When you have kids there’s this thought that goes on in your head, and it repeats endlessly: I hope my child likes the same sort of things I do. It’s not that I want a carbon copy of myself, but I don’t want to raise a child who dislikes everything I do. Of course I don’t agree with my mother on anything, so perhaps it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Sofia smiles as Matt Kutrz plays in the background
I love music and seeing bands live, and it’s something I hope to share with my daughter as she gets older. To get her excited about seeing bands live, I try and take her to musical venues in the hopes she’ll remember them fondly as she grows up. A couple of weeks ago I took her to see the Cracker at AthFest (where she said hello to the lead singer after the set – she’s such a precocious 3-year-old), and last weekend we went to a smaller festival called Burger Fest at Little Kings bar in Athens.
I hear you – a 3-year-old in a bar! But wait – this was a Saturday afternoon show, other kids were there, and they were serving burgers to commemorate the traveling show put on by Burger Records, a label from California. It started at 3 p.m. and featured 13 bands playing pop, punk, electronica and surf music.
Sofia and I arrived just as the first band was starting – The Matt Kurtz One – and we watched the one-man show rip through some riotous songs while eating gummy bears on a chair in the back of the room (it was a loud, but no so much from the back). The second band, Timmy Tumble, was a guy who roamed the room singing along to taped tracks while doing calisthenics. Sofia watched him in amusement, as she jumped from chair to chair in the bar.
We caught a bit of the third band before heading home for dinner. While I do want to enjoy going to bar shows with her dad, I’m not about to keep her out all night.
We’ll wait til she’s 10.
Timmy Tumble
