Dreams of Dad

My dad's been gone for over 5 years now, but I still find myself having "If Dad Were Still Alive" fantasies. Often times, I have them when I am on the road for a while.

He used to own and operate his sign painting business out of my parents' garage, which I am sure was totally illegal, but, so what? It didn't bother anyone around us, to my knowledge. The loud motorcycles that awoke from the long winter hibernation and found themselves rumbling into our driveway in the spring had disturbance potential, I suppose. I just thought it was cool and made him - my dad - seem even cooler to me, as a kid. He would airbrush those wacky fantastical scenes on their tanks and artfully apply pinstripes with lacquer-based paints and quills to their fenders. It was always a party in that garage. His friends would gather there after work for a can of cheap beer, knowing that my dad was probably still cranking out the jobs. In the background (at least before he got all crotchety talk radio-like on us), would be 94. 1 (HJY, as Providence stations came in with far more clarity than Boston ones). I have marvelous memories of the garage in the summer time: Doors hiked up, artificial light spilling out onto the driveway at night, cigarette smoke swirling in the air and the sound of men's laughter. I was too young to contribute in any way to the goings-on of those days, but my one of my wishes is - if he were still alive, that is - to present him with a new CD player for his garage (the set-up he had was miserably out of date and of the poorest possible sound quality) and to make him a set of custom CDs with stuff we both enjoy.

Here's what the track list might look like:

Rambling Man - Bob Seger
Road Runner - Jonathan Richman
Thursday - Morphine
Message to Rudy - The Specials
Pictures to Prove It - The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones
Juke Box Hero - Foreigner
Crazy - Patsy Cline
Tokyo Storm Warning - Elvis Costello
Strutter - KISS
That's Life - Frank Sinatra
Love is the Drug - Roxy Music
Good Times, Bad Times - Led Zepplin
Walk Idiot Walk - The Hives
Peace Frog - The Doors
Sunday Papers - Joe Jackson
We're a Happy Family - The Ramones
Man in a Suitcase - The Police
Stay Up Late - The Talking Heads
Well, Alright - Buddy Holly & the Crickets
One Step Beyond - Madness
You Can't Always Get What You Want - The Rolling Stones