The song I wish I had written. Kalamazoo Star by Gerald Dowd.

The best written song I have heard this year is the non-kindie type written by all things a drummer in a kindie band. A DRUMMER! Yes though I am not as shocked and amazed as you might think. The song is Kalamazoo Star and it’s written by one Gerald Dowd.  Most of the time you find him behind his kit backing one of the many fine bands he plays and sings with (Justin Roberts, Robbie Fulks, Frisbie, Kelly Hogan, Electric Dirt, etc) but, on this occasion he has released a CD of his own material.  Home Now is a great example of American Music and Kalamazoo Star is as good a song as one can ever hope to write. A superior CD with filled with great American music.  Props to Liam Davis (producer), John Abbey (engineer) and the many wonderful musicians and singers (too many to list) behind the music. As good as the CD is this tune stands apart.  The magic of the song is its positive message in the face of and mournful and sad occasion. Add in the fact the band itself sounds like they could be playing on your front porch, barn, campfire etc. It’s a celebration of life in the face of death and it’s all done in a single take (They saved the best take for last!).  “There’s another star in the Kalamazoo Sky tonight. Same old sky but it feels brand new”. Someone special has passed on and even in death they are looking over family and friends. It’s poignant, sweet and smart. Anyone who ever penned a song wishes they could write songs like this. Thanks for this one Gerald. I’ll be looking for that star next time I’m in Michigan.  So where can you get this CD.  Head on over to www.geralddowd.com and he’s supposed to have it available by Friday.  You can also catch him in the street or a concert venue near you. I’m sure he’ll gladly sell you a copy or two. I intend to buy a bunch as Christmas gifts this year. Go and support an independent music artist today!

A corrected addend-ed amended Top Ten, I did!

A couple of weeks ago I posted my top ten kids CD’s (My Top Ten and Rejected Again) plus a few others the family was grooving too and it seems I missed three worthy candidates in the process.  Two of them because I hadn’t heard them and the last one because well… I forgot.  I listen to a lot of music so this sometimes happens.  So my top ten is now like the Big Ten Conference which they still call the Big ten but actually has 14 teams.  So with no further ado here is the addendum to my top ten CD’s.  Music please…

1. The Pop Ups – Appetite for Construction (Great music from the two guys most likely to write a Broadway kids show.)
2. Randy Kaplan – Jam on Rye (Comedy, kids and conversations with great music  as only Randy can bring.)
3. Seanster and the Monsters – Yay! (Just a CD filled with lots of silliness, fun and great music. I don’t even hold the Canadian thing against him. This is also my hidden gem of the “TOP TEN!”)

So go check these out along with my original list and support an independent artist today!

A New Music Library!

In my efforts to spread the music of kindie and the fact I have now a large collection of  said music.  I have started a kindie library at the kids school!  Included but not pictured is the message included which states:

Enjoy the music! If you like what you hear go support the artist and buy the CD/MP3/Tunes so that artist is able to continue and make art for us to listen too!

This month the library’s  featured artists are The Grammy winning Okee Dokee Brothers – Can You Canoe?  One of my family’s all-time favorites and a tremendous CD of Americana music. Plus it comes with a DVD of their trip down the Mississippi that inspired the music. The other is Heidi Swedberg and the Sukey Jump Band – My Cup of Tea.  She is best known as Susan on the Seinfeld series but now makes incredibly fun and eclectic ukulele driven music for the whole family. Both CD’s are excellent and please go support a kindie artist today.

The Song and the Process. I Must Be a Genius by Dean Jones

Dean Jones is busy these days recording other peoples music.  When I called he was in a session with Molly Ledford (Lunch Money) and Billy Kelly who are working on a project (they had stepped out for lunch). He also works or has worked with with Story Laurie, Recess Monkey and those two Grammy winning children’s music impostors (they’re really great folk musicians in disguise) The Okee Dokee Brothers and many others.  Dean’s really a go to guy when it comes to music production but he is also a most talented songwriter in his own right and likeable fellow as well.  There aren’t a lot of smartly written love songs in the kindie music world that I know of.  The two that come to mind are Pandas are Dangerous by The Boogers and I Must Be A Genuis by Dean Jones. While the Pandas song is totally Punk Rock (still sentimental) this one is more charming and sweet reminiscent of the 40’s piano driven pop song.  I think Bing Crosby but I digress…  When asked where the song came from Dean said “Out of the blue. Some of the best songs are BOOM. The Phrase just came out.”  So he had the I must be a genius and the love me, love you too part so he needed music.  He went to his default chord structure.   A bunch of chords he was used to writing in (mine is E A D). Dean wasn’t always a kindie music guy.  He had a band like all those other bands out there and one day his  friend who owns a toy store told him “his songs where juvenile.  Why not write songs for kids?” So that’s what he did and Dog on Fleas was Born.  When not writing or producing music he also plays out professionally, accompanies  a puppet company plus Dad and dishwashing duties. Dean is married with two kids one of whom is already songwriting at 7 yrs old and in his (Dean) words “Writes good stuff.”  Me, I’m thinking Dean writes really cool offbeat tunes and with this song he is quite genius indeed with this shuffling drum, trombone highlighted, piano driven two minute masterpiece.  Go check out  this song on Buy One Get One Flea!  Go check out all of his work and go support an independent artist today!

For your consideration

 

I did it.  I just addressed the CD to be sent to The Recording Academy so I can let my peers vote on my CD to be nominated for a Grammy.  What are my chances?  Not very good.  We have an excellent product and by we I mean all the folks who worked on it –  Alton Smith, Pete Cunningham, Don Zaloudek, Frank Izzo, Nancy Rose, Frank Rose and John Abbey.  We also had some super help in vocals with Anna Fermin and Emily Hurd. Is It Grammy worthy?  Well I like to think so but that really has no bearing on who wins.  Justin Roberts put out a power pop masterpiece last year and lost to a lesser album.  Not that the winner’s wasn’t really good.   Just not as good in my opinion.  Which others would perhaps disagree.  But I digress…  The great thing about recorded music is that eventually the truly great pieces transcend time.  Grammy or no Grammy.  Why do I enter mine if I’m pretty sure I’m not going to win?  I’m a dues paying member so why not?   No one ever won anything by staying home.  If you’re a voting member please make Poochamungas one of your 5 selections.  Thank you.

School Break Primates (aka Recess Monkey) are at it AGAIN!

I mentioned while talking about Secret Agent 23 Skidoo and his wonderful Imaginary Friend (on The Perfect Quirk, June 24) was sharing space in the coveteded car CD slot with WIRED by Recess Monkey.  This is one my favorite CD’s this year.  I could go on and on about the entire CD. How they recorded in San Francisco with John Vanderslice, recorded it on 2″ tape, a minivan of unused instruments but I already did that in my interview with Drew Hollaway… Opening track Take Your Kid To Work Day is just electric mayhem (sounds like a name for a band…). Seriously this one song gets you pumped up for the whole day. Great funky bass, smokin’ guitar licks and primal drums rhythms all make you want to dance.  Lyrically it’s just so much fun as a kid describes a day at dad’s (or moms) workplace. The whole CD is reflected in the vibe of this one song which will be available to you on JUNE 17th.  GO!  This is an amazing CD and you should buy it on pre-sale today. Go support a kindie artist today!

The Song and The Process. Looking for Trains by Justin Roberts.

The idea came from a father on the road with a band sending home photos and videos to his train obsessed son.  It was a way to stay in touch even when he couldn’t be with the family.  Bands tend to travel and good bands travel a lot.  Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players are one of the best (Two Grammy nominations.)  They travel quite a bit.  It started with the melody and the words “Seems like you’re always looking for trains.”  So began Looking for Trains by Justin Roberts off of his recently Grammy nominated CD Recess.  The father in the band is drummer Gerald Dowd (drummer, father and good guy extraordinaire) who was doing what dads do.  If the kids wants to see trains you send that kid pictures, books, videos and whatever else you find train related.  With a melody and opening lyric Justin then further developed the song on his guitar which is not how he usually works these days.  Nowadays he likes to develop songs on Logic.  This is an Apple program that allows him to add all sorts of instrumentation.  Strings, horns, guitars, etc.  So when he heads into the studio he already has a direction and feel for a song.  But this time he grabs his guitar and starts working it out old school (I’m a big fan of old school.) Lyrically he comes up with every rhyming verse he can think of that makes references to trains.  Then he inserts the lyrics to mimic the train rhythm he has set up in the instrumentation.  When it comes to the bridge he envisions it as getting bigger.  This is where his co-conspirator/producer and fellow band member Liam Davis stepped in, stripped it down (just piano and violin) holding the listener right when the point of the song is being made.  The best thing about this song is that it’s about more than trains which I suspected and Justin confirmed.  It’s about life. About hope.  How we are all looking for our trains “even though all we can see right now are the cars.”

“Maybe it’s caught up in tunnels in the middle of a mountain so wide.  Maybe it’s stuck over bridges trying to get to the other side. Either way it’ll be here any day I can see it now it’s coming through…”

I asked if Mr. Roberts writes the music or words first and he said said both.  That he writes the words and the melody at the same time.  He is also not a constant writer or an inspirational writer but rather a “writes when he has too” writer.  Which is impressive.  Knowing you have a deadline puts added pressure on the whole process.  This works good for some but poorly for others.  He also made a simple statement when asked why he writes kids songs that I find resoundingly true. That he “just writes songs.” Rather good songs if you ask me.  These days Justin has a new picture book coming out called The Smallest Girl in The Smallest Grade (Putnam Books), is writing a musical, got elected to the Chicago Chapter Board of The Recording Academy and will be touring with the band.  Do yourself a favor.  Whether you have kids or not go and give Recess a listen and you tell me if it’s not a power pop masterpiece (It is).  Good music knows no age is our motto and Justin Roberts and his band mates put out some of the best music around for kids, families, aliens, dockworkers and whoever else is listening. Listen to the track (pun intended) below and  go support your local kindie artist today.

Looking for Trains

The trouble you ask for, The Big Leap and Thank You Kindieverse

Tonight is the benefit for Brickton Montessori School called The Big Leap.  A bit of wordplay there because the schools mascot is a frog. A Fierce Frog to be exact.  Fighting Frogs don’t quite fit the school and I for one like the uniqueness of the Fierce Frog.  Well I decided the frog needed a theme song and in one of those motivated/inspirational/get’r done moments I wrote a song for the aforementioned Fierce Frogs.  Having the song wasn’t enough because once written it NEEDED to be recorded (if only in my head).  My kids really liked the song and my wife did as well so… after calling a couple studios on short notice with no luck I called a friend (Kevin Carney) who does remote recordings and with the help Cheryl Lacost (Head of the School) arranged for the song to be recorded at our school. The I got fellow parent Dave Degand to sing on it and Brickton Teacher John Huber to play on it (banjo was his idea) as well plus Frank and Don of the Poochamungas. A rough track was sent to everyone involved so they could practice at home and  John and I got a rehearsal in on Friday and  Saturday last week we laid it down.  This as in last Saturday!  The recording went well.  John Huber’s banjo playing ended up driving the song as well as Dave’s expressive vocals.  It was still missing something (again my artistic vision).  Just needed to add some piano because in my head the piano is needed and managed to get Alton Smith (Poochamungas) to play and add harmonies and John Abbey to record on a Wednesday afternoon and then delivered those tracks to Kevin that night which he mixed and had to me by the next morning. You would think that’s enough but if your gonna have a theme song you should have a video to go with it.  Wednesday I also spent the morning shooting clips in the school for the song which we had just recorded.  Many thanks to Chris Wyer for coming out with his awesome HD camera and helping capture a Brickton School Day.  So Kevin finished the song Wednesday night. Phew… But that’s not all.  Fellow Brickton parent Joe Somers is edited all the video to go along with the song for the fundraiser tonight!  TONIGHT!  Saturday, February 15th at 6:30pm. TONIGHT!!!  Which he has just dropped off and it looks AWESOME!!! All I can say is thank you to eveyone who helped it was a lot of work but a lot of fun.  If yor interested in seeing the video it’s World Premiere will be at the benefit tonight and tickets are still available on the Brickton website.

Here is a shameless plug and link to all the artists that sent me CD’s for the benefit. Many thanks!!!  Go support one of these kindie artists today!!!

• The Boogers
• Justin Roberts
• Recess Monkey
• Baze and His Silly Friends
• Joanie Leeds
• Mr Singer
• Istvan and His Imaginary Band
• Dean Jones
• Mister G
• Caspar Babypants
• The Verve Pipe
• Alistair Moock
• The Hipwaders

The Song and the Process. The Ramble by The Hipwaders

The Ramble holds a special place in our hearts here at A Man, A Band and A Plan… Sort of.  This was the song that my daughter choose for her first ice skating solo last summer. It had already been one of our favorites and The Golden State album is one of my recommended choices for people entering the world of Kindie music. I met head songwriter/ Hipwader Tito Uquillas at my very first kindiefest (definitely a theme around here). He is a full time paramedic (still working 24hr shifts for a private ambulance is a rare thing these days) and I am a full time firefighter so we had a few things to talk about. It’s always fun to exchange stories with people in the EMS industry. We also share a music making philosophy – Get in a band with musicians better than you as we both consider ourselves songwriters first.  Well we didn’t exchange CD’s at that time (my usual way of obtaining music),  it was at another kindiefest 2 years later and Hey Josie (also on The Golden State) was a big hit on Kids Place Live at the time.  It seems after that first kindiefest, on his last day, he went and spent a day in Central Park roaming. Having already visited many NY destinations (Greenwich Village, Wehawken, etc)  connecting all the things he had seen on TV and movies while growing up. He then set off on an adventure of a different sort.  The goal that day was to walk through Central Park and head to the Museum of Modern Art.  Being a California guy this open space in NYC came a bit unexpected.  He came upon a cool foot path that took him through the trees and rocks, winding through arches and over bridges, through bushes around ponds… Then he found out the name of the path was “The Ramble”.  He had an idea and quickly sang into his phone. The original version he says was more of a hop scotch rhythm to it.  More of a chanting version sans bass, drums and guitar.  So he takes this back to California and has a version of this song in mind.  He also has some other songs and the band goes and road tests them- meaning they’re rehearsing them and putting them in their live shows. The Ramble has started to morph. He looks up birds of Central Park and finds a warbler which works. After a year of practicing all the new stuff they head into the studio.  By now the Ramble is completely different.  The chanting rhythm has been exchanged for a drum rhythm and the full band version is rocking.   They now have a tom-tom dominant drum line (Tito wanted more tom like Christopher Walken wanted more cowbell) and the guitar riffs and bass line are set.  They now need a studio to record in as they are ready.  Through a series of events they end up at Studio Trilogy and record with Willie Samuels.  Willie has a great story as to how that ever important drum sound in The Ramble came to be…”I do something when recording drums where I have my “standard” microphone set up, but I will usually throw up one or two “oddball” microphones in random locations around the drum kit just to see if any “magic” comes from them (usually not, but its a fun experiment). On those sessions, I put up an old RCA 77 ribbon microphone about 5 feet out in front of the drum set. It was a weird, and funky sound that didn’t seem to contribute much to the drum sound.  BUT while mixing The Ramble, I was having difficulty finding a drum sound that fit the vibe of the track.  I pushed up the fader with that RCA microphone on it and everything just came to life. It gave the drums this great old Bo Diddly quality that really fit what Nick (Hipwaders drummer) was playing with all the floor Tom work.  I took it a little further and pulled back all the other mics and the drum sound on that tune ultimately ended up being almost completely just that one microphone”…  Basically he’s saying most of  the drum sounds came through the one mic.  Which is not how you usually record drums. So very cool. Which is why you hire a good engineer.  Which is a story for another day.  Moving on…    Tito is an inspirational type of songwriter.  He can go six months without writing anything and then write six songs in two weeks. He usually writes the chorus and melody and then fills in the rest. Occasionally he’ll find a guitar riff and work from there.  Go have a listen to The Ramble and the rest of  The Hipwaders catalog as it’s some pretty tasty stuff.  They’re headed back into the studio this year for a yet to be named new CD. I’ll be looking for it and you should as well.    Go support a kindie artist today!

The Song and the Process – Peace and Quiet by Kurt Gallagher

The process of songwriting fascinates me and nothing beats listening to a really well crafted song. Mr. Kurt (Gallagher) is a singer/songwriter from New York who actually plays to kid/family audiences year round and makes a living at it. Over 20 years!  That in itself is really impressive as those who make a living as strictly kindie musicians are few and far between.  The fact he supports his family doing it is even more impressive. He has 6 CD’s finished and performs in a different place every day.  Schools, libraries, camps, etc… A very working musician.  I met Kurt at kindiefest a few years ago and we bonded over a few beers and have remained friends ever since. He also wrote one of my favorite songs. I featured it in Songs I Wish I had Written earlier this year.  Click the link to give it a read.  The song is titled Peace and Quiet on his 1,2,3,4 CD and what a great song it is. Kurt says that it was actually left over from his previous recording effort.  All he had at that time was the first two lyrics and a whole bunch of other songs he needed to complete.  Seems the previous album called Let’s Go was based on the idea of an older brother narrating about his “crazed” little sister. You know the sibling who’s always in perpetual motion and never stops moving. Biking, running, talking, playing with dolls, digging up gardens and always pestering her older brother. She’s THAT sister. Along with the sister he’s got a couple hyper pets as well demanding his attention. That’s one harried big brother!  Kurt took those lyrics and proceeded to finishes them. Then he added the music which is how he tends to write.  He writes lyrics and or he writes music.  Each one as a separate idea.  Then he tries to match the lyrics he’s written with the different music he’s recorded which is pretty cool.  So he writes the guitar part as a Chuck Berry slow Memphis Shuffle thing and uses the pre-chorus chord progression similar to Heatwave from Martha and the Vandellas  (the mans a walking music reference guide) for his chorus music.  Armed with those ideas he heads into the studio to record having sent the rough recordings to fellow band members to practice and bring new ideas.  Well his accountant/guitarist (can’t make this stuff up) comes up with another guitar part to drive the song which is what you hear on the recording with the Memphis riff in the background. Kurt calls it a Grateful Dead groove thing.  Now the tuba bass line… Yes the TUBA bass line (Dragging the Line, Tommy James) is brought in by the tuba player who had an idea and it so works. Until Kurt told me this I thought it was some kind of bass compression pedal. This all happens organically as the band grew with the song.   Then I had to ask about the counting and Kurt informed me that in his live shows he incorporates showing rhythm by using different counts in different languages.  It totally works here. Peace and Quiet is a great song that deserves to be heard by many. Kurt is also working on putting out a new CD and looks to start recording a new batch of songs in the spring.He’s going to self-produce focusing on good writing and good guitar which is what the song Peace and Quiet has in abundance! Go have a listen and buy some of Mr Kurt’s work today. You can check out the words to the song below. Next week The Hipwaders!

Lyrics

My Little baby sister is out of control

She’s got a tiny little body and a big gigantic soul

She’s driving me crazy every night and every day

All she ever wants to do is run and jump and play

I never thought I’d want to try it

But I could really use some peace and quiet

1 and 2 and three and four and

1 and 2 and three and four and

My crazy kitty cat is drivin’ me up the wall

Trouble in the winter, spring, summer & fall

Jumping on the kitchen table and the counter top

only knows how to go, Doesn’t know how to stop

My little puppy dog is totally insane

Nothing but marbles rolling round my doggies’ brain

Runs around in circles when he wants to go outside

When he starts barking the house rocks from side to side