Kids And Music

I wrote thye book Daddyhood which is about life with my two boys. There's a chapter in it titled Teen Culture that lists the problems with children today. And one of the problems is the music they listen to. It's all about violence and rape and drugs. Rap music and hip-hop degrade women. All they sing about is how much money they made and the drugs they do and the way they treat women.

I live near Durham, NC the home of Piedmont Blues. That's right, we have our own kind of blues music in NC. Piedmont blues is where beach music came from (East coast beach music, not west coast). And that's what my son listens to. I'm raising him on good music. I'm not letting him listen to rap, hip-hop or watch MTV. He sleeps to jazz and he likes blues.

What are your children listening to. Do you have any idea? You need to keep up with what they're listening to and what their friends are listening to also. It's the only way we're going to raise our children right. We can't count on our government to do anything. They're only looking out for themselves. So let's loo out for ourselves and our children.

A Changed Man

Before my first son was born I did drugs, smoked pot and drinked myself into oblivion. It came with the territory. i was a professional comedian and worked in bars every night. It was there and i did it. When my son came along I realized that if I was to raise him right, I had to get right first. So I gave up my career and the drugs and pot and alcohol and I became a changed man.

I thought I had gotten rid of all my pot stuff like the bongs and roach clips and pin s and t-shirts and stuff, but my son, who is now six, found a pin that I still had with the words, "A friend with weed is a friend indeed" on it. So he put it on his shirt and wore it to school like a sheriff's badge. And he got sent to the principal’s office. She called me and said if I wanted the pin I could come to school and get it.

I declined, of course. I just told her that she could have it or throw it away. Now I’m searching the house for every little thing I can find that relates to pot. After all, I’m on the PTA board. I don’t need this kind of crap in my life.