Stage Door Canteen / Do ya still do cool stuff with your dad?

[Trailer Park Casanova]

Do ya still do cool stuff with your dad?

My mom passed away long ago but,
I'm lucky enough that my dad is still living.
One of a dwindling core of WW 2 veterans left.

He flew bombers during WW2 and never talked about it.
All we knew was their was this bad, horrific incident he and his crew encountered, and that was that.
But that's another thread. Perhaps for Military.com.

Music was always a part of our home & neighborhood growing up.

One of the greatest jazz drummers, Jack Sperling was a next door neighbor.
Jack Sperling - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Sperling)

Dad made sure the homes sound system was state-of-the-art, that's an old school term (like High Fidelity), meaning the best technology available.
When we went from Tube sound systems to solid state, I never thought that was a step forward in quality sound. But that's another thread too.

We even had Blaupunkts way before BMW sold cars here.
The FM stations back then were usually some stoner who had a surplus military FM transmitter in his living room and he spun his Jazz collection.

Our houses rocked or jived would be more like it on that section of the block.

I booked a flight and rooms and tickets to take my dad to the grand opening of the Stage Door Canteen at the National WW2 museum in New Orleans Nov 6th. (built on the Old Higgins boat factory site I'm told BTW)
The National WWII Museum's Stage Door Canteen (http://nationalww2museum.org/stage-door-canteen/original.html)

Jack Sperling, our neighbor, played there, and the Hollywood Canteen during the war, and my dad saw him; YouTube - Hollywood Canteen, WW2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOuLMJA5hEY)

I asked my dad recently "Did you guys bomb the enemy to the beat of Glenn Miller like we listened to the Doors in Viet Nam?" No answer of course.
But dad did accept the trip to see the opening and the big expansion at the National WW 2 museum, and the Stage Door Canteen within.

I'm looking forward to it.

Do ya still do cool stuff with your dad?

[Perfect Stranger]

I wish I could still do things....heck, even just talk with my Dad and Mom. They've been gone awhile. :(

[sunvalleylaw]

Yes, though we live in different states now so it is harder. Last project was to collaborate on a couple of tunes, me playing primarily rhythm guitar consisting of jazz oriented chords, and he on his sax. We were just together recently for a weekend celebrating my parent's 50th wedding anniversary, and we had some time to try it out. It worked just fine, and was a lot of fun! I had been quite nervous to try to play with him, because he is quite good. It was just plain fun.

I had not felt that close to him since we used to go on fishing trips (when I was a teen). When we finish this darn painting and house work we have to get done before snow flies, I am going to figure out how we can play together over the computer, even if it is just me sending him a track of me playing rhythm and he plays over that.

[Kodiak3D]

Street_Music and I still do as much as we can. We live 200 miles apart, but any time we visit, Mom and my wife usually go shopping, and we do whatever have time to do. Any time together is fun.

[Tynee]

Street_Music and I still do as much as we can. We live 200 miles apart, but any time we visit, Mom and my wife usually go shopping, and we do whatever have time to do. Any time together is fun.

Lately I've been helping him with his Calculus homework. Here's a guy with an undergrad in business and an MBA who, at 53 years of age, has decided he wants to go back to school to be an engineer. I don't know how it will work out in the end, but he seems to really be enjoying the CalcI so far. I'm just glad I remember enough from my calc classes to help him out a little.

[duhvoodooman]

I did LOTS of cool things with my dad right up until he passed away in '95. Quite a guy and as good a dad as anybody ever had. Miss him a lot but have so many good memories to fall back on....

[marnold]

My folks were over here for Labor Day weekend. It's pretty amazing how I'm slowly morphing into my Dad. Hopefully I won't inherit his prostate issues but I'm not holding my breath on that one. Unfortunately with them in MI and us in WI we get to see them maybe twice a year. We're fortunate in that the whole family is getting together at my sister's place for Thanksgiving.

[Trailer Park Casanova]

Get a load of Hedy Lamarrs Bio.
Fascinating reading IMHO:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr

Talented show biz people that have these other talents, like entertainer Les Paul and all his creations, are amazing.

[Brian Krashpad]

We used to play music around the house a bit. He made it possible for me to pick up guitar. But now my dad's 2 states away, so, no.

My son (and daughter) still do cool stuff with their dad though. Check the weekend thread most weeks. Right now, the boy's (slowly) learning guitar. We watch a ton of movies together; and last night he and his sister were introduced to Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak album (yes, on vinyl). My daughter plays bass, and we just played together in church for the first time, should have many more experiences with the church band and church youth band.

[street music]

I miss my Dad but I have Kodiak to visit from time to time and enjoy having that small time together. It was great growing having a dad to do things with, although he was a pastor of a local church, he still took time for hunting, fishing, and helping me get to horse shows and had a big influence on the younger years in Kodiak's life.

[Tig]

My Dad was a jazz singer in the 50's. We grew up with jazz, R & B, and blues playing through the Blaupunkt speakered cabinet he built. Later, he'd take me to see Stan Kenton, Arnett Cobb, Buddy Rich, Santana, Clapton, Muddy Waters, Taj Mahal, Johnny Winter, etc.

Simply talking is what's realy cool. These days, we enjoy a nice mountain bike ride together, or a good dinner when he's in town. He's 76, going strong, and lives in Mexico most of the time.

[Kazz]

Tough thread for me....but here goes.....I lost my dad in the spring/summer of 95.....he was more than just a dad.....or a step dad....he was my best friend. I have tried my best to model my adult years after him...to make him proud.

He and I stayed very close even after he and my mom divorced....He taught me everything I know about cars and electrical and home maintenance....in turn..I taught him how to fish :-) His dad owned 2 of the biggest restaurants/night clubs in our city so he was always busy with work so my dad never got to go fishing or anything like that as a kid....so I took him the first time...and he was hooked...from then most every weekend that he was not on duty at the fire department....we were on the water somewhere or working on a car in the garage.

I would trade everything I have or ever will have for just another day with my dad.

[Tig]

I would trade everything I have or ever will have for just another day with my dad.

I feel the same about my Mom, who died in '95 as well. She missed out on my son's birth, as well as my sister having 2 boys of her own. That's one of the thing's I'd like to share the most.

My 22 year old step daughter started going in labor today (very mild labor/ early contractions) with her first, a little girl. The step kid's father died 17 years ago, when he was 39, and missed out on so much. More importantly, the kids missed out by losing him.

My step son and his wife had twin boys last month. We'll be swimming in grand babies!
The life circle continues...

[Childbride]

my daddy told me and the family on friday, 4/1/05 that he had pancreatic cancer, and died that monday, 4/4/05, at 7:14 a.m. i was holding his hand.



my mom is still with me, and is flying in from out of state to celebrate my belated bday w/me this weekend.

i've uber-prepped my cases for this fri so i can meet her at our designated convenience store on I-35 to lead her back to our house.

life is short. i could tell stories all day long about how they shaped and molded me to be the woman i am.

i respect the heck out of my parents, and my grandparents before them.

Tig, congrats on the newborn. Life works in Circles. ;)

[evenkeel]

Do ya still do cool stuff with your dad?

Cool that you ask. Both mom and dad are doing great. Mom hits 80 this year, dad is 82. Dad still plays tennis every day, still runs, is in great shape. He's a retired Airline pilot and ex Navy fighter pilot. Never saw combat, was in the era between WWII and Korea. The last of the prop fighter guys. Anyway, he's wanted to come down to Annapolis and catch a home Navy football game. Well, just this weekend he and Mom flew down (home is NH) and we did just that. The pagentry, traditions etc. are wonderful and a bonus, a very good game. Navy beat Louisiana Tech.

So, yeah still doing very cool stuff with M and D.

[birv2]

Great question. Thanks for asking. We just had my Dad come visit us in our new apartment. He is 82, very sharp. Just finished writing a book and is starting a new one. I owe my love of reading and learning to him (useful since I'm a teacher), as well as my skewed view of the world and sarcastic sense of humor.

We had a great time, didn't do too much: watched the Penn State game, listened to his stories. He's 82, the same age as Joe Paterno! My son is living at home for a bit, so we had 3 generations together. Precious times. I'm more aware of how precious since I lost my mom this summer.

Thanks again for asking,
Bob

[PAPPY]

Although I lost my Dad in 96 and my Mom and oldest Brother in 99, there is hardly a day goes by that I don't do fun things with all three of them. Though it is through the window of my mind that I do these fun things with them each day it still seems so real. The beautiful part is that while I had them here with me I was blessed with having all those fun times with each of them that were stored in the memory's file of my mind that I am able to look back on now. There were a few, not many, files that were stored of things that weren't to pleasant but those have been deleted permanently by choice and nothing's left but fun times. MAKE the time to do things with your loved ones today and tell them often you love them so that you,too, may one day have fond memories to look back on.

[M29]

TPC,

We have some things in common. My dad and I had always done things together including messing with HI FI. My dad had an Electro Voice Patrician speaker system that we listened to all the time. He was pretty cool with my rock and roll buddies as he would play his music every bit as loud as we did. He said when he listened to Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and the other big bands live they were loud as he**. We built a few Heathkits TV's and Stereo's together and rode dirt bikes together. He had polio when he was younger and was not allowed to join the service but he did work on Allison aircraft engines at Cadillac Motors.
He lived to 92 and died about a year and a half ago. I got to ask his advice when I was modding my Valve Junior and building my GDS 18 watt kit. He was right on top of anything with tubes in it. I miss him so.

[Tig]

Dad and I took a MTB ride along the trails that surround Buffalo Bayou and downtown Houston today. He's been here a month and said this was the best thing that happened the whole time, even better than the 2 weeks in Turkey he just got back from.

It was one of those perfect days that will last forever in our hearts and minds. I'm very lucky to have such a great father, and I never take him for granted.

(not my pic's)
http://l.yimg.com/g/images/spaceball.gif
http://houston.sierraclub.org/outings/images/hershey1_lg.jpg

http://www.archi-europe.com/pictures/asla.jpg