Mike Patton and Danny DeVito are Friends
May 4th, 2007Parents all have a shared set of goals for their kids: “I hope he doesn’t grow up to be a psychopath, thief, or lawyer” “I hope he grows up to be generous and kind”, that kind of thing.
Then there are the particulars, which vary from person to person. Some want their kid to be a famous athlete. Some want the kid to be a carpenter like their dad.
For particulars, I hope my kid doesn’t become a professional baseball player. Neither my wife nor I want him to be an actor. I hope he doesn’t try to become a politician.
But the particular that scares me most, not because it’s so horrible, but it’s so likely, is:
I hope he doesn’t have lousy taste in music.
My nightmare situation would be one where he is really, really, really into top-40 music.
But, by that same token, I hope that if he does have good taste in music, that I grow up to be the kind of dad who can appreciate good new music. Sure, that’s easy now. But when I’m 50, and he’s listening to avant blorg sporgelblend, I hope I’m not the kind who sits around complaining about how it all sounds like noise. Or, considering my musical background, that’s it’s noise, but it isn’t good noise.
In other words, I hope I’m like Danny DeVito when I grow up. Danny Devito is 63 years old, and became a big Fantomas fan two years ago, when he went with his kid to see a show.
How cool is that?
I hope when I’m 63 that I’m going to shows with my 31 year old kid, and enjoying them. And I hope he’s listening to good music. Because if it’s crap, I’m not going to fake it to be ‘hip dad’.
May 7th, 2007 at 7:50 am
I think if you expose the kid to a wide variety of music from a young age it’ll be impossible for him to become a top-40 droid.
Most likely he’ll be really really into classical music and go “dad, all that weird stuff you listen to… how about some Bach or Chopin instead?” ;-)
Oh, and I certainly hope you’ll be bringing him to outdoor parties too!
(I heard that one of the VQ organizers kids stopped going to parites when he was a teenager ‘cos he said he was more into playing baseball ;-)
May 8th, 2007 at 12:18 am
We took him to Nagisa, which was a lot of fun, but makes me question the sanity of folks who bring their little kids to parties. 5 or 6 year olds, yeah, but when they’re this little, you’re busy making sure they don’t eat dirt. There’s no way you could really enjoy the party as anything other than a camping trip.
Two things I’ve wondered:
1) Why do you see little kids, but not medium or big kids? And this may relate to 2:
2) What are the lower and upper age limits for parties? I know, for example, that Nagisa had an age limit: nobody under 18. However, when I called them up and asked if I could bring my 1 year old, they said no problem. So there must be a lower limit, too. “No kids above age 6 but under age 18”?