Megan pointed out though, my vanity lead me to cancel all my appointments and stay home for the day on Wednesday. I hope the swelling goes all the way away before I have to cater a wedding this weekend.
I woke this morning feeling good and rested. Devlyn only woke up briefly last night and was able to return to sleep within an hours time, thus only briefly interrupting my sleep. I felt so good and relaxed as I started my day that I was able to put some music on to set the mood for the rest of the day. I wanted to reach into the back of my music collection for something good, but out of the ordinary in my daily listening regimen. I settled on the Nova Mob (Grant Hart) album "The Last Days Of Pompeii". It is a great rock album with a narrative of sorts, kind of reminds me of the best parts of Zen Arcade.
I don't know if it was the sounds of Grant Hart's voice or the good night sleep but Devlyn and I were able to get a little play on before he went to daycare. We played "Hide and Chase" which consisted of him running to the same spot in the kitchen while I "Chased" him and caught him, giggling in a lump on the floor, carried him back to the couch and started the whole game over again. The sounds of his deep, belly laughs are the greatest sounds ever to fill the universe.

Aqua Fun, Fevers and a new Drum Set

Devo and his bestie Henry, went to the new Splash Pad (one of two things that makes living on the west side of town bearable) on Memorial Day. Both 'lil fellas had a great time running through the water and being sprayed by all the different fountains. I was proud of Devo and Henry for being brave and trying new stuff so readily. The more the two of them hang out together the less they engage in parallel play and the more they play with each other. Henry can even call Devo by name!
The rest of the week was not so great. Devo ended up getting sick with an ear infection and at one point had a really high fever. His first round of antibiotics caused an allergic reaction but as of the end of the week he is seeming to feel okay. He even spent some time with aunt's Sherri and Margaret while Megan and I had a great dinner at Le Petit Cafe.
We retrieved our drum set from Chris' house and set it up in the basement. I moved a floor tom and a crash cymbal over by Devo's exer-saucer. Man that kid went to town! HE can almost keep a beat. I hope he continues to enjoy the drums... in my experience, if a person can play the drums they will be in demand. Bands always need drummers.

Esperanto, Molars and "Who's Next"

I was playing a game with my son today. I would call it "hide and seek", Devlyn would call it "crawl under the crib and laugh really loud as my dad crawls in after me while making funny sounds and grabs at me but somehow misses me every time."I had the radio on in the background and caught a snippet between absurd "monster" noises and toddler howls. The snippet was about Esperanto. I have caught vague references to Esperanto before but have never quite understood what it was. I looked it up and was intrigued to find out that Esperanto is a constructed language that was designed to be politically neutral. It is fascinating and I am going to try to learn to speak it and hope to teach Devlyn to speak it as well.
The past two nights (and probably tonight as well) have been horrible for 'lil Devo. He is working on getting some molars in and he appears to be in a lot of pain. He hasn't napped well and he is eating even less than he usually does (he's kind of picky). All of this has made him kind of surly the past couple of days and this morning, in protest of being put in the pack and play, he banged his head on the wall and made me worry that he would hurt himself, luckily he did not.
On a happier note, I picked up a vinyl copy of The Who's album Who's Next. This is one of my favorite albums and it is significant to some people because Townshend used early synthesizers and modified keyboard sounds throughout this record. As I was playing the album on the stereo in the living room, Devlyn began to dance to the synthesizer introduction of the track "Baba O'Riley". I love Devlyn's reaction to music, especially the music that I enjoy. I can't wait to put some New Wave music on tomorrow and have a little dance party with Devo.

Family, Guitars and Friends

My son Devlyn loves music. I'm pretty sure that as a child I loved music. I have very hazy memories from when I was somewhere around three or four years old of really liking specific songs and artists. I liked the Rolling Stones, I liked Wings, I think I liked a song by a band called Lobo.
The point is, I watch my son dance to all kinds of music. He even tries to dance to string quartets. He has favorites and sometimes I'm surprised by the music that grabs him. The other day he was shakin' his butt to the Hüsker Dü song Celebrated Summer. I wonder what music he will remember from his early childhood and what effect it will have on his musical taste later on. I hope he will like the music I love and that he will turn me on to the music he loves. I'm really glad that his mom and I both encourage his love of music.
I have several guitars and various other instruments strewn around the house and it fascinates me how Devlyn attempts to make these "toys" work. Right now we both agree that the most fun of these guitars is the orange guitar .
On a sad note, a good friend passed away recently. Lumpy was a great guy and he was never short on pleasant conversation, mentorship and advice on music, gear and repairs. I miss him. I'm looking forward to playing at his tribute event on the 13th of June.