Skip to main content

Father-in-law


I have discovered on this sojourn with my teenage daughter that my destiny in life is to be the father-in-law of Nick Jonas from the Jonas Brothers. I could do a lot worse.

If you are unfamiliar with the Jonas Brothers, then evidently you don't have a teenager in your life. They are three brothers (duh), Nick, Kevin and Joe, who are pop stars. They toured with Hannah Montana; if you don't know who she is, then you don't have a television in your life. This summer, they're out with Avril Lavigne, an old family favorite of ours.

Nick is the sensitive, curly-mopped one who shares lead vocals with Joe, the funny, straight-haired one. Kevin, apparently, gets the shortest shrift as lead guitarist, sort of the Mike Nesmith of the band. (There is also another younger sibling, named Frankie, the 'bonus Jonas' who presently is seen scootering through his brothers' pictures but might end up like Little Jimmy Osmond or Andy Gibb...well, hopefully not quite like Andy Gibb, who died at thirty from myocarditis after battling drugs.) Their dad is a minister and a musician, and their mom is a chorister, so the lineage is pretty solid. The performing brothers all sport purity/chastity rings, which gives me considerable hope that Nick won't be damaged goods by the time he joins our family.

My daughter and I took a brief visit to her grandmother's place in Winston-Salem, and during the ride, I got schooled on the nuances of said brothers' catalog of songs, along with Miley/Hannah's tunes. I have always tried to listen with an open mind to what my daughter likes. We spent a lot of time Saturday mornings in New Orleans delivering flowers and listening to Britney, Avril and Lindsay Lohan. It wasn't always what I'd have wanted to listen to, I admit, but it did keep me in my kid's musical loop, so to speak. None of it was completely horrible.

I honestly enjoyed the songs I heard by the JoBros (to use the fan vernacular); they are all fairly rockin', with a reasonable amount of pop production tricks. "That's Just the Way We Roll" is giddy fun; "Hello, Beautiful", which Nick sings a lot of, is whispery sensitive, the kind of lyric line that my teenager likes. And sibling harmony, as evidenced by the Louvins, Everlys, Cowsills and the King and Williams families, cannot be beat--like slicing a single voice into several different notes.

I did fail my pop quizzes on which of the bros sang lead on whatever song was playing at the moment, although I bet I'd do much better now, with repeated listenings.

I've applied to be their MySpace 'friend' and although I haven't been approved, my daughter, ever the optimist, says it's only a matter of time. We can only hope.

They'll be touring all summer long (possibly for the rest of their lives, if they play their cards right) so maybe we'll cross paths at a Flying J truckstop late one night while the buses refuel. Perhaps we'll chat about high fuel prices, Les Pauls and the upcoming election. Maybe, in a life-imitates-Hannah Montana turn of events, they'll decide I'm the perfect guy, as they did with Billy Ray Cyrus, to co-write with them on their next album. (I doubt seriously I'd end up in their road band, as it's full of good looking younger guys already. It'd look like the bands I used to see at the Lusher School Crawfish boils in New Orleans, whom I always snarkily referred to as Some Guys with Their Dad.) I'll get our driver to snap a picture with me and Nick to send to my envious daughter, who I'll soothe with the promise of t-shirts and copious swag.

So, when all is said and done, Nick Jonas would be a welcome addition to the family; frankly, I'd be a lot more worried if my daughter was in rapture over any number of other more sordid lesser lights in today's pop world. (I won't name names but I'm sure you know who they are, unless you don't have a teenager or a television at your disposal.)

Comments

SUS said…
There's hope. Dude, I became a dB's fan at 14 (after my embarrasing, but typical, Duranie tenure). And many of my musical tastes have remained fully intact after all these years (Bob's Mould's newest release does not disappoint).

BTW, I believe that there is a special place in heaven for you having to listen to so much Disney-sanctioned tween hearththrob music (with an open mind).
Anonymous said…
My daughters are six and it's a steady diet of HannahMontanahJonasBrothersCheetahGirls.

Honestly, the stuff isn't all that bad. Obviously the folks writing the songs grew up listening to a lot of the same late 70s early 80s punky new wave stuff I was listening to - at least it sounds like it.
Deaconlight said…
Whew! For a minute I thought we were gonna have some conflicts until I realized that it is KEVIN Jonas who is supposed to be my future son-in-law, not Nick. I saw the JoBros at Greensboro last fall. Not quite Monkees calibre but darn close.

Actually, Kevin Jonas is just one in a long line of future sons-in-law - ranging from Matt Good of From First to Last to Cobra Starship's Alex Suarez to some guy Avalon introduced me to at Greene Street Club the other night. Well, she introduced HIM as her husband.

Not sure how many future sons-in-laws I'll have after Warped Tour tomorrow. It will be all the more complicated since we have press access and Avalon will be seeing her band buddies again. Both Matt and Alex will be there along with countless other potential beaus...

Hey we have an extra ticket to the Jonas Bros show at Charlotte July 29. Know anyone who wants it? It's a good seat! - ddt
Donna Lethal said…
Maybe that's what my dream was about last night ... trying to get you to flee from the Jonas Brothers Family Picnic w/me!

Popular posts from this blog

Back in the saddle again -- new shows and updates from Peter H

  Outside The Hit Shed, Durham NC Hi everyone, Getting ready to start back up again, after a year-plus out of action onstage. I have five shows opening up for  Tommy Prine (son of John) coming soon:     August 6 - Georgia Theater (Athens GA)     August 7 - Cat's Cradle Back Room (Chapel Hill NC)     August 8 - The Grey Eagle (Asheville NC)     September 3 - 118 North (Philadelphia PA)     September 4 - Rams Head (Annapolis MD) I'm also going to open for the Connells , whose new album Steadman's Wake is superb:     September 18 - The Eastern (Atlanta GA) You all probably already know about Our Back Pages  (by Peter Holsapple & Chris Stamey) being released on LP and CD via Omnivore Recordings, but if not, here's a link to the new video for "Today Could Be the Day." The songs on OBP are from the catalog of The dB's but given new and interesting treatments by Chris and me. I've been working in The Hit Shed, my home studio, over the months, writing a

Jungle gym

Day before yesterday, after school, I got to watch the five-year-old put hand after hand on the overhead ladder and get himself from one side to the other. It seemed like only days ago that he'd been struggling, worried about how to get from one rung to the next, how far down he would fall and how badly he'd be hurt if he did fall. Now he boldly traversed the ladder with me ten feet away, hearing "watch this, Daddy" and looking on, gapemouthed and amazed. I remember having that feeling about ten years ago, out at the lakefront park in New Orleans, watching my daughter struggling the same way for weeks of her trying and dropping to the sand, sadly defeated for all her effort. Until one day, she swung herself to the next rung, stayed attached then did it again with a look of intense exhiliration in her face. She was incredibly proud of her victory, as was I, and she has excelled at gymnastics and physical education ever since. There's one more child that I get to

"Back yet again!" says the Infrequent Blogger

(photo by Bill Reaves) I am inevitably confounded by the amount of time I let go by between posts here. My last post was February of last year (2022). You may ask yourself "what was he doing that prevented him from posting again?" and the answer is, of course, "nothing really." I forget I have this place to write my thoughts down for a waiting world to read, which would be helpful for me as well to empty my chaotic mind and make a little space. But since you're here and may be wondering what I'm up to, I'll try to fill you in. Mostly, I'm tending to home stuff. I do laundry and pick up groceries and a lot of domestic engineering that involves a broom, dustpan and mop. And sometimes that sweet shower glass cleaner recipe I found a while ago that makes it so you can see out again. We have a new junior at UNC-W and a new junior at Riverside High School, and they've been navigating their lives outside the nest. The high schooler just got her drivers&