TimmyDaddy: Call Me Maybe

By Tim Sullivan

(Editor’s Note: Tim Sullivan’s popular INtown Runaround has been a mainstay for the past two years, but he was ready to move on to a new project. The new TimmyDaddy column will focus on parenting and living in the city.)

Kristen and I used to wear our indie rock tastes like a badge of cool. If Pernice Brothers was playing a Tuesday night show at The Earl we were definitely there.  Built to Spill, Death Cab for Cutie, Bright Eyes, Grandaddy – these acts didn’t write songs as much as they plucked them from a perfect parallel universe and we soaked up as much of it as we could.  We even went so far as to name our son after the irreplaceable Elliott Smith and if you don’t know his music, well, you really should.

Our Elliott is now a sporty 5 years old and he has a 3 year old sister named Margo who, through sheer force of will, has become the youngest ever Head of Household in history. So you could say things have changed some. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed the Intown Runaround column for the past couple of years and you’ll humor my pivot in subject matter. Family life has engulfed me and I’m going to write my way out of the flames.

Don’t get me wrong, everything is excellent, albeit humbling, exhausting and tedious at times.  As far as the music goes, these past few years have sapped us of any cool we ever thought we possessed.  We have been more likely to rank the music aimed at our kids than to download Ben Gibbard’s latest solo project.  (The Laurie Berkner Band is probably the songwriting pinnacle for the 2-4 year old set, just saying…)

So Elliott started kindergarten at Oakhurst Elementary this year and every couple of weeks they hold an outdoor assembly called Community Circle.  I got a chuckle at our first one when it kicked off with a lively introduction set to the Jackson Five’s “ABC.” And it was very cute when a handful of kids read petitions saluting special efforts by fellow students and pretty funny when the school mascot Oaky the Owl does a dance and then reveals his true identity (different each time) to the ecstatic student body.

But then the roof came off.  The P.E. teacher led the kids in a flash mob dance routine to the song “Call Me Maybe.” It was epic. The energy and smiling little faces comprised one of the greatest scenes I’ve ever witnessed.  I think I might have cried. I hope no one was filming it. Who am I kidding? EVERYONE was filming it! I explained to a pre-teen next to me that I was 100 years old and I needed to know who was singing so I could download it for my kids. Carly Rae Jepsen is the answer for those of you playing along at home. I think she is 12, or 18 or something (Editor’s Note: She’s 27. You really are out of the loop, TimmyD) and she is a star of the Friday night dance parties in our kitchen.

Just like that, the type of music that used to make my ears bleed became the standard for carpool. We listen to Star 94 now. I could be a DJ there because I know the whole playlist: Pink, Maroon 5, Train, f.u.n. (who I have to admit, is actually pretty good), Katy Perry and a smattering of other acts that sound exactly like Katy Perry. It’s all bubblegum pop and catchy to a fault but it makes for happier car rides and that is pure gold.

“Call Me Maybe” is still Margo’s favorite song, but Elliott is sick of it.  I don’t think I’ll ever tire of it myself though.  It will always be the track that played the first time I saw my sweet, shy boy do a choreographed dance, on an outdoor basketball court, with a six-foot owl.

“Before you came into my life I missed you so bad, I missed you so, so bad.”  It’s prophetic, no?