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:
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!
New Orleans journalist Michael Patrick Welch just wrote a really fun article for NewOrleans.me on the Confetti Park Players: A Kids’ Chorus Comes Up in Algiers. It discusses the origins of our chorus in Algiers, and gives an overview of our first year. Some of our kid singers are even interviewed!
Our first CD is called We’re Going to Confetti Park. It was recorded at Marigny Recording Studios and features some amazing New Orleans artists collaborating with the kids, including Johnny Vidacovich, Jon-Erik Kellso, Evan Christopher (Clarinet Road), Matt Perrine of Bonerama , Patti Adams of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Beth Patterson, Tom McDermott Roger Lewis of Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Dave Rosser On Guitar, Brian Coogan of Pretty Lights, Tim Robertson Music, Jason Rhein of Rotary Downs, Rick Nelson of The Afghan Whigs and so many more…… album will be out late summer. https://confettipark.com/music/
You can visit our Soundcloud channel for sneak peaks!
The New Orleans-based jazz band the Swing Setters play kids music!
In this episode of Confetti Park, Katy Ray interviews jazz vocalist Jayna Morgan about her newest New Orleans band, the Swing Setters, a fun, energetic group that plays kids music jazz-style!
(Is this a great name for a jazz band that plays kids music, or what?!)
The Swing Setters truly fill a void in the New Orleans live music scene with their polished treatment of classic American songs, folk songs, and Disney favorites that kids love.
Says Morgan, “There’s not many jazz bands in New Orleans that play children’s music…we were trying to think of names of other people in New Orleans that have a great personality [that aren’t grumpy!], very affable with children, who wouldn’t mind being silly once in a while!”
The band is comprised of professional jazz musicians including Morgan on the vocals, Alex Owen on trumpet, Greg Agid on clarinet and saxophone, David Phy on trombone, Ted Long on guitar, Joe Kennedy on piano, Alan Broome on bass, and Gerald French on drums.
The band recently released their first CD, called Swingin’ at the Playground, available for purchase online at http://11thcommandmentrecords.com/store/ This podcast includes several previews of songs from that record, including “Look for the Silver Lining,” “The Glow Worm,” “This Old Man,” and “A-Tisket A-Tasket.”
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.
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!”
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.
In this episode of Confetti Park, New Orleans-based children’s author Alex McConduit narrates his adorable story Snoballs for All.
The best part of a hot, humid New Orleans summer is slurping up a big, round, icy-cold, brightly-colored snoball. That’s exactly what Paul wants to do, but he can’t find the snoball festival! He searches all through the city for just one snoball (although two would be better, and three would be best). Where will Paul find snoballs for all?
Snoballs for All is a perfect gift for any Southern kid. We all understand the need for an icy snoball on a hot summer day! Kids from the Confetti Park Players provide the chorus in this narration.
Snoballs for All was illustrated by Paulina Ganucheau. It is available through Pelican Publishing and for sale on Amazon.
Alex is the owner of Big Boot Books and founder of W.R.I.T.E., a youth publishing program that transforms students in New Orleans into published authors.
In this episode of Confetti Park, Katy Ray interviews Johnette Downing, award-winning children’s musician and author. Through her books and songs, Johnette shares Louisiana culture with kids around the world.
Johnette will be appearing at Jazz Fest this year; it is her 23rd year at the fest! You can see her at the kids tent on Sunday, May 3, 2015, at 12:40-1:40 p.m. Calendar
(She also performs at the New Orleans Jazz Historical National Park Visitor’s Center at 11 a.m. on May 1.)
In this interview Johnette discusses how she came to play children’s music, and how the jazz sounds of New Orleans inspired her as a child. As an adult, she got to record a CD of children’s songs with Jimmy LaRocca’s Original Dixieland Jazz Band, which she considers one of her crowing achievements.
She also discusses the importance of parents enjoying music and dancing with their children. Jazz Fest is great for that!!!
This episode of Confetti Park features the children’s story Thorn in My Horn, by Alex McConduit of New Orleans, La.
Thorn in My Horn is a book about a young musician in New Orleans who LOVES to play his horn. His mother, on the other hand, cannot stand to hear the noise! She’s a thorn in his horn! This fun rhyming book includes illustrations by Darrell Rollo that showcase the French Quarter, Jackson Square and other iconic places in The Big Easy.
Thorn in My Horn was written by Alex McConduit and published by Big Boot Books. Learn morn about Alex and his books at http://bigbootbooks.com/about/
Confetti Park is a radio show out of New Orleans, featuring children’s and kids books narrated by the author. The Confetti Park podcast,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!
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.
A great children’s song doesn’t have to be classified in the kids genre. A lot of the music in Louisiana is naturally kids music… Full of whimsy, silliness, and fun. And danceable, too!
This medley of local kids music shows the diversity of Louisiana sounds. Songs featured in this episode in order:
“This Little Light of Mine” – Kermit Ruffins “Today is Monday in Louisiana” – Johnette Downing
“Lemonade” – Confetti Park Players
“Swahili Baby” – Los Poboycitos
“We are the Lightning Bugs” – The Lightning Bugs
“Little Sally Walker” – Leadbelly
“Itty Bitty” – Susan Cowsill and Paul Sanchez
“Dansez, Codine ” – Renaissance Cadienne
On Saturday, April 4 at 12:30 p.m., a new kids radio show called “Confetti Park” will hit the airwaves of New Orleans on WHIV 102.3 FM.
“Confetti Park,” hosted by Katy Hobgood Ray, features music and stories spun in Louisiana. There will be skits, interviews, and studio performances by local musicians, and a weekly story time. A podcast version of the show will be available on iTunes.
“New Orleans is not often thought of as a kid-friendly city, and more frequently than not, ‘kid music’ is adults singing down to kids,” said Ray. “But here in New Orleans, music permeates the fabric of our daily lives and kids integrate naturally with our live music scene. I hope, through Confetti Park, to show how kid-friendly New Orleans is, 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.”
“Confetti Park” will air at 12:30 p.m. every Saturday on WHIV 102.3 FM in New Orleans and via live stream at http://www.whivfm.org/.
Ray, who works in communications at Tulane University, 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.
The name for Confetti Park comes from a small playground in the heart of Algiers Point.
WHIV FM RADIO Launched in late 2014, 102.3 FM is a low power community radio station for New Orleans. Featuring programming from the Pacifica Network, WHIV is dedicated to public health, human rights and social justice. During the day, WHIV features local New Orleans and Louisiana news and current events. In the evenings, weekends, and holidays, WHIV broadcasts locally DJ’ed shows highlighting New Orleans music and culture. For more information, visit http://www.whivfm.org/
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
We are very excited to announce the debut of the Confetti Park podcast —a show for kids of all ages. We will feature magical, locally-spun music and stories created right here in Louisiana. Subscribe on iTunes!
The radio program version launches on the air on April 2015. Listen for us in New Orleans on WHIV 102.3 FM New Orleans every Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
Community radio stations, interested in carrying Confetti Park? Contact Katy Ray.
