“Stevie Wonder has a lot of bass!” —
Cedar Joaquin Muñoz
4-year-old, music critic
(taking out the Police’s 1979 album, Reggatta de Blanc)
Cedar: No. That’s not the one I like.
Dad: Show me which one you like.
Cedar: Where are the Police records?
Dad: Sound it out. What letter does “Police” start with?
Cedar: pa-pa-pa. “P”!
Dad: Yes.
Cedar: Where are the Ps?
Dad: Right here. All of these records are by The Police.
(Cedar flips through them all and can’t seem to decide which Police album he liked before)
Dad: Let’s give this one a try. It’s good to try out records to see if you like them.
(I put on Reggatta de Blanc)
Cedar: No. (listening) Not the good one. (sticking tongue out)
Dad: Well let’s give a listen and we’ll see what you think.
(later…turning the record off after side 1)
Cedar: No, see I didn’t like that one.
Dad: Okay, okay. (putting the album away) We can try a different one.
Cedar: Well, I liked it a little. Yes. It was okay, but not as good as the other one. Yes.
“Opera is terrible!” —
Cedar Joaquin Muñoz
4-year-old, music critic
Dad: Let’s listen to this.
(taking out an album of Highlights from the Barber of Seville with Maria Callas and Tito Gobbi)
Cedar: No. Is it punk rock?
Dad: No it’s not punk rock. Let me tell you about it. It’s really old. It came out before I was even born.
(track 1, the Overture starts, Cedar looks confused)
Dad: It’s called The Barber of Seville.
(no reaction)
Dad: Listen to all the sounds. Some bands have only a few people playing instruments in them, but for this music you have a lot of people playing instruments. Wow, listen to that.
(He listens)
Dad: Violins, tubas, flutes, cymbals, drums - it’s called an orchestra. Like when Curious George helps conduct an orchestra, remember?
(Cedar’s nodding. He’s distracted as he looks through records.)
(later…track 2, Largo al Factorum begins as Figaro makes his entrance.)
Dad: This is kind of funny. Listen he’s singing in Italian. He keeps saying his name, Figaro. Funny, huh?
Cedar: What is this music called?
Dad: ”Opera”
Cedar: Opera is terrible!
Cedar: Dad, where’s that one record I like.
Dad: (I’ve got a good guess, but I ask anyway) Which one?
Cedar: The one that’s blue and punk rock.
Dad: You mean The Mr. T Experience?
Cedar: YEAH! I want to listen to that.
Dad: Okay. Here it is.
(I put the record on)
Cedar: Why did they make the record blue and not black?
Dad: Guess they thought it was cool. Don’t you think it’s cool?
Cedar: Yeah. It’s funny.
(music starts and he begins jumping around and “jamming”)
Cedar: Dad, will The Mr. T Experience ever come to Oak Park? (outside of Chicago where we live)
Dad: Probably not. This record came out a long time ago. Daddy saw them in a show in 1995 and bought this record from them. We have a bunch of their records. I don’t think they are even a band anymore.
Cedar: What do you mean?
Dad: I think they probably broke up years ago.
Cedar: What’s broked up?
Dad: To “break up” means the people in the band decide to stop being a band.
Cedar: Why?!
Dad: Maybe they were tired of playing together…or they wanted to do something else.
Cedar: (Visibly upset) What?! Why? Call them and ask why they broked up.
Dad: I can’t call them buddy. Sorry.
Cedar: Why?!
Dad: I don’t even have their phone number. Hold on, I can tell you when they broke up. Let me look it up on the computer. Maybe they even have some other records we don’t have and we can get for you.
(he looks mollified by that prospect)
Dad: (googling) Well what do you know. They never broke up.
Cedar: What?
Dad: Buddy, they are still a band! In California.
Cedar: Really? YES! Can we go see them!?
Dad: Maybe.
Cedar: Will they come to Oak Park?
Dad: Probably not.
Cedar: Call them and tell them to come play at our block party.
Cedar Joaquin Muñoz
drummer, music critic, 4-year-old