Author: Confetti Park

Music Medley: Swamp Fire
Will-o’-the-wisp and Snake by Hendrich, Hermann (b.1856)

Confetti Park is a community radio program out of New Orleans. We feature local storytellers and songs that kids love, songs created for kids, or created by kids, right here in Louisiana.

This medley of kids music shows the diversity of Louisiana musical styles. Songs featured in this episode, in order:
- Bucket’s Got a Hole in It – Kermit Ruffins
- 3-6-9 (The Clapping Song) – Confetti Park Players
- Line Cutter – Imagination Movers
- Glow Worm – Swing Setters
- Ha Ha This-A-Way – Lead Belly
- Feufollet – Katy Hobgood Ray
Also in this episode, a narration of The Fifolet by Johnette Downing, about the Louisiana swamp fire spirit, and a Music Memory from Tom Stagg.

The Confetti Park podcast and radio program, hosted by Katy Hobgood Ray, features music and stories spun in Louisiana. It showcases songs that kids love, songs created for kids, and songs created by kids. Sparkling interviews, in-studio performances, delightful music medleys, jokes, local author storytime, and a little surprise lagniappe make for an entertaining show!

[dt_sc_button type=”with-icon” link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/confetti-park/id979442391?mt=2″ size=”medium” target=”_blank”]Subscribe on iTunes[/dt_sc_button]

The radio program version launched on April 4, 2015 in New Orleans on WHIV FM and is supported by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, OffBeat magazine and Music Rising at Tulane University.

Current broadcast schedule:
- WHIV 102.3 FM in New Orleans every Saturday at 12:30 p.m. (Listen via Live Stream)
- KSLU 90.9 FM in Hammond every Sunday at 12 p.m. NOON
Community radio stations, interested in carrying Confetti Park? Contact Katy Ray.
Music Medley: Swamp Fire
Will-o’-the-wisp and Snake by Hendrich, Hermann (b.1856)

Confetti Park is a community radio program out of New Orleans. We feature local storytellers and songs that kids love, songs created for kids, or created by kids, right here in Louisiana.

This medley of kids music shows the diversity of Louisiana musical styles. Songs featured in this episode, in order:
- Bucket’s Got a Hole in It – Kermit Ruffins
- 3-6-9 (The Clapping Song) – Confetti Park Players
- Line Cutter – Imagination Movers
- Glow Worm – Swing Setters
- Ha Ha This-A-Way – Lead Belly
- Feufollet – Katy Hobgood Ray
Also in this episode, a narration of The Fifolet by Johnette Downing, about the Louisiana swamp fire spirit, and a Music Memory from Tom Stagg.

The Confetti Park podcast and radio program, hosted by Katy Hobgood Ray, features music and stories spun in Louisiana. It showcases songs that kids love, songs created for kids, and songs created by kids. Sparkling interviews, in-studio performances, delightful music medleys, jokes, local author storytime, and a little surprise lagniappe make for an entertaining show!

[dt_sc_button type=”with-icon” link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/confetti-park/id979442391?mt=2″ size=”medium” target=”_blank”]Subscribe on iTunes[/dt_sc_button]

The radio program version launched on April 4, 2015 in New Orleans on WHIV FM and is supported by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, OffBeat magazine and Music Rising at Tulane University.

Current broadcast schedule:
- WHIV 102.3 FM in New Orleans every Saturday at 12:30 p.m. (Listen via Live Stream)
- KSLU 90.9 FM in Hammond every Sunday at 12 p.m. NOON
Community radio stations, interested in carrying Confetti Park? Contact Katy Ray.
Confetti Park Players at the New Orleans Jazz Fest!

The Confetti Park Players will be featured at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 2016!

We will be at the Kids Tent on Saturday, April 23 in the morning. More details coming soon.
Music Memory from Emily Estrella

Emily Estrella is a singer who has spent the last several years singing traditional jazz and original tunes around the French Quarter and Marigny music clubs. You can even catch her busking on the streets of New Orleans on occasion.

She “has an ‘old soul’ voice evoking the Dixie ghosts of a previous century. Charismatic & joyous, she heads in to share her contagious repertoire of traditional acoustic folk-jazz.” Visit her Band Camp page for some sound samples: http://emilyestrella.bandcamp.com

In this music memory shared with Confetti Park, Emily fondly discusses the impression her grandmother made on her when she was growing up.

“People ask me a lot, ‘What record did you learn those old songs from?’ My reply usually is, ‘A record, what do you mean a record? My grandma sang me these songs!’” laughs Emily. “She taught me to dance, she sang with me a lot, and she told me about this magical place called New Orleans.”
Music Memory from Leonard Service

In this episode of Confetti Park, we hear a childhood music memory from Leonard Service of Shreveport, Louisiana.

Leonard plays mandolin and guitar regularly with different groups such as Slydell and the Slippery Slope, the New Levee Serenaders, Trashcan Jinga and more. He’s also a member of the Friends of Lead Belly.

Leonard grew up in Lafayette and as a kid, he listened regularly to an evening radio show called “Night Rock” on KPEL. One night, he heard Jeff Beck’s cover of Charles Mingus’ “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.”

“I was just amazed. I’d never heard anything so moving, so beautiful,” recalls Leonard. “I saved up my money, and jumped on my bicycle, and went across town to Raccoon Records as soon as I could to buy me a copy of Jeff Beck Wired. I still have it.”

Leonard also shares a fond memory of his grandmother’s singing in a little church in Vivian.

“She sang so awful that it was just wonderful…. She loved the singing, and I loved listening to her.”
If Ever I Cease to Love by AJ Loria & the Confetti Park Players

It’s January 6… Twelfth Night! Officially Carnival Season!

To celebrate, the Confetti Park Players have created this very special video to share with you. Here, they perform “If Ever I Cease to Love” with the great A.J. Loria, King Nino, a.k.a. the Louisiana Lounge Lizard.

“If Ever I Cease to Love” is the royal anthem of Rex. It’s a song that has all kinds of pomp and circumstance despite it’s silly lyrics!

If I ever cease to love
If I ever cease to love
May the moon be turned into green cheese
If I ever cease to love.

One of the best versions out there is AJ Loria’s, as it appeared on his album It’s A Mardi Gras World. The Confetti Park Players are honored to perform it here with him. This was recorded at Word of Mouth Recording Studio in Algiers Point in 2015. The parade footage is from the 2015 Krewe of Confetti Kids Mardi Gras parade in Algiers Point.

_____

The Confetti Park Players is an all-ages children’s chorus in New Orleans, Louisiana. Our home base is in Algiers, on the West Bank of the Mississippi River. Led by songwriter Katy Hobgood Ray, the Confetti Park Players meet weekly to sing, make rhythms, learn traditional New Orleans songs, and practice the craft of songwriting. The songs we sing are a mixture of fun and whimsical originals by contemporary Louisiana songwriters, classic folk songs, nursery rhymes, jump rope jingles, fairy tales, and natural lore. Our first album, We’re Going to Confetti Park!, was released in November 2015. Learn more at https://confettipark.com/music/
If Ever I Cease to Love by AJ Loria & the Confetti Park Players

It’s January 6… Twelfth Night! Officially Carnival Season!

To celebrate, the Confetti Park Players have created this very special video to share with you. Here, they perform “If Ever I Cease to Love” with the great A.J. Loria, King Nino, a.k.a. the Louisiana Lounge Lizard.

“If Ever I Cease to Love” is the royal anthem of Rex. It’s a song that has all kinds of pomp and circumstance despite it’s silly lyrics!

If I ever cease to love
If I ever cease to love
May the moon be turned into green cheese
If I ever cease to love.

One of the best versions out there is AJ Loria’s, as it appeared on his album It’s A Mardi Gras World. The Confetti Park Players are honored to perform it here with him. This was recorded at Word of Mouth Recording Studio in Algiers Point in 2015. The parade footage is from the 2015 Krewe of Confetti Kids Mardi Gras parade in Algiers Point.

_____

The Confetti Park Players is an all-ages children’s chorus in New Orleans, Louisiana. Our home base is in Algiers, on the West Bank of the Mississippi River. Led by songwriter Katy Hobgood Ray, the Confetti Park Players meet weekly to sing, make rhythms, learn traditional New Orleans songs, and practice the craft of songwriting. The songs we sing are a mixture of fun and whimsical originals by contemporary Louisiana songwriters, classic folk songs, nursery rhymes, jump rope jingles, fairy tales, and natural lore. Our first album, We’re Going to Confetti Park!, was released in November 2015. Learn more at https://confettipark.com/music/
Storytime: The Lord’s Supper by Ms. Chocolate

In this episode of Confetti Park, we hear a wonderful and true childhood story from the Louisiana-born storyteller Ms. Chocolate.

This is a story about when she attended her first Lord’s Supper at the Galilee Baptist Church in Alexandria, Louisiana. Ms. Chocolate was only four years old, but she was looking forward to the supper at the little country church.

“Now, I didn’t know who the Lord was, but I knew what supper was! Supper meant fried chicken and cornbread and collard greens and pound cake! Well, I wanted to go to that supper.

When I walked inside the door, they had a table sitting up front, and it had a white sheet over it, and I’m trying to figure out, what could be under that sheet? Must be a whole ham or a turkey or something!

Ms. Chocolate

I sat on the front pew and I kept watching… I was wondering when are we going to eat? When are we gonna eat?”

The story continues in Ms. Chocolate’s wonderful voice. When she and the other children are left alone in the church house, they go up front to investigate what’s under the sheet.

Ms. Chocolate, also known as Gwen Williams, lives in Picayune, Mississippi today. She left New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. She tells stories all around the Gulf area. http://chocolatestoryteller.blogspot.com/
Music Memory from Hazel Schlueter

Hazel Schlueter is well known for her old time country music and bluegrass show on WWOZ (90.7 FM in New Orleans) and for her musical performances as the band leader of Hazel & the Delta Ramblers.

In this episode of Confetti Park, Hazel shares a music memory from her early childhood. When she was just three years old, she knew wanted to play music, and asker her parents for a real piano. Much to her chagrin, the piano she received was a TOY!

“My parents bought me a toy piano,” she recalls. “I was only three years old, but I looked at the toy piano and the black notes were painted on to the white notes. I knew this was not a real piano, and I was very sad.”

But little Hazel persevered, and kept on asking for a piano. About a year and a half later, her parents finally gave in.

“So kids, don’t be fooled!” advises Hazel. “Just keep asking, keep after them, and maybe your parents will come around.”
Music Medley: Frogs & Lizards & Flies
Confetti Park is a community radio program out of New Orleans. We feature local storytellers and songs that kids love, songs created for kids, or created by kids, right here in Louisiana. This medley of kids music shows the diversity of Louisiana musicians.

Songs featured in this episode, in order:
- Strolling Along – Johnette Downing
- Happy Together – Dr. Michael White
- Ezzard and Theodore – Dustin Johnson & the Louisiana Pollywogs
- Take Me To The Trail Ride – Terrance Simien
For more information about these artists, and kids music in Louisiana, visit https://confettipark.com

Also in this episode, a childhood music memory from church organist Louis Mayer and a storytime feature by Yvette Landry: The Ghost Tree.

The Confetti Park podcast and radio program, hosted by Katy Hobgood Ray, features music and stories spun in Louisiana. It showcases songs that kids love, songs created for kids, and songs created by kids. Sparkling interviews, in-studio performances, delightful music medleys, jokes, local author storytime, and a little surprise lagniappe make for an entertaining show!

[dt_sc_button type=”with-icon” link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/confetti-park/id979442391?mt=2″ size=”medium” target=”_blank”]Subscribe on iTunes[/dt_sc_button]

The radio program version launched on April 4, 2015 in New Orleans on WHIV FM and is supported by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, OffBeat magazine and Music Rising at Tulane University.

Current broadcast schedule:
- WHIV 102.3 FM in New Orleans every Saturday at 12 p.m.
- WHYR 96.9 FM in Baton Rouge every Sunday at 11:30 a.m.
- KSLU 90.9 FM in Hammond every Sunday at 12 p.m.
Community radio stations, interested in carrying Confetti Park? Contact Katy Ray.
The Little Mouse Santi named among Best Books of 2015 by Kirkus Reviews!

Louisiana-based children’s workshop Confetti Park is honored to announce that its first publication, The Little Mouse Santi, written by New Orleans author David Eugene Ray, has been named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2015.

Kirkus Reviews has named The Little Mouse Santi, a children’s book about a mouse who wants to be a cat, among the best books released in 2015. Kirkus Reviews calls The Little Mouse Santi “a clever picture book with an unexpected punch line that will delight young readers” in a starred review. This is the first publication from the Confetti Park children’s workshop based in New Orleans.

The Little Mouse Santi was written by David Eugene Ray (@Aquarium_Dave on Twitter), a former schoolteacher who works at the Audubon Nature Institute in New Orleans. It was illustrated by Santiago Germano of Uruguay, whose body of work includes the animated feature film Anina.

The Little Mouse Santi debuted in January 2015 with distribution by Small Press United and has won several awards, including a Gold Mom’s Choice Award and a Bronze Moonbeam Children’s Book Award in the category of Best Picture Books for 4-8 Year Olds.

The Little Mouse Santi

“We are so honored to be named by Kirkus as among the 100 best indie books, and among the best books, released this year,” says Confetti Park founder Katy Hobgood Ray (whose husband is the author). “It’s incredibly gratifying and affirming when your creation resonates with other people. Thank you, Kirkus Reviews, for getting the word out about our little book and our little company!”

Confetti Park is a family-operated children’s media workshop in New Orleans that creates and curates entertainment for children. Santi author David Ray and Katy Ray regularly read and perform at schools and libraries in their home state of Louisiana. Katy also hosts and produces the Confetti Park radio show and podcast, featuring music and stories spun in Louisiana.

Illustrator Santiago Germano, whose “wonderful, cartoonish images…look like they wouldn’t be out of place in a Studio Ghibli animated film” (Kirkus Reviews), is currently working on a music video for Confetti Park. This time, Germano is giving life to the “Feufollet,” a spooky Louisiana swamp spirit. The song appears on Confetti Park’s first musical release for children, We’re Going to Confetti Park!, which debuted in November 2015.

The Little Mouse Santi is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and select independent booksellers nationwide. You can also order it from Confetti Park.

For more information about Confetti Park projects, visit https://confettipark.com

About Kirkus Reviews
Founded in 1933, Kirkus has been one of the most trusted and authoritative voices in book discovery. When Kirkus Reviews was established by Virginia Kirkus, it was an innovation in the publishing field. Virginia arranged to receive advance galley proofs of books from publishers — only 20 or so at first, but eventually nearly every firm of any size in the industry. She read the galleys and wrote brief, critical evaluations of their literary merit and probable popular appeal. Today, Kirkus Reviews covers more than 7,000 books published by traditional houses and more than 3,000 self-published books every year. The magazine is published on the 1st and 15th of every month, and because of the scope of their coverage, their authoritative voice and the timeliness of their reviews, Kirkus Reviews is revered by many as the first indicator of a book’s potential. For more information, visit www.kirkus.com.
Interview: Judy Caplan Ginsburgh shares Jewish culture through music

Judy Caplan Ginsburgh has been performing children’s music since 1981.

In this edition of Confetti Park, Katy Ray sits down with Judy Caplan Ginsburgh of Alexandria, La. to talk about children’s music. Judy has been creating music for children since 1981! Among the topics they discuss: what kinds of songs do little kids love? How does Judy share her Jewish heritage through song?

Judy specializes in music for young children and in Jewish music. In fact, Judy is a rabbi, a Jewish religious leader. While she has a degree in vocal performance (from Indiana University), she never intended to become a children’s musician. She was singing songs with the children at her office’s preschool regularly (on her lunch breaks), when parents and teachers started asking her to record some of the songs. Thus, her first album was born: Sing Along with Judy. That was in 1981—the rest is history!

Judy writes original music but also plays traditional songs.

“I’m a huge believer in not forgetting these old nursery rhymes and folk tunes that have been around for so long. They’ve been around for generations because they are good,” says Judy. “We ought to teach new things and write new things, but we shouldn’t forget these old tried and true songs, either.”

What makes a children’s song good?

“Number one, they’re simple. They’re short. The tunes are very catchy, they’re easy to catch on to,” advises Judy. “Many of the tunes a lot of us use in early childhood music are also call and response… and also things called zipper songs, where the tune and the words remain the same except for one word. So those kinds of songs work very well for young children because they’re repetitive, they’re repeating after you, they’re reinforcing one thing at a time so they actually can be used for learning.”

Judy also uses a lot of props, audience participation, and movement when working with children in music. “You cannot sing to children. You sing with children,” she emphasizes.

In addition to her numerous general music CDs for young kids (preschool age), Judy has recorded nine albums of Jewish music. These CDs are really good for families, says Judy.

“There are so many interfaith families now, and that’s really why this started,” she explains.”Mainly the mothers were not Jewish, but they were the ones raising the children. So they needed to learn the traditional songs that their kids were singing at Sunday School and at Jewish camp. To help teach non-Jews about our Jewish heritage…This is music that we all grew up with, they they may not have.”

While Judy’s earlier Jewish music CDs feature mostly traditional songs, her later CDs feature originals.

“I used to teach in a Jewish day school, and a lot of times we’re trying to teach a concept, an ethical philosophy, and I always taught with music,” explains Judy. “But there wouldn’t be a song, for instance, about tzedakah, which means charity, or helping people. And, so I wrote a song about tzedakah.”

Just loves performing and is also available for teacher training, to teach teachers how to use music in the classroom. You can reach her through her website at http://www.judymusic.com/

Songs featured in this episode: “Aiken Drum,” “Sing Along Song,” and “Tzedakah.”