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thedrifter
03-26-09, 09:01 AM
Musician honors Marine father with benefit, song

By CASSAUNDRA BABER
Observer-Dispatch
Posted Mar 26, 2009 @ 07:00 AM
UTICA —


In 1999, eight years after serving in Desert Storm as a Marine and almost a year after showing symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome, Peter Acquaviva Sr. reclined in his favorite chair as the nightly news flickered across his TV set.

He watched intently as newscasters reported on a conflict raging in Herzegovina. If you go
What: Big Krush will perform and host a benefit for the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund, with special guests T3.

When: Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, March 29. T3 performs at 6 p.m. Big Krush performs at 7 p.m.

Where: New Uptown Theatre, 2014 Genesee St., Utica.

Tickets: $10 at the door.



“I should be there,” his son Bob Acquaviva recalled his father saying.

The illness had already paralyzed his arms and hands. His breath was labored. His lungs rattled when he coughed. Still, his uniform hung upstairs pressed and prepared for duty.
“That’s just the kind of guy he was,” said Bob Acquaviva, who with his band Big Krush will perform and host a benefit for the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund Sunday, March 29.

“He never feared,” he said of his father, who died from complications of Gulf War Syndrome in 1999.

And he remained “always faithful” to his duty and his country, he added.

That idea — known to Marines as semper fi — gave genesis to “Always Faithful,” a song Bob Acquaviva wrote spontaneously while sitting on his porch one evening last summer.

The song — inspired by his father, who pointed to his Marine duty as a “calling” — instantly reminded the musician son of the Marine’s last months.

He couldn’t sleep at night, Bob Acquaviva remembered.

“My mom and I would take turns staying up at night,” he said.

When his mother couldn’t care for her sick husband alone, he moved in to help care for his ailing father.

“I turned the world off for a minute,” he said.

For a son who considers his father a hero, caring for him felt more like giving gifts than making sacrifices.

“It didn’t even matter,” he said. “My parents did everything for me.”

More than that, his father did everything for his country, he said.

“He was so proud. He was so gung-ho,” he said. “He believed in freedom. And the guys over there now, they’re there for freedom. They don’t care how much gas costs to put in their car. They’re there for people’s freedom.”

The band will perform songs from all three of its CDs, including “Always Faithful,” from its soon-to-be-released album “Wake up World.”

Ellie