Ever find yourself daydreaming about the day that your kid turns to you and says “Mom (or Dad) – I really respect what you do. I want to be just like you when I grow up”?
Yeah, I don’t expect to hear that either. But then again, I’m not a rock star. I don’t travel the world playing music for millions of people. I huddle in the corner, spending every single spare second of every single day on my computer. My kids think that Mama ignores them for a living.
But I got to thinking about kids who
have followed in their parents footsteps – and are well on their ways down their own paths to rock stardom.
Spencer and Sam Tweedy, ages 10 and 8 (pictured at right), are sons of
Wilco singer and guitarist Jeff Tweedy, and they have started their own band, The Blisters (no website for these guys - yet). The Blisters played along side Wilco at Lollapalooza 2006 in Chicago. Young Spencer is something of a prodigy, having been an accomplished drummer and songwriter since the age of three.
Eddie Van Halen recently announced that his 15 year old son, Wolfgang, has officially taken the place of longtime
Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony. Van Halen is gearing up for a 2007 world tour, and are rumored to be hooking up the band’s original singer, David Lee Roth. Says Van Halen, of his son’s musicianship: "If I excel at the speed of sound, he excels at the speed of light. This kid is just a natural."
I hesitate to refer to
Dan Zanes as a “children’s musician” since the term indicates adults dressed as Star Trek weirdos (The Wiggles), adults in freaky-ass wigs and make-up (The Doodlebops), or adults who sing in grating, off-key voices about dinosaurs and bumblebees (I’m lookin’ at you, Laurie Berkner). But Dan Zanes is this generation’s Woody Guthrie – sincere, socially conscious and tremendously talented. His 11-year-old daughter Anna sings backup on all of his albums, and tours with her pop when school permits.
Norah Jones, daughter of Ravi Shankar, the most famous sitar player in the world, sang in church choirs and majored in piano at the University of North Texas before her debut album, “Come Away With Me” won her 8 Grammy Awards in 2003. Her current project is a country band called “The Little Willies.”
Coco Hayley Gordon Moore, is the daughter of indie rock gods Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore of
Sonic Youth, and has been encouraged by her parents to dabble in experimental music making. Mike Watt’s 1995 album “Ball-Hog or Tug Boat?” includes a sample of baby Coco crying, and mom and dad recorded Coco screaming a cover of Yoko Ono’s “Piece for Soprano” on album four of Sonic Youth’s “SYR” series. She also appears on the cover of the “Murray Street” album.
Cool parents. Cool kids. Cool music. Just plain cool.
