Category: Music

I had a conversation this morning with my mother about their HDTV. I’m glad my parents have one even though they don’t have the HDTV cable box yet. It’s coming believe me. Anyhow, my dad, who taught me how to hook up my satellite TV signal, who taught me how to use telephone wire as speaker cable (I still think it’s a great idea), who taught me how to fine tune old black and white TV’s, is confused by hooking up the HDTV with all of the components; VCR, cable box and DVD.

My dad can figure out anything. Don’t worry, he’ll figure out the setup.

The entire conversation got me thinking about my father’s influence on my life. My father has done it all, firefighter, deputy sheriff, car salesman, TV repair man, warehouse manager, machinist and a dozen other jobs I don’t remember. He can truly do it all.

I’ve posted countless posts about music. Everyone knows I’m a music freak, there’s no better way of saying it. I know it, I love it, I breath it. So how did that entire love happen? For as long as I can remember, music filled my life. My dad always had some type of music going. He played Four Seasons, Four Tops, Ventures (on 8-track — nothing like a good instrumental that stops in the middle of the song to advance), Tommy James and the Shondells and his one of his favorite songs “Little Black Egg” by the Nightcrawlers. I always tell people (when they ask or not) about how my dad got me started on the music I still love today. It wasn’t just “oldies”, but country, rock and even disco.

My father loves to dance. There was always upbeat music in our house. My sister and I loved to dance and my father wouldn’t have any problem joining in. Believe me, my mother and father still don’t have any problems dusting off the line dance they choreographed themselves.

I remember when my sister and I were kids, he would go out and buy an LP, bring it home and put it on the turntable then dub it over to cassette. He and my friend’s father, Joe, would spent countless hours dubbing. It wasn’t fun for us kids, we weren’t allowed to walk because it would cause the record to skip. They’d set the needle’s sensitivity so delicately.

I also remember us Dad getting an Atari 2600 for Christmas. My father stayed up all night long that night playing Space Invaders. I think he slept the next day away.

My father pushed me down the road to technology. He loved CB’s, computers and even Intellivision (even though we had to go to Tony and Ann’s to play it) He’s now obesssed with HAM radios. I know he didn’t pass on his obsession tendencies to me. Neither did my mother.

But this post is about my father. He truly will never know the impact he’s had on my life, professionally, personally, musically and emotionally. Even though he even chased me into my bedroom one time, I outran him, thank God because he was really angry with me, I have no idea what the deal was. Ah, the little things you remember and the things you forget!

Happy Father’s Day, Pops, a little early.