Father's Day Kitsch

This is basically a complementary entry to my tribute to my father Methmet Gokbudak
(1921-1983) and my second stepfather Donald Sullivan (1918-2003), two men I always remember on Father's Day.

When my mom recently relocated, I came across two vinyl records that I will always associate with dad and Donald.

One is a collection called "German Beer Drinking Music" which was recorded in Germany by Hans Braun and his chorus. I tried to find information about the record on the Internet which was to no avail. Shockingly enough, Diplomat Records in Newark, NJ, which made the record happens to be the name of a rap music label that was founded in 2002! Though I can not confirm when the record was released (my guess is 1962), there was an image of the album and a web site was offering to sell the record for $9.99.

More information was available regarding "The Fading Giant," a recording of steam engines made for O. Winston Link Railway Productions. The record was made in 1958 in conjunction with Link's famous photographs of trains in places like Roanoke, Va. (my hometown), Bristol,Va/Tenn. (there are two Bristols in two neighboring state which border each other), Rural Retreat, Va. and Welch, WVa.

The photographs taken by Link (1914-2001) became quite famous, especially in Europe and there is now an O. Winston Link Museum, housing many of his famous photographs, in Roanoke.

Donald was very fascinated with both trains and airplanes whereas my father was more into bicycles and his Porche.

I suppose all of us are defined by our favorite modes of transportation. I find the old slow boats in Istanbul, Turkey, where my father grew up to be very fascinating though it always seems like the boat to the Princess Islands will NEVER reach Kinali Island, the small island that is the first stop on the way to Buyukada, the largest of the four Princess Islands.

But, ultimately, I most fascinated by buses. I recently saw an abandoned passenger bus marked Knoxville, Tenn., on Route 220 near Martinsville, Va. I wondered what its' journey was, and how the bus ended up being left along a road that is some five and a hours away from its origin.