I guess it's one of my proudest moments as a father, seeing my son turn 18 and accordingly come of age. But then it's also mixed feelings and makes me realize how fast time flies. I mean, I know it sounds corny, a trite cliché, but it does seem like yesterday that he was born.
Anyway, I don't want to look presumptuous when I talk about his musical talent. Being a frustrated musician myself, I literally drool whenever I see David play the guitar. I often wish I could have learned to play an instrument, any! Last night I was watching this soothing jazz gig performed at El Savor by a local band and I couldn't help thinking what a great feeling it must be to play your stuff in front of an audience. And when I see David during his auditions and small recitals, I truly feel some healthy ENVY of him!
I didn't mean to actually do this, but early this morning I heard the news on the BBC that today (just one day after my son's) is Jimmi Page's 67 birthday. For those of you who may have not heard of him, Jimmi is the legendary guitarist of one of the greatest rock bands in history, British giants Led Zepellin, who I've always idolized since my teenage years. And I was wondering if I could pay a small tribute on this blog to good old Jimmi, undoubtedly one of the most influential rock guitarists, and indeed one of my son's many guitar heroes, when suddenly I sort of plucked up the courage to also post a video my son recently uploaded on YouTube and I had stored in the drafts file of this blog some four/five days ago. Especially when in it he's playing a cover version of two songs from possibly my favourite album ever, Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon. Please, don't think me excessively vain, it's just a proud father displaying his son's moment of glory in cyberspace, ha ha!
All I can say is that David's done "the full monty", so to speak: certainly the guitar playing on top of the band's backing tracks, but also the video recording on his mobile, as well as the painstaking editing, the audio-video synch in his PC ... May I say he's a genius in the making? Of course, I'm his proud dad! And believe me, he's got no idea I'm doing this. I'm not even sure he would like to know ...
Anyway, I don't want to look presumptuous when I talk about his musical talent. Being a frustrated musician myself, I literally drool whenever I see David play the guitar. I often wish I could have learned to play an instrument, any! Last night I was watching this soothing jazz gig performed at El Savor by a local band and I couldn't help thinking what a great feeling it must be to play your stuff in front of an audience. And when I see David during his auditions and small recitals, I truly feel some healthy ENVY of him!
I didn't mean to actually do this, but early this morning I heard the news on the BBC that today (just one day after my son's) is Jimmi Page's 67 birthday. For those of you who may have not heard of him, Jimmi is the legendary guitarist of one of the greatest rock bands in history, British giants Led Zepellin, who I've always idolized since my teenage years. And I was wondering if I could pay a small tribute on this blog to good old Jimmi, undoubtedly one of the most influential rock guitarists, and indeed one of my son's many guitar heroes, when suddenly I sort of plucked up the courage to also post a video my son recently uploaded on YouTube and I had stored in the drafts file of this blog some four/five days ago. Especially when in it he's playing a cover version of two songs from possibly my favourite album ever, Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon. Please, don't think me excessively vain, it's just a proud father displaying his son's moment of glory in cyberspace, ha ha!
All I can say is that David's done "the full monty", so to speak: certainly the guitar playing on top of the band's backing tracks, but also the video recording on his mobile, as well as the painstaking editing, the audio-video synch in his PC ... May I say he's a genius in the making? Of course, I'm his proud dad! And believe me, he's got no idea I'm doing this. I'm not even sure he would like to know ...
Then, in case you've never listened to Jimmi Page in action, here's the clip I had originally intended to embed. I'm sorry that I won't write at length about Jimmi, his enormous talent and groundbreaking technique, which has been so influential to so many guitarists after him, so the mix down below speaks for itself. Just for today, however much I admire the old rocker, the young apprentice has stolen the show. But happy birthday wherever you are, maestro!
You have got an excellent reason to feel proud!!
ReplyDeleteIt´s such a wonderful, really satisfactory feeling, being proud of your children
A proud mother ,(maybe not so proud as you right now)
NA2
Wow, such a moving post. I envy musicians since I heard that people who play an instrument never feel alone. I am always listening to music and, remembering Nietzsche -who had several great quotes about music- I can't agree more with him when he wrote "Without music, life would be a mistake".
ReplyDeleteBut, hey, cheer up, we can always learn how to play an instrument (what do you think about "castañuelas"? ha, ha!) or, much better, we can always being around those who play :)
P.S. For your son, awesome video! Can't help counting the days for The wall gig! By the way, following what the Mad Hatter sang in "Alice in Wonderland", A Very Merry Unbirthday to You!
María.