Frank Cuomo

My dad. My parents divorced when I was about 4.

He was a jazz percussionist in NYC in the late 60s; and was the percussionist for Odyssey of Iska, a 1970 Blue Note Record released by saxophonist Wayne Shorter. He's also been onstage with me at two Weezer concerts - playing drums on "Back to the Shack" at the 2015 Burgerama Festival in Santa Ana, CA; and on "Beverly Hills" at the 2016 at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in Irvine, CA.

Like his father, my father was violently assaulted in his 70's. In 2018, while I was in Denver on the Pixies tour. While coming home from work in the train station in downtown LA he was punched. Broken jaw. Hasn't been able to eat solid food since. Dramatic weight loss and cognitive decline.

In 2021 he was diagnosed with Primary Progressive Aphasia (I think that's what Bruce Willis has). It's a rare, incurable disease that destroys your ability to understand words. In spite of his verbal decline he seems pretty happy and peaceful.

His aphasia is apparently unrelated to the 2018 incident.

Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York) Dec 26, 1954:

Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York) Jan 20, 1956:

Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York) Jan 21, 1958:

Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York) Dec 30, 1964 picture, with a note of what looks to me as if my dad was writing to his younger sister from her father's perspective(Dunk and Ralphie are my dad's nicknames for my aunt and uncle):