Dan Zanes "Rough Spot"

Here's another Weekend Post:

I know that for parents out there, when you hear the name Dan Zanes, you think about music for kids---and you have a positive or negative reaction based on that image.

But his first release after the Del Fuegos broke up, was a really great, rocking-rootsy solo effort under his own name featuring this tune, which I always loved to play on WABN and we still spike in on mvyradio.

Dan Zanes And Friends plays the Kids Stage at Life Is Good this weekend.  Follow our coverage on the mvyradio Facebook page.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Weekend posts are a chance to revisit songs that have happy memories, not of anything in particular, other than just hearing the tunes.

Many of these songs were tracks that I played during my 90s stint as an Alternative/Modern Rock radio show.  They're tunes that I hardly hear these days, but are wonderful to revisit.

Click on the "Weekend Posts" label below, to see other posts like this.

The Jackson 5 "ABC"

I wrote a little about the toy that my kids have, that plays "Whoop There It Is" and other songs.

My daughter was excited to come to the understanding that there is actually a full "Whoop There It Is" song, which I found on Youtube for her.

This piqued her interest.  Were the other songs on her toy "real" too?

"Oh honey, you're going to LOVE this!" I enthused.

Her toy plays "ABC" by The Jackson 5, so I pulled up this amazing performance of the band, in full 1970s awesomeness.  She was a bit confused by the huge hair, and she couldn't quite process that none of them were girls.  But she got a kick out of the fact that the performers were basically kids, like her.

She was particularly intrigued by the leader, Michael.

"Is he still here?"

This is her way of asking, "Is he still alive?"

"No honey.  This video was from a long time ago.  He's passed away."

"How did he die, Daddy?"

And THAT'S the question I was hoping she wouldn't ask.  Because, even after giving this subject thought for many, many years (how to explain when someone dies from drug use), I still wasn't sure how I would answer it.

I was a little older than my daughter, when my Noni Pa died.  Noni Pa was my maternal Grandmother's father (that is, my Great Grandfather).  Noni Pa and Noni Ma lived next door to my Grandmother and Grandfather, so he was very present in my young life.

They were immigrants, with Italian accents that were a little hard for me to penetrate at that young age.  But there was so much warmth and so much pride that emanated from them, that even a little kid understood.

Sometime (a few years, maybe) after he had died, I asked my Mom how he had died.  She explained that about a year before his death, he had been walking, and was struck by a car.  "He was never really the same after that" she explained.  Within a year of the accident, he died, no doubt due to the stress the accident had put on his body.

Years later, some time in Middle School, by friend Brian told me something shocking:

"When I was younger, my parents didn't want me to know that Elvis died from using drugs.  So they told me he was hit by a car.  I believed that for years before I found out the truth."

Of course I immediately panicked.

My sweet old great-grandfather, was a druggie, and my parents lied to me!!!

Long story short, my Mom assured me that Noni Pa was not on drugs.  And thus concludes the only time in my life that I was happy to know that someone had been hit by a car.

"How did he die, Daddy?" my daughter had asked.

The whole Noni Pa/Elvis story flashed through my mind in the few seconds it took for me to realize that she was going to ask that question, and for her to say it out loud.

Also flashing through my mind was this piece I'd read about how the folks at Sesame Street created the episode that dealt with Mr. Hooper's death.  You can't say "He was old" because, to a 4 year old, anyone over 10 is old.  And you can't say he was sick, because sneezing is a sign of sick.  And you really can't tell a kid that it happens to everyone, because then they're terrified that the death of everyone they love, is imminent.

"Well, honey . . ."

We've been very straightforward about death with our 4 year old, whether we're talking about my sister or her fish.  I just tried to answer the question, as best I could.


"He took a bunch of medicine that he wasn't supposed to take.  And he kept doing it, even though it was bad for his body.  He didn't take care of himself, and his family and friends didn't make sure he was taking care of himself.  And eventually, he took too much of the bad medicine, and his body stopped working.  It just stopped working."

"Like Mr. Kite?"

"Yes, his body stopped working, like your fish's body stopped working."

"Oh."  Pause.  "Can we listen to Dan?"

And that was the end of it.

It's the difference between a 43 year old and a four year old, I guess.

I've been around long enough that the subject of death feels like a tangled, psychological mess, where people are tempted to lie (to Brian, about the cause of Elvis' death; to Michael Jackson, that he was immortal), or obfuscate, or torture themselves over trying to say the "right" thing.

But my 4 year old, who has had a little loss, just accepts that death is a part of the process.  That it's as normal as music in the air.  That it's as uncomplicated as ABC and 1-2-3.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Dan Zanes "Wonderwheel"

I'm on vacation from the station this week, but I can't call it Every Day I Write The Blog, without posting, you know, every day.

So went through my notes and have pulled out a number of ideas I discarded because they seemed a little thin.

But, knowing that brevity is the soul of wit . . . I give you a week's worth of mini-stories:

The first time I met Dan Zanes, he told this story about how he had written a new song that he played for his Mom.

When he asked if she liked it, she replied that it was good, but (referring to one of her earlier charming successes) "it's no Wonderwheel."


Hear the song on Youtube.

The Cramps "Bikini Girls With Machine Guns"

My wife and kids and I went over to a friend's house a couple of weeks back.  Married couple with a son a little older than our oldest.

With dinnertime rolling around, we decided to order some pizzas.  It was from a place that didn't deliver, so John (the other Dad) and I got in his car to go pick up dinner.

On the way out the door, he grabbed an album by The Cramps.

"I haven't heard these guys in years," I smiled.

I mean, I used to hear them all the time on the Florida non-commercial station I listened to, and played them from time to time on my Alternative specialty show, but these days, I just haven't been listening to much Punk-y rock.

That was the impetus for digging out the CD, John told me.

For the last bunch of years, whenever he was in the car, he and his wife and son would be listening to family friendly fare.

And the same for us.

We've been listening to Dan Zanes and Kimya Dawson and other kid albums, but also The Beatles and Queen and silly Pop songs.

Rocking CDs, just for me, had fallen out of rotation.  And they had for John too.

So as a treat to himself, when he gets in the car alone, he's been blasting The Cramps.

It's great to be a Dad.  But it's also great to be "a drag racer on LSD" from time to time, too.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Dan Zanes "House Party Time"

The Life Is Good Festival happens in Canton, MA this weekend. So this week's blog posts feature artists appearing on the bill.

How important is Dan Zanes in my house?

(Well, first, if you don't know Dan Zanes, then you probably don't have young children, so I'll fill you in. Dan Zanes was in the very hip Boston roots rock band, The Del Fuegos, in the late 80s/early 90s. In the mid-90s, he had a kid, and started looking around for good records to play for a small child. Not happy with what he was finding in record stores, he starting making home recordings, featuring songs that adults might know, but that kids could enjoy. These homemade tapes became a neighborhood sensation, leading Dan to start making studio albums and to tour. He's recorded multiple albums, with cool guest turns from Lou Reed, Aimee Mann, Matthew Broderick, Bob Weir and dozens more. It's not twee or cute or cartoony. It's rock n roll for families. All this to say, he's big with the kids.)

So it was the last day of President Obama's visit to Martha's Vineyard. And I was saying to my 2 1/2 year old:

"Let's keep an eye out for helicopters flying over our house today."

"Why?"

"Because The President will be flying over our head today."

"Who is the President," she asked.

"Well, he's the leader of our country. He's the big boss. He's, like, the most important person in America."

"Oh," she said, "is Dan with him?"


Dan Zanes plays this weekend at the Life Is Good Festival

Hear Dan in concert and check out this interview and performance from the mvyradio studio, both available in the mvyradio archives.