Interview Sandra Velasquez (Moona Luna)

Up above in the title for this interview, I've written "Moona Luna" after Sandra Velasquez, because if you're reading this website, you're probably most familiar with the New York-based Velasquez as the mastermind behind the bilingual Spanish kindie band.

But like many musicians, Velasquez wears a number of hats, and so it's just as likely that the intrepid Google-r will eventually find their way to this interview because they're fans of Velasquez's band Pistolera, the Spanish-language band she founded in 2005.

Or maybe you grooved to "Cheerleader," the leadoff single from SLV, the band featuring Velasquez and multi-instrumentalist Sean Dixon.

So there are a lot of reasons to listen to Velasquez, and I'm offering you one more -- the interview below, completed while Velasquez was on tour, and in which she talks about starting her musical life as a reluctant keyboardist, the impact of songwriting on her life, and the different audiences she plays to.

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Zooglobble: What are your first musical memories?

Sandra Velasquez: I was forced to play piano as a child. So my earliest musical memories of are being forced to practice and playing piano recitals in lace dresses.  I begged my parents to let me quit piano, which they did when I was 13. I bought my first electric guitar and started taking lessons immediately to learn all my favorite Nirvana, Hendrix, and other rock songs. Incidentally, the first band I played in when I was fifteen was as a keyboardist. We mostly practiced instead of gigging. Those were wonderful years because we were so naive in our freedom.

What inspired you to form Pistolera?

I moved to New York City the day after I graduated from music school in 1999 and spent that first summer completely in shock of the lack of Mexican and/or (more importantly) Chicano culture.  I always said that I had I stayed in California I would have just played in a rock band. I started Pistolera out of a longing for trucks driving by with accordion melodies blaring out of them, for taco shops with banda music leaking out of the kitchen. But of course being a rocker at heart, Pistolera was always a blend. Latin music with rock attitude. 

How did the birth of your daughter inspire Moona Luna?

I could have never started Moona Luna without my daughter. I would not have known what to write about! I am the kind of songwriter that writes from personal experiences. I can't make stuff up. 

What have you enjoyed about writing songs for Moona Luna as compared to writing them for Pistolera?  What has been more challenging?

Writing for Moona Luna has taught me that at the end of the day I am a songwriter. Not just a songwriter for Pistolera, or for one demographic. I enjoy writing songs. I'm addicted to melodies. Writing a good song can be challenging no matter who you are writing for. Some songs flow out easily and others you have to work on, put aside, and work on some more. I did find that giving myself a theme for the second Moona Luna album (Vamos, Let's Go!) helped me write.

Has your songwriting for families changed as your daughter has grown older?  As you've grown older?

Now that I have multiple bands I have found that the songwriting just changes with time regardless. There is a the perception that I as the songwriter change the music, but lately I have been feeling like it's the music that changes me. I grow through the music.  It is all equally valid and growth-inducing. 

This may be difficult to answer, but are your Moona Luna audiences mostly filled with families for whom English is a second language, or are they more families for whom English is their primary language?

It really depends on the show. We did a residency in Santa Barbara where we played for underprivileged communities and most were bilingual if not mostly Spanish speakers. This may sound sad, but going to concerts at $15 a pop tend to be less accessible financially to families who do not speak English. When we play free city parks concerts in New York City the non-English speakers tend to be the childcare workers.  This has been my experience. 

Are there gaps that you see (in terms of musical styles, subjects, audiences) that "kindie" doesn't serve well enough?

Kindie audiences, or more specifically, kids, don't tend to favor dark or slow music in a live show scenario. This is just my experience with my own 7-year-old daughter. She likes upbeat music. I do too, but I also love slow, moody, minor and diminished chord music. This is why it's great to have multiple projects because it's hard to satisfy all of my musical cravings with just one band. If I just did Moona Luna I would feel more like an entertainer. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I don't always feel cheery -- do you? It would be unsatisfying for me if my only musical experience was to put on a happy face and dance. I have many moods and thankfully, three bands to express them all. 

You recently released a song -- "Together" -- with Secret Agent 23 Skidoo.  Are there other musicians you and Moona Luna would love to work with?

I loved collaborating with Skidoo. I heard his voice in my head when I wrote the song so I was pretty happy that he agreed to do it. I really love Lori Henriques' new album. She would be fun to collaborate with. 

You have lots of ongoing projects going on -- Moona Luna, Pistolera, your solo album -- what's next?

At the moment I am really focused on SLV, which in the beginning was billed as my "solo project" but it's not really that, though the band name is my initials! It's really a new band and an equal collaboration with my drummer Sean Dixon, who is the drummer for the experimental electronic band Zammuto. (Check them out!). Since we recorded and released an EP with Meshell Ndegeocello in 2013, we have been working on our debut album. It's been over a year and I'm happy to say it's done and the first music video is filmed. It will come out this spring and you can expect to see us on tour this summer. I've started a new Moona Luna album too and hope to escape the cold of NYC and finish the songwriting part of it in February somewhere warm.

Photo credits: Shervin Lainez (Sandra Velasquez), M. Sharkey (Moona Luna)

Interview - Suz Slezak

Suz Slezak may be best known as an integral part of the indie-rock-folk band David Wax Museum with her husband David Wax, but with the solo release next month of Watching the Nighttime Come, the singer and fiddler steps out into a new role, that of gentle lullaby artist.

Watching the Nighttime Come successfully balances many challenges with lullaby albums -- sonically interesting without being distracting, making old songs sound new (and vice versa).  Slezak, who's handling preorders for the album via PledgeMusic, chatted via e-mail about her musical upbringing, creating an integrated musical and family life as a musician, and all you really need to have when touring with a baby.

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Zooglobble: What are your first musical memories?

Suz Slezak: It's hard to say what my first musical memories are since music has been so integrated into my life since such an early age. Here are a few:  demanding piano lessons at age three when I found out my brother was going to start taking them; listening to my favorite record, "Seven Little Rabbits," on the record player; playing the piano with a pacifier in my mouth; singing rounds in the car with my whole family; hearing fiddles and banjos through the walls of a tent while camping out at an annual old time festival down the road from my house in Central Virginia. 

What made you want to make music for a living?

Honestly I was well into my twenties before I thought making music for a living was a real possibility. I knew I wanted a life that was interconnected -- I wanted my kids and my partner and my work to all be intertwined.  I also wanted a creative job that included travel and community.  So I feel very lucky that through playing music, all those things have become a reality.

Your new album grew out of a collection of lullabies you'd recorded for friends who were having babies -- what were some of the songs on those handmade CDs and how did you record those?

That first collection was made in one evening in a tiny studio in Somerville, Massachusetts. I recorded everything myself: the vocals, the fiddle, the harmonies, the fiddle harmonies, and a simple guitar part too.  Some of the songs included "Tender Shepherd," a favorite childhood round; "Ubi Caritas," a chant from the ecumenical community in France called Taize where we visited as kids; some of my favorite fiddle waltzes; and "Say Darlin' Say," a traditional song recorded with my first old time band, Mill Pond Nine. 

Besides recording it in a studio, how did writing and recording Watching the Nighttime Come differ from those early lo-fi recordings?

The main difference is that this new record was really a collaboration between myself and two amazing producers, Josh Kaufman and Nate Martinez. The first recordings were really just me, my fiddle, my guitar and an engineer pressing play. Watching the Nighttime Come has textured electric guitar and synth sounds, ambiance from a simple percussion set up, and playful woodwinds and harmonica. It's got David's voice in there plus gorgeous harmony vocals by Lauren Balthrop. And half of these songs are written by me, so it's exciting to have them come alive.

How did becoming a mother yourself affect the recording?

Oh gosh. Well, being pregnant was one of the reasons I finally hunkered down and made this happen. I knew my time would become less my own once the baby was born, so there was a pressure of getting it done before she arrived. However, after the first session in the studio when I was six months pregnant, we realized we were getting into a bigger project than we'd originally thought and knew we needed more time to work. So when our daughter was just a few months old we traveled by train back to Brooklyn and, between naps and nursing breaks, finished the record. I think becoming a mother also puts a new spin on the significance of making music, especially recordings. I love that my daughter and maybe even her children and grandchildren will be able to listen to them one day and imagine me singing to them -- which I am!

Your PledgeMusic video shows you giving a video tour of the David Wax Museum's touring van.  Did you pick up pointers from touring with a child before starting the fall 2014 tour?  What did you learn while on the tour?

We are so lucky to know a small but growing posse of touring moms. The person we owe a great deal to, however, is Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops.  She has been an inspiration to me for several years, not only traveling with two kids, but even using cloth diapers on the road! She taught us that you really only need two things: diapers and the carrier. The rest you can do without.  Coincidentally, Rhiannon is releasing her own solo album  (with the renowned producer T Bone Burnett) on the same day (February 10).

Anais Mitchell is another touring mom who advised me before Calliope was born and reminded me how flexible little ones actually are. And I'll never forget  an article I read about Ani DiFranco who said touring was actually easier in many ways than being at home since you have a whole host of helping hands when you're on the road. And I've found that same thing to be true. Not only does the baby nap well in the car, but there are plenty of loving arms to hold and entertain her any time of the day or night.  We call the band members her Runcles (Road Uncles) and they've been a big part of her life.

And of course we couldn't do this without the amazing help of my dad who retired last year and comes on most of our tours to watch the baby. He's named himself Nanno (a male nanny) and puts up with smelly green rooms, late nights, and long, long drives for the good of the family band. 

What's your favorite song (or two or three favorite songs) to sing to your daughter?

You know, I end up humming to her more often than actually singing, which means I'm making up new tunes each night. But one of my favorite songs is "Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby" that Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch and Emmylou Harris made famous in O Brother, Where Art Thou?. It's got such a great soothing, rocking rhythm to it. The words are a little sad though, so I've been making up my own more baby-friendly lyrics. 

What's next for you?

Well, my main project, David Wax Museum, is putting out a new album later in 2015, so we're gearing up for another couple years of touring with that record.  So that's the realistic next step. But we're often fantasizing about ways to spend more time in L.A. and Mexico. And I'm always trying to figure out how to make more fiber art.  But for now, I'm looking forward to my "Sweet Love and Lullabies" tour to release Watching the Nighttime Come. We'll be playing shows in New York, Boston and Northampton on Valentine's Day weekend.

Photo credits: Jo Chattman

Macaroni and Cruise: A Chat with the Mad Scientists Behind Kindie's First Family Cruise

When I first heard about Macaroni and Cruise, the concept, a small part of me was jealous I hadn't thought of it first.  There are an increasing number of musicians that have taken to the high seas to play gigs for their most devoted fans over the past few years, while family cruising remains popular as well.  Put them together, and it's like macaroni and cheese.

Or cruise.

In any case, it was man-of-many-kindie-hats Bill Childs who did come up with the idea first, curse and bless him.  He's working with Jonathan Coulton and Paul Sabourin and Greg "Storm" DiCostanzo (aka musical comedy duo Paul and Storm), whose fifth edition of the JoCo Cruise Crazy sets at the end of January, to develop a kid-friendly musical (and geeky) cruise for the whole family.

The inaugural Macaroni and Cruise sets sail on Norwegian Cruise Lines' Norwegian Sky liner from Miami on August 3, 2015, returning to port August 7 while stopping at Grand Bahama Island, Nassau, and Great Stirrup Cay along the way.  And while you're onboard, your family can enjoy music from Tim and the Space Cadets, Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band, Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, plus kindie-allegiant acts like Jonathan Coulton and the Doubleclicks, not to mention Lego activities featuring master builder Nathan Sawaya.

There is still an early booking discount available -- it's for the first 50 cabins and worth $200 per person, which'll go a long way towards offsetting any additional travel costs your family might incur in getting to Miami.  Click here if that appeals to you (it probably should).

I sent off some questions to Bill, and he, Paul, and Storm gave some further details behind the Macaroni and Cruise origin story and planning process, so enough of my yapping…

Zooglobble: How did the idea for Macaroni and Cruise (the cruise, not the name) originate?

Bill Childs: I (Bill) had read about the JoCo Cruise over the years and thought something like that might work for family music. I knew Jonathan through Many Hands and KindieFest, and he was kind enough to walk me through the basics. Independently, we came to the realization that maybe it would make sense to work together on it, since he and his partners have so much expertise on the cruise side of things, and on making an event like this into a community, not just a vacation.  We’ve built up the rest of it together.

What were you looking for in choosing acts for the cruise?

Bill, Paul Sabourin, Greg "Storm" DiConstanzo: Smart folks who appeal to kids and their grownups. A mix of acts that directly orient themselves towards kids and families, and "regular" acts that they'll love.  Basically, when we think about who to bring, we're figuring families who come on this cruise aren't looking for ordinary entertainment -GiantMegaEntertainmentCorp Consolidated can provide that. We're here for something different.

What is the biggest misconception people have when they think about going on a cruise versus the reality of going on a cruise?

Bill, Paul, Storm: There are so many types of cruises, and people sometimes take the worst things they hear and attribute it to all of them—especially if they’ve never been on one before. Our team has extensive experience with cruise lines and ships across the spectrum, and we can say with a lot of confidence that sailing with us on the Norwegian Sky will be terrific - there are many more young and active people than what people sometimes expect when you say “cruise”!  But beyond the mechanics of being on a ship for vacation, people may also be surprised at how much community can be built during those days. JoCo Cruise has fostered a lot of year-round friendships, and part of our evil plan with Macaroni and Cruise is to help forge similar, positive life-altering friendships.

Besides performances, what other activities are you planning for attendees?

Bill, Paul, Storm: We're still in the process of planning the "only on Macaroni and Cruise" activities beyond the music—but we can promise fun hands-on experiences that go beyond what you'd expect from either a music festival or a cruise. For example, we're going to have world-renowned lego brick artist Nathan Sawaya onboard to do some fun sessions with the kids. We're also planning to have tabletop gaming, dance parties, and more unique stuff that everyone will love. (And it's also worth mentioning that we'll have at least one parents-only performance with Jonathan and others, where the swears will come out.)

What's been the biggest surprise for you, Bill, as you've learned about the cruise industry from the booking side?

Bill: I've never been on a ship bigger than the pretend paddlewheel boat that hosted my high school reunion this summer, so it's pretty much all new to me. I had a general idea that the ships were pretty elaborate, but I really didn't know the extent. The other thing that's been great to learn more about is the terrific community that can form on a cruise when the right ingredients are there - that's clear from the JoCo Cruise, and I'm really looking forward to seeing that happen with this. (As an aside, I promise there will be far less Bon Jovi on this ship than on my high school reunion’s.)

What are you most looking forward to on the cruise?

Bill: A lot of what I've done in the family music world has been around building communities, and I cannot wait to see how the families on board form a community and, hopefully, lifelong friendships. I'm also excited to check out those islands! Paul & Storm sent some pictures from them and they look pretend, they're so gorgeous. (The islands, not Paul & Storm.)

Paul: Expanding on what Bill said: while we have many fun activities and events planned, one of the most fun aspects of working on the JoCo Cruise has been watching how the attendees have actively shaped the overall tenor and "feel" of the event. I look forward to seeing how the Macaroni and Cruise attendees similarly evolve and shape the event to make it uniquely their own.

Storm: Agreed with all that—it’ll be amazing to be there when everyone is meeting one another on the ship. Though to Bill’s last point, I like to think that Paul and I are at least a little bit gorgeous.

Interview: Robyn Hardy and Lorraine Pond (Bobs and LoLo)

With a band name like Bobs and LoLo, you might expect the British Columbia duo of Robyn Hardy (aka "Bobs," on the left in the picture above) and Lorraine Pond (aka "LoLo," on the right) to be an energetic pair.

And you'd be right.

I caught up with them by phone one night last week -- separately, as they were each at their own homes with their own young families.  But they each still had lots of energy as they talked about their musical backgrounds, how they met, what it was like recording their brand new Christmas album Wave Your Antlers in spring (their first for the Nettwerk label), and what energizes them.

Zooglobble: What are your first musical memories?

Lorraine Pond (LP): Singing a solo at the Christmas musical in first grade.  The first line was "Sleep my child…" and that's all I remember [of the song]. My most vivid memory was of my choir teacher standing offstage with a red laser pen to indicate when I should sing louder.  That, and wearing makeup.  It's funny, in the duo, I'm notorious for singing louder than Robyn -- it's not a problem projecting.

Robyn Hardy (RH): I sang a lot in choir in elementary school, and played the piano pretty young, five years old.  In Girl Guides, too [the Canadian equivalent of Girl Scouts], where I met Lorraine.

Lorraine and I sang together in an a cappella quartet, the two of us played duets.  We also played basketball together.

What'd you play?

RH: I played center; Lorraine was a power forward.  We'd be singing on trips to games, like up to Prince Rupert [British Columbia].

What'd you sing?

RH: Oh, choir songs… The "wim-oh-weh" song ["The Lion Sleeps Tonight"], Van Morrison's "Brown-Eyed Girl," Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'."

Was music a career for you?

LP: We had a lot of music in the home.  I remember writing a ninth grade essay on music therapy… I grew up in a time when girls were encouraged to go into science.  So I went to university for kiniesiology [the study of human movement].

So how did you get into kids music?

LP: It was a very organic evolution -- [Robyn and I] met at Girl Guide camp, went to high school together, took piano lessons, duetted together.  Then we went to separate universities, and after that, Robyn came back to Vancouver teaching elementary school.  I'd worked at the Vancouver Aquarium, and was asked to do something for kids.  So we wrote five songs, and volunteered to play at the BC Hospital, and just played those five songs over and over.

We started small -- we borrowed money from our parents to produce our CD, and recorded it in our living room.  And from that came CDs and a DVD and a TV show and the deal with Nettwerk.

RH: My husband is a musician, and a producer of our albums with us.  [Lorraine and I] were at a bar, listening to him, and we were talking about how we should write kids music.

Lorraine probably told you the five-song story [Ed: at which I laughed, because, yes, Lorraine, with whom I talked first, had indeed mentioned that].  We borrowed money from our parents and had a year to pay off the loan -- we did it in 3 months.  And here we are ten, eleven years later… it's crazy.

Do you specialize in the songwriting process?

RH: Everybody I know writes songs differently.  We come up with themes for an album, brainstorm ideas, play around with song ideas.  We work with a team, including my husband.  Rhymezone has been very helpful for us [laughs].

The creative part is so much fun.  That's the great thing about having Nettwerk behind us.  They do the back-end, which when you have young families, like we each do, is great, and with our teaching background, that's not our strength.

LP: We're creatives, so, [yes], that's the nice part about Nettwerk, they can work on the back end.

What's the most energizing part about being in the band?

RH: That's a tough call -- all are fun.  I like watching the kids, meeting them afterwards.  Seeing them dance.

LP: The messaging is key -- not preaching, but energizing, watching the audience and family and friends.

Also, being best friends.  If we want to go further, reach our dreams, we can push each other.  We're friends first.

That's somewhat unique.

LP: Yes… when we called our parents to ask to borrow money to produce the first album, they must have been shaking their heads.  Now we're new parents -- Robyn's got a five-month old, and I've got a one- and three-year-old -- and the grandmas are watching the kids.

What are your memories of recording Wave Your Antlers?

RH: I remember having a sling carrier, recording with the new baby.  I also remember recording  "Go Freeze" while sweating buckets.  Favorite songs like "Old Toy Trains"… "Little Light" reminds me of my daughter.

What's it like recording Christmas music offseason?

RH: Well, we spent April and May writing songs, and recording in May and June, so between that and planning everything, I've dubbed 2014 the "Year of Christmas."

Even though it's a Christmas album, there's still a lot of music with an "active" bent, like "Chris Moose."

RH: Yes, connecting kids to nature [the other theme the band focuses on] was harder to connect to eh album.  But for the album's original songs, we talked a lot about [the movement idea], how to do that in live shows for songs like "Chris Moose" or "Go Freeze."

What's next?

RH: Right now, we're all Christmas.  But we're going to be writing for a new album in the spring.  2015 is going to be amazing -- we have big dreams, big plans.

Interview: Todd McHatton

I struggled with writing this introduction to my interview with Southern California-based musician Todd McHatton.  Is he a musician? Is he a puppeteer? Is he an animator? Is he a Harry Nilsson obsessive? Is he a musician/puppeteer/animator/Nilsson obsessive? [OK, he's not the last -- that's way too silly too write.]

In some ways, yes, he's all of the above, having done all of those things throughout his career in the kindie field.  He's released six psychedelically poppy family music albums -- the latest, Super Audio Sunshine, was released last month -- plus collaborations with 3 different musicians (and more on the way).  But since he plays live relatively rarely and has a life outside of music, he's still more of an enigma to me than many kindie artists.

So I did what I normally do when I want to know more about something or someone -- I ask questions. In our e-mail interview, McHatton talks about being led down the rabbit hole by Neil Young, why he became his high school's class president, and creating his own Marvel universe.

Zooglobble: What are your first musical memories?
Todd McHatton: I grew up completely soaked in music.  My brother and I had a small record player that we kept on the floor of our room next to a giant stack of Disney songbook records. I memorized every bit of those albums, playing them over and over.  We also spent what felt like a lot of time around my father's musician friends.  They would play guitar and sing harmonies. I was absolutely hooked at a very early age.  These guys seemed like superheroes to me, like they understood things on a deeper level.  They seemed more relaxed and funny than the other adults.

I picked up the guitar when I was eight years old and dove all the way in.  I wanted to know it all.  I watched their fingers, I poured through songbooks, I analyzed everything I heard.  I was obsessed.

One night, my younger brother and I were invited to join my dad's friend Dez in his recording studio.  When we arrived he showed us his small home studio with a reel-to-reel.  Dez explained how it all worked.  He was funny and he made everything seem magical and fun.  We didn't have to be perfect.  We were there to have a good time.  We sang the backing vocals on his version of Neil Young's “Helpless.”  That was definitely the beginning of the rabbit hole for me.  I've been lost in it ever since.

Our record collection at home was pure pop glory – the Beatles, Harry Nilsson, ELO, Abba, and Supertramp were all big for me.  I listened to them endlessly.  Upon seeing my voracious enthusiasm for music, more of my dad's friends began lending me stacks of records.  I remember two incredibly enlightening stacks in particular – one, a stack of classic blues, including Sonny Boy Williamson, Lead Belly, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Son House, Robert Johnson, and Muddy Waters.  The other was a stack of Frank Zappa records.  Both of these opened up unimaginable dimensions to my young mind.  And that music is still opening unimaginable dimensions in my mind to this day. 

What were your creative outlets growing up?
We always had plenty of art supplies around our house.  My mother worked my brother and I through nearly every single project in Steven Caney's Playbook.  These projects, along with my portable cassette tape recorder, a growing arsenal of guitars, a drum set, and our growing comic book collection provided endless creative outlets and inspiration. My brother and I, deeply inspired by Shel Silverstein, Dr. Seuss, and our comics, would collaborate on comics and stories written in rhyme. Inspired by Doctor Demento and early Saturday Night Live, I would interview family members at parties and piece together comedy sketches with fake commercials and musical numbers on my tape recorder.

Through my entire childhood I was always starting and participating in bands.  My heavy metal band, Crimson Steele, gigged nearly every single weekend throughout high school.  I even ran for senior class president (and won) just so that my bands could play at lunches.  Eventually I received a Tascam Portastudio that allowed me to finally dive into my beloved multi-tracking. From that point on, a day didn't go by when I wasn't recording something.  Stacks of cassettes piled up around my room.  I still have a lot of them but I haven't ever mustered up enough interest to go back and listen through them, whenever I have a spare moment I am much more compelled to make something new.

Why did you start making music for kids and families? Your music has rarely if ever touched on familiar "kids music" subjects -- sometimes I wonder if it's "kids' music" at all.  A lot of kids' musicians don't necessarily consider themselves as making kids' music, but… do you consider yourself as making kids' music?

My fascination with music has really known no boundaries.  If you look at people's iTunes playlists these days, it appears that almost no one only listens to music exclusively in one single category, and yet, artists seem to get boxed into a single genre.  I've never been particularly comfortable with boxes, with being defined.  I'd like to think that we're all much too varied and complex and that we all aspire to defy any attempt at strict classification or definition.  Children by nature, to me, seem to naturally defy any categorization.  Kids appear to me to be complete, unbridled, undefinable human potential. When they're happy or excited they literally jump up and down and shriek.

When I sit down to make some music it is nearly always with this idea of a beginners mindset.  Sometimes, to get there, I will tune a guitar into something where I have no idea what is going to come out when I touch the strings.  I like to play nonsense on a beat up old instrument that shouldn't necessarily sound “good.”  I love listening to all different kinds of music so when I put together a record it's the record that I want to listen to.  The genre of “kids music” seems completely wide open to interpretation to me.  The only priority I see is that it's rich and imaginative.  I find it much more interesting and exciting to write about fantastical, dynamic, bizarre things then to rehash any common, tired, depressing, dark subject matter.  So, I guess I write “kids music” because it is the only “genre” that I am completely comfortable with.

Was there a particular organizing principle or artistic impulse behind Super Audio Sunshine?

Super Audio Sunshine is a riff on everything that I love.  I'm obsessed with sunshine.  I love the warmth, the beach, the tropics. My studio is solar-powered. I also love comics and, despite the overwhelming glut of superhero everything, I still love the whole superpower thing.  The inside cover features the same large hotel-looking structure that is featured in our first video “Every Little Monster.”  This represents a celestial tropical paradise resort where all of our songs and stories hang and relax between trips across the universe.  Our extended family includes these characters, and our monster friends, Marvy, Finch, and Larry. They're all one under the sun of Super Audio Sunshine.

What draws you back again and again to the character of Marvy Monstone in terms of writing music for him?
Just like everyone else, I love strange, funny, compelling characters.  I've been creating them since I was a small child, pretending with my toys, and then drawing them and making stories about them, and then songs.  I always wanted a set cast of characters with their own world – my own Peanuts gang, Pogo gang, my own Marvel universe.  I wanted a team that I could write and create for that could be put into any situation I cared to put them in and that I could always count on being who they are – real, reacting in real ways – where they could/would pretend or play another role in a realistic way if the situation was fitting.

In addition to this, I've always made puppets.  I have boxes and bins filled with my puppet creations in various states of completion.  Jim Henson was an enormous inspiration for me.  When my son was born I just happened to naturally entertain him with my bare hands.  I actually talked characters to him with my puppet-less fingers and he was enchanted with it.  They'd pop up when we'd be in a long line, or when he was at the doctor, or before bedtime. These two characters eventually became the voices and personalities of Marvy and Finch.

When he got a little older we made a big purple monster puppet and made a goofy little song with him.  It came out quick and it made us all laugh.  We grabbed a cape, superhero mask, and Marvy and went to the beach and made a quick little music video.  For some reason that little bit of fun was a revelation into how nothing was quite as entertaining as pure character.  When Easter was rolling around I got an idea to take out Marvy again and quickly laid down a track with my daughter.  We went outside with the iPhone soon after and made a little video to go with that track.

That bit of quick fun turned into a hit and opened up a world of opportunities.  It became something so special to so many people that I still get teary eyed whenever I think about it.  It was no longer only ours and that is beautiful.  I keep going back to Marvy Monstone, Finch, and Larry because I love them.  My family loves them.  They are family.  We haven't even begun to scratch the surface on all the things we're going to do with them.

You've also had a series of artistic partnerships, some of which haven't even surfaced publicly - what was the impetus behind starting them all?
Yes, there are so many beautiful, creative, like minded people in this burgeoning community of family music.  I really owe so much to Jeff Bogle for sharing my music with Morgan Taylor (of Gustafer Yellowgold fame).  I was a little blown away at this as I had been fascinated with Morgan's stuff and how much I felt like we had in common – the whole thing, aesthetically, musically – I just knew that we were coming from the same place.  As it turned out, we were.  Morgan and I turned out to be like brothers.  I love the guy.

From there the whole idea of harnessing the amazing technology available to us opened up all kinds of possibilities.  We're able to create “together” sitting in our own creative spaces thousands of miles apart.  Now, when I listen to some music that I love I can not only consider the possibilities of what it would sound like to mash up my thing with it, I can actually do it.  The creative back and forth is so exciting and full of energy.

The spirit of sharing, of openness, and learning how other people work is fascinating.  Making trippy music and cartoons with Todd & Cookie, making lovely, sweet piano music with Lori Henriques, going deep down the pop tunnel with the Pop Ups, have all brought me to new places and influenced my own music.  These adventures have also brought some of the most interesting and wonderful friendships of my entire life.

How do you stay organized between all your projects, artistic or otherwise?
I think I've developed pretty solid organizational techniques over time as I've always thrived on having too many balls in the air.  I enjoy exploring the potentials with technology and art.  Google Docs, Dropbox, and a couple of different project apps pretty much make up the current organizational toolbox for me though.  All of the “Todd McHatton” stuff I do is completely self-made, from the writing, performance, and recording, to the artwork and distribution.  We've turned it into a beautiful little creative business.  Everyone in the family participates in some way and it's a total blast.  I also highly recommend the new book from Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc., for anyone obsessed with the glories of harnessing creativity.

What's your favorite Harry Nilsson memory?
I have to name a few.  The first time I heard The Point and then, soon after, saw the cartoon, were huge moments for me.  I listened to that album for much of my life.  Then, seeing the last live production of The Point in Hollywood.  Harry was a part of it and it was just before he passed away.  My wife and I were newlyweds and I was overwhelmingly excited to share my passion with her.  The next was a surprise birthday gift from my wife of actual animation cells from The Point.  And the last is the first time I saw the premiere of Who Is Harry Nilsson and Why Is Everybody Talking About Him? and actually talking to Richard Perry, the producer of Nilsson Schmilsson, and various old friends of Harry. It was an amazing evening. I visit Harry's gravesite occasionally and lay my gratitude out to him and the universe.

What's next for you?

We're having a blast putting together videos and comics for Super Audio Sunshine right now. We're working on a series of shows featuring Marvy and the other monsters along with some of the new characters from the album. Morgan and I are going back and forth on a new Underbirds album and there's a new Todd & Cookie EP and cartoon on the way as well.

Interview - Vincent Nunes

The first part of my conversation with upstate New York musician Vincent Nunes had to do with his name.  While Nunes has been making music for kids for about 25 years, he's had an even longer career as lawyer Paul Nunes.  (Vincent is his middle name.)

Nunes has a new album about, Smart Songs for Active Children, and I was interested in talking with him not only about his music, but about living a double life, or, rather, what it's like to have an active career in the non-kids music world while pursuing a second life in an entirely different field.

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Zooglobble: What are your first musical memories?

Vincent Nunes: My mother singing to me, she sang around the house -- very simple songs with Portuguese/Latin rhythm.  She was 100% Portuguese.  My dad was Manual Acosta… There's some reflection back -- a song on the new album, "Lullaby to Lucy," uses a kind of Portuguese melodies.

Are there Portuguese nursery rhymes?

I don't know. The songs would have the classic Portuguese rhythm. Like the "lida" [sings the rhythm] -- I used that on "My Triangle" from a previous record.  Mom became a teacher.  She sang from the American canon -- "Farmer in the Dell," for example.

What about your dad?

I heard him play a lot -- he was a touring musician.  His main instrument was a keyboard, so we had an organ in the house.  The van had a second organ.  It never left the truck, it was a beast, it was so heavy to move.  His band was Manny Nunes and the Latin Kicks -- they did  songs with Portuguese rhythm.

Was he a vocalist?

No, not the vocalist.  He sang more toward the end of his career.  He was more of a lyrical interpreter -- he was a crappy singer.  He was pitch perfect, but had a grizzly bear voice.  He didn't sing much, for good reason.

I never took a [music] lesson from my dad.  I did learn a couple rudimentary things, but nothing formal.

We lived in a 2-bedroom apartment behind my dad's jewelry store.  Eventually there were 2 girls and a boy in our family, and so my sisters shared a room, and my dad had to convert the dining room into a bedroom for me.  But after the remodeling, he couldn't get the upright grand piano we had in there out of the room.  So I was 4 1/2 years old, and I woke up every morning staring at and squeezing past the piano getting out of bed.

What led you to the law as a career?

I never intended to be a lawyer -- I planned to be an English teacher.  I took all the courses to be one.  But a professor in college knew me and my family and asked, "Are you prepared for the life?"  He was referring to the fact that teachers don't make much money.  "You're smart, you write well -- have you thought about becoming a lawyer?"

At that point in the year, there were only 2 law schools still accepting applications, and Syracuse was one of them.  I went there, and it wasn't that I liked it a lot, but I was pretty good at it, so I stayed a second year, then a third year.  After graduation I worked in a U.S, District Attorney's office, I clerked for a judge, and then became a Wall Street lawyer.

And the birth of our first daughter led me out of there [to Rochester].  That was the birth of Vincent.  I continued to be a lawyer, but was afraid of telling the legal community that I did kids music -- and vice versa.  I was afraid that clients might not think of me as tough.  I prefer smart, creative, hard-working, honest people as lawyers, but I was afraid of that perception, so I decided that "Vincent" would do kids music, and "Paul" would be the lawyer.

But I was also afraid the other way, that musicians would think, "Oh, he's a lawyer, he must not be very good, it's a vanity project."  If you don't like [my music], fine, but it's not a vanity project.

It was only this year -- after years that included [my own] cancer surgery, the death of important people to me -- that I decided "this is who I am."  It feels kinda good.

I'm very proud of [Smart Songs for] Active Children.  I'm working on another collection now.  The greatest thing is to know that something I wrote will be introduced to kids -- what an honor!

You worked on Smart Songs for Active Children for several years -- what was the organizing principle behind the album?

I asked myself, why would someone listen to kids music?  There's lots of interesting and fun-to-listen-to music, but if that's the point, they can listen to the Beatles, or Pomplamoose, or Jason Mraz.

Kids are looking for protein, music that's age-appropriate.  So I'm interested in music with the 3 Cs:

1) Curriculum -- the content -- for early learners.  It can be even broader, including physical learning.

2) Must engage child's creativity -- can they connect to the song?

3) Does it connect to community values, such as sharing, helping, recycling, the importance of friends?

Are there any songs you're particularly proud of?

There's "No One's Going To Keep Me Down," which speaks to the concept of grit.  That was a hard song to write.  You can't say, "You should," it has to be declarative -- "I am." I am smart, I am strong -- what kind of strong? there's a wonderful ambiguity there -- I am brave, I tell the truth, I am kind, I can help -- extending outside yourself -- and I will not quit.  That's a hard song for me to beat -- it's simple, people can phrases.

There is a very difficult song called "Manuel the Great," which has 7 different rhythms, turns on a hairpin.  It was a way to expose children to different rhythms; I tried to make it silly.  "They Speak Spanish" -- I didn't want to make the song "list-y." I thought about Portugal, it's the last country.  I wanted to write something respectful.  It started in Spain, but moved out from there.

Or "House of Love," as simple a song as can be. "What do we do in a house of love?"  We dance.... the listener doesn't hear a mother/father/child triangle. What about single parents, grandparents -- I can't say mom or dad without alienating my own family.  Same-sex parents -- don't they live in a house of love, too?

You have a long, successful career as a lawyer -- what do you get out of kids music?

I've thought about "legacy."  You know, I've been doing law for a long time. Files will get sent back to me from cases I worked on many years ago, and I need to decide whether to save or destroy them.  Looking through the files, I read about stuff I sacrificed vacations for, worked weekends on.  I'll mark "destroy" usually -- if the client won't continue to pay for the storage, I'm not going to keep them.

But the little CDs I made twenty years ago, people still order them.  People come and sing to me.  My legacy is not my law career, but these songs.

Here's maybe a subversive thought: Music in general is part of the human psyche.  We all get that rhythmic piece, that melody built right into us.  Music and lyrics and super-glued to the brain.  It's the first thing in the womb, and the last thing that leaves -- my dad, as he died, couldn't remember names, but could sing songs.

So if you take a children's song, infuse it with a positive message, you can change a corner of the world.  "More Love" -- that's a "we can build a better world song."  Numbers and colors are important, but "the rain falls, we need more love."

I have the privilege of recording the songs, which, if they're good enough, parents and teachers buy them.  If they like it, then we're changing the world.  If they don't like it, that's fine, there are plenty of flavors of ice cream.  But if they stop at Vincent Nunes' shop, I hope they buy a double scoop.