Confetti Park Children's Workshop

Tag: louisiana

  • Charlotte Hunter recalls working for a radio station to buy her first guitar

    Charlotte Hunter recalls working for a radio station to buy her first guitar

    radui

    Enjoy this music memory from Charlotte Hunter, who lives in Caddo Parish near Caddo Lake.

    Charlotte recalls how much she wanted a Gibson guitar when she was a teenager.

    “The first job I ever had was on a little radio station in Minden. I was fifteen. The guy told me if I would do a spot for him, every afternoon, that he buy that guitar for me….I had that radio show until I got my Gibson guitar….. we did mostly USO tours and airbases and things like that when we did gigs.”

    Charlotte recalls that as a child, her home was filled with music. He dad played the fiddle, and her mom played the guitar and bass.

     

  • Music Medley: Dino Mania!

    Music Medley: Dino Mania!

    dinosaur doodleConfetti Park: A music medley from Louisiana… kids songs about dinosaurs!

    This medley of kids music shows the diversity of Louisiana musicians. And today’s music medley features songs about dinosaurs! Songs featured in this episode, in order:

    When I Was a Dinosaur – Trout Fishing in America
    Joke of the Day – Pterodactyl Pee
    When I Was a Dinosaur – Chenille Sisters
    If a Dinosaur Was My Best Friend – Philip Melancon
    Dino Story – Louis Ray
    These Are the Dinosaurs – Judy Caplan Ginsburgh
    I Want a Dinosaur – Ph Fred
    A Myrtle Place – Zachary Richard and Lafayette Kids

    Check out this narrated story about a dinosaur….  Lophi Learns to Fly by David Eugene Ray.

    The Confetti Park 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!

    Subscribe on iTunes

    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 and Music Rising at Tulane University.

    Current broadcast schedule:

    Community radio stations, interested in carrying Confetti Park? Contact Katy Ray.

  • Storytime: Alycat and the Thursday Dessert Day by Alysson Foti Bourque

    Storytime: Alycat and the Thursday Dessert Day by Alysson Foti Bourque

    Alycat and the Thursday DessertIn this episode of Confetti Park, we hear Louisiana children’s author Alysson Foti Bourque narrate her adorable award-winning book, Alycat and the Thursday Dessert Day.

    Alycat is an adorable kitten whose whole week has been spent daydreaming about dessert day at school, when she gets her favorite: ice-cream filled popsicles! Poor Alycat…. He daydreaming causes her to be last in line, and she misses out. After a little tantrum, Alycat has an epiphany. She realizes she can make her OWN dessert! Imagination saves the day.

    We love this book from Alysson Foti Bourque, of Sunset, Louisiana. It’s so fun to see Alycat grow, and her can-do spirit bounce back when she is disappointed. Alycat discovers that trying new things can lead to fun adventures and tasty inventions.

    The book contains sweet, delicate illustrations by Chiara Civati and a recipe for Alycat’s new dessert! It makes the reader want to try new things, too. 🙂

    Expect more from Alycat…. the Cute kitten Alycatnext adventure in the series is Alycat and the Monday Blues! Buy it in local bookstores, on Amazon and B&N, and at the Alycat website.

    Thank you, Alysson Foti Bourque, for sharing your wonderful story with Confetti Park.

    Allyson Bourque
    Allyson Bourque
  • Students at Arden Cahill Academy share their love of Louisiana culture

    Students at Arden Cahill Academy share their love of Louisiana culture

    Arden Cahill in the spotlight!

    In this episode of Confetti Park, we meet some of the teachers and students at Arden Cahill Academy in Gretna, Louisiana, and hear some of the original poems and essays created by students in the seventh and eighth grades under teachers Nick and Rick Mithun.

    Nick Mithun teaches French, while Rick Mithun teaches history. They are the grandsons of Arden Cahill, the woman who founded the school in 1968 along with her husband, Harry. Currently there are four generations of Cahill family members involved at the school—the youngest just enrolled in the infant center.

    Education rooted in the arts

    Arden Cahill envisioned an early childhood education center rooted in the arts, and rooted in Louisiana French culture,  in a country-like atmosphere. The legacy of her dream is fulfilled today in a twelve-acre campus shaded with oak and cypress trees along Bayou Fatma in Gretna. At the back of campus, there is a country farmyard with animals that children interact with daily, and an equestrian arena with horseback riding lessons. Music, art, and theater classes are core parts of the curriculum, and all children learn French.

    Confetti Park’s Katy Hobgood Ray interviewed Nick and Rick Mithun and some of their students, and gathered their poems about life in Louisiana. Listen

    Thank you to all the teachers and students at Arden Cahill for sharing your great work on Confetti Park! To learn more about this wonderful school in Gretna, Louisiana, and its deep focus on French culture and the arts, visit ardencahillcademy.com

  • Music Medley – Beets at the Door

    Music Medley – Beets at the Door

    Beets with facesConfetti 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:
    Woody, Lead Belly & Pete – Ph Fred
    Pig Latin Song – Lead Belly
    Woodpecker – a poem by Nola Frazier
    Lost in the Library – Judy Caplan Ginsburgh
    O’Guillori – Michael Doucet
    This Old Man – The Swing Setters
    Goodbye in the Bayou – Jazzy Ash

    Also featured in this episode, a music memory from Layla Isis and a story called Dixie the Old Dog by Tommie Townsley.

     

    The Confetti Park 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!

    Subscribe on iTunes

    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:

    Community radio stations, interested in carrying Confetti Park? Contact Katy Ray.

  • Music Medley: Desert Snow Man

    Music Medley: Desert Snow Man

    Listen to this music medley "Desert Snow Man" from Confetti Park!Confetti Park: Children’s Music Radio Show from Louisiana

    This medley of kids music shows the diversity of Louisiana musicians.

    Songs featured in this episode, in order:

    Also featured in this episode, a story called “The Lord’s Supper” by Ms. Chocolate and a music memory from Dirty Dozen saxophone player Roger Lewis.

    The Confetti Park 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!

    Subscribe on iTunes

    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:

    Community radio stations, interested in carrying Confetti Park? Contact Katy Ray.

  • Storytime: The Beaver’s Tale of Greed narrated by Iran Martin

    Storytime: The Beaver’s Tale of Greed narrated by Iran Martin

    Grand's Fairy Tales by Iran and Henryell Martin
    Grand’s Fairy Tales by Iran and Henryell Martin

    In this episode of Confetti Park, we hear “The Beaver’s Tale of Greed” by Iran Martin, from his book Grand’s Fairy Tales. This is an adapted version of a Grimm’s fairy tale called the “Fisherman and his Wife.”

    In the older version of the tale, which was first written in Germany in the 1800s, a poor fisherman and his wife are blessed with wishes by a magical fish in exchange for releasing it. However, the wife becomes greedy and the husband, who wants to please her, goes along with her ever-more selfish demands to the fish.

    In this version, adapted and narrated by Iran Martin along with his wife Henryell, the main character is a trapper who saves the life of a magical beaver, and the story takes place in a forest.

    “I plead with you. Let me live.”

    The old trapper stared in disbelief. Never had he trapped a talking beaver before!

    Iran and Henryell live in Bossier City, in north Louisiana. They are native New Orleanians who moved to north Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. “The Beaver’s Tale of Greed” and all of the tales and fables in Grand’s Fairy Tales are steeped in Louisiana folklore and imagery of the forests, bayous and other water ways of our beautiful state. And many of them offer a moral for the reader to take away.

    You can look forward to more stories from Iran and Henryell Martin on Confetti Park!

    Buy Grand’s Fairy Tales on Amazon.

    Iran & Henryell Martin
    Iran & Henryell Martin
  • Music Medley: Dickory Dock

    Music Medley: Dickory Dock

    Fishing boatLouisiana Kids Music

    This Confetti Park medley of kids music showcases the diversity of Louisiana music. Songs featured in this episode:

    I Was Born To Blow This Horn – Michael-Leon Wooley
    Ballin’ the Jack – The Swing Setters
    Throw Me Something Mista (Feat. Mista Cookie Jar) – Jazzy Ash
    This Land is Your Land – Renzi Center Kids
    Sue – Michael “Beausoliel” Doucet With Family & Friends
    Hands and Feet (Are to Myself) – Patricia Reece

    Stories, poems, interviews….

    Also featured in this episode, The Jungle Grapevine narrated by Alex Beard, a music memory from Anthony Dopsie, and poems by Hrilina, Belen, Eleanor, and Dameon.

    The Confetti Park 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!

    Subscribe on iTunes

    The radio program is supported by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, OffBeat magazine and Music Rising at Tulane University.

    Current broadcast schedule:

    Community radio stations, interested in carrying Confetti Park? Contact Katy Ray.

  • Music Medley: Frog on a Lily Pad

    Music Medley: Frog on a Lily Pad

    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:

    Also featured in this episode, a story called Gumbo, Fried Cheese, The Saints, and Drew Brees, by Patricia Reese; a Music Memory from David Rosser; and several poems. Here is a poem of childhood by Peter Cooley, Louisiana poet laureate.

    And here are Confetti Park Players Eleanor and Manele Anika with their original poems.

    The Confetti Park 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!

    Subscribe on iTunes

    Confetti Park is supported by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, OffBeat magazine and Music Rising at Tulane University.

    Current broadcast schedule:

    Community radio stations, interested in carrying Confetti Park? Contact Katy Ray.

     

  • Polly Wolly Wee, the animated music video!

    Polly Wolly Wee, the animated music video!

    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!!!

     

  • Music Medley: Royal Bees

    Music Medley: Royal Bees

    cartoon of queen beeConfetti 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 celebrates the mighty bee! The songs also showcase a diversity of Louisiana musical styles.
    Songs featured in this episode, in order:

    We’re Going to Confetti Park – Confetti Park Players
    Be My Honey Bee – Greg Schatz
    Busy Beeline –  Johnette Downing and the Original Dixieland Jazz Band
    Three Little Birds – Renzi Center Kids
    Bumble Bee – Ginger & the Bee and the Confetti Park Players
    Sugar “Shuga”  Bee – Papillon
    Animal Planet – a poem by Marcus Page
    How Doth the Little Busy Bee – Isaac Watts, narrated by Louis Ray
    Twenty Bees – Johnette Downing


    Also featured in this episode: A misadventure in beekeeping by Louisiana beekeeper Dan Hobgood for Confetti Park Storytime. He shares a true story from his childhood:

    Marcus Page shares a poem called “Animal Planet.”

    And Confetti Park Player Louis Ray narrates a poem about bees written by Isaac Watts.

     

    The Confetti Park 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!

    Subscribe on iTunes

    The radio program version is supported by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, OffBeat magazine and Music Rising at Tulane University.

    Current broadcast schedule:

    Community radio stations, interested in carrying Confetti Park? Contact Katy Ray.

     

  • A Christmas Music Medley from Louisiana: Snow & Tell

    A Christmas Music Medley from Louisiana: Snow & Tell

    Snow falls over streetcars in New Orleans. Photo by Sally Asher.
    A rare snow falls over Saint Charles Avenue streetcars in New Orleans. Photo by Sally Asher.

    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, inspired by life here Louisiana. This is a special Christmas medley of songs that kids of all ages will love…. it certainly showcases the diversity of our Louisiana sound!

    Songs featured in this episode, in order:

    Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer –  Fats Domino
    Joke of the Day – Snow & Tell
    I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus – Hadley Castille & The Louisiana Cajun Band
    Zat You, Santa Claus? – Louis Armstrong
    Sleigh Ride – Debbie Davis & Matt Perrine
    Mele Kalikimaka – Debbie Davis & Matt Perrine
    Winter Wonderland – Linnzi Zaorski
    It Came Upon a Midnight Clear – Michael Doucet 

    Also featured in this episode, Rosemary the Garden Fairy teaches us about the beautiful amaryllis. We hear “A Christmas Song” composed and performed by Zoey of the Confetti Park Players, a music memory from Crystal Thomas, and the story JuJu Saves Christmas in da Bayou, narrated by author Michelle Hirstius.