Busted

Last night, in a driving rain, my youngest and I went over to Ross Dress For Less because she needed new shoes. I think she is now growing so fast that her feet are just bursting through each new limit the show industry tries to impose on her.

In any event, we found two types she liked (and bought both), the most striking a bright orange pair of sneakers.

As we were making these purchases, what kept going through my mind was something she had said on the way to the store.

"I never realized how much you love music, Dad." (We had been listening the to the local alt.rock station, Live 105.) "But then again," she continued, "when I think back, there have always been many clues that you do."

As she linked arms with me on the way into the store, I told her a bit about my past, skipping my youth and early adult years to the time when her older siblings were around her age and introduced me to Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Jane's Addiction, MGMT, and so on.

She came back at me with the things she's heard me play over the years -- Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, the Beatles. Okay, that does go back to my younger days.

But also, she noted, the Flaming Lips, the Ramones, Cheap Trick, the White Stripes, all courtesy of former girlfriends she remembers fondly; not to mention all of today's groups -- the Black Keys, Weezer, Rise Against, Foster the People, Foo Fighters, Social Distortion, Cage the Elephant, Mumford & Sons, which come down from her teenage brothers.

Then I told her of my love of classical music, especially Mozart, but by then we had parked so I never got around to mentioning my absolute favorite genre -- the Blues, like BB King and Lightin Hopkins, but also including white blues, which most people call country.

Later on, back home, I found this rendition of an old favorite, which is oh so relevant: