FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT DADS JOIN SONS, DAUGHTERS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE STAGE.

Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Neal Warner's son, Nicholas, 15, a bass player in the groups ILH and The Second String, appreciates his dad's ear for music and that he doesn't mind driving him from gig to gig.

``I'm the stage father, yeah,'' the elder Warner admitted. ``It's killing me that these guys are having so much fun doing it and they won't let me get involved.''

Nick's time onstage has helped form a special bond between father and son. Warner spent some time in the 1980s with the band Womanizer and uses his expertise to get the word out about the fledgling bands that feature his son.

``He's shy, except onstage - he's a joker, put a spotlight on him and he's Shecky Greene,'' he said, dropping a name that emphasized the generation gap. ``Kids in bands, the last thing they want to do is deal with grown-ups, (so) it's something they can do and it's just them. They like the fact that parents don't like their music. Sports out here are so organized and regulated, usually by grown-ups. Bands are the one thing the kids can do where we don't have any say.

``I'm still a dad in that I don't like their music, all punk metal, screaming at the top of their lungs,'' Warner continued, laughing. ``I sound just like my dad. I'm as hip as anybody else. I find it kind of flattering that he doesn't want me to be involved and he thinks he's rebelling, but he's doing the same thing I did.''

Recently, Warner has spent a lot of time frequenting area clubs when Nick sits in for the bass player in The Second String, a band anchored by drummer Matt Thompson. He's found the crowd of dads at the back of the room some comfort, especially when the music gets a little overwhelming.

``Dads talk about the music and the kids talk about girls,'' he said. ``They don't want the old men talking about the girls. I'm there to be his biggest fan, his roadie, whatever he needs.''

Matt's dad, radio personality Mark Thompson, said his son has been drumming since he and his wife bought a drum set when Matt was 8.

``We tried everything with all our kids: baseball, soccer, karate. I did some drumming in the past and showed him some basic techniques, and he took off from there. He is a much better player than me; I have nothing to do with how well he plays.''

Matt has a primitive recording studio in the garage, where his band practices and the 16-year-old records some of his own creations, doing all the instruments as well as laying down the vocals. His recent recording ``The Cheese Rap'' got some airplay on dad's show on KLOS-FM (95.5) at the behest of Thompson's partner, Brian Phelps.

Thompson and another famous father, film director Aaron Norris, whose son plays with The Second String, help the boys load the truck and the adults drive them to the gig and help them unload. While the musicians are setting up, it's kick-back time for the dads.

``We sit there and talk and stay for the gig,'' Thompson said. ``But when I said roadie, I wasn't kidding. We are the roadies; whenever Matt has a gig that all of us can go to, I do the lifting and carrying, but the whole family goes.''

Thompson's daughters are competitive dancers and play soccer, but the driving for those activities often fall to his wife, Linda. The whole family supports each other when they can, but the rock 'n' roll business falls mostly to father and son.

Although Thompson anchors one of the hottest acts in radio, Matt doesn't want to use his father's fame to get his foot in the door.

``He doesn't want my help,'' Thompson explained. ``He told me 'I want to do this on my own.' There were a couple of times when there were cancellations and I offered to make a few calls, but he asked me to step back. It shows initiative on his part, that he wants to do it. I leave it up to him.''

Matt not only handles the drumsticks, but also the business end of The Second String, arranging gigs and collecting money for the band members.

``It's a lot easier to do with my dad around,'' Matt said unabashedly. ``I get to order him around; he does whatever I tell him.''

``I think he likes having me around,'' Thompson said. ``The only guidance I've given him is when he first started playing, they all needed to learn a little more stage presence. I told him to play hard, animate yourself.''

``Matthew and I are already talking about what he wants to do after high school and he wants to be a drummer. I've explained to him that there is a very small percentage of people who make a living as a drummer, that he needs to learn to read drum music and make enough doing studio gigs to support his family, then go out at night and chase the dream of being a rock star.''

Attorney Bill Lively has three children who spend most of their time painting sets, singing and acting at the Canyon Theatre Guild. But it was his daughter, Hannah, 16, who first placed her father behind the wheel and in the audience.

``It really happened when I was president of the Santa Clarita Arts Council,'' Lively explained. ``We brought 'The Nutcracker' (ballet) into town and presented it at the Hart auditorium. When Hannah saw it, that was it. We bought an artsy recording of it, then a Bolshoi and Baryshnikov. Hannah would be up in her room dancing and was able to tell the difference between the versions. I figured if she could do that, I needed to support it.''

Hannah was the first of the Lively children to audition as an actress at the theater, and Bill saw an even fiercer determination to shine onstage, even though the dancing lessons were still a constant in the family's schedule.

``I tried to tell her that I've known a lot of actresses in my life and you don't want to be one,'' Lively said. ``I can support you musically if you're learning cello while studying astrophysics, although it's not what I would aspire to for my kids. Then she won a Goldie Award for 'Little Women' and 'Oliver.' She really lights up the stage.''

Now that all three children - Hannah, Marcella and Micah - are involved in theater, Lively makes sure he configures his work schedule to make him available for pickup. Sometimes a show features the entire Lively clan, which poses a whole different set of problems.

``When the whole family's in it, it's almost necessary for one to be out of it,'' he said. ``If not, who's gonna get the fast food?''

Dan Sickafoose has found himself back onstage at the behest of his kids - and at the request of a show director who needed some military-looking adults - but is thrilled to be doing something that his whole family enjoys.

Sickafoose and his wife, Musette, were owners of a dance studio back in Michigan, even though he holds a degree in metallurgy and spent a good portion of his career in the automotive industry. As a star player on his high school football team, Sickafoose found athletics rewarding, but discovered a bigger payoff when he put on a gold suit to play Conrad Birdie in the musical ``Bye Bye Birdie.''

``I give presentations in front of hundreds of people, and one of the lessons I learned in life is that you have to be prepared,'' he said. ``I was scared to death to go out and sing and dance onstage in front of people, but if you prepare yourself, you can do anything.''

Apparently, Dad's take on preparation and bravery seems to have stuck. Daughter Danny and her brother Colin auditioned for the theater guild's production of ``South Pacific,'' easily garnering parts. Musette auditioned as well and mentioned the director's shortage of singing and dancing men. Before he knew it, Sickafoose was cast, as well as his teenage sons, Kelly and Shannon. Now the entire family has rehearsal nightly and Dan couldn't be happier.

``Now that we get to do what we all want to do, and we're all doing it together, this is great. We're not running one kid to soccer practice and another somewhere else,'' he said. ``Family is always important to us. It will be a great chance for us to do something together.''

Carol Rock, [phone]

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Dan Sickafoose and his sons Kelly, Shannon and Colin, and daughter Danny, clockwise from upper left, will be performing together in an upcoming production ``South Pacific,'' put on by the Canyon Theatre Guild.

(2 -- color) Radio personality Mark Thompson sidelines as a roadie for his son, Matt, a drummer in The Second String.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer