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)

Happy Father’s Day, and thanks to Yosi and the Superdads for the Father’s Day guest DJ set!

Listen any time at our page at WRSI.com.

Segment 1
TMBG – It’s Spare the Rock
-Ella ID
TMBG – Even Numbers (Here Come the 123s)
Lunch Money – Miniature Things
Tiny Tim – Tiptoe Through the Tulips
ID
Mates of State – 17 Pink Sugar Elephants
Tom Waits – Bend Down the Branches
Tanya Donnelly – Moon River
ID
Randy Kaplan – Forever Young (The Kid is All Id)

Segment 2
Rex Hobart & the Misery Boys – It’s Not Easy Being Green
Bramble Jam – Don’t Squish that Bug
ID/prep to rock
Replacements – Jungle Rock (Stay Awake)
Kool & the Gang – Jungle Boogie
Mommie – Shadow
ID

Segment 3
Starfish – Bike (Enter Sandbox)
Candy Band – Ice Cream (High Five)
ID
White Stripes – Rag and Bone
Telephone Company – I Know You’re Having a Problem (Panda Brain!)
Kinks – Picture Book
Mister G – Dogs Don’t Fly (Pizza For Breakfast)
ID

Segment 4
ScribbleMonster – Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
Yosi & The Superdads Intro
Yosi & The Superdads – “Oo, La, La (Travelin’)” [Super Kids Rock]
Yosi & The Superdads discuss presents for Dad
Yosi & The Superdads – “Thank You” [Super Kids Rock]
Yosi & The Superdads have e-mail!
Yosi & The Superdads – “Hey” [Super Kids Rock] …(end at 13:51)

Segment 5
Yosi & The Superdads phone call
Yosi & The Superdads – “B-E-A-C-H” [Super Kids Rock]
Yosi Father’s Day Greeting
Brady Rymer – “Dilly Dally Daisy” [Every Day is a Birthday]
Yosi & The Superdads News (w/Bill Melater & Prof. Smarty Pants)
Dr. Noize – “Banana” [The Ballad Of Phineas McBoof]
Yosi Father’s Day Greeting
Yosi – “Pass The Purple Pesto Pasta Please” [What’s Eatin’ Yosi?]
Yosi & The Superdads wish you a HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!
Yosi & The Superdads – “Oo, La, La (Travelin’)” [Super Kids Rock]

Segment 6
Milkshake – Enemies
Police – Walking on the Moon
ID/Book Time with Ella (Mysterious Benedict Society)
Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem – They All Ask’d For You (today at the Eric Carle Museum)
Haley Bonar – I Wanna Be Like You (Sing With Me)
ID
TMBG – Alphabet of Nations
TMBG – Spare the Rock

Ella talked (again?) about the Mysterious Benedict Society.  Click on the image below to find an independent bookseller selling it.

Shop Indie Bookstores

Quick reminder about tomorrow’s show and a longer-term reminder to jot some things down on your calendar.

First, tomorrow at 1, we’ve got Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem playing the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.  Tickets are just $6 at the door, and benefit the Northampton Community Music Center.  This is a must-see band, and if you’ve seen them, you must see them again.

We’ve also got most of the next season lined up:

8.7.10 • Princess Katie & Racer Steve

10.23.10 • Gustafer Yellowgold

1.22.11 • Royal Order of Chords & Keys

3.12.11 • Debbie & Friends

Also, this Sunday, Mister G, Primate Fiasco, and School for the Dead will be on the River Soundstage at Taste of Amherst for the Meltdown afternoon.  Free music for the whole family!

Finally, and I’ll write a lot more about this, especially once we confirm the rest of the lineup, but on September 26 at the Pines Theater, we’ll have a CD release show for the Many Hands CD, featuring Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem and the Deedle Deedle Dees.  As alluded to, there will be more on that lineup — some pretty amazing additions, I hope — but for now, just be sure to write that date down.

Listen on-demand at our page at WRSI.com. And thanks to Randy Kaplan for stopping by!

Segment 1
TMBG – It’s Spare the Rock
-Ella ID
TMBG – Nine Bowls of Soup
Brian Wilson – Old Master Painter/You Are My Sunshine
Elizabeth Mitchell – John the Rabbit (live at Spare the Rock)
ID
Renee & Jeremy – Rely
Dean & Britta – Making Me Smile (Sing Me to Sleep)
Charity & the JAMband – Whatcha Gonna Bring (Rock Your Socks Off)
ID

Segment 2
Justin Roberts – 2 x 4 (Jungle Gym)
Frances England – Daddy-O
Lunch Money – Nightlights (Silly Reflection)
ID/prep to rock
Liz Phair (& Marc Dauer) – Everything’s Controlled by the Brain (The Body Rocks)
Alexandra & the Good Batch – DEMAND (Extended Playdate)

Segment 3
Quazar & the Bamboozled – Can You Picture That?
Angelique Kidjo – Move on Up
ID
The Pop Ups – Outside Inside (Outside Voices)
Recess Monkey – Science Fair (Final Funktier)
ID/Book Time with Ella (Magic Or Not)
Recess Monkey – Book Time Bed
SteveSongs – No Good Toys
ID

Segment 4
Randy Kaplan In-Studio (20:45)
– My Little Laugh
– The Kids Are All Id
– I Got Plenty of Nuthin’

Segment 5
ID
Rhythm Child – Everybody is the One
Michael Franti & Spearhead – Sound of Sunshine
Sippy Cups – Don’t Remove the Groove (Time Machine)
Madness – Our House
ID

Segment 6
Starfish – My Name is No (Enter Sandbox)
Royal Order of Chords and Keys – Central Park Kitty
ID
Board of Education – 8 Is A Number
ID
TMBG – Older (Mink Car)
TMBG – Spare the Rock

Thanks to Recess Monkey for the awesome new Book Time theme song!

Ella talked about the Edward Eager book Magic or Not? this week.  Click on its cover to find it for sale from an independent bookseller, or find a library near you!