Confetti Park Children's Workshop

Tag: rich collins

  • Thanksgiving playlists make beautiful music memories for Rich Collins

    Thanksgiving playlists make beautiful music memories for Rich Collins

    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. 

  • Interview: Rich Collins of The Imagination Movers

    Interview: Rich Collins of The Imagination Movers

    Imagination MoversIn this episode of Confetti Park, Katy Ray interviews Rich Collins of the Imagination Movers. The Imagination Movers are one of the most famous kids’ music bands in the world, and they hail from New Orleans!

    From their website: “In 2003, four New Orleans friends – Rich Collins, Scott Durbin, Dave Poche and Scott “Smitty” Smith – had an idea. They thought kids wanted and deserved music that spoke to them, not down to them. So, they started gathering after their kids’ bedtimes to write songs and brainstorm ideas about a children’s television show. Two years later, they had become the latest sensation of their musical city, attracting parents and children alike with an eclectic pop sensibility and lyrical turns about healthy snacks and playing catch and conquering childhood fears of bedtime. Lines to the Movers’ shows stretched for blocks.”

    Today, the Imagination Movers are ranked as the No. 1 rated major touring act for families, according to Ticketmaster. They’ve embarked on several world tours, have recorded nine albums, partnered with Disney on an Emmy-winning show, and now, they have another animated show in the works!

    Rich CollinsRich is the drummer (and the Scribble Sticks master!) in the television show. In real life, he is a super multi-instrumentalist and a great songwriter. Rich has a recording studio in his house where lots of the group’s brainstorming happens.

    Rich is a father of five children, and tells Katy about how the songs he and fellow Movers write are evolving as their kids are growing up. In their newest album just released this year, called Licensed to Move, the songs address such sophisticated topics as line cutters, messy rooms, and fingers coated in snack powder.

    Licensed to MoveRich points out that this album is also very high energy!

    “It is a rowdy record,” he says. “We’ve made probably 190 songs over the last eleven years and I don’t think any collection of music has been this energetic!”

    Rich also discusses the animated television show “Super Movers” currently in development with Toronto-based 9 Story Media Group. The series is tentatively scheduled for a 2016 debut.

    Listen to the full interview, full of musical treats, on this free podcast.