She's A Beauty

She's A Beauty

Another nice weekend. After about 2 1/2 hours sleep post-gig, I got up, took a shower, and drove the now-as-familiar-as-the-ba ck-of-my-dick trip down I-74 to see Katie. A variety of tunes for my listening pleasure, including an Australian compilation called Stariways To Heaven.

You gotta hear this. Some fo it is just stupid, but my favorites are when tribute bands to other groups do what they think Stairway would sound like when done by The Doors, The Beatles, and The B-52s. Funnier than shit. There's also an unholy corssing of Stairway with Viva Las Vegas. How can you say no to shit like that?

Lots of Robin Trower played by me lately. His singer/bassist James Dewar died a few years ago, and I've been appreciating him more lately. A very simple bass style usually. Just hammer the riff. Great riffs. Great grooves. Vocally, he just sounded huge - I've been singing along a lot with his low soulful vibe. Add in Trower's killer atomspheric Hendrix/r&b tunes and brilliant guitar, and you've got my kinda stoner music, and I don't even need to get stoned to be high off albums like Twice Removed From Yesterday and Bridge Of Sighs. I was a year or two old when these albums came out, dammit.

I'm her Daddy. You'd think I would be used to it by now. but I'm still blown away. When they answered the door, Katie was wearing a pink skirt and sweater, the sweater adorned with the word "Cutie". how right it was. Her hair looks better everytime I see her. I have a beautiful daughter. I'm still amazed by her.

But that's only the tip of a very warm iceberg. Hearing her voice again, as she talked to me about nearly anything and everything, and sang songs to the stuffed mouse I bought her later in the day, I was reminded again of how even in the strain of our marriage, Sheryl and I never lost sight of our main goal - making our daughter as happy and balanced as possible. We did a damn fine job, I must say. Every parent likes to think their kid is smart and funny and cute. When you're around kids enough to see how much of an edge yours DOES have, it's pretty damn gratifying.

And I have no CLUE how a little girl who seems to have got nearly all her physical traits from me could have somehow made them PRETTY. THAT is some magic I'll believe in.

I can't remember all she said, it was a lot to take in. But she's learning a lot of things (about birds, eyes, math, on and on) and she's got a confidence in her voice when she tells me about them that makes me very happy. She's a great kid, and it still hurts to say goodbye, but I know now more than ever that she's in her right place, and I'm in mine.

We went to the Cincinnati Art Museum. I'd forgotten that our aquarium membership had expired, and I'll renew it later. I figured we'd go to the art museum, then over to the big museum center from there. But I'd had no idea that there was a major Fine Arts Weekend going on across the city. I thought it would be like last time we were there, a fairly quick and quiet stroll through empty galleries, a few people here and there.

It took 10 minutes to find a place to park.

It was PACKED, and rather than adopt my usual "oh shit, there's too many people" attitude, I locked into Katie's excitement about what might be going on in there, and we rushed in, only stopping long enough once or twice to look down at the city from our path on top of Mt. Adams. It was beautiful. Snow had stuck to the trees and grass like paint. The light breeze was chilling, but the few flakes of snow dancing around gave the whole thing a serene calmness. It was about as Norman Rockwell a winter day as I've seen.

We walked some of the galleries, but there were other things to do too. We saw a puppet show downstairs starring farm animals. It was cute, if hokey and half-assed writing. The adults were obviously all bored. The kids loved it. Good enough.

The music upstairs was a treat. We walked in just as a girl playing flute finished up. Then three boys, maybe 8 or 9 years old, came out as a string trio. They played two short pieces. I'm not sure, but I think they were both Haydn, sounded like him to me. They were very good, too.

A steel band was up next. Bass, kit drums, extra percussion, and a guy on a big steel drum. I don't get too into most of that kind of music, but they were excellent and entertaining. And I quite enjoyed their version of Bob Marley's Jammin'. Very nice. Katie seemed to realy like it, though she was ready to move on after four songs.

After more walking around, and a long time sitting on a couch watching Katie looking through museum booklets, we went out just in time to hear a Japanese drum group. Vicious pounding rang through the halls. Several kids, mostly early teens, and a small lady in charge, were pounding the holy living mother of goddamn FUCK out of those things. The choreography wasn't amazingly difficult, the drumming itself not particularly technical, but the DELIVERY was stunning. They rocked, dude.

Katie's eyes were glued to them. We sat on the floor, her in my lap. I spent most of my time looking at here as she looked at them. Her big blue eyes were locked in place. I would be just about ready to say "Breathe, honey..." when she'd remember to take a breath. She had little to say afterwards except "That was REALLY cool, Daddy!" But she obviously got maximum enjoyment from it.

Such a different day than I thought it would be. A great surprise. Exposing my girl to different music, seeing a wide variety of art. It was one of our nicest days together, and I wouldn't trade a moment.

We drove up to Fairfield and Katie took a nap. I had in Zappa's One Size Fits All. Strictly Genteel, the "classical" compilation had been our drive music to the museum.

We drove past the weekly hotel where I'd stayed for the two weeks before I moved to Indy. Then to Jungle Jim's, where Jesus H. Christ Himself does his grocery shopping.

I've got some smoked mackerel for later in the week. We got some strawberries as well. I had some fruit in the car for dinner too.

We sat in the car eating and talking. She was relaxed. So was I. The day was winding down, and I was with my Katie. Very little except for the contentment and happiness.

We went to Half-Price Books for a bit on the way home. I found a copy of Hunter Thompson's Screwjack. And finally, I had to tell her it was time to leave, to go back to Mommy.

There was just the slightest touch of sadness in her eye. But not much. "I want to see Mommy. But I love you, Daddy. This was a great day together."

And with that, we went home.

I drove back with a Dennis Miller audiobook. Stayed happy. I miss my little girl a lot this morning, but I know the time we do have together is very good, and I'm working towards having more of it.

Back to work. A third day teaching added to my week starting tonight. I got a few great shots of the older lady's killer ass yesterday. Gig Saturday night. There's still a weird disjointed flavor to my existence, my base of sanity is still too far away. But she's there. We'll be together more often some day.

You're the best, Katie.

Love,
Daddy

0 Comments