Again...and Again

"Do it again!"
That's usually my daughter's reply to when I do literally anything to make her laugh.
From spinning her around off the ground by her hands, to blowing 'zerberts' on her belly.
Or it could be playing a new song on my iPhone (which runs through the radio in my pickup truck) that she's never heard of before, and now finds herself a fan of.
Latest additions include The Osmonds, Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds, Neil Young, Chris Rea, Elton John, Tavares, and Sister Sledge.
Yeah, can you tell I like 70's music?
One of my faves.  What can I say?
But there's more to it than that.
My parents were Top 40 Rock 'n Roll people.  On their own, my mother drifted more towards folkish sounds, while my dad drifted towards the psychedelic harder sound.  So I grew up accustomed to a steady diet of a variety of music tastes.
Though I did have the baby Einstein classical music playing in her nursery as a baby, the time came to upgrade her tastes once the MP3 player bit the dust one day and I did not have the music on a master file anywhere.
So...what to do for an 18-month-old?
Chick Corea.  Anthony Burger.  George Winston.
If you're not familiar with any of these artists, they're not 'kids music'.
They're very much for adults.
While I don't hold anything against parents who are content with cranking up Laurie Berkner and 'learning to love it', I prefer to keep my kid on the adult side of things.
My first experience with jazz was not in a club as an adult, but rather, in front of a television screen at the age of three.
The show was "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood".
If you go back and watch one of those old episodes, listen to the music played under the closing credits.  It's probably one of the most sophisticated jazz pieces you'll ever listen to.  When children are in the stage of their lives when they're doing the most listening (albeit selectively), this over-the-top music sets the stage of what can be learned and adapted, and often at an early age depending on motor skill progression.
And my first known experience with soul music was at the age of three as well.  A different show this time.
Sesame Street.
Stevie Wonder performed his 1973 chart-topper "Superstition" live on the show, complete with clavinet and horn action.
The clavinet's the big one.
I have Stevie Wonder's music on my iPhone.   Three tracks are clavinet-based pieces.  The song I just mentioned, "You Haven't Done Nothin', and "Higher Ground".
I solicit feedback afterwards when I introduce one.
"What do you think of that one?"
The answer's almost always the same:
"Very good."
Kids know what they like.  Most of them want to be grown up.  What Mom and Dad have, they want access to.  I don't have to remind anyone of this.
Music is no exception.
When Johnny Costa was first named music director for "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood", PBS officials were somewhat skeptical of his complex piano arrangements, believing that young children would not be receptive to it.  Costa maintained his ground, with Fred Rogers' support, and the music remained his way.
While it didn't make him rich, this work ultimately made him a household name.
Good thing.
Classical and jazz music have long been relegated to the non-commercial broadcast outlets, due to their lack of advertiser appeal, and relying instead on listener or corporate support that can be deducted next year at the tax preparer's office.
Long before the Eagles, Maroon 5, Nirvana, the Beatles and Elvis, there were other names.
Mozart.  Bach.  Beethoven.  Schubert.
Bach could have been a country music artist of his time, according to the late Harry Chapin, who described him like this:
"wrote gorgeous music all day, then came home, drank beer and screwed his wife".
Bach had 20 children...half of whom survived into adulthood.
When you think about it, that could very well be a country song.



NEXT WEEK:  Vacation

No Longer a Vacation

We've all seen it.
"National Lampoon's Vacation," the 1983 comedy smash that spawned a franchise of further misadventures of the Clark W. Griswold family.
For the very few of you who have not seen it, do it.
And those of you who have, you can pretty much recite much, if not all, of the dialogue in the film.
Especially the expletive-laced tirade from the aforementioned paterfamilias when his long-suffering family urges him to take them home less than ten hours from their cross-country destination, having had enough of one disaster after another.
Then came the reply:
"This is no longer a vacation!  It's a quest!  It's a quest for fun!"
You know the rest.
Friday, August 31st was just that.
I work for a radio station in Pittsburgh's suburbs.  A perk of my job is receiving free tickets to ball games, concerts, and even amusement parks upon request from our general manager.
Our summers are generally busy.  Between other recreational opportunities and things that need to get done outside, some things fall by the wayside.  I wasn't about to let this happen with the tickets.
But the clock was ticking.  I had until Labor Day to use them.
That Friday, I checked the forecast.  The high for the day was expected to reach 92 degrees with no precipitation in sight.
My wife was out of town on business.  I text-messaged her the forecast and asked if she wanted to go to Sandcastle.  I didn't have to twist her arm for this.
For those of you outside this area, Sandcastle is an outdoor water park just outside of Pittsburgh.  Complete with water slides, a wave pool and other such niceties.
Our daughter had successfully conquered Idlewild and Kennywood Parks earlier this summer, and we had just enough tickets left for Sandcastle.
We set out late Friday morning.  We were not prepared for the 'CLOSED' sign at the gate.
I felt like the Griswolds at Walley World.
But I wasn't about to go nuts over it and buy a BB gun.
The benefit of the tickets is that Sandcastle, Kennywood and Idlewild are all owned by the same concern, and the tickets are interchangeable.
Try Kennywood?
That suggestion came from my wife.  Why not?  It was only another ten minutes away.
Remembering that the ownership was the same, I checked their website via my smartphone to see if they were open.
Closed.
You've got to be kidding me.  Why on earth would these places turn away business on a day like today?
After we took our tremendously disappointed three-year-old home (who thankfully slept more than halfway through the return trip), and put her upstairs for a nap, my wife arrived at the conclusion of why this happened.
School.
We were so gung-ho about the trip, that since school was back in session, we'd have practically no lines at any of the slides.
It didn't occur to us that the park is STAFFED by mostly high school and college students.  Once school is back in session, there is no staff to run everything.
However, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, we would be in the clear.
We gave it another try the following day.
Success.
Our daughter had the time of her life, despite being a foot under the height requirement.  We had to confine ourselves to the kiddie pool, but so what.
Just watching her have fun and make friends with a couple of girls there was enough.
Plus going out for pizza afterwards.
Then us opening a bottle of wine after getting her off to bed.
Mission accomplished.


NEXT WEEK:  Do it Again

Big Little Girl

I have a daughter that just turned three.
At just slightly over three feet tall and 33 pounds, it never ceases to amaze me how fast my child is growing.
And she should.  We feed her healthy meals and limit her junk food intake, much to the chagrin of my parents, who ply her with treats at virtually any given moment.
The point is, she's a healthy child.  Very healthy.
And she continues to be a head-turner everywhere she goes.
Not just with adults, either.
My wife and I were in a home improvement store just days ago, pricing fixtures for the half-bath remodeling job we're doing.
We ran into a colleague of mine who works at the NBC-TV affiliate in Pittsburgh, and with whom I interact frequently.  She was immediately smitten with Savannah, who was just eating it up.
But that's not the story here.
A few minutes later, a little girl, who looked to be about Savannah's age, walked up to her.
Savannah usually wears her trademark waist-length brown/blonde hair up.  Mostly in a ponytail, as it was that day.
The little girl told Savannah how much she liked her ponytail.  She herself had shoulder-length hair at best.
Savannah thanked her and the pair immediately struck up a conversation, as the little girl's mother came walking up.
We learned the little girl's name was Deanna, and that she was almost four years old.
As we all stood at the paint counter, we noticed the two new-found friends leaning on the counter as we were waiting for service.
The physical differences between the pair were very noticeable.
Standing next to each other, Savannah had a good two or even three inches of height over Deanna, and a much more solid bone structure, probably outweighing her by five pounds, maybe more.
And Savannah's almost a year younger than Deanna.
It makes me wonder just how big my little girl is going to grow up to be.
Even taking Savannah for bike rides in her wheeled carrier is getting to be a lot these days.
Margie found this out the hard way during a bike ride this past spring.
Though she never stated it directly to me, she could never understand why I lagged behind on bike rides while towing the carrier.  She can't be that heavy, right?
Wrong.
One day, she offered to tow the carrier behind her own bike.
After repeated denials, stating that I was all right, I finally gave in and let her do it.
I would be lying through my teeth if I said I didn't stifle a slight grin at what was to come.
My wife does work hard at staying active and physically fit.  But even for the best of us, to do this is a bit of a challenge.
She never offered to do it again.
This is a good example of how apathy gives way to sympathy.
Usually when our children 'grow up so fast', it's usually referring to intellect first, physically second.
I have both going on here.
And hopefully I can keep her in line before she gets bigger than me.


NEXT WEEK:  Quest for Fun