The Wind and Sleet

I had bought my nephew a leather jacket when he was younger.  It was a hit.  He was only five years-old, so it was wasn’t something he was going to have a strong opinion about.  Everyone thought he looked cute.  Now he’s twelve. 

I’ve done electric guitars, amps, drums and lots of albums, in years past.  Intergenerational gestures I made certainly to my stepson and daughters when they were growing up.  So, I have another chance to suggest how much I love this music or these musicians.  But kids don’t want albums.  What’s the point?  All the songs are free and ubiquitous.  Of course, vinyl sounds different even on a close-and-play turntable and the tactile magic of the large photo front and back speak to something special, much as I might have engaged with a daguerreotype at that age. 

Christmas doesn’t wait for you to figure these things out.  It arrives, day by day.  The thin window of during which a timely delivery is possible narrows down to now and you’ll need to decide.  Among other things I hit ‘send’ on was the double vinyl original edition of “Quadrophenia” by The Who and a mod-parka.  Would a mod-parka be cool to a contemporary twelve-year-old as it was to me at that age?  Would “Quadrophenia” even remotely interest him, like the rush I felt when I saw the film at about thirteen years of age?

I managed to watch, amidst the frenzy of present openings when he got ahold of the package with the coat.  He pulled it out and eagerly put it on to discover that it was about three sizes too big for him.   I’d have worn an XL, so I think of “medium” as tiny but on him it was droopy and comic.  We discussed how to return the thing and precisely what his proper size should have been. 

Most of Christmas went well.  The book I got my mom she and everyone else had already read a few years back.  My nephew was polite about the album, though it didn’t seem to be of much interest.  I’ll need to try again with the ‘wartime coat’ as Pete Townshend sings, for the ‘wind and sleet.’  I ask and we share a few clips of the Rutles movie on his phone.  But we didn’t have time for Jimmy and the scooters today, as I'd imagined we would. 

Wednesday 12/25/19