I had forgotten until my mother reminded me. My father's birthday is April 5th. He would have been 72 today. This was always my favorite picture of him. I think he was still a teen ager. I once asked him why I could never remember his birthday but he never forgot mine. He told me it was because he was around for my first one. I visited his grave at Calvary Cemetery the other day and draped his headstone with Mardi Gras beads.
5 comments:
What a great picture of your dad. Look at how he lets his hands dangle, like all of his bones were so long and heavy he couldn't hold them up. He was so huge, not just physically, but in soul. He had a kind of an imprint on the air around him.
He looks just like he did when I knew him, except younger. He always stood like that, and I thought it was his age. Was he even as old as we are now back then?
I loved your dad and still think of often. It's kind of amazing what an impression he made on me. Since my paternal grandfather died before I was born, I wonder if your kids will ever know what a cool guy he was. He had his faults, sure, but he seemed like just someone trying to cope with his problems without the benefit of too many breaks.
I should send you some sound files of your dad I have on an old tape that I picked up while I was taping his 78s. It was a very high tech funk lab taping setup. A $50 cassette tape deck with a tiny condenser mic built in taping the turntable upstairs on Victor street.
Anything you have with his voice. I don't think I can remember how he sounded. My cousin Joe sent a video of an 8mm film of my folks getting married. Wow
i remember jerry from most of my youger life; he was the guy who helped lead me into becoming a musician, along with you and pat. he got me to listen to django rheinhardt and stefan g. i can remember his gravelly voice like it was yesterday. remember when pat and i ran away to camp at cuivre river state park? he told us if we got ourselves back on our own he wouldnt whip our buts. geo
I do remember your trip. We always headed west and south. Johnson Shut Ins, Washington State Park, etc. You 2 were the first to venture north. When you mention my dad's voice being gravelly it all starts to come back to me. I have to get the recordings from Tony. You guts should see the wedding clip. Once I can digitize my old tapes and films I might set up a YouTube site.
Re: your Dad's grave: Your Dad told me one time your Grandma insisted he always keep enough money in his pocket to make a phone call home if he needed to.
Once, a couple of years after his death, I visited his grave and pushed 2 dimes into the ground against his headstone (price of phone calls by then). The next day at work I told one of my friends. A day or two later I was going to tell her something and said "Guess what?" Her eyes grew wide and she said, "You got a call!"
I still laugh when I think of that. Jerry would have loved that story.
Your Mom
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