We met up with my parents in NY to see All Good Things at the NY Fringe Festival this weekend. It’s about The Remains, a rock band my dad formed in the 1960s. Strange to see someone play my dad at 21 (and who looked a bit like me…). While my dad as a young man wasn’t addressing me directly from the stage, I did hear some life lessons that (I think) he always wanted me to understand; they were woven into the creative triumphs (and administrative failures) of The Remains, who managed to play the Ed Sullivan show and tour with The Beatles and coming so close but never getting what they perceived as success: a Top 40 hit song.

All in all it was a great show, very energetic, and I could see a lot of potential in it. I was surprised by the versatility of the whole cast and crew— they had to set up the entire theater, including a few hundred folding chairs, in the 45 minutes before show time. But everyone had a blast, on stage and in the audience. It got some good press, too, so who knows what could happen with it next.

Karl’s been really helpful with my work to figure out what my “calling” is, and whether that’s a worthwhile exercise or just a distraction. We realized it will evolve, and that I don’t need to answer the question “What shall I do with my life?”, but “What shall I do right now?” is good, and the greater life-level stuff will yet emerge. He is facing a similar 20-something crisis at the moment, but I think he understands better what he needs to do about it.

On a whim, we took a boat out to Ellis Island. This is one of the best tourist deals in NYC. $10 bucks gets you a boat ride out to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Ellis Island has a great (and free) museum about immigration history and the history of the facility. We also found my great grandparents, Vahan and Nazelie Tashjian from Armenia, on a plaque:

(the j was later removed to simplify the American pronunciation)