A Jazzy Fathers Day Weekend

Have a Jazzy Father's Day!

I dressed my sons Griffin (8) and Kai (6) in their most unwrinkled finest attire.  I wore my Vintage red dress and we hit the town.  The Berkeley Repertory Theater is currently performing a Piece based on the Life of Jazz Composer George Gershwin.  My personal Idol.

Entire BART ride to Berkeley, my sons cried of their tight dress shoes and button-up shirts.  I told them, "Too bad, we're seein' Gershwin.  Get over it."

We arrived and could smell the expired Chanel Nº 5 and Ben-Gay Arthritis cream.  Canes and walkers and gentle conversations of pre-show chattering.  I loved it all.

My son looked up at me, "Mom, I've never seen so many old people in one place!"  Immediately, I took a large side-step hoping no one would recognize I was their mother.

Everyone methodically filed quickly into the theater from the lobby, making way to their seats.  Damn, the usher had spotted me and placed my sons next to me.

The lights dimmed. The show began. 

Then it ended. 

Not.  A.  Dry.  Eye.  In.  The.  House.

The end of the show, I thought back twenty years ago when I couldn't figure out how to read Gershwin's Sheet Music.  I was so frustrated.  I called my Father, who'd been born and raised in the Bronx.  I put him on "speaker" and set the phone atop my piano ledge.  I begged him to listen and correct me while I played the notes.

As I played Gershwin's 'Rhapsody In Blue' my Father yelled over the speaker, in his Bronx accent, "NO, F SHARP! F SHARP!  …There Ya go Doll! You got it Kid!"

Thanks Pop.