Listen on demand at our page at WRSI.com.  And see you at the Green River Festival all weekend!

Segment 1
TMBG – It’s Spare the Rock
-Ella ID
TMBG – James K. Polk
Theresa Andersson – Birds Fly Away
Stars – Asleep (Sing Me To Sleep)
ID
Sarah Lee Guthrie & Family – If Mama Had Four Hands
Renee & Jeremy – Is It Really Any Wonder (C’mon)
ID

Segment 2
Carolina Chocolate Drops – Peace Behind the Bridge
Okee Dokee Brothers – Lucy and Tighty (Take It Outside)
ID/prep to rock
The Not-Its! – Time Out to Rock
The Pop Ups – Outside Inside
Decemberists – Valerie Plame
ID

Segment 3
Flannery Brothers – The Wake-Up Song
Alexandra & the Good Batch – DEMAND
ID
Egg w/ Secret Agent 23 Skidoo – Look Both Ways
ID
Secret Agent 23 Skidoo – Road Trip
ID

Segment 4
ScribbleMonster – Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
ID
Deedle Deedle Dees – Zora (Many Hands: Family Music for Haiti)
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings – This Land is Your Land
Primate Fiasco – Sunny Side of the Street
ID
Poochamungas – Imagination Train
Justin Roberts – New Haircut
ID

Segment 5
Lunch Money – Roller Coaster (Silly Reflection)
Book Time with Ella (Ragtag)
Nields – Going to Boston
Elizabeth Mitchell – 3 Is the Magic Number
Us 3 – Cantaloop
Recess Monkey – Ukulalien (The Final Funktier)
ID

Segment 6
Randy Kaplan – The Kid is All Id (The Kid is All Id)
Rolling Stones – She’s a Rainbow
Joe’s Backyard Band – Dishes
Starfish – Joshua’s Treehouse
ID
They Might Be Giants – Letter Shapes (Here Come the ABCs)
TMBG – Spare the Rock

Shop Indie Bookstores

Saturday and Sunday, folks!  For the full schedule, including the two grown-up stages, see GreenRiverFestival.com.  Here’s the lineup for the Meltdown Camp Stage (there will be demonstrations from New England Circus Arts):

Saturday

1:30 Sarah Lee Guthrie & Family

2:20 Sweetback Sisters

2:45 Elizabeth Mitchell & Family

3:40 The Nields

4:30 Under the Tree Music

5:00 Primate Fiasco & Puppet Parade

6:30 Deedle Deedle Dees

7:30 Academy Freightshakers

8:20 LuxDeluxe

9:00 IMA Bands: The Feel/TBD/Horrible Appetite

Sunday

12:00 Flannery Brothers

12:50 Ratboy Jr.

1:40 Mister G

2:30 Joe’s Backyard Band

3:20 Alexandra & the Good Batch

4:10 StarFish

5:00 School for the Dead

5:50 Royal Order of Chords and Keys

Throughout both days, Under the Tree Art will be leading all sorts of great kid-friendly activities — arts, crafts, music, and more!

Listen on-demand at WRSI.com.  And the full Green River Festival schedule is available here.

Segment 1
TMBG – It’s Spare the Rock
-Ella ID
TMBG – Mammal
Billy Jonas – Bear to the Left (What Kind of Cat Are You?)
Loretta Lynn – High on a Mountain Top
ID
Sarah Lee Guthrie & Family – She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain
Michelle Shocked – Strawberry Jam
ID

Segment 2
Lullatone – Bedroom Bossa Band
Frances England – Tricycle (Fascinating Creatures)
ID
Deedle Deedle Dees – Growl Growl (American History + Rock & Roll)
Royal Order of Chords and Keys – Punk Rock, One Sock!!!
Starfish – Spread Your Wings (Enter Sandbox)
ID

Segment 3
ID
Primate Fiasco – Wheels on the Bus (Wheels on the Bus)
Allen Toussaint – Yes We Can Can
Cake – Mahna Mahna
ID
Mister G – Run

Segment 4
ScribbleMonster – Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
ID
Justin Roberts – Obsessed by Trucks (Jungle Gym)
School for the Dead – Beautiful Day in the Woods (Ayla)
ID
Elizabeth Mitchell – Bright Morning Stars (Many Hands)
Nields – Who Are You Not to Shine
Ratboy Jr. – Floating Up
ID

Segment 5
Joe’s Backyard Band – Crow (Kick Up a Breeze)
Dean Jones & Felice Brothers – Sing Like a Sparrow
ID
Sweetback Sisters – Have You Seen My Chicken?
Jonathan Richman – New England
ID
Flannery Brothers – Jump Up and Down
Under the Tree Music – Spittin’ Seeds
ID

Segment 6
Alexandra & the Good Batch – Extended Playdate (Extended Playdate)
ID
Tim & the Space Cadets – Superhero
Pete Yorn & Body Rocks – Pee Keeps Our Insides Clean (The Body Rocks)
Calexico – Quatro
ID
TMBG – My Name is Kingof Socks (Many Hands)
TMBG – Spare the Rock

I don’t have a playlist for it, but it is a metric boatload of fun.  Thanks to Monte, Atticus, and Enzo for filling in!  You can listen to it on-demand on our page at WRSI.com.  And you should.  (It just might have new music from the Many Hands CD in it too!)

Thanks to ScribbleJim and the ScribbleFamily for filling in — it’s always great to have them on the show.  You can listen any time at our page at WRSI.com.

Here’s what they played:

TMBG – It’s Spare the Rock
-Elaina ID
TMBG – (She Was a) Hotel Detective (They Might Be Giants)
Kermit – Rainbow Connection (The Muppet Movie)
Mr. Ray – Roy G. Biv (Start Dreaming!)
ID
The Rolling Stones – She’s Like a Rainbow (Their Satanic Majesties Request)

The Jimmies – What’s That Sound? (Make Your Own Someday)
ScribbleMonster – Why Must Everyone Talk at Once? (Songs With No Character)
Lunch Money – Are You a Rabbit? (Dizzy)
ID – Are You Prepared to Rock?
The Ramones – Do You Wanna Dance? (Rocket to Russia)
Bumblefoot – What’s New Pussycat? (Uncool)
The Contours – Do You Love Me?
ID

Living Color – What’s Your Favorite Color? (Vivid)
Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke – Favorite Names (Rise and Shine)
The Figgs – Favorite Shirt (Lo-Fi at Society High)
ID
SpongeBob SquarePants – Best Day Ever (Movie Soundtrack)
Flannery Brothers – Best Pillow in the World (Love Songs for Silly Things)
Queen – You’re My Best Friend (A Night at the Opera)
ID

ScribbleMonster – Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child (Songs With No Character)
ID –
The Not-Its! – Green Light Go! (Time Out to Rock)
Everclear – Speed Racer (The Vegas Years)
The Primitives – Crash (Lovely)
ID –
Justin Roberts – In the Car (Yellow Bus)
Jim Croce – Rapid Roy (You Don’t Mess Around with Jim)

Sesame Street – Mah Na Mah Na (Platinum Too)
The Beatles – Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (White Album)
Crash Test Dummies – Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm (God Shuffled His Feet)
ID – Booktime with Elaina (My Haunted House by Angie Sage)
Smoking Popes – Writing a Letter (Get Fired)
The Blues Brothers – Rubber Biscuit (Briefcase Full of Blues)
ID

Adam Ant – Apollo 9 (Vive Le Rock)
Fountains of Wayne – Lost in Space (Utopia Parkway)
Ralph’s World – The Robot Looked at the Stars (All Around Ralph’s World)
Johnny Bregar – Fireman with a Rocket Ship (Dragonfly)
ID –
TMBG – Mr. Xcitement (Mink Car)
TMBG – Spare the Rock

(Posted in January 2014; previously this appeared only on Facebook, it seems.)

On Father’s Day last year, I was, if memory serves, the first one up and over to my parents’ house. My dad was in the living room in the hospital bed we’d had brought in, and he was awake and alert.

I gave him a hug and said, “Happy Father’s Day.” He laughed a little, recognizing the slight oddity in wishing him a happy day when he had at most a few days to live, but said, in his weak but clear whisper, “It’s been great.”

I’m sure I talked to him more that day, at least to help with logistics, comfort, and so on, but that’s mostly what I think about as my last real interaction with him. He died that night, in much the same way he lived: with grace, courage, and strength.

For the past few months, I’ve been dreading Father’s Day because that was the day that he died (it fell on June 21 last year). Well, “dreading” isn’t quite the right word, but I’ve been at least assuming it would be a particularly tough day. And I suppose it has been, in that it still hurts to think about that three-week period from his diagnosis with pancreatic cancer through his death, and its anniversary has brought those thoughts to the fore.

It’s been an interesting morning so far, though, somewhat defying expectations. Ella is camping with her Girl Scout troop, returning in a couple of hours, and Dena got up ridiculously early to get to a triathlon. So it’s just me and Liam.

I stumbled out of bed, hearing a bunch of noise from the kitchen, and he was in there (at 5:45 or so), getting breakfast in bed together for me. “Happy Father’s Day, Dad,” he said, along with a hug. Unconsciously, I echoed my dad: “It’s been great.”

(An aside: Dena had given him instructions not to bring my breakfast in until 6:00 – figuring I wouldn’t want to be awakened before then – so he waited until 6:00 on the nose to bring it in, even though he knew I was awake. Alas, he had poured the milk in the cereal around 5:45, so it was just a tad soggy. But the toast and lemon curd were delicious.)

After breakfast, we went for a bike ride, looked at the sleeping ducks at Look Park, watched the Mill River flow by, talked about strategies for getting up the steep hills in cyclocross, set world records on the swings, and just…were.

More than I would have predicted, today – and the days leading up to it – have been more about my dad’s life than his death. Just as one example, we talked at dinner last night about the science fair projects I did every year with him, and my photo browsing has been a lot more focused on looking back at his 72 years rather than his last three weeks. What’s more, those conversations haven’t been like picking at a scab – we’re increasingly able to stay on the sweet side of the bitter/sweet continuum.

It’s all tinged with sadness, of course, but I’m getting more able to think about the simple truth of what I think of as his last statement to me – “It’s been great” – and, maybe even better, about my time as a father, and the time yet to come.

Indeed, it has been, and will be, great.

Other relevant posts:

• Chalkboards (2009-05-29)
• W. Ves. Childs (2009-06-24)
• More Light (2009-12-22)
• Science and Solstices (2012-06-21)
• Notes (2013-12-02)