Little Drummer Boy

On Tuesday night, my 10-year-old son, Sam, will make his public debut as a drummer in his elementary school band during the annual Sprng Concert.
Of course, being the father of four sons, I am a veteran of these long, slogging campaigns known variously as winter or spring concerts.
I'm looking forward to watching my boy bang the skins. Other kids, not so much. Listen, when it comes to these things, your kids out there are either prodigies or perfectly dreadful. And the odds definitely favor the latter.
I think the jury is still out on Sam, although the band director has enough faith in him to give him what Sam calls "a triangle solo.''
Now all my boys are familiar with an old "Saturday Night Live" skit wherein Christopher Walken was the producer of the song, "Don't Fear the Reaper'' and insisted on "more cowbell'' being laid down in the studio.
"Sam,'' I said this morning as he headed off to school, "tomorrow night in the quiet before your solo, maybe you should say, I've got a fever and the only prescription is more triangle.''
''You really think I should do that?'' he asked me.
Before I could answer, Sue came swooping down upon us like a raging figure out of mythology and let us know that she would be wroth if such were to come to pass.
Let's just say that tomorrow night's concert should pass without incident.