I had a number of requests to repost this for Father's Day, so here goes!

This one from Thomas in Bayonne...
"I've heard you mention your Dad during your show on occasion and it usually involves some funny anecdote or piece of advice. This past Sunday you relayed one that had the word "Energy" that I thought was great, but can't remember. Can you repeat it and maybe share any others? He sounded like a real character.....

Thanks for the note Thomas, and the Old Man was indeed a serious character. I suppose in this day and age the word would be eccentric, but none the less my upbringing was about as far from Ward and June Cleaver as you can get. I'm saying this purely in the sense that I didn't grow up on the same street all my life, and hang with the same buddies through all my school years. As a matter of fact I went to over 15 different schools by the time I graduated. Therefore, permit me to give a little background on Pop which might be in order, and could help explain how this guy definitely had his own beat to a drummer, or in this case, danced to his own DJ.

My father, one Nial O'Malley, was a near 6"7 Irishman,and was one of life's individuals if you ever met, you'd be unlikely to forget. When I was born being the youngest of 8 kids (and I'm sure an unexpected surprise being that there is a 19 year age difference between myself and oldest sibling), he was 50, and my Mom 40.  Keep in mind that back in the groovy 60's this was currently equivalent to someone having a kid at 60, and the mother 50. Dad way back when, inherited a great deal of money, and I'm not talking a few bucks from distant Uncle Larry in Topeka. He was basically set for life, and maybe a couple of others. Interestingly enough, he had zero time for big money, nor the materialistic attributes, and in many cases problems it can bring someone. There were 2 things he really dug, and that was travel and charity work, both of which I was fortunate enough to inherit from him (and a few other things).

The travel........ Since Dad didn't have to worry about where the next paycheck was coming from, even with his large brood in tow, he thought travel was the best education for his kids. This is how it typically went... He'd sit around after dinner, smoke his pipe and read National Geographic. It would start with a for instance "Hmmmm.... Sante Fe New Mexico, now this looks like an interesting place". My mother would give me that "Ohhhh shit here we go" look, and the next thing we knew I spent part of my 5th grade in Sante Fe living on East Palace avenue. All this moving around was an experience to say the least, and since we went everywhere, it could be a pain in the ass, but instilled an ability in me to make buddies easily, learn how to defend myself at an early age, and be the first person a pal calls when moving an apartment because I'm a pro at it from years of experience since childhood. To this day I'm happiest when at an airport with passport in hand (or off to Maui) and never cease to be flabbergasted that I'm celebrating my 21st year in NYC.....

The charity.... Remember we are talking about a guy here who could give squat about the dough he came into. Though he could afford a garage full of Ferrari's,  his favorite mode of transportation was a Volkswagen Bus (maybe it was the all the kids but I think not). I also recollect never seeing him in anything but a white t-shirt, canvas shorts, and boat shoes. Pops decided that the best way to put all this money to use was to give it away to various charitible causes. Some could be organizations, and others could be from a family down the block to the school for underprivlaged kids that's in disrepair and needs to be fixed up. He was also one of the first people to be involved in audiobooks, which back in the early 70's were known as "Talking books for the blind" and had a much more charitible angle than today's entertainment purposes. He was blessed with the most amazing baritone voice ever heard, and was asked to start reading books into a tape recorder so the blind who had a hard time with braille could enjoy what all us sighted folks already were. I can vividly remember having to tip toe around the house to keep things quiet when Pops was reading and taping his books with the usual Irish flair for the gift of the gab.

Post playing tennis together one day, my father remarked that he was feeling some indegestion, and that for a few weeks later didn't seem to want to go away. After a trip to the hospital for some tests, we all sat in the hospital room and knew right away when the 2 doctors came in that the news wasn't going to be good. So he says " Give it to me straight Gentleman, and if it's bad, how long?". They say.."Pancreatic cancer....3 months".  He replied " Ok then, you have my thanks for your time and expertise, now please get me the f___k  out of here so I can die at home". He ended up living 8 more months (typical stubborn Irish), passing away shortly after my 12th birthday , and didn't check out before imparting a few anecdote's and advice. All of which have never failed me to this day......

The "Energy" quote you're thinking about was this one. " In your life when it comes to people you'll find yourself subjected to Energy givers and Energy takers. Surround yourself with the Givers and eliminate the Takers".

I always liked this one..... He said it never mattered what one drove, how flashy their suit was or how much money they threw around. Take away all that stuff, and if the person wasn't on the up and up, it was "Piss in a Champagne bottle is still Piss..."

Along those same lines.... "Don't be much interested in what a man has done for himself (aka big job, big house, trophy wife) but what he's done for others"......

And this one which he told me shortly before he died, and figured since I was 12 and time was running out, it was now or never........
" Son, it's important to keep your woman happy in the bedroom. Be a good man to her during the day , an even better one at night, and she'll never stray. So when it comes to the bed, make sure she's happy first, and by that I mean think North of your chin, and not South of your beltline"......

A classic. And I didn't have a clue what he was talking about until a few years later.
Words to live by.

Thanks Thomas for your note and my apologies for the length of the answer, but obviously couldn't chat away about Dad in such detail on air. You have my appreciation for triggering the memory bank and typing away about something that though was by far a normal upbringing, It was most certainly an adventure.......