In this episode of Confetti Park, children’s author Tommie Townsley of Lake Charles, Louisiana narrates the story of Adolpheaux, the Adventurous Dolphin.
In this Cajun animal tale, a small dolphin bravely sets out to discover what human beings are all about. His curiosity leads to an amazing alliance between himself and a sister and brother who will never forget him. This lovely tale teaches children to obey their mothers in order to stay safe in a world fraught with danger. This lively watery adventure is set in The Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana.
This narration of Amos the Artistic Alligator is shared here with permission from Tommie. The book, illustrated by Anne Dentler, is available for purchase on Amazon and at http://kidscajuntales.com/
Tommie Townsley was born in Sulphur, Louisiana and now lives in Lake Charles. She is Cajun and has written numerous children’s books about Cajun life, many of them about animals. Tommie is the chairperson of the Southwest Louisiana Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Guild and publisher of Ally-Gator BookBites Publishing House in Lake Charles. Learn about Tommie Townsley and check out her books at http://kidscajuntales.com/
Ms. Chocolate, also known as Gwen Williams, is a storyteller and a singer who grew up in Louisiana. Many of her favorite stories and songs she shares with children today are the true memories and gathered songs from her own childhood in rural parts of central Louisiana. Church, family, school, and life in the country are recurrent themes.
In this episode Ms. Chocolate shares about the music she sang as a little girl:
“The music I remember as a child were called spirituals. Now you don’t have too much of that today… I do a monologue of Harriet Tubman and spirituals of the Underground Railroad. So I teach children how slaves used music to communicate…….. ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot,’ ‘He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands,’ ‘This Little Light of Mine’—these are spirituals. These are simple songs that have a really big meaning,” says Ms. Chocolate.
Ms. Chocolate lives in Picayune, Mississippi today. She left New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. She tells stories all around the Gulf area. http://chocolatestoryteller.blogspot.com/
In this episode of Confetti Park, Shreveport native son Cameron Meshell shares a childhood music memory.
Cameron is a talented singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist who was born and raised in north Louisiana. Today, he and his family live in Los Angeles, but his roots in Shreveport are still strong (as are his ongoing partnerships with musical collaborators). Among Cameron’s various musical projects are Forever Like Red and Alarm Science.
Cameron plays drums, guitar, and piano, but it’s his beautiful and acrobatic singing that is so arresting. It’s no surprise that when Cameron thinks back on his earliest musical influences, he recalls another musician known for his amazing vocal pipes: Freddie Mercury of the band Queen.
Says Cameron: “My first musical memory that had an impact on me as an artist was of an album called Queen, self-titled. It was given to me by my uncle, when I was eleven years old. I just remember being so consumed by the album and that was the moment that made me want to be a singer.”
In this episode, we hear the sweet and clever tale of Little Laveau, narrated by the author, Erin Rovin.
Little Laveau is an enchanting little bedtime story set in the Louisiana bayou. Laveau is a lovable character who draws on her deep family roots and the magical environment for inspiration as she helps friends and animals.
In this adventure, Little Laveau’s friend Thomas is having bad dreams, and he doesn’t know what to do. Luckily, Little Laveau has just the cure!
“When you have a bad dream gather up all those bad thoughts and put them in a jar. Take that jar and sprinkle those dreams right down the drain. They flow through the rivers and out into the sea, the salt water washes them clean and takes out all the scary! Then they get swept up onto the beach as grains of sand where the sun warms the bad right out of them all day long. That’s what the beautiful beach is made of, bad dreams turned good and beautiful by the ocean and the sun.”
Little Laveau is such a great character, and the idea for how she shares family recipes with her friends and readers is adorable. We cannot wait to see what new adventures are in store for Little Laveau!
Thank you so much Erin for sharing your story on Confetti Park.
Anyone ordering a pizza in the city of New Orleans on April 15 got a bit of lagniappe with their pie… they got a poem written by a New Orleans school kid ages 6-18 included in the box! (Participating restaurants included Reginelli’s, Theo’s Pizza, Pizza Delicious, Louisiana Pizza Kitchen (French Quarter location), Dolce Vita Wood Fired Pizzeria, Garage Pizza and G’s Pizza.)
It was all part of the 3rd Annual Pizza Poetry Project by Big Class, a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating and supporting the voices of New Orleans’ writers ages 6-18 through creative collaborations with schools and communities. The project as always help in April—National Poetry Month. Read more about the Pizza Poetry Project in this article written for NOLA.com by Christy Lorio.
As a final celebration and reward for the kids, the Big Class hosted a Pizza Poet Laureate party at the Ashe Cultural Center on OC Haley. Confetti Park was there to capture the celebration and some of the poems in the kids’ voices. Enjoy these poems and this slideshow of photos!
Doreen Ketchens wails on clarinet on a street in New Orleans. Photo used with permission from http://doreensjazz.com/
Walking down Royal Street on a sunny afternoon, you are very likely to find Doreen Ketchens wailing on her clarinet, leading an enthusiastic band and delighting passersby with her vibrant personality and bold, joyful sound.
Doreen has been called “Queen Clarinet,” “the female Louis Armstrong,” and “Lady Louie.” She has a quick smile, an easygoing laugh and is always ready to entertain. She also has a dedication to promoting New Orleans culture and music.
Doreen and her family (including husband Lawrence, a tuba, trombone and piano player) have traveled the world and performed for numerous U.S. presidents. Their daughter Dorian is only thirteen but is already a world-traveled jazz drummer.
Music is part of this family.
In this episode of Confetti Park, Doreen shares a childhood memory… one about how music changed her life one unforgettable day at school.
“The teacher would ask one question. If you knew it, you passed, if you didn’t you failed…. I was destined for failure. I looked to the sky and said, ‘Oh God, if you get me out of this, I will do anything.’
About two minutes later the principal came on the loudspeaker and she said, ‘Anyone interested in joining the band, report to the band room immediately! And there I went!”
In this episode of Confetti Park, we hear an old folk tale told with Louisiana flair. This is the old-time tale of a little pine tree who cannot be satisfied with what she has. This pine tree wishes for new leaves, because she wants to be different from all the other pine trees.
Somehow she gets her wish one night, and wakes up covered in different kinds of leaves. Then the little pine tree finds that she has different kinds of problems.
If only this pine tree could realize how beautiful she is… We know that her green needles are so fragrant in the spring and summer. We appreciate the soft, quiet carpet created on the forest floor when she drops her needles. And we love the soothing song she sings when the wind blows through her needled treetop, high above us.
If only we all could see our beauty, as others see it in us, and be happy with who we are.
Thank you to Magpie Baccinelli for narrating this Louisiana folk tale for Confetti Park!
Terry “Foots” Quinn is a singer-songwriter from Bogalusa, Louisiana. Foots plays guitar and harmonica, and considers his biggest influences to be the Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, Allman Brothers, and rural blues and country players such as Jimmie Davis and Jimmie Rodgers. Foots is the nephew of an important pioneer of early jazz guitar named Snoozer Quinn.
Foots writes songs true to life growing up in the piney woods of Washington Parish. His descriptive lyrics capture the feelings, scenery and problems of small-town life, yet Foots always manages to bring a chuckle and point out the good things. He’s also a railroad historian and afficionado, and has a large repertoire of train songs.
Here he shares a music memory with Confetti Park:
“My memory from way back is of a little drive-in chili bun stand called Floyd’s—had curb service,” says Foots. “They were playing ‘Maybelline’ over the loud speaker system, by Chuck Berry. It introduced me to some very fine rock n roll!”
The Hungry for Music RV, a.k.a. the Magic Music Bus, is traveling the United States to share its mission.
Jeff Campbell: transforming lives with the gift of music
This month, you might see a happy-looking RV around New Orleans (and traveling the highways and byways of Louisiana) wrapped in decals of guitars, trumpets, and violins and positive messages of music empowerment.
It’s the “Hungry for Music” RV, aka the “Magic Music Bus,” and for the next two years, it will be traveling across the United States, bringing awareness of its mission: “Inspiring Lives. Building Hope. One Instrument at a time.”
Who’s driving the bus? The same guy who’s driving the mission: Jeff Campbell, founder of Hungry for Music, a nonprofit organization distributes musical instruments to children in need.
Jeff, originally from Shreveport, established Hungry for Music in 1994 in Washington D.C. Since then, the nonprofit has donated over 8,000 instruments to children in 27 states and 14 countries.
Listen to this interview with Confetti Park’s Katy Ray, where Jeff talks about the organization, his adventures, and why he is taking Hungry for Music on the road. The song in this podcast is “Itty Bitty,” performed by Susan Cowsill and Paul Sanchez.
“It’s a very simple idea, but I think the sky is the limit as far as what we can do,” says Jeff. “I’d like to be an organization where, if a kid wants to play an instrument, then Hungry for Music is where they go.”
Jeff Campbell, founder of Hungry for Music, is originally from Shreveport, La.
Jeff is ready to expand beyond Washington, D.C.
“We’ve kind of outgrown the old paradigm,” says Jeff. “We’re taking it on the road, going city to city, starting branch offices of Hungry for Music. Because of the amount of the requests we get now, we need the instruments to be coming from different places.”
First stop: New Orleans.
“I’m looking to put together a team of volunteers to collect and repair instruments and redistribute them,” says Jeff. He is also building a coalition of local organizations to partner with, such as Roots of Music, Preservation Hall Foundation, Backstreet Cultural Museum, and Trumpets Not Guns.
Children who are in need of an instrument can go to the Hungry for Music website, where the application period opens on a rolling basis (as instruments become available). http://hungryformusic.org/
Flier for NOLA-based benefit
On March 27, 2016 (Easter Sunday) there will be benefit concert for Hungry for Music at Chickie Wah Wah in New Orleans, featuring the Susan Cowsill Band, Russ Broussard, Pink Slip, Alex McMurray, Paul Sanchez and other special guests. Tickets are $10, and donations of musical instruments will be accepted at the door.
Kirby Jambon, Katy Hobgood Ray, Tommie Townsley, and Trudy Mullendore. Front, Louis Ray.
I was recently invited to speak at a conference in Lake Charles hosted by the Southwest Louisiana Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Guild. What an honor! It was an opportunity to meet new creative people working in children’s entertainment and education in Louisiana, and also an opportunity to share our own creations with more people. David Ray and I packed up some copies of The Little Mouse Santi books and We’re Going to Confetti Park! CDs and our little boy Louis, and headed off for adventure. We are always up for visiting a new part of our home state!
We got in late on a Friday night, checked into our hotel, and set out to see Lake Charles. We enjoyed driving around McNeese University and were pleasantly surprised to see a proliferation of locally owned businesses in the university corridor. Very nice, Lake Charles! I was also impressed with all the drive through crawfish restaurants. (Another perk of the trip: we were able to meet up with my cousin Chad Hobgood, his wife Laura, my uncle Guy, and all the Hobgood children of Lake Charles. It was a real treat to visit family members we don’t see nearly enough.)
Conference
We had a bright and early start for the conference on Saturday. It was held at the Seed Center at McNeese University in a large conference room with a podium for the four presenters, and several large tables for registrants. The room was lined with vendor booths featuring Louisiana authors’ and illustrators’ children’s books.
I was one of four speakers for the day. The presentations:
Kirby Jambon, author/poet: “The Poetry of Louisiana Culture and Language”
Sharon Schmitz, author: “Plotting vs. Panting & Other Tips to Get Your Book Published”
Katy Hobgood Ray, host/producer of Confetti Park: “Documenting Louisiana Children’s Music & Storytelling Traditions”
The conference lasted all Saturday. There were musical interludes, poetry readings, slideshows, vendor pitches, snack breaks and door prizes offered throughout the day.
I was absolutely enchanted by the poetry and presentation of Kirby Jambon, a teacher and poet who writes in Louisiana Creole French. Kirby is the recipient of the Henri de Régnier prize from the Académie Française, in support of literary creation in poetry. He is the first Louisianan to win this award.
There were also excellent presentations by Sharon and Trudy… it was fascinating to learn about the physical construction of books and the printing process.
Tommie Townsley, chairperson of the guild, organized the conference. She is a fantastic organizer and a top-class human being. I originally met Tommie, herself a children’s author and the head of Ally-Gator Book Bites, when she narrated for my radio show. She has done a lot for Confetti Park in the way of contributing stories and interviews, and now, she’s helped me meet even more creative people from Louisiana.
Jeanie, the 3-legged pooch, and Louis
Puppets in the house!
Rebecca Stelly handpainted this magical castle
Because, for sure, the best part of the conference was meeting all the wonderful writers and illustrators, and soon-to-be published authors, and teachers, and other curious, warm and friendly people in attendance. I am thinking of the adventurous Patsy Moore, author of Whistle, and the delightful and effervescent Jerica Guillory, author of A Pig’s Tale, talented illustrator Hannah Gumbo, and Rebecca Stelly, author of To the World Above. (Rebecca was the creator of the amazing door prize that was “won” by Louis—a hand painted castle!) Of course we loved meeting Lydia Crochet and her adorable therapy dog Jeanie, the star of Jeanie, the Three Legged Pooch. And to the passionate young poetess from Mamou, and the woman who is writing about her angelic daughter—I hope you continue to pursue your dreams.
Tommie, thank you for welcoming our family and Confetti Park to your guild! I look forward to meeting up again with all of the people we met, and a longer trip to Lake Charles very soon!
South Louisiana children’s author Tommie Townsley narrates the story of Dixie the Old Dawg for Confetti Park!
Dixie The Ole Dawg is a true classic country “Cajun Tale” set in Southwest Louisiana. This inspiring tale is about a dog who was abandoned by her family during a hurricane. After the storm, she finds her way to Ms. Theriot’s house. It is there that the two of them build a trustworthy relationship. Dixie finds out what it feels like to be left alone with no one to care for her. However, she also realizes that sometimes you do have to go through a storm in order to find happiness! Both children and adults will enjoy this true story. It is full of love, friendship, trust, and affection. It you love dogs, you will love Dixie! Always remember, “Dogs are a man’s best friend!”
Tommie, who lives in Lake Charles, is a great friend to Confetti Park and a leader in the children’s art and culture scene in Louisiana. She has inspired kids around the state with her charming Cajun animal tales. Learn more about Tommie in this interview with Confetti Park.
Doctor Sick, who might have once been called an itinerant musician, is today a fixture in the New Orleans music scene. A “musical jack of all trades,” Doctor Sick is a virtuoso musician who sings and plays stringed instruments of all kinds. He’s also a whimsical, colorful songwriter and a witty director and producer of burlesque and other theatrical novelty shows. These days, catch Doctor Sick around New Orleans in one of many diverse projects such as the Rotten Cores, the Salt Wives, Valparaiso Men’s Chorus, and numerous burlesque companies.
Adding to his illustrious resume, Doctor Sick also play kids music! He wrote songs and performed on the Austin, Texas-based Asylum Street Spankers’ children’s CD Mommy Says No!. And New Orleans’ own Confetti Park Players were delighted to have Doctor Sick as a featured artist on their first CD, We’re Going to Confetti Park! You can hear his mysterious musical saw and soulful fiddle playing on songs “Feufollet,” “Polly Wolly Wee,” “Watch Out for the Pirates,” and “Louis Lafitte, the Pirate King.”
In this music memory shared with Confetti Park, Doctor Sick shares how his parents recognized his talent early on, and set him on the path to music.
“I’ve been playing violin since I was four years old,” says Doctor Sick. “When I was very young I was taking lessons all the time. My parents made me, but I thank them for it today, because music is such an important part of my every day life.”
Doctor Sick describes a sweet memory of singing along while his grandmother played piano, when he was only two or three—they were jamming on the alphabet song.
“Before I even knew my ABCs I was trying to sing along,” he recalls. “It was the first time I ever jammed with anybody, where you’re listening and contributing and making the music with somebody else. And that’s why my parents got me into playing music, because they realized that I was going to be playing music for the rest of my life anyway.”
In this episode of Confetti Park, children’s author Tommie Townsley of Lake Charles, Louisiana narrates the story of Adolpheaux, the Adventurous Dolphin.
Question: What’s better than getting a hot pizza pie delivered to your front door?
In this episode of Confetti Park, we hear an old folk tale told with Louisiana flair. This is the old-time tale of a little pine tree who cannot be satisfied with what she has. This pine tree wishes for new leaves, because she wants to be different from all the other pine trees.
