Tag: louisiana

“Go for it!” Crystal Thomas shares a funny childhood music memory about gumption

Crystal Thomas is a singer and a trombonist in Shreveport

Crystal Thomas is a Shreveport-based songwriter, singer and trombonist who regularly performs around Louisiana. A performer of the blues and gospel, you can find her (if not in churches) at various clubs like Southern Soul Lounge and at the venerated Monday Night Blues Jam at Lee’s in Shreveport.

In this episode of Confetti Park, Crystal shares a delightful story about how her desire to perform overcame her lack of musical know-how when she was just a child.

“I was in the third grade and we had a Mother’s Day Program and they wanted everyone to participate. Being a music lover, I was like, ‘Well I’ll play the piano!’

‘I couldn’t play the piano….didn’t know how to play the piano! But my love for music…prompted me to getup to the piano, sit down and play. And everyone loved it. I think they applauded more because I had the gumption, the nerve…..I basically made up a song on the spot, in front of the entire school.’”

Crystal goes on to explain that she believes her music memory can serve as an example for children to not be afraid to dream big.

“Never be afraid to push and follow your dreams,” says Crystal. “Shoot for the stars, and wherever hard work takes you, apply yourself. You can achieve and accomplish anything.”
Validating a child’s talent can set them on a lifelong musical journey

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

In this episode of Confetti Park, we hear a special childhood memory from Judy Caplan Ginsburgh of Alexandria, Louisiana, an internationally recognized and multi-award winning performer, recording artist and educator.

Judy sings as a cantorial soloist and travels throughout North America presenting concerts, residencies, educational keynotes and workshops. Judy works actively in both Jewish and non-Jewish settings and she has developed a number of interactive, educational performances and arts-in-education residencies for school-age children. She has been creating children’s music since 1981!

Judy shares how important the validation of adults can be when it comes to nurturing a child’s natural talents and interests, and how an experience that happened when she was just eight years old set her on a career in music!

Says Judy: “We had a music teacher who came to our school maybe every other week, and she would do music with all the children in the school.

At one point our local symphony here in Rapides parish needed a children’s chorus… and they auditioned people at our elementary school.

I remember a gentleman coming, he listened to all of us, and we sang, I think, “Happy Birthday.” And we sang in groups of like five. And he walked in front of us and listened to us, and picked certain people to be in this children’s chorus.

I was one of those that was picked, when I was about 8 years old, and at that moment, I knew that I was good. That my voice was good. Someone had validated me…..

I’m still in touch with this gentleman, by the way, and I always tell him that he’s responsible for making sure that I went into music as my career.”

Thank you, Judy, for sharing your childhood music memory with Confetti Park!

Learn more about Judy at http://www.judymusic.com/ and check out this more in depth interview with Judy.
Storytime: Juju Meets the Rougaroo by Michelle Hirstius

Juju Meets the Rougaroo: A Halloween Anti-Bullying Book by Michelle Hirstius

Halloween calls for some spooky tales, and we have some wonderful spooky tales to share in Louisiana! Here is one of our newest little Louisiana characters—it’s Juju, who makes GOOD voodoo!

What is a rougaroo? It’s like a werewolf. It’s a hairy half-human/half-wolf monster that lives in the swamps of South Louisiana. The Cajun people tell tales of the rougaroo (or rougarou, roux-ga-roux, rugaroo, rugaru or loup garou) prowling the Louisiana swamps and forests, stalking livestock, pets, and humans. It changes into wolf form with the phases of the moon—in worst case, the phase lasts 101 days. Some say you turn into a rougaroo by breaking church habits, and others say witches turn you into a rougaroo, and others say that the bite of a monster causes the change. It’s definitely a scary legend meant to keep little children close to home!

Well… this sweet little book isn’t as scary as those legends. In Juju Meets the Rougaroo, Juju and her friends are trick-or-treating when they encounter the rougaroo, and he tries to steal their candy. He is a bully! Only Juju stands up to him, and decides to use her good voodoo to show the creature his past, present, and future so that he can see how his meanness affects other people—and himself.

Juju is an adorable character created by New Orleans author and illustrator Michelle Hirstius. Juju Meets the Rougaroo is the seventh in a series and we are so glad that more are coming! Thanks for sharing your stories with Confetti Park, Michelle!

Check out all the adventures of Juju at http://www.michellehirstius.com/
Music Medley: Who’s at the Door?
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:

We’re Going to Confetti Park! – Confetti Park Players
Best Friends – Zachary Richard
Moving Along – Johnette Downing
Be My Honey Bee – Schazty
Baby Bumblebee – Judy Caplan Ginsburgh
When You’re Smiling – Jeremy Lyons
Curious George Main Theme Song – Dr. John
Row Row Row Your Boat – Dr. John (Mac Rebennack with The Ends)
Monsters – Jazzy Ash

Also featured in this episode, a music memory from Dr. Sick and the storytime feature F Words – Fantastic by Ms. Chocolate, and poems from Louisiana kids!

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!

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:
- WHIV 102.3 FM in New Orleans every Saturday at 12 p.m. NOON
- KSLU 90.9 FM in Hammond every Sunday at 12 p.m. NOON
- WHYR 96.9 FM in Baton Rouge every Sunday at 11:30 a.m.
Community radio stations, interested in carrying Confetti Park? Contact Katy Ray.
Storytime: Foolish John, A Louisiana Folktale narrated by Ted Lindsay

Foolish John is a literal-minded character who appears in American folk stories as a fool who always gets things right somehow. In Louisiana folk tales, he was called Jean Sotte, and he had many misadventures that resulted in happy outcomes despite all of his foolish interpretations of situations.

A later year character who might have been inspired by the Foolish John stories is America Bedelia: “Everyone loves Amelia Bedelia, the literal-minded housekeeper! When she makes a sponge cake, she puts in real sponges. When she weeds the garden, she replants the weeds. And when she pitches a tent, she throws it into the woods!”

In this Foolish John tale, which is narrated by Ted Lindsay of Mooringsport, Foolish John is sent by his mother to sell a cow hide. What does he do? He strings it up on a tree, like a sail blowing in the wind above the woods. The misadventure continues from there, leading to great riches for John.
Interview with Ol’ Chumbucket, co-creator of Talk Like a Pirate Day

Ol’ Chumbucket reads to kids at Hubbell Library in Algiers Point

In this episode of Confetti Park, Katy Hobgood Ray interviews Ol’ Chumbucket, the co-creator of International Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19. Chumbucket, also known as John Baur in certain circles, lives in New Orleans today (he has lived in many places including the Virgin Islands) and spends much of his time traveling the pirate festival circuit promoting his books and pirate culture.

Chrissie Warren: Pirate Hunter, is his latest. It’s a truly entertaining young adult book about a 13-year-old girl in colonial Virginia who disguises herself as a boy in order to sign onto a merchant ship. What drives her to such rash madness? She must rescue her father, who has been taken by terrible pirates. This book is a great ride!

Ol’ Chumbucket has co-authored at least eight books about pirate culture with his buddy Cap’n Slappy (a.k.a Mark Summers, the co-creator of Talk Like a Pirate Day), including A Li’l Pirate’s ABSeas, “a piratical romp through the alphabet with all that that implies. Sometimes rude, sometimes downright dangerous and subversive, but always fun and always funny.”

Kids in the Algiers Point neighborhood where Confetti Park is located were very lucky to have Ol’ Chumbucket come to the Hubbell Library. He and the NOLA Pyrates Society sang sea shanties and shared pirate lore. Katy recorded this interview with Chumbucket outside the library located near the river. (You can hear the wind! Sorry for the rumbles.)

Here she talks to him about the genesis of International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and they uncover what it is that makes pirates so universally appealing.

Says Chumbucket: “Pirates, they’re an expression of freedom. We always tell people it’s ‘Talk Like a Pirate Day’—not ‘Commit Felonies Like a Pirate Day.’ We’re not advocating you actually waylay a Spanish galleon.

But… pirates were the freest people on earth. They lived by their own rules; they rejected convention. So when you go out and live your life for YOU instead of the rules that everybody else’s putting on you, the TV ads that tell you you have to smell like this, and the magazine ads that tell you you have to wear these shoes… if you do what you want, because it’s what you want, then you’re living like a pirate.”

For more information about Ol’ Chumbucket, visit his websites https://baurlife.com/ and http://talklikeapirate.com/.
Interview with Kid Chef Eliana about her foodie inspirations & aspirations

In this episode of Confetti Park, Katy Hobgood Ray interviews Kid Chef Eliana de Las Casas, a New Orleans-based chef who is seriously one of the hardest-working kids around.

Eliana has been cooking since she was four years old! Her interested hasn’t waned over the years from those early days of watching her family elders make food in the kitchen. Now at 16 years old, Eliana has bloomed as a chef, as an entrepreneur, as a cookbook author and as a culinary personality.

Eliana was born in Gretna and has a whole lot of cultural influences driving her style. She describes herself as a gumbo of Filipino, Cajun, Honduran, and Cuban.

“My whole family taught me how to cook, everyone. We always loved being in the kitchen together and having huge family gatherings,” says Eliana. “There would just be all kinds of different dishes at the table. I never wanted to leave the kitchen! I was never the kid to ask for toys. I always wanted something kitchen-related.”

Eliana’s mom is notable Louisiana children’s author Dianne de las Casas, and she encouraged Eliana to start a food blog when Eliana was touring with her at book signings around Louisiana. From there, Eliana’s abilities as a media mogul, too, grew! Soon Eliana was doing cooking tutorials for kids on YouTube, and before long she declared her intention to publish a cookbook. She was only ten years old when her first cookbook came out—today Eliana has three: Cool Kids Cook: Fresh & Fit, Cool Kids Cook: Louisiana, and Eliana Cooks: Recipes for Creative Kids.

In this interview, Katy and Eliana dive deep into Eliana’s early inspirations and her current aspirations, which include launching her own line of spices. They also talk about some of Eliana’s adult mentors, such as New Orleans-based chefs Tory McPhail (Commander’s Palace), Chef Adolfo Garcia (Primitivo, RioMar) and Chef Ryan Hughes (Purloo).

Eliana is currently a full-time student at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. She takes traditional academic classes in the morning, and in the afternoon, she studies in a culinary arts program funded by the Emeril Lagasse Foundation. She is also a radio host! Every Friday at 6pm CT, listen to Kid Chef Eliana’s weekly radio show, Let’s Get Cookin’, on 102.3 FM WHIV.

Learn more at http://www.kidchefeliana.com

Eliana is competing on Chopped Teen Tournament on Food Network in September. The tournament has 16 teens battling for a cash prize of $25,000. Let’s all support this teen chef representing the city of New Orleans!
Jimmy Caskey’s lifelong fascination with recorded music

It’s a music memory brought to you by Confetti Park!

Jimmy Caskey lives in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he and his wife Jacques own and operate a beloved lunchtime restaurant called Jacquelyn’s Cafe. Jimmy has been playing guitar all his life, and has performed in several different bands around north Louisiana.

Whenever people go to Jacquelyn’s Cafe, in addition to enjoying the shrimp salad and Monte Cristo sandwiches, bowls of gumbo and red beans and rice, they’re getting a musical education (whether they know it or not!). Jim Caskey is the deejay, and he lovingly shares his large and eclectic recording collection with everyone who steps through the doors. He will talk music with anyone who is interested in learning about what they’re hearing.

Jimmy’s love for music is lifelong. In this music memory, Jimmy discusses discovering his parents’ turntable and records when he was small child:

“I was around 5 or 6 in Mississippi, I remember my folks had albums and a turntable. And I remember sitting there listening to the albums and was fascinated by music. And I’ve been fascinated ever since then by recorded music…..And when I was 13 I started playing guitar, and I don’t know why I can’t explain it, but I was always infected and amazed by music of all sorts. Except for heavy metal.”

Thank you, Jimmy, for sharing your childhood music memory with Confetti Park!
Thanksgiving playlists make beautiful music memories for Rich Collins

Rich Collins

It’s a childhood music memory from Rich Collins, a founder and front man for one of the most popular children’s music groups in the world, the Imagination Movers. Rich also has a burgeoning solo career, with a new album of songs geared toward adults. (Scroll down for music videos!)

In this music memory, Rich talks about the music he associates with large family gatherings at Thanksgiving:

“My family up in DC was large and we would all gather for all the major holidays, and the holiday that was at our house every year was Thanksgiving. And we had a very fun family, so basically the way every one of these gatherings ended was with all the tables and chairs being pushed aside, and we would put on records and start dancing.”

Rich talks about how his father curated the albums that became the basis for Thanksgiving memories: “The soundtrack to my youth, and to these parties, and to these great family memories, was the Beatles, Creedence, and Otis Redding.”

Today, the tradition lives on for Rich and his family.

“Every other year here in New Orleans (where I’ve been for 25 years), I host Thanksgiving. And I have a Pandora channel with those three artists on it and I put it on and it’s playing the whole time that I’m gathered with my sisters and my mom and the next generation…”

Thanks, Rich, for sharing this wonderful family tradition with Confetti Park. Listen to this extended interview with Rich Collins, all about the music of the Imagination Movers.
Storytime: The Adventures of the Swamp Kids – The Missing Chord by Leif Pedersen

Leif Pedersen, creator of the Swamp Kids series

It’s Confetti Park Storytime! In this episode, we hear Louisiana-born big band leader and children’s author Leif Pedersen narrate The Missing Chord, the very first book of the Swamp Kids series.

The Swamp Kids are friends and bandmates who live in Bayou Bleu near Mamou, Louisiana. Led by Pierre a le Gator on fiddle, the musical swamp kids include Mon Cher the pretty raccoon and TuTu the Turtle on washboard. There’s also a fish who keeps time by splashing his tail in the water.

But they just can’t get their sounds quite right! What’s missing? Will they find it before the big Battle of the Bands contest?

Sachet the Crawfish longs to join in the merry music making, but he wants to bring just the right sound to the group. Maybe he has just what the Swamp Kids need!

Swamp Kids’ creator Leif Pedersen is a fabulous musician in his own right. Leif has been a lead singer for many famous internationally touring Big Bands orchestras, such as Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Al Beletto’s Big Jazz Band, Pete Fountain, and Woody Herman’s Band. Today, the New Orleans native leads his own band.

The Swamp Kids is a growing enterprise, with four books in the series and more coming. All of the books contain “Lagniappe Lessons” by Louisiana celebrities—famous Cajun fiddler Doug Kershaw is the guest star in The Lost Chord!
Visit www.theswampkids.com for puzzles, plush toys, activity sheets of teachers, and more!

This podcast features a bit of “Se Pas La Pan” performed by the Hackberry Ramblers.
Bruce Sunpie Barnes: The magic of my father’s music

In this episode of Confetti Park, we hear a childhood music memory from Bruce Sunpie Barnes, the talented and multifaceted blues harmonica player and zydeco accordionist from Louisiana.

In addition to leading the zydeco band the Louisiana Sunspots, Bruce has had a long career as a ranger and naturalist at the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in Louisiana. (He also had a career in the world of NFL football, playing with the Kansas City Chiefs!) And he’s the photographer and author of Talk That Music Talk. Read more about his biography at All Music.

Bruce’s music has always been a part of his life, and even as a naturalist, he found music an effective way to communicate about the culture and importance of the Louisiana environment. Bruce was one of the key producers on two-album compilation, the National Park Service: Songs of the Lower Mississippi Delta.

Here Bruce shares a special memory of his father, who was one of his most important influences.

“My earliest memory of anything to do with music was sitting on my father’s knee and listening to him play harmonica. He would work all day, and when he’d come home in the evening, I always wanted to hear him play his harmonica. And he’d play a song called “Coon ‘n the Hound” and make these barks like a dog…. and I was completely fascinated by it.

I would sit on his knee and he would play for all my brothers and sisters (a lot of them), but I would just sit and I would try to figure out where all that sound was coming from.

It was like magic. It was the first thing I ever associated with being magic.

I would always think about that when I would go to bed, ‘I can’t wait till I get old enough so I can make some magic.‘”
Kids radio show “Confetti Park” debuts on WHYR 96.9 FM on Sunday, July 17

Kids variety show and podcast out of New Orleans features locally spun children’s music and stories showcasing the diverse cultures and sounds of Louisiana.

On Sunday, July 17 at 11:30 a.m., a children’s radio show called “Confetti Park” will hit the airwaves of Baton Rouge on WHYR 96.9 FM.

“Confetti Park,” hosted by Katy Hobgood Ray of New Orleans, features music and stories spun in Louisiana. There are skits, poems, clapping songs, interviews, studio performances by local musicians, and a weekly story time. A podcast version of the show is available on iTunes.

“Here in Louisiana, music permeates the fabric of our daily lives and kids integrate naturally with our live music scene,” says Ray. “I hope, through Confetti Park, to showcase the diversity and kid-friendliness of our culture, 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.”

Katy Hobgood Ray is the host and producer of Confetti Park

An announcement on the WHYR website says: “….We could all use some inspiration, imagination, and fun. Luckily, WHYR-LP welcomes Confetti Park, a half-hour of music, stories, poetry, and more starting Sunday, July 17th. Hear Confetti Park on Baton Rouge Community Radio every Sunday at 11:30am, hosted by Katy Ray of New Orleans, for uniquely Louisianian magic that reminds us how wonderful our state can be.”

Ray, who works in communications at Tulane University in New Orleans, 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; they won a Parents’ Choice Approved Award for their first album.

With support from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation and Music Rising at Tulane University, Katy traverses the state to unearth music and folktales, local legends and spooky stories, colorful family memories and forgotten histories. For the weekly segment Confetti Park Storytime, she features published children’s authors as well as interviews and encounters with everyday people on the street. Children’s voices are often used to share poems, contemporary jump rope jingles, hand-clapping games and other playground chants.

“Confetti Park” debuted in New Orleans on WHIV in April 2015. It currently airs in Hammond on KSLU and is available to all Louisiana community radio stations.

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