The Call of the Pig

I've said it here before that you guys have a huge responsibility to your younger family members and your friend's kids. We are the influencers ... the ones that introduce the younger generation to new music, take them out to see their first band in a club, show them that being a music geek is a great thing. It all comes down to you to be the cool aunt, uncle, mother, father in your family. The one who seems to know everything. The one with an ipod filled with undiscovered new sounds.

Who will Danny, Siobhan, Victoria, Sammi, Toria, Antonio, Kara and Tristan get their musical influences from in our family ... the next generation of cousins don't have a "Peter" to depend on. Maybe James (whose is a successful musician in his own right) or Sara (a band photographer) will influence these teens ... or maybe cousins Brian, Michelle, Kerry or Marie will plan out the concerts and get them interested in new music.



Ever since I was young, Pete would supply the new music to listen to. I remember the first time Peter took us to the midnight movie in Greenwich Village to see The Wall. I was out with his friends and my cousin Nancy. Peter  bought buckets of popcorn with soda and Hershey bars. It was so much fun being out with the big kids and then having an opportunity to talk about the film and listen to the music with people much older than me.

When I wasn't being introduced to mainstream music, Peter would come back from seeing bands or touring the country with music for us to listen to. He'd call out his favorite pig noise, saying, "here kiddy piggies" and we'd race over to him to see what he had. I remember being given White Zombie to listen to, as well as Twisted Sister, Biohazard, Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, Crumbsuckers, Urban Waste, Sheer Terror.


The last time I saw him at his sister's house, Peter told me he had a box of cds for me to look through and share with the cousins. He said he met lots of talented artists and got reacquainted with musicians from the past that he thought he'd like to tour with again. That box of cds is sitting at my aunt's apt waiting for us to pick through. But it's not the same. The sound of Pete's pig call and his comments about the individuals who handed him the cds were always priceless.

                                      ***************
Finally, a little recognition from press to compare TON's "Unsuccessfully Coping With the Natural Beauty of Infidelity" with other bands songs about similar subjects:

http://www.thedailyrock.com/2011/09/05/converge%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98jane-doe%E2%80%99-turns-10/
Ratajczyk Family11 Comments