TIRnRR # 4, Track By Track: Meghan Jean Cafarelli, "Perseverance"

This is part of a series of short pieces discussing each of the 29 tracks on our new compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4. The CD can be ordered at Kool Kat Musik.



1. MEGHAN JEAN CAFARELLI: "Perseverance"

My daughter Meghan was eight years old (possibly as young as seven) when Dana and I began work on our first compilation CD, This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume One. Meghan was nine by the time the CD was released by JAM Recordings in 2004, and I don't remember how far in advance she recorded her track. She sounds so, so young on that CD, excitedly announcing This is rock 'n' roll radio! Come on, let's rock and roll with Dana and Carl!, then adding, I like that one a lot! 

How did all of that time go by so fast? How is it possible that this little, little girl grew up, and just graduated from college in May of 2017? I don't remember growing older; when did she?

Sniff. Gimme a second, folks.



I'm sure that Meghan doesn't remember a time before her dear ol' Dad had a radio show. In December of 1999, on the first anniversary of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl, my lovely wife Brenda brought four-year-old Meghan to the studio to help us celebrate the unlikely milestone of this silly little mutant radio show somehow hanging on for a whole entire year. Meghan wound up sitting in with Eric Strattman (whom she described as "a very nice boy"), host of the terrific show that at that time preceded TIRnRR on Sunday nights, Unsupervised, I Hit My Head. Eric interviewed Meghan on air, and she serenaded him with a quick rendition of "Ruby Tuesday" by The Rolling Stones. And yes, I do indeed still have a recording of that.

So it seemed natural to include Meghan on the first TIRnRR CD. When we did a second CD in (I think) 2006 or whenever it was, we enlisted Meghan's services again (We're back, with more POWER POP!). By the time we got around to This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume Three in 2013, Meghan was a high school senior, about to matriculate her way outta Syracuse for undergraduate life at Ithaca College. With the sass of an experienced teenager, she opened Volume 3 declaring Third time's a charm! And boy, could these guys use some charm! But the charm was all hers.




Another four years passed, seemingly in less time than it takes to type it. Dean's Lists. Honor Societies. Additional scholarships. A semester in London. Ten days in Israel. Praise. Accolades. Experience. And finally, a piece of paper that proclaims Summa cum laude. I like that one a lot.




And now, Meghan's back in Syracuse, pondering her next move. It is nearly inevitable that, whatever that next move will be, it will eventually lead her away from Syracuse. My heart aches. But it has to be. Sunrise, sunset.

But while she's still here, we asked her to record one more intro for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, and it opens our new CD: I've been putting up with these guys my whole life. Now it's your turn! This IS Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl.

Thank you, little pearl. And now it's your turn.



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