Speaker 1: M hmmm.
Speaker 2: Lock the pine trees lying in the winding rule. I've
gotten me. I've gotten me, I can singing bird and
the crooking tool.
Speaker 3: I've got a name, I've got a knee. Get to
carry it with me like my daddy did. But I'm
living my dream.
Speaker 1: Hello, my friends. I am recording this uh later on
a Friday night.
Speaker 3: Down way.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if anybody really gets it shit or not,
but I do think of Jewish family and I appreciate
everybody who listens to this podcast. It has been so
much to me over the past two years. And as
you know that, I've been dealing with some stuff with
my father and his health, and it has taken a
slide deeper down he is. We expect maybe by the
time you're watching this, he will no longer be on
the planet. And I thought I should say this because
it'll probably go dark for a little while. And I
hope that when the pirate ship fires up again, that
you'll be joining us and happy to be here. And
I do appreciate all that, But at the same time,
I don't know that I've ever had a loss like
this in my life. And I thought, after a couple
of drinks that started with at a tequila bar and
then ended up at a well with Guinness. I mean,
it's me, but I thought maybe we could I could
say and things. I played the Jim Crochy song because
my dad. I can remember him, and I can picture
it in my mind as I close my eyes now,
of him keeping the beat to different Jim Crochy songs
on my leg as a little boy in the front
seat of our green Pinto or his white Toyota, either
one of those. But I do remember that, and it
was just something that Jim Crochy will always hold the
special place in my heart because of my dad. Now,
my dad, just to let you know its taken obviously
a rather bad turn. I don't know by the time you're,
like I said, watching or listening even if you care.
He may no longer be on the planet, but he
was moved to hospice. And I am going to be
heading up to Maine. We're recording this at about eleven
nineteen on Friday, July eleventh, and I will be leaving
to go to Maine tomorrow. It's a weird thing, you know.
For I don't I can't speak for everybody else, speak
for myself, and thank you for indulging me a little bit,
my old man, and I think for most guys, was
like your first real hero, right, you know. He built
me the coolest room, and he built me a house.
And I never understood until I was an adult what
that really was. We're talking about a guy who grew
up in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and a tenement, probably had never
held a power tool in his hands until he built
my house. But my dad was a genius and he
was one of the funniest, funniest people I have ever
ever known in my life. And he was also a
great protector. Now, as you can imagine, I might have
bumped heads with my dad from time to time. It
was I mean, I'm sure you're shocked. He was very,
very strong and at times domineering and in the best,
most loving way. There are phrases that my dad said
to me that I say to my sons in things
like I'm not here to ruin your good time. I'm
just here to keep you alive. And that was something
that always stuck with me, even at fifteen, sixteen, seventeen
years old. I'll give you this story, and this is
going to be very brief tonight, and I again, thank
you for even taking a second to listen. Can you
imagine me like I was voted most likely to be
found looking for a party when I graduated in high school.
It's like, oh, I remember my dad being so mad
when I graduated high school because he goes dumber than
you got all these scholarships and you got nothing. I
don't know whether to shake your hand or kick your ass.
And if it wasn't for my mom's dad who stepped
in and goes, who whoa, whoa, whoa, it's graduation day.
Let's just let it go. Yeah, my dad was not happy.
I was not a great student, but I did very
well on some standardized says and things. So whatever meat
stuffing at this point. But my dad was a great
protector and he would always say to me, your father's
not dead. And there was a time where as I
told you, I had most likely to be found looking
for a party in the yearbook. That was my honor.
There was a party, and there were where we lived,
while rural was also a little bougie, meaning that a
lot of people from New York City, since it was
ninety miles out, would have country homes and things and
weekend homes that they would come up to. And I
do remember a friends of mine through a party and
they did it on a space that they knew the
people weren't going to be there for a while. Maybe
one of our friends watched their kids. I don't know
when they did come to town. I did not attend
that party, but there was property that was damaged and
the state troopers, and I've told this story before, so
I'm sorry if I'm being redundant. State trooper came to
my home and said, hey, Bill, liked to talk to
you about the party. And my old man, my dad,
was right behind me. Now, I want you to think
about this. You have such a reputation for partying that
the police are coming to talk to you about property damage,
even though they're aware you did not attend this party.
But they know you know some people that are around.
And this is before I mean self, Ah, we're going
back to the stone age basically right. There was no snapchat,
no social media know anything. So he says, Bill, I'd
like to talk to about it, and my father said, no,
you will enter the house. And we had this big
formal living room with the oriental Excuse me, A, I
don't even know if he can say that, can you
say that? It was like a Persian rug in there,
and big wing tip chair like chairs with wings on
the back and all this very formal living room. And
my father said, and sit down, and the guy goes, hey, Bill, listen,
I just want to know if you know anybody who's
at the party. My father said, excuse me, you will
address him as William. And I don't remember much after that.
I just remember that. And when the officer or state trooper, right,
he's just trying to do his job and find out
if somebody's pissed off their property gun damage, you can understand.
And thankfully it was not at the party. And I
may have known something, but shit, I wasn't saying I
wasn't saying anything. And my old man kind of had
my back on that. And after he left, he said,
your father's not dead. My dad has, even as an adult,
bailed me out of situations over and over again. I'm
not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing,
but I know it's a loving thing. And I am
a big believer in the fact that energy never ceases
to exist, and we are energy. We are in some
form eternal is my belief. That doesn't mean a hast
to line up with your belief. But I will say this,
it is odd, right, It's hard to figure out when
someone does pass on or is about to pass on,
where do they go and I can't see them anymore
and they're not here? And how do I carry on?
And what does that mean? I don't know. I don't
have the answers. When my father did say, your father's
not dead, and I will say that even as he passes,
he's not dead. He will live forever right here. He
will ever live forever right here. He was very funny,
he was very witty, he was charming, and I'm so
glad that about a week ago I had a lot
of time with him, and I remember leaving and I
gave him a hug and I came back and said,
like another hug, and he said I like that too,
And I said I love you and he said I
love you too. And So for anybody who's ever gone
through this, or is going to go through this at
some point, because we all will, I say, just remember
it doesn't die. Your father's not dead, your mother's not dead,
but your father's not dead. He lives right here. And
that's something that I will hold forever. The wisdom, the grace,
the critical thinking that he instilled upon me and my
siblings will be forever that and I thank you for
indulging me. I hope I'm not coming off too sappy. Uh.
It is a heavy time. And I hope that you
will join the pirates ship again when it is upright
and ready to start sailing. But we are going to
go dark for a little while I deal with this
family issue. And in the meantime I leave you Instead
of with one of my all time favorites, John Hyatt,
I leave you with another all time favorite and a
favorite of my dad. I've got Jim Croche. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Like a singing bird in the crooking tool. I've got
a knee. I've got a knee. Get to carry it
with me like my daddy Bottom, live on my dream
that he kept down the highway.
Speaker 3: Down Wait too many has a lot more pacified.
Speaker 1: I h