Punk Island Redux: Part 2 - Rambling Observations

I imagine this happens with all parents but there are times when I wonder if my own opinions are pushing my children in one direction or another. I wonder if I am projecting my own likes and dislikes onto them. In this particular case, I wonder if my musical taste and tendencies are pushing my daughter in the direction of what I like rather than what she likes.

Then I see her at an event like Punk Island this past Sunday and I know, it's not just me. This is her thing as much as it is mine.

Caelyn was dressed Sunday in her punk rock best.  Well, the best that we will allow her to have at the moment.  Dyed blood red hair, Ramones t-shirt, blue jean shorts and mis-matched pink and purple Chucks. Tattoos and piercings will have to wait until she is older. =-)

What is so interesting to me about all this is she is not playing dress up.  As one friend remarked, this is who she is.  I wasn't some excited dad trying to relive his youth though I was excited and had a great time. I was a father allowing his daughter to be who she was and flourish in her element.  And a festival loaded with a bunch of punks was just that, her element.

Caelyn was completely comfortable being surrounded by people with multi-colored hair, giant mohawks, and tons of piercings and tattoos.  She got excited and pointed out each Ramones shirt or pair of Chucks she saw.  She loved the music and demanded to be either right in front or on my shoulders so she could see.  She was also thrilled by the mosh pits.  She only wished she could join in.

We met one of the bands, The Furiousity, while waiting for the ferry.  Caelyn was shy for about 2 seconds and then joined right in.  They were great to us and especially to her.  They not only gave her some stuff to keep but made her a part of their group.  For a while she was in charge of their mascot.  Their singer came over to her a couple of times during their set and whenever we would run into them throughout the day, they made a point of waving Caelyn over and talking to her.  Caelyn loved every minute of it.

As a parent, nothing makes me feel happier than seeing my child happy.  And when that happiness comes due to the kindness of others, I feel particularly fond of them.  So while they probably will never read this, I can't thank The Furiousity enough.

In addition to the music, people everywhere were making a fuss over Caelyn.  Particularly the girls and women at the show.  Punk is a pretty male dominated scene and Caelyn had many girls of all ages come over to say hi and they liked her hair or her shirt or her shoes. 

We were approached by the drum instructor for Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls in Brooklyn to tell us about their program for when she gets older.  Caelyn also had a lot of cameras pointed her way throughout the day including one posed shot of the two of us together. 

I don't know what exactly it was that did it, but Caelyn had some of the toughest looking punks fawning over her. And not one person looked at her or treated her like she didn't belong.

When the day was over and the last band had finished, we made our way to the pier to catch the Brooklyn ferry.  Waiting on line for the boat to come, she met another little girl slightly older than her.

This girl was with her parents and they were simply there to explore Governors Island.  It took the two girls (Caelyn in her punk outfit and the other in her pretty summer dress) just a few minutes to become fast friends.  They spent the wait time playing in the dirt, walked hand in hand to the ferry and had to stay together through the trip back.  When it was time to go our separate ways, there were big hugs.

We spent the ride home listening to the Cd's Caelyn had gotten while she tried to convince me her hair should stay red for school the next day.  It was fine with me but she had been in the sun all day and was covered in sunscreen so a shower was a necessity and the dye was wash out.  Fortunately for her, Johnson's Baby Shampoo' didn't do such a great job on the red so she was able to keep it for school on Monday.

Punk Island Redux: Part 1 - Timeline

Fathers day has come and gone. Now is time for the memories of a day well spent with my little girl.

As mentioned in a previous post, my father's day plan was to spend the day with my daughter enjoying Punk Island 2011.  The event, which took place on Governors Island, brought together 8 stages of mostly local and regional punk bands.  The day ended with a set by British anarcho-punk band Zounds whose only other U.S. show took place the night before.

Father's day started off with my daughter joining me in our room and snuggling me for about 1/2 hour before it was time to get moving.  First, I had to find the present she created for me.  I was informed it was hidden somewhere in our room so I searched until I found it.

It was then time to go downstairs where I was not to see what Caelyn and her mother were doing.  A little bit later I was brought a very delicious egg sandwich which I happily ate.

After breakfast, it was time to get Caelyn ready for Punk Island.  This began with a very clueless daddy breaking out the Manic Panic and dyeing a very excited little girl's hair vampire red.  I can't claim it was a great dye job but she loved it and the overall results turned out pretty good once I got a little practice.

A Work in Progress

Around 9:45 a.m. Caelyn and I headed to Brooklyn to catch the ferry to Governors Island.  We arrived with plenty of time to catch the first of that days boats.

While waiting for the boat to arrive, I noticed the women in front of us had guitar cases and a bass amp with them.  I mentioned to Caelyn they were probably one of the bands playing the festival.

They introduced themselves and gave Caelyn a couple of buttons and some stickers with the name of their band, The Furiousity, written across them.  We spent the next 15 minutes or so talking with them.  When it came time to board the ferry, Caelyn asked if we could sit with them and they made sure she had a spot with them on the boat.

We spent the trip to the island talking music. During the conversation it came out the I had recently been to Governors Island and knew the layout so I became the navigator.  As we walked with The Furiousity to their stage assignment, Caelyn was talking, smiling, and in charge of their mascot.

Once we reached the stage, Caelyn was reluctant to leave the band.  They graciously told us we were welcome to hang out as long as we wanted but as they had a lot of work to do before they played, I convinced Caelyn we would see them later and should get out of their way.

We grabbed some lunch and roamed the stages until a band called In Circles caught our attention. Led by a powerful female guitarist/singer, Caelyn was taken in immediately and made her way to the front. After the set, she spoke to the singer for a little bit and left with a CD.

Up Front for In Circles

It was now ice cream time before heading over to see Born in a Cent followed by Titfit.  While watching Born in a Cent, we ran into some members of The Furiousity once again.  This would be a reoccurring theme throughout the day with us seeing them many times both before and after they played.

 

Ice Cream Time

  

When Titfit finished it was time to see The Furiousity perform. As we arrived at the stage, Ashley, their singer, waved Caelyn over to join her sitting under her umbrella away from the sun where Caelyn stayed until it was time for them to go on.

The Furiousity's set was tight. There were some technical problems with the stage but they put on a really good show.  Caelyn was jumping up and down and dancing and she wasn't the only one. It's too bad they are from Boston and don't play around here a lot or I would be taking Caelyn to see them regularly.

Ashley singing to Caelyn

Caelyn Dancing

Hanging Out After the Set

Once the set was over, we hung out with the band for a while longer and then it was time to check out more music.  We picked up a CD and while we would see them several times throughout the rest of the day, we didn't know that then so we said our good-byes.

Caelyn and I took a snack break with more ice cream before going to check out The Homewreckers.  It was a good set.  Caelyn, of course, had to be right in front.  A pit broke out behind us but she was oblivious to it.  If someone came close, I just knocked them back and she was none the wiser.  After the set, Caelyn met with the band and picked up some more stickers and a CD.

With The Homewreckers

By this time, it was getting late in the afternoon and the little girl needed to just run around so we played tag and checked out a sculpture exhibition contained in one of the old houses on the island.  Then, we just rested for a bit before ging to see Zounds, the last band of the day.

Zounds is an old British punk band that dates back to the late 70s.  They are right in my wheelhouse and sad to say, I was not familiar with them even though I know a lot of their peers.  I was excited to see them as was most of the crowd.  Zounds had only played one show in the U.S. before Punk Island and that had been the night before.

They were good.  Really good.  Caelyn was up on my shoulders for this set and we made our way as close to the front as possible.

Shortly after Zounds started, much to Caelyn's joy, a pit broke out around us.  I moved us over to the edge and keeping her balanced on my shoulders with my left arm, shoved people around with my right. When the pit closed, we moved toward the front again.

When the pit started a started a second time, I moved back once again.  This time I was about two feet or so from it's edge.  Caelyn started moving back and forth, kicking her heels at me like she was riding a horse until I moved over the pit's edge and could shove people once again.

When Zounds ended, I asked if she wanted to try and meet them.  She did so we made our way over and met the singer/guitarist.  After speaking with him for a few minutes Caelyn noticed a large, partially blue cymbal with bumps all over it on the drum kit.  She asked me what it as for.  I didn't know so I told her she should ask the drummer as he was still there breaking down his gear.

As he was telling Caelyn about the cymbal, he reached down and pulled out a clearly used drumstick and gave it to Caelyn.  She was thrilled and in a rare occurrence, speechless.  After leaving the drummer we ran into the bassist who commented he had a four year old and thought it was great to see Caelyn at the show.

Walking to catch the ferry back to Brooklyn, Caelyn held up her drumstick and proclaimed it the best music day ever.  I just smiled, a lot.