Welcome to the world, little
Reznor Lydon Lloyd, my second grandchild and first grandson. In fact, it is the first boy in the
Veasey line since my brother Mike was born way back in 1963, breaking a 45-year old male offspring drought in the family. His dad, Bill Lloyd, and his Aunt Kelly were there in the delivery room at
Hahnemann Hospital to help bring him into the world this afternoon at 12:11pm. Accepting the idea of such an unusual name was a bit of a challenge at first. As my own dad
quizzically but lovingly and
comically said to me today after informing him of the name:
'Gimme something that I can work with, Matty'. But as I sat in the waiting room at the hospital, the name wasn't the least bit important to me. I just wanted a healthy baby with all its parts where they belonged, and for my daughter to come through safely. All went well, and I was beaming when Bill came out and told me
'It's a boy!' They had intentionally not learned the sex beforehand, so we were all truly getting a surprise there.
'The Rez' as I have already taken to calling him, or '
Rez' for shorter, was named after his mom and dad's favorite rock star, Trent
Reznor. Of course, having your grandson named after a rock star will get you doing a little research. I have heard of the guy, but I have absolutely zero clue about him or his music. At 43-years old, Trent
Reznor is almost as old as me. He was born and raised in western Pennsylvania in a town called Mercer, which falls halfway between Erie and Pittsburgh. He was a synthesizer-band guy in the 1980's, and then in the 90's began to produce music which led to his forming the industrial/alternative rock band Nine Inch Nails. In 1997, Trent
Reznor was described by
SPIN magazine as 'the most vital artist in music', and was named by
Time magazine as one of that year's most influential people. He began playing piano at the age of five, and quickly came to be considered a musical prodigy. One of his earliest musical inspirations was David Bowie, and he was able to later tour with Bowie after
NIN gained popular and critical success. Starting with his earliest recordings,
Reznor frequently played all of the instruments on his recordings, a habit that he continued throughout his career. Nine Inch Nails literally is all of Trent
Reznor in it's studio work, though he does put together band members for touring purposes. The band is a Grammy Award winner, and
Reznor has also worked as a producer and supporting performer for many alternative rock contemporary acts such as Marilyn Manson, Tori Amos, and Saul Williams. He has been hailed as one of the best producers working in rock music today. Hey, I am a baseball guy, not an alt-rock guy, so naming the grandson 'Michael Jack' after
Phillies Hall of
Famer Mike Schmidt would have been more my taste. And hey, Matthew does mean 'Gift of God'. But my daughter, Christine
Veasey, and her fiancee' Bill are the parents of the boy, and the name was their choice to make. I am simply happy that he has ten fingers and ten toes, is healthy, and literally is one of the most beautiful babies that I have ever laid my eyes upon (his mom, aunt, and sister were pretty cute too, after all.) So welcome 'The
Rez' to the world, and say a prayer along with me for him and his parents: that they might all be happy and healthy in their lives for a long time, find some measure of prosperity in this world, and open their hearts and lives to let God have a place with their family. Oh, and here's to many chances to spend fun family time with his and sister Elysia Bellina's 'pop'. That would be me. I love ya,
Rez.
