Music & Family

 Music & Family: An Interview with my Dad

    I interviewed my dad, Nick, over a facetime call and he had a great time reminiscing on his history with music. I call my dad everyday so this was a fairly easy and quick convo. 

    We started with general questions so I could get a sense of what his earliest memories with music are and what he likes now. I first asked, "what are some of your earliest memories of music?" He responded with, "For sure my Mom singing Petula Clark songs to me around the house. 'My Love' by Petula Clark will bring me to tears just thinking of her. Her compilation album 'Downtown' holds so many memories, my mom would sing that all. the. time." 

My dad was born in July, 1965 and "My Love" was released in December, 1965. 

My dad and his mom, Julie.

    Going off that I wanted to see what kind of music he listened to while flourishing as an individual. He said, "Growing up I gravitated to the energy, the look, and the sound of punk rock. It was rebellious music, but not so much destructive rebellion. It was movement type and was built with that desire of not wanting to be part of the process built by society or "the man". That was the first time creativity was feared, in my eyes, and individuality was emphasized - like how I am haha" 

    For context, my dad is the ultimate, capital I, Individual. He is kind, but does not live to please others besides his family. He is a go-getter, risk taker, and a creative thinker. I've always known him to be "out-of-the box". This does align with some typical stereotypes of Gen X-ers - wanting to work harder than the boomers around them. My dad always talks about how poor his parents were, and how he couldn't lean on them for advice and had to do everything on his own to be successful - had to always tend to his creative side to find a better way in life.

    His previous answer influenced me to ask, "so who is your favorite music group? Can be either now or then." He said, "It was the Police, B-52s, the Clash, Missing Persons, the Go-Gos and Joan Jett. In high school I loved the song 'Destination Unknown' and I wanted it to be our senior song for graduation, but ~NoOoO~ the common vote was 'Time for me to fly' by REO Speedwagon and I was just like ooh come on!! YUCKKK."

If you've gotten this far, which would you have voted for? "Destination Unknown" or "Time for Me to Fly"?

    Knowing that he was into punk rock in high school, it led to me to ask what he listened to ask he matured throughout college and into adulthood. "What was the popular style of music when you were in college?" I asked. "It was just early rap like LL Cool Jay, Beastie Boys, Run DMC, and Public Enemy. There were also some alternative stuff and people like Alternative Depeche Mode, INXS, and Modern English. Of course Prince, he was just in a league of his own," he responded. 

    Then I asked, "how did your music taste change when you were transitioning from college to adulthood?" He said, "It was the same but I would say more establishment rebel type like Green Day, R.E.M Rancid, and of course 311. Mostly it was about rising above people's negativity and ignore the noise while laughing at peoples hypocrisy moments in a good critical way - which I always like, 'cause it's true."

Nick as a young adult.

    Going off that, my dad is going to be 60 this year, so I said "so what do you listen to now? Has it changed again?" He said, "AC/DC because it's good memories. 311 too because they combine rock, reggae, hip-hop, and funk. Modern Pop as well just for a sense of something new. like to stay 'fresh'."

This is a song by 311 that I hear him play a lot. 

    I already knew the answer to this one but I asked for the sake of this blog, "what is your favorite era of music?" He said, "Hands-down 80's baybeeee! It was fun and its was a good time. It was lots of new sounds and new ideas in music."

    I didn't know exactly who he's seen perform live, so I asked "Have you been to any concerts or live performers?" He said, "the last one was along time ago, about over 23 years. It was Bare Naked Ladies. It was fun in that they really worked in the crowd and involved them in the show. Just a very down to earth band with corny lyrics."

    Then I asked, "have you ever met a famous person in music and what was it like?" He said, "I saw Joe Walsh and Marilyn Manson at Kent State University (where he attended college).  Both came across actually quiet and shy and a bit guarded but they loosened up. I got to asking them questions outside of music type questions and more about every day life stuff like hobbies when trying to get their mind away from the music grind, or just favorite places to eat when on the road." 

    Like... my dad just casually met Marilyn Manson and Joe Walsh??? Uhhh okay - that's sick.

    Lastly, I just wanted to get in some philosophy related questions. My dad's father is Russian Orthodox priest so he grew up in church a lot and was alter boy. So, I asked "any music traditions with your background in the church, rather than listening to music for pleasure/down-time?" He responded, "we used to have Russian Dancing events a couple times of the year during Russian Day picnics but not done that in quite some time."

    Finally, I asked "what is music to you?" (I think he was about done with me at this point) He just said, "It's just an escape... vacation for my mind for sure."

And that was it! Hope y'all enjoyed getting to know my dad, this conversation was fun and interesting for me. 

Me and him on facetime.

Him in the army - picture just for fun.