All in the Family (excerpt from chapter 1)

In your own house, the music in the air catches you at an early age. Although rock and roll originated in the late 1940s and early 1950s, it didn't gain radio play until Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" in 1954. On radios in my house, I recall hearing non-rock songs throughout that decade: Eddie Fisher's "Oh, My Papa," Perry Como's "Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes," Patti Pages' "Doggie in the Window." Elvis, the Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and all the other rock pioneers didn't interest my young ears. I only enjoyed the silly songs such as "Purple People Eater," "Witch Doctor" and "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini."

If someone asks if I came from a musical family, I always say yes. Our family members enjoyed listening, singing, dancing and some even played instruments. But we didn't breed famous musicians or singers. We were a typical working class family. It's interesting, though, because the music really emanates from my mother's side of the family, much more than my fathers'. The difference became obvious at the annual family picnics. With my Dad's family, picnics centered on the place, usually the Franciscan Brothers Seven Dolors Shrine in Valparaiso, Indiana..a nice place to picnic, but a really spiritual environment. I recall food, beverages and card games, not music unless it was from a background transistor radio or the hourly church chimes.

My mother's side of the family loaded up on picnic food at their public park of choice. Then the uncles and aunts would break out their musical instruments and gather in a circle. Two instruments were usually featured -- ukeleles and harmonicas. The music was traditional Slovak songs ermerging from their youth -- the 1920s, 1930s and all those wartime favorites such as "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree." Today at picnics, car surround-sound systems or mini-stereo systems blast out the songs of Gwen Stefani, Coldplay, Tim McGraw, Kanye West -- the music of another generation. But the song remains the same -- family or friends gather with music as a uniting factor, whether you like it or not.