This week’s featured children’s author is Gypsy Damaris Boston, a folklorist born in 1919, still living today in Ida, Louisiana. The book is called The Rainbow Fairies. Mrs. Boston has published several books for children and for adults, most of them showcasing the beauty of nature and celebrating the details of every day life.
She is the grandmother of Kathryn Damaris Hobgood Ray and one of the inspirations for the show Confetti Park!
On Saturday, April 4 at 12:30 p.m., a new kids radio show called “Confetti Park” will hit the airwaves of New Orleans on WHIV 102.3 FM.
“Confetti Park,” hosted by Katy Hobgood Ray, features music and stories spun in Louisiana. There will be skits, interviews, and studio performances by local musicians, and a weekly story time. A podcast version of the show will be available on iTunes.
“New Orleans is not often thought of as a kid-friendly city, and more frequently than not, ‘kid music’ is adults singing down to kids,” said Ray. “But here in New Orleans, music permeates the fabric of our daily lives and kids integrate naturally with our live music scene. I hope, through Confetti Park, to show how kid-friendly New Orleans is, and also, to show that kids music can be really good. A lot of Louisiana music is naturally kids music—danceable and full of whimsy and fun.”
“Confetti Park” will air at 12:30 p.m. every Saturday on WHIV 102.3 FM in New Orleans and via live stream at http://www.whivfm.org/.
Ray, who works in communications at Tulane University, has a master’s degree in musicology from Tulane and is a former content producer and host for Red River Radio, an NPR-affiliated public radio network in north Louisiana. She directs a children’s choir in New Orleans called the Confetti Park Players.
The name for Confetti Park comes from a small playground in the heart of Algiers Point.
WHIV FM RADIO
Launched in late 2014, 102.3 FM is a low power community radio station for New Orleans. Featuring programming from the Pacifica Network, WHIV is dedicated to public health, human rights and social justice. During the day, WHIV features local New Orleans and Louisiana news and current events. In the evenings, weekends, and holidays, WHIV broadcasts locally DJ’ed shows highlighting New Orleans music and culture. For more information, visit http://www.whivfm.org/
CONFETTI PARK
Confetti Park is a children’s media workshop in New Orleans. We create books, mobile apps, music, videos, and special events geared toward celebrating and growing the wonder and magic of childhood. For more information, visit https://confettipark.com
Today the Confetti Park Players had an awesome time shooting a video for a feature song of our upcoming CD, We’re Going to Confetti Park. The song, called “Watch Out for the Pirates,” was written by Greg Schatz and Katy Ray. What better way to illustrate the song than with NEW ORLEANS PIRATES?
This weekend was the kickoff for NOLA Pyrate Week, a festival celebrating the pirate heritage and culture of South Louisiana. Too Perfect! We owe a huge thank you to the wonderful pirates, Captain John Swallow and QM Seika Hellbound and their NOLA Pyrates crew for telling our kids stories, teaching us how to swashbuckle, and sharing with us important pirate history and lore.
The hosts of the shoot were the wonderful owners and staff at Pirates Alley Cafe at 622 Pirates Alley behind St. Louis Cathedral. Thais, the kids loved their treasure!
And thank you to ‘Ween Dream! The kids were outfitted in loaned pirate costumes by ‘Ween Dream, a costume donation 501(c)(3) nonprofit that recycles donated Halloween costumes and gives them to kids in need. http://www.weendream.org/
The kids will be dressed as pirates again for our French Quarter Fest appearance, in the Kids Tent on Sunday, April 12 at 11 a.m.
Watch out for the Pirates!!!
David Ray recently wrote a guest blog post for Elizabeth Dulemba about the genesis of The Little Mouse Santi and going the indie route to publishing a children’s book. Thank you, Elizabeth, for the opportunity to share our story!
We had a wonderful time at our recent book signing in Shreveport, Louisiana. What a warm, receptive group of people who came to the Barnes & Noble on Youree Drive. We hope you are enjoying your books.
Next up, on March 21, 2015 at 2 p.m., there will be a reading and book signing for The Little Mouse Santi at Barnes & Noble, 2590 CitiPlace Court, Baton Rouge, LA.
Hope to see you there!
On Feb. 12, I was a guest on WHIV 102.3 FM New Orleans, the newly launched community radio station for our fair city. Andrew Ward, the dynamic station manager, interviewed me about Confetti Park projects, including the children’s choir and our upcoming CD, “We’re Going to Confetti Park.” Listen
We’ve been working with Matt Aguiluz at Marigny Recording Studio to create a whimsical, magical CD of original children’s songs inspired by life in Louisiana. The CD features a chorus of children singing about pirates, frogs, snoballs, and Candy Land balls along with a star-studded lineup of musicians (Johnny Vidacovich, Jon-Erik Kellso, Evan Christopher, Matt Perrine, Patti Adams, Beth Patterson, Tom McDermott, Roger Lewis, James G. Thornton, Greg Schatz, David Rosser, Rick G. Nelson, Brian Coogan, Tim Robertson, Sarah Quintana, and more).
There is even a guest performance with Mr. Okra!
We are shooting for a release date of April 2015.
Check out Roman Candy Man, featuring Patti Adams of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra on piccolo.
Today’s the day! Jan. 15, 2015, the official publication date of The Little Mouse Santi! To celebrate, we are releasing a song called “Dream Big, Little Santi,” composed by author David Ray and Kathryn Hobgood Ray. The song is performed by Kathryn (vocals and mellotron) and Tim Robertson (guitar). It was produced by Matt Aguiluz at Marigny Recording Studios in New Orleans.
As for Louis Ray, his favorite line from the song is: “Elephants and dancing bears are filling up my eyes.” He helped his parents settle on word choice, particularly for this line.
You can download the single through Amazon, iTunes, or CDBaby. It will also be featured on the upcoming “Confetti Park Players” CD hopefully out in April 2015!
Also, we’ve just learned that the Kirkus starred review for The Little Mouse Santi will be featured in the 1/15 print issue of Kirkus Reviews magazine. This is a great honor! Less than 10% of all indie reviews are selected. We are absolutely thrilled.
Dream big, everyone!
In this Jan. 5, 2015 article on NOLA.com (Times Picayune), reporter David Lee Simmons talked with David Eugene Ray and illustrator Santiago Germano about how The Little Mouse Santi came about, and the process of collaborating to come up with what Simmons calls, “a charming and lovingly illustrated fable.” A slideshow gallery is included in the article.
From “With ‘The Little Mouse Santi,’ David Eugene Ray finds his muse in a bedtime story”:
“I showed him the idea of the story with the words, and he showed me an illustration of the mouse from behind, looking out of a mouse hole, so you’re looking at his back and there was this light shining in, but his shadow coming through was that of a cat,” David explained. “Even his body language would talk to us.
“It has a sense of wonder to it, and I think that’s what makes it great.”
The result is a simple but evocative artistic design that perfectly complements Ray’s understated yet lyrical storytelling technique. In a glowing December write-up by Kirkus Reviews, Germano’s technique rightly was compared to the Japanese anime style popularized by Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki. The text, sparingly registering as eight- to 10-word sentences, rolls along the page as if on a soft rollercoaster ride as Santi tries to perfect the mannerisms of a cat to prepare for a revealing audition (and a surprise ending).
We are really proud to report that New Orleans’ newest children’s media publishing house, the Confetti Park workshop of Bienville Ray LLC, just got our first-ever review on our first children’s publication. And it’s terrific!
We got a starred review from Kirkus for The Little Mouse Santi by David Eugene Ray, with illustrations by Santiago Germano. (The Kirkus Star is awarded to books of exceptional merit.)
A clever picture book with an unexpected punch line that will delight young readers… Ray’s text is spare and approachable…accessible to beginning, independent readers…clever text is elevated to a true delight by Germano’s wonderful, cartoonish images, which look like they wouldn’t be out of place in a Studio Ghibli animated film… full of kid appeal.
—KIRKUS REVIEWS (starred review)
The Little Mouse Santi is officially available on January 15, 2015 through Small Press United. This beautifully illustrated story explores one of the most important aspects of a child’s life, the search for identity. Santi wants to be a cat, and even though all the other mice laugh at him, he follows his dream. This timeless story ends with a whimsical twist: Santi learns a valuable lesson about self-determination and also learns he is not the only dreamer!
Learn more at https://confettipark.com/santi/
The Little Mouse Santi from Confetti Park on Vimeo.
The Little Mouse Santi is a children’s book written by David Eugene Ray, with illustrations by Santiago Germano. The book is scheduled for a January 2015 release by Confetti Park, a children’s media workshop in New Orleans.
The little mouse Santi idolizes the cats on the farm. He practices his meows and kitty struts even when the other mice laugh at him. When Santi finally works up the courage to approach a cat for friendship, he is surprised by what happens.
“A clever picture book with an unexpected punch line that will delight young readers.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“…A charming and lovingly illustrated fable.”
—David Lee Simmons, NOLA.com | Times Picayune
Find the little mouse Santi on Facebook!
Confetti Park, an imprint of Bienville Ray LLC, will be releasing a slate of children’s media in the coming months. We are so excited about the lineup! We have a book, a mobile app, a musical CD, and fun videos! Lots more in the works, too.
Confetti Park celebrates the wonder of life offered to us every day through the prism of the childhood experience. These wonders are found in nature, architecture, food, soundscapes of the world, and in the spirits of the people we meet! And we love celebrating the unique culture of Louisiana and New Orleans.
The name for Confetti Park was inspired by a small playground in the heart of the Algiers Point, a scenic and sweet neighborhood on the banks of the Mississippi River in New Orleans.
Keep up with news on Twitter @confettipark.