Tag: music

Have you seen the Okra Man?

Photo of Mr. Okra via Flickr Creative Commons

Have you seen the Okra Man around New Orleans?

Mr. Okra is a fruit and vegetable vendor who travels the city of New Orleans vending from his truck. His unmistakable call over his P.A. system—“I have cantaloupes! I have tomatoes!”—can be heard from blocks away, and people await him on their front porches so they can buy their fresh produce for the week. Learn all about Mr. Okra in this article by Ian McNulty for New Orleans Magazine.

The Confetti Park Players are so delighted to feature Mr. Okra on a song on their CD, We’re Going to Confetti Park. More info at confettipark.com/music

This is a traditional adapted by Katy Hobgood Ray and Arthur Robinson (Mr. Okra). The song was produced by Katy and Matt Aguiluz and recorded at Marigny Recording Studio in New Orleans.

Featuring: Scott Albert Johnson, harmonica; Arthur Robinson, vocals; David Rosser, guitar. Kids chorus: Lily Bell, Luna Bell, Elisa McDonald, Charleston McLean, Millie Moffett, Hrilina Ramrakhiani, Sadie Strong, and Virginia Strong.

The Confetti Park Players is an all-ages children’s choir in New Orleans, Louisiana. Our home base is in Algiers, on the West Bank of the Mississippi River. Led by songwriter Katy Hobgood Ray, the Confetti Park Players meet weekly to sing, make rhythms, learn traditional New Orleans songs, and practice the craft of songwriting. The songs we sing are a mixture of fun and whimsical originals by contemporary Louisiana songwriters, classic folk songs, nursery rhymes, jump rope jingles, fairy tales, and natural lore.

Mr. Okra and Katy Ray.
Music Medley: Crawfish Time
Photo of crawfish 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, right here in Louisiana. This medley of kids music shows the diversity of Louisiana musicians. Songs featured in this episode, in order:
- Get On Board – Buckwheat Zydeco
- High Hopes – Kermit Ruffins
- Crawfish! – Papillon
- Get Along Home, Cindy Cindy – Kandice Chester
- Crawfish Song – Johnette Downing
- Toulouse the Crawfish Hunter – Black Guidry
- Les Tils Yeux Noirs – Nancy Tabb Marcantel
- What Do The DoodleBugs Do? – Ted Lindsay
Buttermilk Drop

In honor of National Donut Day we are sharing this track from the Confetti Park Players‘ upcoming CD! “Buttermilk Drop” – the BEST DONUT IN THE WORLD! ‪#‎nola‬ ‪#‎love‬ ‪#‎NationalDonutDay‬.

This track features Rick G. Nelson, bass; Katy Ray, vocals; Greg Schatz, accordion; Daniele Spadavecchia, guitar; James G. Thornton, trumpet. (Snaps by Katy, Ted Lindsay and Jason Rhein.) Kids chorus: Keller Clark, Elisa McDonald, Charleston McLean, and Millie Moffett.

More about the album We’re Going to Confetti Park….

The first recorded music project from Confetti Park is almost complete! It’s in the mastering phase now, under the listening ears of Bruce Barielle. Engineered by Jason Rhein and Matt Aguiluz at Marigny Recording Studio.

Created by Katy Hobgood Ray, the CD features a chorus of children (the Confetti Park Players) 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, David Rosser, Brian Coogan, Tim Robertson, and more).

Expected release date of Summer 2015.
Ben Schenck wrote a song about a cockroach

Panorama Jazz Band photo by Greg Miles

When facing off with a cockroach in the shower, what would you do?

Some people would scream. Some people would hurl the shampoo bottle at the little sucker, and then run.

But Ben Schenck? He wrote a song for the cockroach.

“I was raised with a strong care module, so I cared deeply about this cockroach, but at the same time I didn’t want to touch it…. I set him free and then wrote him a song at the breakfast table.”

Here’s Ben on clarinet and vocals, performing with the Panorama Jazz Band of New Orleans on the “Cockroach Song,” which he wrote when he was 17.

Sing along, everyone: “Ya Ya Ya, Wally Wally Wah!”
Music Memory from Tommy Sancton

Tommy Sancton. Photo by Sébastien Chaillot

In this episode of Confetti Park, Tommy Sancton shares one of his earliest music memories from Preservation Hall, a musical venue in the French Quarter founded in 1961 to protect, preserve, and perpetuate traditional New Orleans jazz. There, Tommy heard the sound that would guide the course of his life.

Tommy Sancton has had an illustrious career as a journalist and musician. After studies at Harvard and Oxford, which he attended as a Rhodes Scholar, he began a 22-year career with Time magazine as writer, editor, and Paris bureau chief. Music has always been part of Tommy’s life. As he traveled the world, he never stopped playing his clarinet.

He also never stopped feeling the pull of home. In August 2007, Tommy left Paris for New Orleans. He now teaches at Tulane, continues to write, and plays and records frequently with numerous traditional jazz bands. Visit his website to learn more.

Tommy has a beautiful memoir called Song for My Fathers: A New Orleans Story in Black and White, published in 2006, which recounts his experiences at Preservation Hall and explores his childhood apprenticeship with clarinetist George Lewis and other musicians, as well as his relationship with his own father.
Interview: How Jeremy Lyons started singing to kids

In this episode of Confetti Park, Katy Ray interviews Jeremy Lyons about how he started playing for kids and what kinds of songs he plays. Jeremy also discusses how much he enjoys the curiosity and interest of little human beings in music.

Jeremy Lyons began his musical career playing in a washboard band on the streets of the French Quarter in the early 1990s. He played in several bands, most notably Jeremy Lyons and the Deltabilly Boys, a group that blended the sounds of rockabilly and New Orleans R&B with Piedmont-style fingerpicking and surf guitar.

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Jeremy and his family (who had evacuated to Baton Rouge to be with his grandparents) lost most of their possessions when their house flooded. He has since permanently relocated to Cambridge, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston.

That’s where Jeremy started playing kids music, using his style he dubs ‘DeltaSilly.’ He now has two CDs for children, Music for Kids and Silly Goose Music.

As a music buff, Jeremy likes to draw from folk songs and the early popular music of America, and he shares fun music history with his little listeners. Jeremy offers a special in-studio performance for Confetti Park—he plays the Woody Guthrie song “Mail Myself to You.”
Music Medley: Songs of Donuts & Brains
Welcome to Confetti Park, a magical playground of music and stories for kids everywhere. What’s unique about these songs, and these stories, is that they all come from Louisiana. This medley of kids music shows the diversity of Louisiana musicians. Songs featured in this episode, in order:
- If I Only Had a Brain – Paul Sanchez
- Buckwheat Zydeco – Skip to My Lou
- Sue – Michael Doucet
- A Long Time to Come, performed by PH Fred and Friends
- Floating in a Donut Hole – Philip Melancon
- Buttermilk Drop – Confetti Park Players
- Baby You Wait on Your Mama – Alan Dyson
- Music Memory: Jason Rhein
- Renaissance Cadienne – J’ai du bon Tabac
- Storytime: Why the Possum has a Large Grin – Johnette Downing
Confetti Park current broadcast schedule:
- WHIV 102.3 FM in New Orleans every Saturday at 12:30 p.m. (Listen via Live Stream)
- KSLU 90.9 FM in Hammond every Sunday at 12 p.m. NOON
Music Memory from Jason Rhein

Jason Rhein is the bassist in New Orleans’ acclaimed rock band Rotary Downs, as well as singer-songwriter in the brother-sister children’s group Jason & Layla. Jason is also the owner of Elephant Quilt production studio and a partner at Marigny Recording Studio. Through these entities, Jason has had a major impact on the contemporary sound of New Orleans. Jason shares with us a special music memory from his childhood.
Music Memory from Rockin Dopsie, Jr.

A music memory from Rockin Dopsie, Jr., zydeco musician, washboard player, singer and lead personality of The Zydeco Twisters. Dopsie, Jr. and his family are carrying on the legacy of their father, famed accordionist Rockin’ Dopsie, Sr., the crowned prince of zydeco. In this music memory, Dopsie, Jr. discusses his earliest influences.

Rockin Dopsie, Jr. Photo by Sally Asher
Music Medley “Baby Astronaut”
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:
- Jack & Jill – Wardell Quezergue
- Cool Man – Los Po-boy-citos
- Jenny Had a Rocket – PH Fred
- Dancing on the Moon – Confetti Park Players
- Radio Controlled Airplanes – Jimmy Cousins
- Airplane – Confetti Park Players
- Red Bird – Leadbelly
- Five Little Butterflies – Johnette Downing
Music Medley “Pirate’s Favorite Letter”
Pitot the Pelican, from the Swamp Quest app

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:
- Sally Brown – Valparaiso Men’s Chorus
- Louis Lafitte – Confetti Park Players
- Drunken Sailor – Jeremy Lyons IN-STUDIO PERFORMANCE
- The Rooster & the Chicken – Kandice Chester
- Circling Alligators – AJ Loria
- Alligator Snap – Johnnete Downing
- Emus – Lightning Bugs
- L’arc en Ciel – Michael Doucet and Family
Music Memory from Layla Isis Ellison

Layla Isis Ellison is half of the brother-sister duo Jason & Layla, who write and perform original children’s music. While Layla lives in New York City, where she is a professional dancer, she regularly returns to her home state of Louisiana to perform onstage at children’s festivals. Here, she shares with us a music memory from her own Baton Rouge childhood.

Jason & Layla