Sunday Nights are performance evenings in our house- where each of us is given the "floor" to show-off what we've practiced during the week before.


My pores have been oozing music since the moment I was born and I share this love with all of my children daily. As I have mentioned previously here, Liam and I are both taking guitar lessons on Monday nights. Liam has this terrific teacher named Jasper who gives him hand-written lessons composed of the melodies for a variety of infamous rock n' roll songs. It has been fun watching Liam's confidence build as he masters each tune, particularly "Smoke On The Water," which he plays with particular fervor.

A couple of weeks ago Jasper assigned Liam the notes to "Iron Man," which at first I assumed was the theme song for the movie that debuted in theaters this year (and which my sons loved). But after listening hard to Liam attempting the song, I realized that it was, in fact, the Black Sabbath hit of the early seventies. I've never been a fan of that group, nor of Ozzy Ozbourne, growing up in an era where there was a lot of speculation and accusation of devil-worship amongst the hardest of the metal rockers, but I recognized, after watching their performance at LiveAid in 1985, that these were musicians with a lot of talent and the tunes were actually quite catchy. So last night, as on Sunday night, the kids and I took a gander on YouTube for some old "Iron Man" footage, along with what I consider the best of metal bands- Metallica, and the ever-talented, not metal, Freddie Mercury and Queen.

Watching Liam exude the passion for music that I felt as a kid, and still feel now, tickles me and provides us a way to bond with one another. Though I would prefer his tastes follow that of the less-vile genres in rock, I'm glad to see him come alive and understand the beauty that lies within this timeless expression.