DADS DADS DADS

Lolita: What do you tell people about your facial tattoos? HOLLY BREWER (Humanwine): I was 16 when I got it done and there wasn’t much hubub in the U.S. about the Maori people then, so I didn’t actually have anyone mention the name Moko or Maori until I was about 19. By that time I was getting sick of hearing about it and not knowing who these people were talking about, so I did a little research. I learned that there were many tribes all around the globe who have women with facial tattoos on the chin. Since the Maori exhibit hit Boston, it seems as though everyone and their parents are now experts on the Maori people of New Zealand and they come up to me with their factoids to show off their newfound knowledge. It’s not that I don’t appreciate their learning; it’s just that it has nothing to do with me. People that are from New Zealand are the only people so far who can tell it’s my own design. Lolita: Oh, I was supposed to ask you about your dad. HOLLY: My Dad is from Laconia, N.H. and is an active member of the motorcycle community up there. When I was eight he took me out for a spin on his most prized Indian. I figured I’d dress up in my black jean jacket and matching skirt and when he came to pick me up at the house, he had already been riding around for a bit so the pipe was HOT and when I was climbing up I burned my right leg. Instead of taking me to the hospital or inside to get a bandage what does he do? He tells me, “Lemme see it, no, that’s alright” (because it really was just a little nip) and he drives me down to the beach bar where all his buddies were and he holds me up saying, “She got her first burn! She got her first burn! What a champ!” My bought me an ice cream, I forgot all about my leg after that. *** PETE CASSANI (The Peasants/ Beefy DC): My father fought for what was right. First he refused to die. At eight years old he got rheumatic fever. They put him in the death room at the hospital. Others died. He hung on. The fever destroyed his body, his heart, but he lived. Grew up, got married, had SIX kids!! Then he became a teacher and fought for teacher’s rights. Went on strike a lot. Also brought his Black friends to look at houses in the Lily-white suburbs. Helped them though the banks, the government and the people were racist. He never did what was safe or easy. He died at 48 from his damaged heart but he lives on in his kids and grandkids!! He also encouraged me to play guitar when I sucked! *** ERIK LINDGREN (Birdsongs of the Mesozoic/ Arf Arf Records): My father was known as “Big Bob” and was a big man in every respect. Very respected individual, straight shooter, and, boy, did he sure know how to use a grill. *** NICK BLAKEY (The In Out/Church): I currently don’t know where my father is, and frankly, don’t care to know either. *** DYLAN J. METRANO (Tiger Saw): My father was a rock critic back in the ’70s, and he met a lot of his favorite musicians. I was named after Bob Dylan, but the night before I was born, Dad was hanging out in Boston with Leonard Cohen. Thanks, Dad, for not naming me Leonard. Lolita: Leonard is not that bad—if you took to wearing dresses you could easily shorten it to Leona. *** MONIQUE ORTIZ (A.K.A.C.O.D.): My dad is an incredibly cool guy. He bought me my first bass when I was 12. We used to jam with his friends and record it to his TEAC 1/4 inch reel-to-reel. He’s an amazing Latin percussionist, vocalist, and can still move like James Brown. He got me into professional motocross racing when I was young—yup, I raced motorcycles ’til I was 18. And he restored my ’56 Chevy and my ’72 Beetle for me. He’s an inspiration. I love him so much! *** TIM MUNGENAST (Tim Mungenast & His Preexisting Conditions): My dad, John E. Mungenast, was warm, funny, eccentric, and a fucking genius engineer. His background spanned everything from steamboat mechanic to guided-missile technician. He was well loved by his egghead peers, who named an engineering award after him. When the East Coast had that big power outage a few years ago, the Department of Energy called my mom asking for him. They said they wanted to talk with him about how to avoid future recurrences. Unfortunately, he’d lost his battle with cancer a few months before. *** DAVE WESTNER (Woolly Mammoth Sound/ Tori Pyne): My dad can fix just about anything mechanical. If I crashed a plane in the middle of the desert, my dad could probably make the damned thing fly again using only duct tape, a coat hanger and pieces of a mechanical pencil. And I would actually trust him to fix it enough to actually fly the thing again. Lolita: Like father, like son—I hear that you’re very good at “fixing it in the mix.” *** SIMON RITT (The Darlings): My father was born in Ottawa, Canada where as a child he was photographed by Yousuf Karsh and went to summer camp with Leonard Cohen (“...little Lenny from Montreal”).*** DANA JEE (I Have Ears): I’m a better dad than he was. Lolita: Give it time—you still have a lifetime to go.