Weekly Summary (4/29/13 - 5/5/13)

Lots of stuff for your perusal over the past week...​

Blog:  Newborn: Bears and Lions, How I Got Here: Dean Jones (Laurie Anderson - Mister Heartbreak), $9.99: Kindie Music Videos in the Age of YouTube, Kindiefest 2013: Finding Your Mississippi River, Concert Recap: Underbirds (New York City, April 2013), Concert Review: Raffi (New York City, April 2013)

Videos: "Camping Paper Story": Angie Engelbart (PLAY music), "Gravity" - Rocknoceros

Listen to Music: Live from Brooklyn - Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could, Fantastico! - Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band

Free Music:  None this week

Kids Music Reviews: Live from Brooklyn - Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could (actually from last week, just forgot to note it)

Upcoming Releases: Lots of new stuff coming...

Podcasts​

Kindie Week in Review: Episode 14: No Longer Rubber-Like in Their Consistency

My Other Other Gig: Episode 2: Ashley Albert, Shuffleboard Entrepreneur

Bake Sale​: Welcome to Bake Sale, Episode 1: Heidi Swedberg, My Cup of Tea

Concert Review: Raffi (New York City, April 2013)

First off, let's recap Kindiefest 2013.  I'd already got to sing with Ella Jenkins, Dan Zanes, and Elizabeth Mitchell.  I'd got to play a bunch of cool kids music videos.  I got to see the debut live performance of Underbirds.​  And I got to catch up some wonderful and interesting folks who make their living (or at least part of a living) making music for families.

So it had already been a pretty full weekend by the time Sunday rolled around.  ​And normally I would have been happy just to hang out at Kindiefest's Sunday public music festival listening to music from folks like Cat Doorman, Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band, the Terrible Twos, and more before heading to the airport to catch a flight home.

But I had an even better plan.​

​I'd get to sing with Raffi.

That's right, the venerable Canadian troubadour, the man whose 1976 album ​Singable Songs for the Very Young​ literally created the concept of the kids music genre, was performing on tour, his first significant tour in a number of years.

Now, I was never a #belugagrad, as Raffi hashtagged this tour.  I only have my #belugaGED, as someone who came to his music after having a child of my own.  And, indeed, the biggest regret I have from the show is that one or both of my kids weren't there to enjoy it with me.

Because there were lots of kids there, and they all seemed very happy to be there, even before the show started.  They were calling out "Raffi."  And, then after a brief medley of prerecorded songs, the man himself strode out onstage.

I wish I could say how long he performed; the most honest answer is that I forgot to keep track of it (though in retrospect, it was probably about 60-70 minutes).  The more poetic answer is that I just lost track, watching Raffi and his guitar (and occasional piped-in backing music) keep the audience highly entertained.  Part of that may have been his large back catalog, so that he was able to play almost nothing but familiar hits.

Part of that also had to do with Raffi's youthful nature and voice.  He looks a lot like he does from album covers -- a little older perhaps, but no 3-year-old would at all be confused by who was up there.​  And that voice!  Exactly​ like it sounded 35 years ago -- the best voice in kids music, certainly amongst the males, bar none.

I say that the kids were entertained, but for folks like me who spend a lot of time listening to kids music, I think we adults were entertained as well.  I sat next to Tim Kubart from Tim and the Space Cadets, and Taes and Nick from Splash'N Boots, and they were as thoroughly entertained as I was.​  (Even Tim's girlfriend, the non-kindie-obsessive amongst the five of us, enjoyed it.)

The tickets are not cheap and would easily run upwards of $100 for a family of four.  But if your family are big into Raffi, I wouldn't hesitate for a second to plunk down the cash if you can afford it.  The only way it could have been better would have been if he'd been able to bring Pete Seeger onstage (thereby making my weekend utterly complete, sing-along-wise).

I had the opportunity to meet Raffi after the show, but there was a long line of VIPs before us, and nervous about making my cross-country flight home, I had to miss my opportunity to thank him in person in order to catch a cab to the airport.  So consider this my public thanks to Raffi for his many years of making families laugh and sing together, at home and in concert.

Set List

The More We Get Together

Six Little Ducks

Sambalale

Apples and Bananas

Bananaphone

On Hockey Days

Yellow Submarine

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (sung by audience)

Brush Your Teeth

De Colores

Wheels on the Bus

Mister Sun

Peanut Butter and Jam (excerpt)

This Land Is Your Land

If I Had a Hammer

All I Really Need

Thanks a Lot

Baby Beluga

Shake My Sillies Out

Down by the Bay

This Little Light of Mine

Encore:

Our Home

If You’re Happy and You Know It

May There Always Be Sunshine

[Disclosure: I was provided a complimentary ticket to the show.]​

Concert Recap: Underbirds (New York City, April 2013)

I don't know how many artists I would have skipped a Laurie Berkner talk for in order to see them perform live.  Probably not many.

But a chance to see the debut live performance of Underbirds, the superduo of Morgan Taylor and Todd McHatton?  At Symphony Space, whose family programming I've admired from afar for awhile?  While it was a tough call, I found myself catching the 3 train to the Upper West Side last Saturday morning, knowing I'd be heading back to BAM Fisher and Kindiefest later.

Taylor is, of course, a fairly regular live performer with his Gustafer Yellowgold gigs, but McHatton doesn't play live much at all.  Add to that the fact that Taylor and McHatton had only met three times over the past year in putting together their debut album, and I was very curious as to how it would sound.

As it turns out, pretty nice.  As a duo, they had an easygoing feel.  I would not describe the show as being especially dynamic -- essentially it was a couple guys with guitars -- but as Taylor does at his Gustafer gigs, they used visuals to help hold the attention of the kids in the audience, though these visuals were far more abstract.

The project itself is a little odd in that it's not entirely kids music.  It's not *not* kids music, either -- but if it hadn't been part of the "kids" series (and the presence of many kids, including McHatton's daughter on their "cover" of McHatton's own massive kindie hit, "I Think I'm a Bunny"), a listener could have been forgiven for thinking the concert was a curious set of hook-friendly songs about nature and gentle love designed for adults.

The duo joked that it might be their last concert, though because their debut is fairly brief they had to play several new songs just to make the concert long enough (The new songs "Frame" and "So Close to You" both fall in both that "not entirely kids music"  and "awesome" categories.)  While I doubt that Underbirds will be the side project that eventually dwarfs their main gigs, it'd be nice to see the two of them continue to develop their partnership and play a few more shows.  It'd be a shame to let such a good friendship go to waste.

Underbirds - "Bright Leaf" (Live at Symphony Space) [YouTube]​

​[Disclosure: I was provided with complimentary admission to the show.]

Kindiefest 2013: Finding Your Mississippi River

Another Kindiefest has come and gone and all that is left are the bar tabs, sore legs, and hoarse voices.

The seventh annual confab of kindie musicians (fifth as a full-fledged conference) broke its own attendance record this year and moved into new digs, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Fisher building.  But the basic concept -- meet, learn, and sing -- remains unchanged.

Every year, I am a little less interested in the panels and a little more interested in the people.  To a large extent, the reason for that is that I don't need to listen to a panel how to make a kindie music record.  It's great for the first-time attendees (of which there are always a lot), but as a veteran non-professional musician, it's not helpful.

What is helpful is talking to people.  I have always found the conversations outside the walls of the conference itself to be most valuable, because those conversations (sometimes aided by bar tabs, though not necessarily) tend to be more real, more likely to generate real sharing, real connections.  Instead of trying to sell a concept or an album, you're trying to understand the other person, and maybe, in that process share who or what you are as a musician (or writer or booker).  Even if you're not sure whether you like someone's music, or writing, or whatever, you can still make a genuine connection.

For my part at the conference, I was asked to present a curated list of kids music videos along with a brief presentation on the history and types of videos.  Frankly, it was just fun seeing all those videos shown on a big screen and through a nice soundsystem.

One thing I only realized as I sat through the entire 40-minute, 13-song DVD I'd compiled was how much the artist's personality comes through in each of those videos.  That was not something I'd consciously done when I picked the videos, but I think it's clear that the artists that have found their band's or personality's heart in their video and it's that clarity that shines through.

The surprise of my video presentation was that I got to world premiere the first-ever video from Lunch Money.  It's for their song "Spicy Kid," and I found Molly's description of it as "half Mentos ad, half Blues Brothers excerpt" as being particularly apropos.  What's more, because it's funny at points, tender at others, it very much feels like Lunch Money, like Molly and the band had found another way to express themselves.

****

Despite my comments above, I did sit through about half of the panels, and while there were lots of useful pieces of information and funny moments, only once did somebody say something that made me dig out my phone and jot down what they said.

It was Molly (natch), who on the panel on "What's Next?" talked about getting the Can You Canoe? disk from the Okee Dokee Brothers for the first time, popping it in the CD player, and listening.  She may have used a curse word in describing her initial reaction, I can't remember properly because that happened several times during the weekend (Kindiefest: Where Kindie Musicians Go To Curse).  But, long story short: she loved the album and felt the Okee Dokee Brothers had found something deep within themselves in singing about their trek down the Mississippi River.  She encouraged the attendees to "find their own Mississippi River," and if that wasn't a metaphor for what folks said all weekend, I'm not sure what is.  Kindie musicians -- and, heck, people generally -- need to let their personalities and artistic goals shine through, and I hope there was enough proof during the weekend of just how valuable that approach can be, certainly artistically, but also even career-wise.  Know your song, and sing it loud.

****

Other notes from the weekend:

-- The industry showcase concert Saturday night was, as always, a combination of more experienced artists who might not have had the broader exposure of the industry stage and more relative newcomers.  The set that most impressed me was definitely Mister G's. He came up on stage with nothing more than a guitar, a kick drum, and his wife, and within 3 minutes (probably more like 2) had the entire crowd close to the stage, clapping and singing along.  By the end of his set, he'd filled the stage with other kindie musicians, and thoroughly entertained us all.

-- Everybody was entertaining in one way or another Saturday night -- live shows almost always add to an artist's reputation -- so I'm hesitant to recommend any more, but a brief shoutout to Vered and the Babes (her backing band of 4 guys), who translated her simple songs focused on bonding with baby into something that worked surprisingly well in a much less-intimate setting.  Also, in the category of "sometimes being unknown is an advantage," newcomers Bears and Lions performed a set featuring songs like "I'm a Mediocre Kid" (much more upbeat and celebratory that the title would imply), people dressed up as bears and lions in track suits, and absurd songs and patter remiscent of other surreal duos like the Telephone Company, The Quiet Two, The Thinkers, and fellow showcase performers Ratboy Jr (pictured here with Dean Jones helping the boys out).

-- I have said that my favorite part of Kindiefest is the connecting with others, and my favorite way of connecting at the festival is probably at the showcase.  It's the singing in 8-part harmony, it's the dancing, and, in the case of the concluding performance from Dan Zanes and Elizabeth Mitchell, even a tunnel for audience to dance under.  It's a communal feeling that underlies the entire conference.  And it's a ton of fun.

-- Other things I liked: The empanadas at the food truck down the street.  Edvard Munch's "The Scream" at MOMA.  Underbirds at Symphony Space and Raffi at Town Hall (more on those separately).  Running around Prospect Park on a beautiful Saturday morning.  Getting to sing with Ella Jenkins.  Talking with fellow kindie folks (too many to name, but I will give a tip of the cap to Jeff Bogle and Dave Loftin).

-- Things I'm sorry I missed: The KindieTalks (especially Laurie Berkner's).  The barbecue place around the corner from BAM.  Sleep.  Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge with Lloyd Miller.  The Sunday public festival.  Stretching.  Bill Childs.

Back in the real world, I'm trying to remember the lessons of Kindiefest, but I think if I just keep searching for my own Mississippi River, I'll be OK.

$9.99: Kindie Music Videos in the Age of YouTube

As some of you know, I recently traveled out to Brooklyn for the annual Kindiefest conference featuring kids musicians, reviewers, radio folks, and others who spend time in the world of making music for and with kids and families.  My purpose of traveling out to New York, aside from catching up in person with kindiefolk of all stripes, was to make a presentation titled "$9.99: Kindie Music Videos in the Age of YouTube."

So late Saturday afternoon, I stood in front of a very large screen and gave a very brief overview of the history of kids music videos.  I also talked a little bit about kindie music video styles and outlets.  I got to say "next slide" a lot.   (For what it's worth, you can see the Powerpoint slides here.)

But all that was really just a prelude to the opportunity to show 13 great kindie music videos from the past 5 or 6 years, videos that show the diversity of approaches, budgets, and styles available to kids music artists.  The one common denominator, I think, is that they all fully commit to telling a story, both about the song itself and the artist's overall vision.  Nobody would ever confuse Eric Herman's "The Elephant Song" and its video with Captain Bogg & Salty's "Pieces of 8ight" video, but nobody would ever say that either video isn't exactly perfect for its associated song.

I can't show you the 14th video we showed just yet -- it was the world premiere of the video for "Spicy Kid" from Lunch Money.  The video, which Molly Ledford described as being a cross between a Mentos ad and a scene from The Blues Brothers  (a spot-on description, by the way), isn't up for public consumption yet.  [Ed.: And now it is!]  Here they are.

How I Got Here: Dean Jones (Laurie Anderson: Mister Heartbreak)

Dean Jones is the mad genius behind Dog on Fleas and, as an in-demand producer, about a quarter of ​the kindie albums you'll hear in 2013.

​With the upcoming release of his latest solo album, When the World Was New​, on May 14, Jones authored the latest in the "How I Got Here" series, featuring kindie musicians talking about albums influencing them as musicians.

Dean's piece on composer/musician/performance artist Laurie Anderson's ​mid-'80s album Mister Heartbreak​ is a little bit like the album itself -- you can focus on the words and get some meaning, but you can also just focus on the sounds, the contour of the piece, and get a pretty good sense of its influence on him.

***​

Laurie Anderson's 1984 album Mister Heartbreak is one of my all time favorite records.

It's a little hard for me to talk about music.  (Kind of like dancing about architecture.)  But this album is more than just music to me.  It's a sculpture.  It's stories.  Sound.  Color.   It puts me in a mood.  I can't describe the mood that very well.  Open.  Playful.  Thoughtful.   Meditative.  

This album certainly changed the way I hear music.  And it really clarified for me the fact that I'm as much in love with SOUND as I am with music.  Is there really a difference?  I think so.  I know that I have fallen in love with the sounds on the Beatles records.  And Tom Waits records.  And I have always been drawn to certain sounds, like the Indonesian gamelon instruments, and  the various one and two-stringed fiddle type instruments found in various societies as far from each other as Mongolia and Mali.  I also like the sound of all kinds of birds.  Is it their song or just the tone and timbre of their voices?  I like the sound of footsteps, grass rustling, breathing, trees rubbing up against each other.... the list goes on and on.  Tongues touching teeth.  

Somehow this album made it quite clear to me that one could make music that could be closer to sculpture than to any traditional song form.  The sounds evoke images in my mind of elephants, sunrises, movement, and space.  Wonder, and longing.  All kinds of feelings come up.  The sounds are sometimes like a world of their own.  I could live in them.  

"He was an ugly guy.  With an ugly face. An also-ran in the human race.  And even God got sad just looking at him.  And at his funeral all his friends stood around looking sad.  But they were really thinking of all the ham and cheese sandwiches in the next room."

Laurie Anderson is a master of language.  An amazing storyteller and poet.  She loves to look at big things like humanity and love, and stories like Adam and Eve, and rethink them from her unique perspective.   And her delivery, mostly spoken, not sung, is so much more musical to me than most singers are.  The nuance of her rhythm and phrasing is incredible.  I love to listen to music, whether it's instrumental, sung in English, or any other language, and I often just tune out the words.  It's just how I listen.  Sometimes I tune into lyrics, but often it's just a texture.  And with Laurie Anderson's voice I am happy to just let the lyrics ebb and flow in and out of my conscious listening.  But I can listen to this record twice back to back and allow myself to follow her stories more on the second listen.

Here's a bit of her Adam and Eve retelling:

"And the woman liked the snake very much.  Because when he talked he made little noises with his tongue, and his long tongue was lightly licking about his lips.  Like there was a little fire inside his mouth and the flame would come dancing out of his mouth.  And the woman liked this very much.  And after that she was bored with the man.  Because no matter what happened, he was always as happy as a clam."

Maybe I'm seduced by the sound of Laurie Anderson's voice, but I think her writing is genius.  

Something that sound sculpture like this allows for -- words don't have to rhyme.  You don't have to have everything be totally divisible by 4 or 8.  You can, but you don't have to.  The words can fit into spaces.  You can leave spaces.  Or not.   Even the music doesn't always have to be divisible by 4.  It can be in no time signature.  

So, what are the sounds on this record?  Well the guitars don't often sound like guitars.  And I still don't know who's making what sounds most of the time.  The sounds are hypnotic and magnetic.  Laurie sometimes puts her voice through a vocoder, which was a pretty new thing at the time, well before it became a Top 40 gimmick.  Some of the instruments listed:  plywood, kayagum, electronic conches, iya and ikonkolo, bamboo, gato, Synclavier, bowls.  Adrien Belew plays some of the greatest guitar you will ever hear.  Peter Gabriel, Nile Rodgers, Bill Laswell, and William Burroughs are heavily featured.   

I was thinking about my latest album, When the World Was New, and realized what a debt I owe to Laurie Anderson, lyrically and musically.  It may not sound at all like her, but she's in there for sure.