Last weekend marked a seminal occasion. It was my son’s first rock concert. I think eight is a good age to be inducted into the world of live rock music – your energy is off the chart, you have this urge to fling your little body all over the place, and mom knows you’ll fall asleep in the car on the way home, so she doesn’t mind keeping you out late on a Saturday night. So when I was invited to attend a fund raising concert for my friends over at Road Recovery, I thought, this will be a good time all around.
After a fun afternoon in Central Park, Josiah and I, accompanied by his best buddy Aidan and his mom, Orchid packed into my car and headed out to the Long Island campus of SUNY Old Westbury to the Maguire Theater. A group of bands were performing to raise funds for Road Recovery, a terrific organization dedicated to helping young people struggling with addiction problems and other adversities. Headed by founder Gene Bowen, a long time rock and roll tour manager and former out-of-control addict, they hook the kids up with professionals from the music biz who have been through recovery themselves, and get the teens involved in music production and live performances. It’s a great way to positively channel young, troubled energies into a productive direction within the music world, with guidance from those who’ve “been there” and are making it on the other side.
We arrived just in time to see the one band in the line-up comprised of Road Recovery alums, called Father and Son. I was impressed that these two guys, Tim on guitar and lead vocals (and such a sweet voice he has) and Ryan on drums (and occasional saxophone), could produce such a huge wall of sound. The impact on our boys was completely visceral, their response, instinctive. As if born to rock, their heads were instantly bobbing up and down, arms flailing on air drums and guitar, and they howled their pleasure at the end of each song. What a joyous sight to behold. I must admit, I sat there grinning like a fool for most of the set, enjoying the new found pleasure these kids were experiencing at their first live rock show. This was truly a moment to remember.
After the show, I sat down with Tim and Ryan along with Road Recovery VP Jack Bookbinder, to talk about music, recovery and life on earth. I was impressed to learn that these two young men, still at the tender ages of 22 and 24, have been sober and loving life since 2006. (Budding creatives, take note!) Their music is raw, ambitious, creative and totally rockin, with influences as disparate as Clutch and John Coltrane, trip hop and classical. Made me think of the art rock of King Crimson, or the raw, experimental fun of bands like They Might Be Giants when they were just getting started in the east village of 1980’s NYC.
Check out our conversation here. Note the sounds of the boys running around in the background. They had a whole two-story administrative building to themselves, and they probably ran at least 10 laps around that thing during the eight minutes of our interview.
Did I mention we have a drum kit at home? Yeah. I see my future, and it is a garage band…
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The next day, we went visiting with our cousins out in Brooklyn. Had another great day out and about, complete with a waterfront stroll along the semi-industrial route up to Dumbo. On the subway ride home, we watched a tall, stylish young woman get on the train and sit down across from us, decked out in a most funky, chic outfit topped off by this awesome necklace:
Josiah leaned over to me and said, “Mom, look at that great necklace.” So I told him that the woman wearing it probably made it, and why don’t you ask her? He was too shy, but she was so friendly that I not only asked her if she made the necklace (She did!!), but requested a picture, and you can see the result… I told her that I’d like to include her in my blog, and did she have a website or anything… Does she!!! Oh my, this woman is Kalae All Day, designer of jewelry and accessories, and the face of http://www.UttaKAOS.com… AND (as if that weren’t enough), she’s also a recording artist and performer. The name of her digital album, AFROMATIKNEOHIPPIEROCK*SOLEMUZIK pretty much says it all. Check out her stuff. You can tell her Josiah sent you…
Nothing Original Here 