Monday Morning Smile: "Vote for Jim Gill" - Jim Gill

As you're aware, usually these Monday Morning Smiles are not kid-music-specific, but when I saw this video from Jim Gill, I knew that this movement-based song would be perfect for this morning of the first presidential debate of 2016. It's a bit of "Vote for Jim Gill," the title track from his brand-new album, and it's tailor-made for playing during the ad breaks in tonight's debate.

It even includes a baby-kissing politician. Seriously -- couldn't be more appropriate for this evening's event.

Jim Gill - "Vote for Jim Gill" [YouTube]

Video: "Superhero" - The Laurie Berkner Band

It's September 23, a very busy day for Laurie Berkner. Her new album Superhero is released today, featuring a bunch of brand-new original songs and duets with folks like Ziggy Marley, Kira Willey, and Brady Rymer. (You can read more about the album in this interview with Berkner.) She's launched a Kickstarter project to bring 5 concerts featuring her to hospitals and special needs schools. Berkner is donating her time, so the Kickstarter money will help pay for all the other stuff -- sound crew, travel costs, etc. (You can donate CDs to hospitals, get signed CDs, and superhero capes, among other cool swag.)

One of those things would be enough for a Friday morning, and two is a lot, but why not do a third thing? So Berkner's debuting her video for the album's title track today. The song's got a zippy, catchy chorus and features cute kids wearing capes. That's enough for me and probably the nearest preschooler.

The Laurie Berkner Band - "Superhero" [YouTube]

"Long Live the Wildcards, Misfits & Dabblers" -- seen from the Burnside Bridge, southeast side

Practice For The Rest of the Year: XOXO 2016

At the risk of losing most of my readers for this secular kids' music site, let me kick off this essay about a conference about the intersection of the internet and creativity with a story about church.

(That's me, #offbrand since 2002.)

The church I occasionally attend devotes a not insignificant portion of its Sunday service to having attendees offer up their celebrations and concerns to the congregation. As a relative newcomer to the long-established congregation, I find a lot of it not all that relevant to me -- I don't really know you, let alone your son whose wife just had your fourth grandchild -- but one day a member of the staff put that part of the service into perspective. She said, "we are open and welcoming in here on Sunday as practice for being open and welcoming in the world the rest of the week."

I thought about that idea of practicing how you want to be or act a lot during my trip up to Portland, Oregon a couple weeks ago for the 2016 edition of the XOXO Festival. The festival is an "experimental festival, shared workspace, and online community for independent artists and creators working online." I attended a couple years ago, and when organizers Andy Baio and Andy McMillan said that the fifth iteration of XOXO could be the last (and that there would definitely be no XOXO in 2017), I threw my name into the attendance lottery. I am no Darius Kazemi, but my name popped up in the lottery regardless, and so I found myself once more attending a festival not entirely sure whether I belonged.

As I was doing two years ago -- and will likely be doing in the future should XOXO ever return in some iteration -- I work a day job that is neither technology- nor artistically-based with steady middle-class pay. My only real relationship to the art-and-technology aims of XOXO is this website and its affiliated work and working with people who are trying to figure out how to make more and better podcasts for kids.

Lucy Bellwood at XOXO 2016 - "The Internet will not give you what you want."

One of the (perhaps unplanned) benefits of XOXO is that it is a conference that attracts people like me, people who don't entirely fit in. As I mentioned more than once in conversations that weekend, if XOXO were a typical "industry" conference (be that tech, the arts, or any field-specific conference), there would be a clear pecking order, with "stars" on one side (probably hidden away in a green room, flown in just for their specific talk) and the rest of the attendees on the other. But because of the cross-domain nature of XOXO, it was entirely possible to have conversations with people and have all the parties think of everyone else, "Wow, they're doing something really cool." It also meant that there would be cases where people famous in a particular field would be anonymous in some settings. It leveled the playing field a bit and made it a little easier to be open and welcoming.

Dinner! (A double scoop from Ruby Jewel Ice Cream)

Before some thoughts about life and one's relationship to the world around them, I should briefly mention ice cream. I have thought deeply about ice cream and my relationship to it and I am unreservedly pro-ice cream. (Waves hello to Salt & Straw, Fifty Licks, and -- shown here -- Ruby Jewel.) I have been privileged enough to attend conferences held in hotels and while I find that the food at such conferences has generally been better than their reputation might suggest, I preferred the setup at XOXO, in which a curated list of some of the best of Portland's food carts were stationed right outside the conference for attendees to pick and choose. Yes, we paid for those foods, but the variety (and probably the quality) was better. Also, there was ice cream. And donuts.

Putting the final piece on our Beasts of Balance sculpture

There were more than enough ways to keep the brain engaged after the stomach was full. As in previous years, XOXO ran a festival at night which included tabletop games, an arcade, storytelling events, and film and animation screenings. Those events ran concurrently on the two nights, so it would have been impossible to see and do everything, but some of the highlights for me were hearing a live (and brand-new) episode of Mike Rugnetta's Reasonably Sound, a brand-new episode of Taylor Ramos & Tony Zhou's Every Frame a Painting series, successfully balancing all the beasts in the Jenga-in-reverse-for-the-digital-age game Beasts of Balance, and playing Illimat, a card game designed by Keith Baker and the Decemberists, with some of the Decembrists. Also, on Sunday night we got to dance to Dan Deacon, which I can't recommend highly enough, having done it myself a few times.

I mention these fun and games not to make you jealous if you weren't able to attend but as a reminder to myself about the importance of, well, fun and games. It is no less important to find time to enjoy the experiences that give you pleasure than it is to find time to work on things that give you meaning. (Self, remember that.)

The heart of the festival is still the conference itself, which features 16 speakers who have made a living in some way from using the internet. One way in which the Andys I think model the "practice" behavior is in the composition of the speaker track. Two years ago, 6 of the 16 speakers identified as women (and 10, or 11 really, as men); this year, that order was reversed, with women holding 11 of the 16 speaking slots. If you are committed to seeing a tech world in which women aren't given a second-class position, then you have to commit to changing the corner of the world which you control, and that's something which is worth noting and commending. (That's only a small portion of how the Andys have listened and improved -- see: child care, non-alcoholic beverages at events, I could go on and on.)

I found almost all of the talks to be compelling and with something to noodle on during and after the talk -- they will be released online and I encourage you to check them out when they're available -- but at the risk of giving short (OK, no) shrift to some compelling speakers, I want to touch on just three.

Slide ("The Internet Will Not Give You What You Want") from Lucy Bellwood's 2016 XOXO talk

The first was the concluding talk on Saturday from Portland comic artist and illustrator Lucy Bellwood. What I remembered most from her talk is probably unfair to her -- it's her admission that she only got off of Food Stamps this year. That admission was part of a larger talk about the difficulty of knowing how to value oneself, from the perspective of an artist. How do you do the thing you love, and how do you put a price on it? She didn't offer any specific answers (other than perhaps a wish that people would put a higher price on creative output), but what resonated with me, besides the honesty in admitting financial difficulties, was the centering of the question of what it means to have a good life and the tension between living your intentions and simply making ends meet when creativity is a big part of your life. It's not that Bellwood's approach is the right or the wrong approach, but it's certainly the right question.

If Bellwood was forthcoming in admitting her financial balancing act, writer/illustrator/artisanal pencil sharpener David Rees took financial transparency one step further Sunday morning, as he outlined his income by year for more than a decade. Rees has had a series of successes, including hosting his own TV show, Going Deep with David Rees. Despite all that, in his presentation Rees claimed never to have earned more than $100,000 in a single year. From one perspective, he appeared to be doing better than Bellwood, but in many ways his talk was just as dispiriting as Bellwood's -- if someone can host their own TV show and still not make more than an average engineer -- then it really does seem like there's a tension between creative output and financial security that will be hard to resolve.

And that's where the final speaker on Sunday, designer Frank Chimero, suggested a frame of reference that doesn't magically unlock financial riches for talented artists like Bellwood, Rees, or the other creators that graced the stage at the conference and festival, but does offer a different view. Chimero referenced an interview with Krista Tippett, in which she notes the complications from conflating "vocation" with "job":

I’m very committed and fond of the language of vocation, which I think became narrowly tied to our job titles in the 20th Century. Our vocations or callings as human beings may be located in our job descriptions, but they may also be located in how we are present to whatever it is we do. It may be that your job at any given point is to make the income to feed your family. That is noble, too.

That's a little bit more than what Chimero referenced in his slide, but I think it further drives home the point Chimero made in his talk. Creators need to work together to figure out how to help each other thrive. That's been an animating principle behind XOXO, and will continue even if there's never another XOXO-related physical gathering.

But creators can also consider what they do creatively outside the context of how much they earn for their creative work. That's not an argument for giving away their creative work for free -- in fact, I'd argue it's exactly the opposite. It's recognizing that creative work has value in and of itself, before any assignment of market value. Viewed in that way, the creative work can have significant value to the creator. The question then becomes, how do I create a life which allows me the time and energy to create, viewing the act of creation as a vocation I'm committed to, rather than a job I need to extract value out of.

I totally recognize the privileged position I'm making this argument from, and that my status as a middle-class person with health insurance (not to mention all my other privileges as a straight white male) whose creative output is an occasional side project could make this a facile argument. But I really believe that approaching the creative process as a calling rather than specifically a job might help some artists think what it is that feeds their soul, and how they can fit that into a life that feeds their bodies as well.

Andy McMillan and Andy Baio banter at the end of XOXO 2016

I was interviewing a couple kids musicians this week -- OK, it was Andrew and Polly -- and they mentioned that putting together one 20-minute episode of their fabulous Ear Snacks podcast takes 65 hours or more of effort. That's a crazy-expensive episode if you judge it by the cost of their time when they write music for films or TV shows. But the duo has, for now, decided not to try to charge money for it, feeling like doing something like putting ads on it or changing it in order to attract some sort of sponsor, would diminish its value. They've made a decision that it has more value to them unpriced and unaltered from their vision. It's a choice they can make from a privileged position, and their approach might mean they may never make more Ear Snacks after this season (because, c'mon, 65 HOURS AN EPISODE?!), but they've committed to living out their calling, at least for the moment.

So thanks, Andy and Andy, for the opportunity to attend a festival which helps people think about how the internet is changing our creative lives, and what that means to our entire lives. I suspect you would both view the analogy to church a little distasteful, but to the extent that you're helping a lot of people think about how they can relate to individuals and society as a whole, and their place within society, I think XOXO has done a lot of what church at its secular best can do. Creative life on the internet is often still a scary and unpredictable place, but I think you've helped carve out a community that will continue to seek a path forward to make it less scary and more predictable for everyone.

Interview: Amy Lee

I will admit that Amy Lee was not high on my list of artists I expected to release a kids' album, but after doing this for fifteen years, I probably shouldn't have been, given the long list of artists who have dipped their toes into the kindie pool.

Of course, the idea that Amazon Music would be a thing, much less the entity releasing Dream Too Much, Lee's entry into the kids music world, would have been fanciful fifteen years ago as well.

So let us accept that the co-founder and lead singer of Evanescence has brought her powerful voice to bear on songs about bees, ducks, donkey, chickens, and more. The album was inspired in part by the birth of her son Jack, whose toddler brain came up with lines like "monkey in the band" and "muffins are sleeping" that found their way into the title track. Dream Too Much the album is available to Amazon Prime members for streaming and the rest of the world to purchase on September 30, but you can read a few thoughts from Lee below on growing up, song inspirations, and his son's favorite instrument.

Zooglobble: What are your first musical memories of growing up?

Amy Lee: You know, one of the things that had a real impact on me as a little girl was Fraggle Rock. I used to watch it before school when I was 6 or 7. I have realized, seeing it again as an adult, how awesome and musical it was. There was an original song in just about every episode, and there was so much depth and creativity in it. Jim Henson is one of my all time heroes. Even as a kid, what's always attracted me to music most is when it digs into your soul and makes you feel. My first favorite songs were by Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, The Temptations, Whitney Houston, Jeff Healey....

How did you go about choosing the songs for Dream Too Much?

Well all of the originals were totally inspired by my 2 year old son, Jack. I was writing those songs before I knew I wanted to make an album just naturally, to connect with him. Then it became this fun, elaborate project, and my mission was always making music I thought he would love. Most of the songs we chose to cover relate to my childhood memories and my family. "Rubber Duckie" and "Goodnight My Love" are both songs my dad sung and played to all of us kids when we were young, many times. I wanted to get a good recording of my dad doing those for us all to have forever, that was the original reason that my father and I got together to record this year.

What your musical hopes and dreams for your son?

I just want him to follow his heart and do what makes him really happy, whether that's music or not. Of course I would LOVE for him to grow into a musician and take an interest in that. Music is a huge part of my life so it would be really amazing to share that interest. He already seems to have rhythm, if that's even possible. Maybe its just a toddler thing but he absolutely loves drums and percussion. Hitting stuff and making different sounds. I love it!

Photo credit: Drew Reynolds

Laurie Berkner performs at the Krannert Center

Interview: Laurie Berkner

Laurie Berkner is without a doubt a kids' music superstar, known for her albums, TV shows, videos, and so much more. One might even say that to many preschoolers (and probably not a small number of current aspiring kids' musicians), she's kind of a hero.

This week Berkner releases Superhero (see what I did there?), her first un-themed album of all-new music since Rocketship Run, released in 2008. Which isn't to say she's been relaxing in the meantime -- she's released holiday, lullaby, and classics albums, not to mention written a couple musicals and probably saved some kittens stuck in trees -- but I thought this would be a good time to talk to Berkner about kids' music today and how she keeps her music-making fresh and challenging for her after 20 years making music for families.

And the secret thrill she gets from writing musicals.

Zooglobble: Who are your superheroes? Why?

Laurie Berkner: Oh man, there are so many for so many different reasons. Here is my answer for today. Ask me again tomorrow and I’ll have another list for you.

The first people who come to mind are: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Susie Lampert, Lucy and Brian Mueller, and Hannah Shaw.

-- Lin-Manuel for changing the face and sound of musicals through a creative risk that he spent six years of his life on, and for being someone who stands up for what he believes in (like breaking down stereotypes and fighting for immigrant rights).

-- Susie, for how she gets so much joy from giving both as a musician and as a psychiatric nurse for people with serious mental illnesses.

-- My daughter Lucy for navigating through the world of being a kid with her unique brand of creativity and kindness towards others and in that way being a teacher for me.

-- My husband Brian for never giving up on discovering his true calling and having the persistence and humility to go back to school at 40 years old alongside kids right out of college and finally get his PhD in psychology so he can do what he was meant to do and help other people with his insight and compassion.

-- Hannah Shaw (who is someone I just recently discovered) for making a career out of rescuing neonatal kittens who would otherwise be euthanized and fostering them until they are healthy enough- and old enough - to be adopted, as well as educating others in how to help these animals themselves. (Oh, and she’s also a rap artist!).

I admire and respect all of them so much for pursuing the things that they are good at, and that bring themselves and other people so much pleasure.

It’s been about 8 years since the release of Rocketship Run -- what inspired you to start work on Superhero after that long break?

I had been writing and recording a lot in the interim, but everything I did was either based on a theme (Christmas, lullabies, classics, songs for the musicals I was working on) or because I was hired to write something for a specific purpose. It felt like it was time to let my imagination be free and write a new batch of songs where I was just thinking about kids, and things I thought were fun or that I would want to sing about. It was both wonderful and very daunting. I felt very free to write about anything that inspired me, but at the same time there were so many things that inspired me, it was hard to narrow down all of the choices! I wrote 21 songs for this album and started many more that didn’t make it on there.

You have a handful of duets on Superhero -- how do you decide who you’d like to sing with, is that a function of the song or the artist?

I always start with whom I would like to sing with. Then I find a song that I think they would enjoy singing and that will bring out what they do best. I have so much fondness for both Brady Rymer and Kira Willey that I was very excited to ask them to be a part of this album. I asked Kira before I had even finished writing the songs and was happy when I realized her lovely airy voice would sound so good (along with her violin playing!) on "Swing Me." With Brady, I knew he would be playing on the album as part of the band and immediately thought of his voice once we had recorded the instrumental parts of "Opelika, Alabama." Maybe it’s partially because I remember listening to his song “Road Trip” so many times in the car when my daughter, Lucy, was younger. He mentions so many fun names of towns and he has such a down-to-earth kind of energy, I just thought he would nail the vocals on that one. He did.

With Ziggy [Marley], I was inspired to ask him because of having sung with him once before on his album, Family Time. I love the way we sounded together on that album, and I’m a big fan so I was honored that he agreed to sing on Superhero with me. I really love his voice and wanted it to be featured on a track that felt like a real duet, with two distinct characters. It soon became clear that "My Marisol" was that song.

Have you found that writing or performing music is easier because those muscles are so well developed or harder because you’ve been doing it for so long that it’s harder to feel like it’s fresh?

That’s a great question … I definitely find performing easier now than it was when I started. I’m still nervous before every show, but it’s less so now because I can remind myself how much I enjoy singing with everyone once I get on stage. When I was younger I used to feel like I was actually going to throw up before I would perform. I couldn’t even stand to do a piano recital in my teacher’s living room without freezing up and crying.

As for writing, I’m not sure if it’s easier now or harder. I have much higher expectations of myself now that I’ve been doing it for so long, and sometimes that self-criticism really stifles my creativity. I used to just make up songs on my way to work as a pre-school music specialist so I would have new material for that day. Now I often tweak and play with a song idea for a much longer time than a 45-minute commute. At the same time, the actual process of writing a song when I have a deadline is less of a mystery to me now, so I have many more strategies I can use to get the writing process started if I’m struggling.

You’ve written a couple musicals and are working on a third -- what is the best part about working on a musical as opposed to writing and performing on your own or with a band?

I love that there is a story that I have to help move along and that I’m writing in different voices for different characters. I’m not really very good at envisioning the musical as a whole before I’ve written the songs or before I have seen the actors play their parts, so when it does finally all come together it’s an incredibly moving experience. I love hearing other people sing my songs well and in ways that I would never be able to do myself, and I love being IN THE AUDIENCE! I never get to do that at my own concerts. To experience my music along with other people as a listener is just the greatest experience. It’s like being a fly on the wall, especially when people around me don’t notice it’s me sitting next to them while they are reacting to the show.

What makes you most nervous about being a (kids) musician in 2016... and what makes you most excited?

Most nervous: streaming services like Spotify, because they pay so little and make selling albums so much harder. Therefore it’s difficult to make a living as a musician - which is something I have worked very hard to do for the last 20 years.

Most excited: all of the possibilities for making and sharing music. Because it’s so easy to access music now, that many more people can experience it, enjoy it, and share it. It is amazing to me that when I started out, in order for people to hear my music I had to sing for them live or I had to get my cassette tapes directly into their hands. The only way for me to do those things was to gig a lot and sell the music to them myself.

Now I can share my music on YouTube and millions of people can watch it any time they want, and I can sell my music online (or put in on a streaming service like Spotify!) and anyone who wants to hear it has access to it. That is AMAZING to me. It also allows me to make connections with other musicians and my fans so much more easily. I love that ability to be more connected to the people I admire and who care about what I’m doing.

Photo credit: Darrell Hoemann Photography (top), Steve Vaccariello/wardrobe by Corinne Barlow (bottom)

Video: "Phone" - Eric Herman and the Thunder Puppies

Normally a video posted on a Monday morning might qualify for a "Monday Morning Smile" designation, but the latest video from Eric Herman and the Thunder Puppies is all about the impending collapse of Earth and its inhabitants due to humans' obsession with those tiny glass screens.

So not as uplifting as I'd typically choose for those Monday Morning Smile.

The video for "Phone" -- the latest from Herman's Bubble Wrap album -- will likely put a wry smile on your and/or your kids' faces, depending on your (or their) level of social media addiction. (Also: somebody has to have copyrighted "Webflix," right?)

Eric Herman and the Thunder Puppies - "Phone" [YouTube]