Frank Cuomo

was my dad.

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.

My parents divorced when I was about 4.

Like his father, my father was violently assaulted in his 70's. It happened in 2018, while I was in Denver on the Pixies tour. While he was coming home from work in the train station in downtown LA, he was punched and knocked unconscious. Broken jaw. He wasn't able to eat solid food for a few years after. 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 often seemed pretty happy and peaceful.

He died on January 12, 2026.

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):