I am really excited to be giving a presentation today at the 2017 New Orleans International Music Colloquium on “Children’s Music & Rhymes from Louisiana.” This is an opportunity to share all the really amazing stuff I’ve gathered over the last couple of years from Louisiana kids and musicians with some of our leading musicologists in New Orleans.
I’ll be sharing photographs of the children and adult creators I’ve met from all corners of our state along with the sound clips of poems, jump rope jingles, clapping songs, and music. It should be a lot of fun!
Treasures from the Point and Family Pyrate Day – Saturday, March 25 The Confetti Kids Treasures from the Point porch sale starting at 8 a.m. will be followed by a day-long family-friendly celebration of pirate culture hosted by Confetti Kids & the NOLA Pyrates starting at 11 a.m. in Algiers Point
Arghh, mateys! It’s the first annual Family Pyrate Day in Old Algiers Point, a family friendly event celebrating pirate culture in New Orleans.
Join Confetti Kids, Confetti Park and our mates of NOLA Pyrate Week for a swashbuckling good time on the Mississippi River in Algiers Point. SEE MAP There will be storytellers, musical performances, a pyrate market and cafe…games, demonstrations, and crafting, too.
Confetti Park Storytelling Stage
You can look forward to the sea shanties of The Whiskey Bay Rovers and the Confetti Park Players, and pirate tales spun by authors such as Dianne de Las Casas, John Couret, David Ray, Erin Rovin, Ol’ Chumbucket, Sam Staley, Zachary W. Mohr, and crafting with Karen Konnerth of Calliope Puppets.
Lots more piratical fun
Next door to the kids pirate cafe at Warren’s Corner at 601 Patterson is the 21+ pirate tavern, the Old Point Bar. There will be fun along the river all the way down to Larkin Playspot, including pirate merchants, magicians, historians, nautical knot lessons, and a neighborhood-wide treasure hunt co-sponsored by Hubbell Library. And it’s all coinciding with the Treasures from the Point sale of the century in Algiers Point (beginning at 8 a.m.)
Take what you can, give something back
All proceeds from Pyrate Day food sales, garage sales, and donation buckets go to building a new children’s park in Algiers. Want to help in other ways? Bring your old instruments to donate to children. The Hungry for Music bus will be parked at 601 Patterson to take donations! And bring canned food for the Algiers Point Lil Free Pantry and take a “pigture” with Coco the Pirate Pig! More information about Family Pyrate Day
Treasures from the Point and Family Pyrate Day – Saturday, March 25 Rain or shine! The Confetti Kids Treasures from the Point porch sale will be followed by a day-long family-friendly celebration of pirate culture hosted by Confetti Kids & the NOLA Pyrates
Join Confetti Kids, Confetti Park and our mates of NOLA Pyrate Week for a swashbuckling good time on the Mississippi River in Algiers Point. SEE MAP There will be storytellers, musical performances, a pyrate market and cafe…games, demonstrations, and crafting, too.
One of my favorite songs performed by the Confetti Park Players is “Polly Wolly Wee,” a.k.a. “The Frog Song.” You can hear the song on our first album, and now, you can watch an adorable stop-motion animated music video created by the kids! This was made at the wonderful Mini Art Center in Algiers Point.
I first heard this cute folk song on a Lead Belly recording. Lead Belly is an important musical influence in my life. I grew up in Shreveport where there is a statue of Huddie Ledbetter standing in front of the public library downtown on Texas Street. I’m part of a group of Louisiana musicians who gather around his grave every October to sing his songs. This October 2017 will be the 25th year we hold our informal gathering!!! (I joined up around 2000.)
Lead Belly started singing to children later in his career, so of course I have plumbed his recordings since I myself have become a children’s musician. I have listened to a lot of Lead Belly, but I think I love the Smithsonian Folkways compilation Lead Belly Sings for Children most. His version of “Polly Wolly Wee” has such a pleasant vibe to it. When Lead Belly sings it, he does not have call and response on it, but that’s what the song creates…. I just can’t help but respond to him and I’ve had a good time re-creating it with the Confetti Park Players!!!
Katy reads the proof of her new children’s book, Candy Land Ball
Friends!!!! We did it! Thank you so much! This morning I reached 100% of my goal to create my newest children’s book, Candy Land Ball. I am so grateful to all of you for your support.
A few weeks ago, I received the proof for the book. They look great! The first shipment of Candy Land Ball books should be arriving any day, and I am having a wonderful time building gifts for the various perks my contributors selected. Everything is on track to be shipped out by the first week of December.
I am so delighted that this book has come to life. It’s originally a song I wrote about the wonderful, magical kid’s ball sponsored by Confetti Kids, a neighborhood nonprofit organization that supports children’s parks and programming. The actual Confetti Park that inspired all of my daydreamy orchestrations for this website, radio show and podcast is the first park created by Confetti Kids!
I’ve been volunteering for this organization for four years. So many of the children I teach in choir, and who play with my son, Louis, are children of Confetti Kids. I love this group, the parents I volunteer with, and the community we are building.
I’m excited to have this book as a permanent dedication to this sweet moment in time, and I’m donating 10% of all transactions from the Indiegogo campaign to Confetti Kids, to go toward more park development for our community.
Katy Hobgood Ray, director of the Confetti Park Players, was named to Gambit’s 40 Under 40 Class of 2016, honoring “the city’s brightest innovators, artists and professionals.” This is a wonderful distinction recognizing her work with the children in her community. Thank you!
Look for Katy Hobgood Ray and the Confetti Park Players in the October 2016 issue of NOLA Family!
Katy is featured as a New Orleans Mompreneur in an article titled “Lullabies And Lagniappe” for her work as director of the choir and as a radio host/producer and book publisher.
The article talks about how becoming a mom to son Louis in 2011 and being part of a neighborhood community full of children developed her interest in children’s music and literature. Katy started collecting songs and folktales from around Louisiana(she has an MA in musicology) and parlayed that interest into a radio show. The article also talks about the beginnings of the Confetti Park Players. Thank you for the lovely feature, NOLA Family!
I was SO excited to watch my music video “Feufollet” on the Entergy Giant Screen! It was an official selection at the 2016 New Orleans Film Festival. Look at this amazing company of Family Friendly Animated Shorts!
It was very cool to meet the other film makers, such as Limbert Fabian of Moonbot (The Boy Who Learned to Fly) and Brian Vincent Rhodes (Mosquito: The Bite of Passage). We took part in a Q&A after the film and fielded questions from a friendly, curious and supportive audience!
The big screen! The big time!
Katy Hobgood Ray, Brian Vincent Rhodes, and Limbert Fabian at a Q&A. Eric interviewed us.
How I wish I could have had the company of Santiago Germano and Gustavo Wenzel, the amazingly talented animators who created “Feufollet” (and Santiago illustrated The Little Mouse Santi). I hope I represented them well.
I did have the marvelous company of some of the best friends and family in the world! Thanks to my husband Dave, son Louis, and to my brother Marc and sister-in-law Gina and to Annabel for coming to the fest with me!
All the way from Shreveport, my brother Marcus and sister-in law Gina. And my husband Dave, son Louis, and niece Annabel.
And to my delight, just before the lights were lowered and the films began, some of my Confetti Park Players sprinted into the theatre…. It was a wonderful surprise!!!
Someone’s excited for our animated shorts here at the Entergy Giant Screen Theater! We’re running to grab the best seats too! pic.twitter.com/NHAZvhdCqu
Some of the Confetti Park Players attend the New Orleans Film Festival.
And now… for the film!
“Feufollet” is an animated short produced by Confetti Park. This is the music video for the song featuring Katy Hobgood Ray & the Confetti Park Players, animated by Santiago Germano and Gustav Wenzel.
“Feufollet” is performed by Katy Hobgood Ray & the Confetti Park Players, from the album “We’re Going to Confetti Park!” available on CD & digitally. It was recorded at Marigny Recording Studio by Matt Aguiluz and mastered by Bruce Barielle.
Featuring: Rick G. Nelson, bass; Sarah Quintana, background vocals and fae giggles; Katy Ray, vocals; Tim Robertson, guitar; Dr. Sick, violin, musical saw, toy piano; Dylan Field Turner, broom and other percussion.
[dt_sc_button type=”with-icon” link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/were-going-to-confetti-park!/id1057427046″ size=”medium” target=”_blank”]Buy Track on iTunes[/dt_sc_button]
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LYRICS:
In a boat, in a swamp, in the darkness
All around you is the night
Creatures jumping, night birds calling
When you see a flickering light
You think it could be a lantern
On some friendly neighbor’s trawl
Or the porch light on a swamp house
But it’s not friendly light at all
Chorus:
Don’t follow the Feufollet
Don’t follow the Feufollet
Lest you both should fade away
Pawpaw gave a warning to me
Don’t follow the Feufollet
Don’t get tricked by those lights in the sky,
They will lead you far astray
The swamp has many dangers
Use your wits, you’ll be OK
Trust the rats, the snakes and the gators
Before you trust the Feufollet
How will I know it Pawpaw?
What shall I do when I see?
When those flickering lights start to call to you
Do not follow, ma cherie.
It’s a will o’ the wisp, a trickster
Gives false comfort in the night
Stay close to the course you know in your heart
Or do not move ’til morning light.
Hi everyone! I am so delighted to report that I have just hit the $2K mark, and am 67% toward my goal for my Indiegogo campaign for my new children’s book, the Candy Land Ball! I am so grateful to the supporters who are making this book a reality. I sincerely hope you are delighted with book, the music, and any other perks you treat yourself to via this campaign!
Sharing this campaign is the next step to making it a success, and I hope you consider sharing the news about the book with your friends and family, young readers and budding musicians. I hope people agree the packages I put together will make wonderful holiday gifts.
I am pre-selling my new children’s book and song, Candy Land Ball, on Indiegogo. Please consider supporting my campaign at https://igg.me/at/candylandball/x/11554329. Lots of wonderful packages available! Here is an update from the campaign.
Sheet music for “After the Ball” by Charles K. Harris
My song “Candy Land Ball” is definitely not a tear jerker, but it was inspired by one…. I wanted to write a song about the sweetest and most magical children’s ball ever (it’s an annual event hosted by Confetti Kids, Inc. in my New Orleans neighborhood). Of COURSE, it had to be a waltz!
I have always loved ballroom dancing scenes in old movies, and waltzes are a staple of every ball. There are so many gorgeous waltzes, but one that always stands out to me for its fabulous backstory is Charles K. Harris’ “After the Ball.” This is probably the first mega-hit in American music sales….. and it was before recording!
The show debuted at a traveling theater road show in 1892. Charles K. Harris, who couldn’t seem to break into the world of publishing in a traditional manner, decided to pay a singer to perform it on stage. The story goes that after the song was sung, the audience sat in shocked, weeping silence. Then, they leapt to their feet as one and gave a thunderous five-minute long ovation. The singer had to encore the chorus six more times! (Read America’s Musical Life: A History, by Richard Crawford.)
The sheet music for the song “After the Ball” sold in excess of five million copies in the 1890s!
Here is Charles K. Harris himself, performing the sad song about an old man who is informing his young niece about why he never married… for his heart was broken when he saw his sweetheart kissing another at a ball. He spurned her. Many years later, after she had died, he learned that the man she had kissed was her own brother, and the kiss had been an innocent token of affection.
Such drama!
My song, “Candy Land Ball,” is not so sad, but I love the idea of the twist at the end, and so I merged the idea of a ballroom scene, a waltz, and a surprise ending for the very innocent “Candy Land Ball.” This is my tribute to Charles K. Harris.
I am pre-selling my new children’s book and song, Candy Land Ball, on Indiegogo. Please consider supporting my campaign at https://igg.me/at/candylandball/x/11554329. Lots of wonderful packages available! Here is an update from the campaign.
You guys! THANK YOU! One week in, and I am already over $1000 and over 30% of the way toward my goal! I am so very appreciative of your support. The book will soon be in your hands, and I hope that it makes people happy and feel warm and fuzzy… it’s just perfect for the holiday season.
I have lots of fun back story to share with you about this song and book.
I want to say who is playing on the song version—every single copy of the book will come with a download code for the song. I am indebted to the following amazing musicians who are featured on this recording:
Tom McDermott, piano; Michelle Nelson, background vocals; Rick G. Nelson, strings; Matthew Perrine, tuba. Kids chorus: Elisa McDonald, Charleston McLean, and Hrilina Ramrakhiani.
And, I must give a shoutout to my wonderful mom Janet Hobgood and friend Ted Lindsay, who brainstormed with me on piano while writing this music and crafting the fun lyrics, and to my beautiful cousin Emily Zeisler for transcribing the piano music which is included in this book.
Look for Katy Hobgood Ray and the Confetti Park Players in the October 2016 issue of 
Hi everyone! I am so delighted to report that I have just hit the $2K mark, and am 67% toward my goal for my Indiegogo campaign for my new children’s book, the 
You guys! THANK YOU! One week in, and I am already over $1000 and over 30% of the way toward my goal! I am so very appreciative of your support. The book will soon be in your hands, and I hope that it makes people happy and feel warm and fuzzy… it’s just perfect for the holiday season.