Culture Surfing - Rev Run takes his family back

Run DMCer has new book, tour

It’s tricky to rock a rhyme that’s right on time, but it’s even trickier to raise six kids. Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons — of Run DMC fame, and now of “Run’s House” on MTV — has a new book out on parenting. He co-wrote Take Back Your Family: A Challenge to America’s Parents with his wife, Justine, and is touring with Kid Rock, his book and his whole family. The Rev appears at Edgewood Court Apartments Thurs., Aug. 21, to help launch a series of playground builds in Atlanta.

Making plans: “It doesn’t just fall in place. A family isn’t something to me where it just happens, like ‘Hey, I got a family. Watch it happen!’ No. Actions. What actions are you gonna take to make it a beautiful family? People look at my TV show and go, ‘Wow, that looks nice.’ Yeah, but I had to organize this little pool party that you’re lookin’ at on TV. I organized this bowling event. You pick ‘em up, and you take ‘em to the bowling alley and almost beg them if they don’t wanna go — ‘cause kids don’t know what they want. Sometimes my son Diggy’s like, ‘I don’t wanna go bowling,’ and next thing you know, he’s the one with the ketchup on his face bowling strikes.”

Shrek: “It’s funny, no profanity. It’s just a movie I can watch with my family, and I can walk to go get popcorn, leave ‘em there, come back and know that their ears haven’t been harassed. And I think Eddie Murphy was hilarious. The donkey talks too much, but that’s cool. ‘In the morning, I’m making waffles!’ Funniest thing in the world.”

Taking back your family: “Last week, my daughters were in L.A., and I was like, ‘They need to come out on this book tour when it first starts.’ I was thinking about just letting them stay there and just taking my sons Diggy and Russy, but I thought, ‘You know, I miss those girls. I haven’t seen ‘em in a week or two,’ so I pulled out my credit card, got them plane tickets, next thing you know, they were at the hotel waiting for me. We got on the bus together, we did a couple of dates with my wife; it was just beautiful. I took them back! ... And my whole family’s on the bus, so we’re the Partridge Family.”

Cheaper by the Dozen: “You see the older daughter getting ready to get married; she’s thirtysomething years old, but ‘We’re gonna have our yearly picnic!’ That’s taking your family back, where you’re at the wedding of your 30-year-old daughter, and she’s like, ‘But Dad!’ That’s taking your family back.”