I was especially thrilled and proud to sing at UT Night at the Trail of Lights this year because for the first time Maile AND Anais both joined me singing on stage. We sang, walked the trail, sat with Santa and rode the Ferris wheel. Lots of love and lights. Special thanks to stage manager Breck for snapping some photos of us onstage.
Friends and family gathered at the Skye Dance ranch to remember David Mandot recently. Bek led the sharing of stories which you can hear in the audio below.
We gathered in the pavilion at Little Stacy Park on the first Sunday of June – 6/4/2017 – and had a great time singing Dylan songs. Here are a setlist, video and a few photos, below. The video features our versions of All Along The Watchtower, Subterranean Homesick Blues, and Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.
One of the wonderful things about the family I married into is the music. Maile’s dad Joe put himself through college playing in a band (that his dad managed) and has been a lifelong guitar player with a band on the side. My kinda guy. (On my first date with Maile she told me that as a little girl she used to fall asleep in the fuzzy lining of her dad’s guitar case. I remember thinking, “This girl is for me!”)
I had heard about the Good Time Dance Band from their time in Hawaii. Now Joe has shared with us some old converted VHS video from a gig that the drummer, Jim Coulter, posted on his site. Joe sings his first song at about 6 mins. See his description below.
Joe’s history of the band:
The Good Time Dance Band formed in the late 70s in upcountry Maui, Hawaii. Their popularity was due to the fact that they played Classic Rock, Country Rock, Country Smooth Jazz and popular Hawaiian music. They were very eclectic in their repertoire and as a result they were very popular on the hotel circuit and played frequently around the island.
The main band members consisted of Joe Broccoli, vocals and guitar, Jim Elliott, bass, harmonica and vocals, and Jim Coulter, drums and vocals. In later years they added Larry Givens, guitar and vocals, and John Neff, piano, bass and guitar. This video features Broccoli, Elliott, Coulter and Givens playing at the Maui County Fair in the early 1980’s.
This post is to remember my father, Sven Eric Molin, who died when he was 57 and I was 15. I’ve begun gathering here all the stuff I can find online, first by simply searching “Sven Eric Molin.” Brother Pete shared the wonderful obit of our dad, lovingly crafted by his college roommate and lifelong friend Alden Vaughan.
Obituaries
Sven Eric Molin ’50
Sven Eric Molin died November 5, 1987, after a life-long struggle with diabetes. Amherst friends who knew Eric well may recall his daily insulin injections and occasional seizures. In recent years diabetes had affected his eyesight and circulation; he had endured several operations. Through it all his mind stayed as sharp as his wit, and to the end he remained a dedicated teacher and scholar.
Eric (“Tink” in those days) came to Amherst from Rochester, N.Y., and subsequently from Wilmington, Del., where his parents moved when he was in college. At Amherst, he was an avid student of English literature and a fund of knowledge on all kinds of music. (I still see Eric deep in conversation with Lionel Hampton in the Thete Delt bar while Hamp’s band, weary from playing the Senior Prom, waits impatiently for post-concert libations.) Eric was active in the college band, college radio station, and Thete Delta Chi fraternity, which he served with uncommon intelligence and diligence.
After Amherst, Eric earned an M.A. at Columbia Univ. and a Ph.D. at the Univ. of Pennsylvania. He taught briefly at Ohio Univ. and for many years at Randolph-Macon Women’s College before joining the English department at George Mason Univ. in 1971. At various times in his career he held temporary positions at Columbia, C.W. Post, and the City University of New York. He was also a Fulbright lecturer in Finland and a research fellow in Ireland. Besides his teaching and administrative responsibilities at George Mason, Eric served for the past several years as his university’s representative to the Folger Library’s Institute for Renaissance and Eighteenth Century Studies.
Eric was devoted to both the institutional and the intellectual aspects of academic life. His students valued him as a stimulating and dedicated teacher; his colleagues cherished his wise counsel and deep commitment to quality education. At George Mason he was, at various times, a member of the University Senate, the Graduate Council, and the European Studies Committee, and he coordinated the Freshman Writing Program; he was also active in the American Association of University Professors. With equal dedication, Eric contributed to literary scholarship. To his fellow specialists in literature, he was an authority on eighteenth-century fiction and drama and the author of important journal articles, co-author of Drama: The Major Genres (Dodd, Mead, 1962), and co-author of a work-in-progress on the early nineteenth-century American theatrical entrepreneur, Dion Boucicault. Eric pursued his intellectual interests with fervor and energy until the end: a week before his death, he read a paper to the annual conference of the American Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies.
It was my privilege to know Eric even better in recent years than when we roomed together in the 1940s. Time had dimmed none of his puckish humor or his affection for music or his passionate commitment to a variety of causes. On my frequent visits to Washington, we reminisced about old times, caught up on university gossip, and shared our current professional and personal enthusiasms. We had abundant opportunities to do all those things in the summer of 1985, when my wife and I moved into Eric’s house in Arlington, Va., for nearly two months; he was there much of the time, between trips to Ireland, Rochester, and elsewhere. The three of us (and our dog) formed an unconventional but very congenial family. I shall sorely miss Eric, as will legions of his friends, colleagues, and students.
Eric was married twice and had five sons, two of whom graduated from Amherst: Karl Teo (Ted) Molin II, ’78, and Franklin Bache Molin, ’86. Contributions in memory of Sven Eric Molin can be made to the George Mason University Foundation and to the Diabetes Association.
— Alden T. Vaughan
SVEN MOLIN, PROFESSOR AT GMU, DIES
November 7, 1987
Sven Eric Molin, 58, a professor of English literature at George Mason University since 1973, died Nov. 4 at his home in Arlington of the complications of diabetes.Dr. Molin was born in Rochester, N.Y. He graduated from Amherst College and earned a master’s degree in English from Columbia University and a doctorate in English from the University of Pennsylvania. He was a professor at Ohio University and at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Virginia before moving to the Washington area about 14 years ago.
Dr. Molin was a member of the American Society of 18th Century Studies and had represented George Mason University on the executive committee of the Folger Institute.
His marriages to Ann Molin and Barbara Molin ended in divorce.
Survivors include four sons by his first marriage, Karl Teo Molin II of New York City, Army Lt. Peter Castle Molin of Fort Benning, Ga., and John Bickford Molin and Franklin Bache Molin, both of Arlington; one son by his second marriage, Jason Eric Molin of Washington; two half-brothers, John McCauley of Wilmington, Del., and Edward McCauley of Rochester, and one grandchild.
1956 Ph.D. Graduate
Dissertation Advisor(s): Arthur Hawley (Joe) Scouten
“John Wesley’s Techniques in Revising Literary Masterpieces for His Methodist Audience”
We had another great annual installment of my bday singalong – I turned 44 on Monday, a day after the singalong – on Sunday at Barton Springs. My main man Doug showed up with guitar and played along with us. It was a beautiful morning.
Here is the story of my January, in pictures, songs and videos. We started the new year by hosting a New Year’s Eve dinner.
Gray, playing guitar for us after dinner, by the fire
Maile, Anais and I spent a lazy Saturday afternoon with Townes having a picnic and wandering around Zilker park.
Anais and Maile, running w Townes at Zilker parkAnais and Townes, kissed by the sunAnais, making a heart with her armsMy tall shadow, waving atop the big rock in Zilker park
Anais snapped these shots of us at dinner one night.
Dad eating dinner, by AnaisAnais selfie with adoring dad
Our first week back at work I ran AV for the Black Student-Athlete Summit. Here is a UT-Austin panel of collogues.
Leonard Moore moderates a panel with Thais, Darren, Louis, Devin, and MJ
While I was helping run the BSA conference, my brother Pete was in town to attend the MLA conference and present with a panel of War Lit writers. It also happened to be free-week at many clubs downtown, so we walked 6th St. and stopped in a few clubs on Red River.
First we hit the Mohawk and caught a band, then singer-songwriter Ben Ballinger.
Ben Ballinger blowing the harmonica at the Mohawk
Then we hit Cheer Up Charlie’s to meet up with Pete’s fellow panelists, Patrick and AB. We arrived to Girls In The Nose , a band of older women. They were great. A friend informed me that they are a lesbian band that’s been going for decades. And what a refreshing contrast to the cool, unintelligible band that was playing for hipsters next door.
I was smiling before I could see them because as we walked in they were singing about the “pedagogy of the pussy.” Then there was “More Madonna, less Jesus!” My favorite, that was in my head for days, went, “We juxtapose the pantyhose with FREE-DOM, FREE-DOM!”
Girls In The Nose at Cheer Up Charlie’sPeter, Lauren, AB, and Patrick at Cheer Up Charlie’sWar Lit Panel at the MLA Conference: AB, Patrick, Stacey, Peter, and RoyAnais with a pretzel monocle (downtown waiting for Peter’s panel)We had a beautiful Sunday Singalong sitting in the sun at Stacy ParkAnais got a bunch of awards!We biked the boardwalk and had a picnic with all the lovies.All the lovies at the picnicOPNTHDOr (some artwork of Anais’s I found going through a box of her art)A glimpse into Anais’s tiny worldAnais’s room, after she spent a long time cleaning and organizing
Gray and I jammed at his place. Check out the selections below.
Gray’s Delay Delay, which can be heard in our jams below
I photographed and video taped the UT MLK Day ceremony and march to the capitol. Jessica edited it together into the video below.
Girls scouts at the MLK statue on MLK Day
This little guy stole the show!
Marching to the capitol, we ran into Casey and Natalie, Georgia and Adele (lower right w Anais)A misty shot of the river on my morning commute along the boardwalkA full-moon over the sunset from the boardwalk on my commute homeA day at the Menil with Maile’s folks, Joe and EllynMaile and Ellyn, lounging on the grass outside the Menil, with my approaching shadowA curl of steam on my tea makes an “e”Looking up at the cedars in the front yard at Tomball
Maile took me on a great date to see Kool an the Gang at the ACL Live stage.
We FINALLY took Anais out on our kayak and it was a magical morning on GORGEOUS dayEpic bday jam at Gray’sGray and his blue Telecaster on a sea of color
And I’ll end with a song that I improvised one night in the studio. Channeling Mark’s frustrations with DC, I looped some vocal lines and spit this out:
We resumed our Singalong for the New Year in Little Stacy Park. I was thrilled to be playing a new, handmade guitar that I got for Christmas. Check out this beauty and listen to how nice it sounds as we sing, below.
Brother Franklin Bache Molin died suddenly, unexpectedly on Sept. 29, 2015, at the age of 53. Too young, too sad. No words.
This post is to pull together all the Franklinalia I could for myself, family, friends, so we would have a place to find info, pictures, music, memories, when we want to visit the brother we lost. I’ll keep adding to this page, especially before and after this weekend as we mourn together.
Franklin Bache Molin died at home in Arlington on September 29, 2015, after a long illness. Molin, born February 26, 1962, in Lynchburg, Virginia, attended Washington-Lee and H-B Woodlawn High Schools (class of 1980) in Arlington before graduating from Amherst College in 1986 and George Mason University School of Law in 1992. He practiced law in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for many years before returning to Arlington several years before his death. At Washington-Lee, Molin was a member of both the varsity football and gymnastics teams. He also attained Eagle Scout status as a member of Boy Scout Troop 648 in Arlington.
Molin was nationally known for his expertise in intellectual property law. In Pittsburgh, he was a partner at K&L Gates LLP, one of the nation’s largest law firms, where he handled the accounts of many major national corporations. He also taught intellectual property law at Duquesne University School of Law and published numerous articles in law journals.
Before turning to law, Molin was an active participant in Washington DC’s punk rock music scene in the early 1980s. He helped make H-B Woodlawn an important site for punk shows and later played drums for Iron Cross and guitar for Thorns, both local bands. He also played guitar for several years for Bomb, a San Francisco psychedelic punk rock band.
Molin is survived by his widow Elizabeth Barr Molin and his three children Benjamin Franklin Molin, Louisa Elizabeth Molin, and Caroline Bache Molin; his mother and stepfather, Ann C. and Jackson C. Boswell, of Arlington; his brothers Karl T. Molin, Peter C. Molin, and John B. Molin; and a half-brother, Jason E. Molin. Molin was preceded in death by his father, Sven Eric Molin.
My beloved younger brother Franklin Bache Molin ’86 passed away on Sept. 30, 2015, in Arlington, VA, after a long illness. He was 53 years old. Franklin was survived by his wife, Elizabeth Barr Molin, and three children, Benjamin Franklin Molin (Harvard College ’18), Louisa Elizabeth Molin and Caroline Bache Molin, all of Pittsburgh, PA. He was also survived by his mother and stepfather, Ann Castle Boswell and Dr. Jackson C. Boswell of Arlington, VA; his brothers Karl T. (“Ted”) Molin ’78, Peter C. Molin and John B. Molin; his half-brother Jason E. Molin; and numerous nieces and nephews, including my son, Teo Molin ’11. Franklin was preceded in death by our father, Dr. Sven Eric Molin ’50.
Franklin was born on February 26, 1962, in Lynchburg, VA, where our father was a professor of English at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. Our family moved to Arlington, VA, in 1967. There, Franklin attended Washington-Lee and H-B Woodlawn High Schools. In high school, Franklin was a member of the varsity football and gymnastics teams. He also attained Eagle Scout status. Franklin was a cute little kid, sturdy, with a big head of curly gold hair. One of Franklin’s friends sent us a snapshot of Franklin as an eight-year-old cub scout. He is standing in his uniform with his cap perched on his hair, strong, proud, with a calm and steady gaze. Something about his look caught my eye and I studied his face carefully to see what the essence of it was. I think I found it: he had a true look of character and greatness about him, even as a little boy.
Franklin graduated from George Mason University School of Law in 1992. He practiced law in Pittsburgh, PA for many years before returning to Arlington several years before his death. Like his famous ancestor and namesake, Benjamin Franklin, he was fascinated by science and all the potential for scientific improvement in the life of mankind. Franklin became nationally known for his expertise in intellectual property law. In Pittsburgh, he was a partner at K&L Gates LLP, one of the nation’s largest law firms, where he handled the accounts of many major national corporations. Franklin also taught intellectual property law at Duquesne University School of Law and published numerous articles in law journals.
Although he was an accomplished attorney, Franklin’s greatest passion was music. Our mother always encouraged us and challenged us to pursue whatever dreams we wanted, especially artistic dreams. Of her four sons, Franklin responded most fully to the artistic challenge. Before turning to law, he was an active participant in Washington, DC’s punk rock music scene in the early 1980s. Franklin played drums for Iron Cross and guitar for Thorns, both local bands. He also played guitar for several years for Bomb, a San Francisco psychedelic punk rock band.
Franklin loved Amherst College—so much so, we used to joke, that he stayed for six years. Our father taught us to revere Amherst and what it represents as the paradigm of a liberal arts college. Unlike our father, whose idols were G. Armour Craig and other luminaries of the English department, Franklin chose to become a physics major because, he said, he had heard that it was the “hardest” major. Notably, Franklin left a piece of himself at Amherst: a fingertip that he severed on a table saw while working on a project in the basement of Fayerweather Hall. Our family often wondered why he working on a shop project at a liberal arts college. Also unlike our father, who cherished his time at Theta Delta Chi, Franklin lived off-campus for much of his time at Amherst, with a group of friends in a house that was not exactly a showplace from House & Garden. He loved his Amherst friends and vacationed with a number of them in Maine just a few weeks before he died.
Franklin was a wonderful son, brother, father, mentor and friend. He loved his children with a great passion. Franklin was accomplished and well-informed but also kindly and a good listener; hence, he was a fascinating conversationalist. He was intelligent, deep, very interested in people, sweet, humorous and intrepid. Franklin confronted many challenges in his life, many of them of his own making. He was a perfectionist and very demanding of himself. Franklin faced life, especially the challenges of his last years, with courage and determination. In his long final illness, Franklin had the unwavering love and support of our family, especially our mother and stepfather.
By Ben Houghton, delivered at the funeral
I’m sorry that we are all here talking about Franklin in the past tense. I’m also sorry that Franklin did not have a chance to reconnect with a lot of his old friends. I know that he meant to and was working himself up to it.
There really aren’t any words that do justice to what an amazing person Franklin was; I feel like there is a big hole in the world where Franklin should be that nothing else can fill. Since he was my oldest and one of my very best friends, and one of my favorite people in the whole world, I would like to try to convey some small iota of what I loved about him to the people here.
No one person knew everything about Franklin. He was an interesting and complex person. I could not count the thousands of hours of conversations I had with him. I do not consider any of that time wasted, but some of the most valuable stuff of life. You might think you knew what Franklin would say about any given topic, but you would often be wrong because he was always trying to see things from a different angle or seeking a deeper truth.
Franklin was a great teacher and inspired people around him. He really listened to people and cared about people. Franklin taught me a lot of things; so many that I’ve forgotten most of them and they are now a part of me. Before Boy Scouts I barely knew Franklin but Franklin was one of those people who made things easier for other people and led by example. When I first joined the Boy Scouts, hiking and camping were what it was all about, maybe hiking on the Appalachian trail, maybe hiking on the sand of Assateague island, maybe comping in the woods on our annual deep freeze. It was great fun, but there was also plenty of work to be done. It was especially when it was cold or rainy that you might notice Franklin would be doing what needed to be done, rolling up the heavy canvas tents, packing up equipment, or helping other people set up tents. He never griped or complained about hard work, and inspired others to do the same. I can’t remember him ever complaining about his share of the work, in fact he was almost always cheerful about the work he did. Franklin helped me realize that work didn’t have to seem like work, and you could have a good time no matter what you were doing. In a broader sense, life’s experiences could be whatever you want to make of them.
His infectious enthusiasm is another thing we all remember about him. He and I shared a love of punk rock music which led us to many adventures. Sometime around 1979 Franklin suggested that the two of us should go check out the local bands that were playing around DC at the time. This had not occurred to me before, but I was game to see what it was all about. So we started going into DC to see bands like Tru Fax and the Insaniacs, The Killer Bees, The Insect Surfers, and many others in tiny little clubs and bars. This was a great eye opener for both of us. You could see some very talented, some less talented musicians giving everything they had up on the stage with an audience of 20 or 30 people. This was completely different than watching a nationally known band in a big venue. Pretty soon Franklin learned to play guitar, got his brother John to sing lyrics, and started a punk band around 1980 called the Necros and practiced in the upstairs room of their house. This was the beginning of his life-long obsession with playing in bands, and he never stopped. He was always interested in new sounds and new bands. I was lucky enough to have gone along with him in March to his first gig, drumming with his latest band, at an open mic night.
Franklin often had a vision of how things could be long before anyone else did. Franklin and I shared a love of old things and fixing things, but his projects were quite ambitious compared to mine. In high school I had an old Volkswagen that I just wanted to keep running. Franklin restored a ‘67 Mustang convertible. Or you may remember his Karmann Ghia. But the 1963 Chevy Panel Truck was his magnum opus and he had it for many years. The rest of us saw this giant old faded blue truck, but Franklin could see the custom-painted hot rod that lurked within.
And he didn’t want to slap it together with Bondo body filler and sell it, he wanted it to be “right”.
He didn’t mind suffering for his art. Sometime around 1986 we shared an apartment in Boston including the future reverend Hank Peirce. I asked Franklin if he was driving to down to Arlington for Christmas. He said he was happy to take me but there was no heat in the truck. Anyway, it was really really cold but we had piled on as much clothing as we could. I had sweaters and coats and 3 pairs of pants, including my second hand red wool plaid pants, but even that was not enough to keep me warm during the 10 hour trip. I guess we were quite a sight to see coming out of the panel truck when Franklin dropped me off at Laura’s parents’ house since her parents still like to remind me of it. Some kind of plaid Michelin man. He never quite finished that beautiful-on-the-inside Chevy Panel Truck but I admired him for his ambition.
Music
In an email thread among the brothers Molin last January, Franklin talked about some of his favorite albums at the moment. Here is a Spotify playlist of the six albums he listed:
Peter found this video of the Zydeco Dogs playing in 2010. It is the only video we know of where Franklin is playing drums. Coincidentally, the video is named for another Franklin, who is waltzing with Abby… but our Franklin can be seen as the camera pans past him on stage behind the kit.
Sven Eric Molin died November 5, 1987, after a life-long struggle with diabetes. Amherst friends who knew Eric well may recall his daily insulin injections and occasional seizures. In recent years diabetes had affected his eyesight and circulation; he had endured several operations. Through it all his mind stayed as sharp as his wit, and to the end he remained a dedicated teacher and scholar.
