In this music memory for Confetti Park, jazz researcher and music promoter Tom Stagg shares how he became fascinated with New Orleans music in 1949, as a youngster growing up in England. Blame it on Louis Armstrong! He moved to New Orleans in the 1960s.
Tom Stagg is one of the owners of the New Orleans music label 504 Records, which he established in 1979. (Before that, his label was called NOLA Records.) The label specializes in traditional jazz music of New Orleans. For years, Tom was instrumental in organizing tours for New Orleans musicians such as Kid Thomas, John Handy, Emanuel Sayles, Andrew Morgan, Louis Nelson and Alton Purnell, and later, Fats Domino and Dr. John.
Tom himself was a musician for many years (bass, piano) as well as a professional wrestler! He is also from a musical family—his mother was a vocal soloist and his father was a dance band drummer.
From the swamps of the Atchafalaya Basin comes The Ghost Tree, a tale so terrifying that children will never forget its warning, and will never look at oak trees the same.
The story of three brothers who defy their parents on All Hallow’s Eve was written by musician Yvette Landry of Breaux Bridge. We are so delighted that Yvette narrated her spooky story for Confetti Park! It is a winner of the 2015 Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Award.
The story begins in her ancestral home, the small, somewhat isolated community of Isle Labbé, and ends in the swamps of the Atchafalaya Basin. Her grandfather tells her of an ancient Native American legend: A cursed tree that comes to life every Halloween. Unlucky travelers who stumble across the tree on that fateful night are never seen again. He would know after all, he’s the only one ever to survive an encounter with … The Ghost Tree.
From her website: Yvette Landry grew up in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, not far from the levees of the Atchafalaya Basin, North America’s largest swampland. It was in and around that swamp where she learned to hunt, fish, ride horses, dance, understand French, and tell stories.
After earning a master’s degree in education and developing a successful teaching career, she began telling stories through song. The songs were a hit, and so was Yvette. Playing a variety of instruments in several Cajun bands, Yvette also fronts her own band.
Her debut award-winning album titled “Should Have Known” was released in 2010. Over the past several years, Yvette has traveled the world and played countless cultural festivals from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival to the GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance in New York. She toured Russia and served as a Cultural Ambassador on behalf of the Library of Congress to perform at the Festival of Traditional American Music.
Learn more about Yvette Landry’s music and stories and her marvelous career on her website, http://yvettelandry.com/.
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:
The Confetti Park radio show and podcast,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!
The Little Mouse Santi is a Mom’s Choice Awards® Gold Recipient
The Little Mouse Santi, written by New Orleans author David Eugene Ray, has earned the prestigious gold Mom’s Choice Award®. Having been rigorously evaluated by an MCA judging panel, The Little Mouse Santi is deemed to be among the best products for families.
The Mom’s Choice Awards® has named The Little Mouse Santi, a children’s book about a mouse with identity issues, as among the best in family-friendly media, products and services. This is the first book release from Confetti Park, an independent publisher and children’s media workshop in New Orleans.
The Little Mouse Santi is a 32-page illustrated children’s book that explores one of the most important aspects of a child’s life, the search for identity. Santi wants to be a cat, and he must confront his fears in order to realize his dream. The story ends with a whimsical twist: Santi learns a valuable lesson about self-determination and also learns he is not the only dreamer!
The Little Mouse Santi
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, an animator and illustrator from Uruguay.
“We are proud to earn the Mom’s Choice Awards gold seal of approval,” says Katy Hobgood Ray, founder of Confetti Park. “We know all the great things the MCA does to connect consumers, educators, and caregivers with the best products and services available for families. I hope this award will bring awareness to the quality kids’ stuff coming out of Confetti Park!”
“Our aim to introduce families and educators to best-in-class products and services,” explains Dawn Matheson, Executive Director of the Mom’s Choice Awards. “We have a passion to help families grow emotionally, physically and spiritually. Parents and educators know that products and services bearing our seal of approval are high-quality and also a great value.”
The Little Mouse Santi was released in early 2015, and has received excellent reviews, including a Kirkus star. It is available for sale for $15 through Barnes & Noble, Amazon, some independent booksellers, and at the Confetti Park website.
About Confetti Park
Confetti Park is a children’s media workshop, podcast, and weekly radio program based out of New Orleans. The name for Confetti Park comes from a small playground in the heart of Algiers Point, a neighborhood on the bank of the Mississippi River. The next release from Confetti Park is a CD of original children’s songs inspired by life in Louisiana, out in Fall 2015, featuring a chorus of kids and a lineup of New Orleans musicians.
About the Mom’s Choice Awards®
The Mom’s Choice Awards® (MCA) evaluates products and services created for children and families. Products and services bearing the company’s mother-and-child Honoring Excellence Seal of Approval have earned the MCA distinction for helping families grow emotionally, physically and spiritually; being morally sound and promote good will; and are inspirational and uplifting.
The MCA program is globally recognized for establishing the benchmark of excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. The organization is based in the United States and has reviewed thousands of entries from more than 40 countries.
In addition to being a best-in-class company for the awards industry, the Mom’s Choice Awards provides collaborative lifetime marketing and promotional support to its Honorees. The company has invested heavily in creating educational, marketing and event opportunities to help Honorees and Distinguished Alumni reach their key markets effectively.
Around the world, parents, educators, retailers and members of the media look for the MCA mother-and-child Honoring Excellence Seal of Approval when selecting quality products and services for children and families.
Learn more about the Mom’s Choice Awards by visiting their website: www.MomsChoiceAwards.com.
In this edition of Confetti Park, we have a very special reading by Louisiana children’s author Johnette Downing. This is a narration of her new book, The Fifolet.
The fifolet (or feufollet) is a very spooky Louisiana legend that appears frequently in Cajun and Houmas Indian folklore. The say that the fifolet are swamp spirits making lights deep in the swamps…… Great big eerie balls of light, that seem to float above the water, and beckon the watcher to follow! Interestingly, this kind of legend appears not just Louisiana culture, but around the world. (Ever heard of the will o’ the wisps in Europe or ghost lights in Japan?)
Different explanations blame supernatural spirits, or mischievous elves and fairies, or even the lost souls of pirates guarding lost treasures in the swamp. And some people say it’s nothing but phosphorescent swamp gas making the blue fire.
In her book, which was illustrated by Jennifer Lindsley, Johnette Downing tells about the fifolet through the experience of fisherman Jean-Paul Pierre, who has his heart set on finding the fifolet’s buried treasure.
“Through cypress trees and beards of moss, there is a fire spirit that you never want to cross. It will tease you and coax you and draw you near, but all the Cajuns know that you better beware.”
Worth noting is that the music to this story was also written and performed by Johnette. The music is actually from a song about another swamp creature known in Louisiana: the loup garoup, featured on her CD From the Gumbo Pot.
Annie Hardy Calais was born in 1927 in rural Southwest Louisiana. She recently shared many true stories of her childhood growing up in Cajun Country with Confetti Park. Here is a great music memory:
“When I was 8 or 9 years old, I loved music….my niece had a radio at her home, but we had no electricity, so I had no music in my home, except for mom, who had a beautiful voice, and we’d sing at night.
But still, I wanted some radio music…. I heard music coming from a potato shed where men worked, and they had a radio on…. and I remember studying in science that water helped sound. So we had an old hand pump nearby, and an old washtub….”
Confetti Park is a community radio program and podcast 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:
The Confetti Park podcast,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! We also broadcast weekly on WHIV 102.3 FM in New Orleans and KSLU 90.9 FM in Hammond.
Hey Saints fans! Football season is here! And we have a very special book to celebrate.
In this episode of Confetti Park, Alexander Brian McConduit narrates his original story, The Little WHO DAT Who Didn’t, which is all about one little boy’s love/hate relationship with his favorite team.
The book takes you through the Saints’ amazing Superbowl season and tries to put into words what THAT season was like through the eyes of Buddy.
All of the characters are named after Saints players & figures, pre & post. Follow Buddy, his family, friends & the city of New Orleans as we relive one of the most memorable times the citizens of New Orleans have ever seen.
The story is scored with accompaniment by the Confetti Park Players, a kids chorus based in Algiers.
Thank you Alex for reading The Little WHO DAT Who Didn’t for Confetti Park! What an emotional rollercoaster that season was—and so is this book!
Louis Mayer playing a Golding and Woods pipe organ at First English Lutheran Church in Metairie.
Louis Mayer has been a church organist for over 45 years. From a very young age, Louis had a fascination and love for organs.
In this Music Memory for Confetti Park, Louis, who grew up in New Orleans, recalls taking piano lessons at Werlein’s Music Store at 605 Canal St. (today the site of Palace Cafe) and how happy he was whenever he got to view the organs. Says Louis:
“When I was eight years old, Saturday mornings my mother would take me to Werlein’s on Canal Street. A lot of times it was like dragging me…..but if I did well, my music teacher would take me up to the 5th floor of Werlein’s, where they had the organs. And that was the greatest thing for me, to be able to play on those organs. I wasn’t big enough to reach the pedals.”
Today, Louis is the organist and choir director at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Slidell (his instrument there there is an electronic Allen organ). In the photo at left, he is playing a Golding and Woods pipe organ at First English Lutheran Church in Metairie.
Thank you, Louis, for sharing this childhood music memory!
T-Boy was just a Louisiana kid. One with a terrible turtle that ran away! Oh yes, he did… but exactly where did that pet run off to?
Mel LeCompte, Jr. narrates his original story, T-Boy and the Terrible Turtle, a delightful adventure that doubles as a fun geography lesson of the Bayou State, for Confetti Park!
In T-Boy and the Terrible Turtle, Mel keeps track of T-Boy as he searches along the state looking for clues of where his darn pet turtle went! North, south, east, and west our protagonist travels, looking for the runaway reptile in Louisiana’s largest of cities and smallest of towns, gathering interesting tidbits about the places he visits along the way.
Mel, who lives in Westwego today, has traveled all over Louisiana, and spent many years living in Natchitoches and Prairie Ronde. Mel is an award-winning journalist/ editorial cartoonist (Associated Press/ Louisiana Press Association), children’s entertainer, and social studies educator. He has written several other books, including another children’s book called The Ice Cream Cow, a bedtime reader for little ones.
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:
Go to Camp – Ph Fred
Jambalaya (On the Bayou) – Papillon
Froggy Went a Courtin –The Radiators
Little Red Caboose – BuckwheatZydeco
Hush Little Mockingbird – Nancy Tabb Marcantel
Confetti Park is a children’s media workshop, podcast, and weekly radio program based out of New Orleans. We gather and tell stories, through music, art, puppetry, animations, and more. We are particularly inspired by the unique culture of Louisiana.
The Confetti Park podcast,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!
Cynthia Girtley is a wonderful traditional gospel singer from New Orleans
Cynthia Girtley is a well-known gospel singer and music minister in New Orleans. Raised in a family with strong spiritual beliefs and church traditions, Cynthia started singing at age three and joined her church’s gospel choir when she was four.
In this music memory, Cynthia talks about how it was that she came to be a church singer at such a very young age!
If you’d like to listen to more of her music, check out A New Orleans Tribute to Mahalia Jackson and It’s In My Heart on CDBaby.
Confetti Park is a children’s media workshop, podcast, and weekly radio program based out of New Orleans. We gather and tell stories, through music, art, puppetry, animations, and more. We are particularly inspired by the unique culture of Louisiana.
The Confetti Park podcast,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.
