My Dad’s favourite creative medium was audio.
I have memories of my Dad pulling out blueprints, explaining a schematic of a sound system installation to my grade 2 peers (which, for obvious reasons, went over everyone’s head).
I have memories of every floor of our house reverberating with rock and roll as his band practiced for an upcoming gig.
I have memories of his rigorous sound checks before my wedding to ensure the audio was juuuuuust right.
Music and sound were a huge part of his life. My first words were practically ‘mic check, mic check’.
Today would have been his 69th birthday.
Like a family heirloom, I’ve carried an audio recording of my Dad and I reading my favourite childhood book together, recorded in the late 1980s. I’ve always known — deep down in my creative intuition — that there would be more to its story.
While he never got the chance to meet his youngest granddaughter born 4 years ago — having missed one another here on Earth by a short 27 days — we now have the chance to hear them read together for the first and last time.
Here’s Put Me In the Zoo (Part 2!), uniting grandfather and granddaughter through the magic of audio.
Happy birthday, Dad.
The circus is the place for you.
Music: A Kwela Fella by John Bartmann is licensed under a CC0 1.0 Universal License.