Interview: Rick Garcia & William V. Malpede ("Quiet Is...")

Rick Garcia (left) / William V. Malpede (right)You may think of Disney's TV channels as filled with brightly-colored sets and sounds, and of course there are plenty of shows that feature those, but there are some quieter moments on the channel.

Some of the loveliest quieter moments come courtesy of the new Disney Junior interstitial series "Quiet Is...", a ten-episode series created by illustrator Sara Pinto and photographer/filmmaker Luciana Frigerio and produced by Scotland-based animation studio Ko Lik Films.  It's a series of two-minute shorts designed more for quiet time, for getting kids in the getting-ready-for-bed mood.

While the visuals themselves are striking, they're accompanied by tender, often (but not solely) mellow songs that don't so much explain the visuals as much as give the visuals an extra dimension.  The series' songs were composed by Rick Garcia and William V. Malpede.  The songwriting team have worked together on a number of other projects, including the movie Rango, but this project was considerably different.  They chatted with me by phone yesterday in advance of Sunday's Father's Day premiere of the tenth episode in the "Quiet Is..." series, an episode titled "Dad Reading."  You can see the nine previous episodes at Disney Junior's videos page, and even though the rest of the world won't see the latest video 'til Sunday, you can watch it here today.  Read on to find out about the series' origins, the challenges of writing for this particular project, and whose voice they're blown away by.

Zooglobble: What are your first musical memories?

Rick Garcia (RG): My first memory is from age 4 -- my mother was a singer and a big fan of Nat King Cole.  She put on a record of his, and I was blown away by his voice.

William V. Malpede (WVM): Yeah, he had a fantastic voice... I have two memories.  First, touching piano keys -- I was in 1st grade, maybe, and there was this magical connection between the body and the music.  I also remember hearing opera, my mother playing opera, and my sister playing classic rock albums from the late '60s and early '70s.

How did you get involved in the project?

WVM: I had worked with Rick for about five years or so, working on films.  We were both friends with Lori Mozilo [Development Executive, Disney Junior], and she approached us about working on this.  I was thrilled.  I'm a big fan of music in animated films, and this was tied to that.  She brought mostly-completed videos to us, and they were lovely.

I was going to ask you next how the songs were created -- whether they came first, or simultaneously -- but it sounds like they came last?

RG: Yes, we met first with Lori and Nancy Kanter [Senior Vice President, Original Programming and General Manager, Disney Junior Worldwide].  They brought us a video and asked us to write a song for it.  They loved the song we wrote and asked us to work on the project.

You know, the videos are beautiful in their own form.  We were after an emotion, not as much the lyrics.  The songs are truly unique unto themselves; even if you heard the song separately, you'd still be hit the same way.

WVM: The songs are supposed to be timeless.  One of the directives we received was the songs weren't supposed to narrate the visuals, but instead tell a companion story -- they didn't want it to be spot-on.

You also wrote songs for Rango -- how was the experience of writing these songs different from writing songs designed to move the plot along in the movie?

RG: The Rango songs were written very differently -- they were the first pieces of music written for the film.  We had a lot of free rein.  The lyrical content in the songs was musical narration, so there were a lot of rewrites lyrically (and musically) for that.  Here, we knew we were able to write different styles of musical.  In Rango, there was a specific musical style (mariachi owls).

WVM: For "Quiet Is...", we'd often talk about instrumentation -- the choice of instruments sets the emotional landscape.  It gives us musical colors or a palette to help out... One piece we did have to treat a little differently, there's a piece with some sheep getting a bit rambunctious ["Counting Sheep"] -- in that case we needed to be a little more literal.

What have you enjoyed most about the project, or what were you surprised by at the end?

WVM: There are many ways to go about scoring to pictures -- there needs to be a balance between the song form (a verse, chorus, so on) and the pictures.  In theory, those two approaches conflict.  But there were times when we'd write a song on piano or guitar and sometimes those things would go great with the pictures.

At times, some songs had too many lyrics and we had to get rid of some, but I expected that.  Overall, it was really good.

RG: It was effortless working Lori and Nancy -- they have a lot of expertise, and their feedback was helpful throughout.  In terms of concerns, you're always nervous when you have timelines to meet but people to be 1,000% satisfied.  There was a certain amount of rewriting necessary, but it was a great experience, a great creative time.

It sounds like you had a lot of creative freedom, but I also know from talking with musicians that getting used to writing songs that are 2 minutes long -- not 2 minutes and 10 seconds, not 1 minute 50 seconds, but exactly 2 minutes long -- can take a little getting used to.

RG: We are used to writing to a certain time length and those constraints.  But those deadlines, you start sweating bullets.

WM: When you write for media [pictures], it's just part of the experience.  Not really a concern.

What's next for you, either with "Quiet Is..." or other projects?

RG: I don't know what's next with "Quiet Is...".  There's a possibility of another project with Disney, but that's still in the works.  Beyond that, want to dive back into the film world.  I'm always writing, always singing.  And it's such a joy to work with William -- it was mostly effortless.

WVM: Echoing Rick... I would love to see "Quiet Is..." get some buzz, but it's fairly early in the process.  I'd like to write more with Rick, not just kids music but also other music.   I also write choral music, so I'm always looking to do more with that.

Photos courtesy Disney Junior

Interview: Rick Dobbis (myKaZoo)

Rick Dobbis' resume is a lengthy one, with many stops in the music and record business, including a stint as president of Sony Music International. His latest effort targets a younger audience than one he's spent much of his career focusing on -- preschoolers and elementary school-aged kids.

Along with business partner Richard Ellis (that's him on the right, Dobbis on the left), myKaZootv and myKaZoo Music are attempting to bring a wide variety of music videos in one centralized (and curated) place as well as seeing if the idea of a kids' record label can be saved. Their label's first release, Farmer Jason's Nature Jams, comes out February 7, and the myKaZoo website will be up and running this month. They've got ambitious plans in a field that has seen many ambitious plans -- and seen many of those fail.

Dobbins chatted with me this week about his introduction to kids music, why he thinks myKaZoo is good for the genre and not just his artists, and one inspiration for the site's name.

Zooglobble: What are your earliest musical memories?
Rick Dobbis: I grew up with a sister six years older than me. She was a huge, huge rock 'n' roll fan. This was the early '50s, so folks like Elvis Presley, Connie Francis. My sister was a huge Connie Francis fan -- my father once brought her an autographed picture of Francis and she just about died.

My father... the name "myKaZoo" isn't specifically named for my father, but he was an amateur kazoo player. He opened for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes at an annual show three years in a row.

My first kids record was the theme from Davy Crockett. My first album was "A Taste of Honey" by Jimmy Rodgers.

How did you get into kids music?
Well, Rick Chertoff, who's a distinguished producer, he and his wife and others formed Dream Jam Productions to do stuff related to music and movement. It'd primarily been focused on books. We were sitting talking one day, and we asked, "why don't we create our own music -- good music that shares the values we're trying to convey?" That struck a chord with me, so I worked with them and that's when the Dream Jam Band came into being.

I worked with every genre over my career, and internationally at a particularly good point, a great time to open my mind. It was new, and new is healthy. There's some wonderfully creative content in the genre. It's also under-resourced and underrepresented in the marketplace.
So where or when did you come up with the specific idea for myKaZoo?
We -- meaning I and Richard Ellis, who's spent a lot of time in this space with his 12to20 company -- had a sense of frustration. It became clear that there was a lovely kindie scene being highlighted in places like your site or Kids Place Live. But it was also clear that Viacom and Disney weren't in the space, the Sirius/XM merger was reducing the number of national channels, and there wasn't much local commercial radio. So we thought, to use the cliche, "If you build it, they will come."

There are lots of great characters (both performers and in the songs) and a lack of resources. myKaZoo is based on two ideas:
1) Create a platform for exposure of the genre, and
2) Given our experience in distribution, strong marketing, and partnering with Universal Music, sell music.

If you add a bunch of creative people pulling in the same direction, hopefully this will be good for kids music. If we're successful, then whether or not they're myKaZoo artists, it's good for the genre -- it's a virtuous circle.

So, don't take this the wrong way, but there have been lots of labels and folks -- Rhino Kids, Rounder Kids, for example -- who've tried to do what you're doing and haven't been able to make a go of it. What makes you think you can succeed where others have failed?
As the music business has evolved in the past ten years, the business has caught up to the genre. Those dynamics have caught up. You have to start with a realistic knowledge of what's going on. If they spent $100,000 to produce an album, then more money on mainstream ads, they quickly ran out of money. If you can have an instant response, then large dollar amounts is an OK way to go. Our first release is on February 7, it's from Farmer Jason, and he hits the road immediately afterward. If I don't support him next fall, next year, I have failed. The big splash in pop music is not the way to go here.

What advantages do you offer to artists? What are you looking for?
Besides Farmer Jason we've signed three other artists, close to a fourth. Our philosophy isn't original or unusual -- we're looking for fresh, challenging work, music that has complexity and doesn't speak down to the audience. There's not a big jump from the basics to the Beatles, there's sophisticated stuff that kids can enjoy.

Lots of artists (Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, or Sukey Molloy, for example) are doing really great work for younger listeners -- "beginners" -- but our music will focus on sophisticated stuff.

Characters are at the heart of this music -- both in song and singers, and whether you have a loud big personality or a quiet big personality, that's the thread we're looking for. But we also need to make sure that within the roster the artists stand out from each other.

We want to make sure that there's stuff that's not just music-related, but more, such as stories, both for the site and elsewhere. On our channel, too.

When I was general manager at RCA, we chased a particular artist, but the artist ended up signing with another label. The artist was later quoted in Rolling Stone saying that the other label was just "smarter." We don't think we're "smarter" than anyone else. But our partner Universal Music is in a lot areas, and they take the long view. They've got the right attitude, right support. Our success will make it easier for other artists to get interest from TV bookers and concert bookers.

And how about parents?
We're creating a "walled garden" that will offer them value and range. We want to offer an environment that's age-appropriate, parent-appropriate, and positive. Now, everyone I've met in this genre aims to do that, but there aren't a lot of places that are a strong environment (for example, compare to YouTube). We're carefully curated -- if they "don't KaZoo," we want to know why.

We're going to be platform agnostic -- we'll be on Kabillion TV on Demand and we're working with Roku, for example. We want to put ourselves in millions of homes by June. We want to be a safe place to have a good time.

Interview: Loren Hoskins / Kevin Hendrickson

When many of us last saw Loren Hoskins and Kevin Hendrickson, they were tearing it up as the leaders of the Portland-based pirate rock band Captain Bogg and Salty.

So when I heard that they'd been tapped to write the music for (and appear in) Disney Junior's animated show Jake and the Never Land Pirates, I figured it'd be an excellent fit. And if you've heard the music (a soundtrack was recently released), you'll know that it doesn't sound that much different from their work in Captain Bogg & Salty.

There's a new "pirate rock" episode airing tomorrow, Thursday, November 10th as part of a big Jake and the Never Land Pirates marathon highlighting the music from the series, including sing-along versions of the live-action videos from the show. (Airs 6 - 11 AM, but, as they say, check your local listings.) So I thought this was an excellent time to catch up with the pair. They talked last week from the studio (where they're working on music for Season 2 of the show) about their musical influences growing up, the good and not-so-good parts of songwriting for TV, and why you should check your spam inbox every once in a while.

Zooglobble: What are your musical memories growing up?
Kevin Hendrickson: Listening to Credence Clearwater Revival and the Bee Gees on my mom's stereo. Taking piano lessons.
Loren Hoskins: We listened to Marty Robbins' Gunfighter Ballads, Disneyland albums, Elvis -- I grew up in a fairly conversative household, but my parents said, "Elvis is OK."

Given your work as Captain Bogg & Salty (and otherwise), it's obvious why Disney picked you for this job, but were there any interesting stories about how it came about?
Hoskins: Actually, there is one interesting thing... I was working on a musical adaptation of Treasure Island, and Kevin was about to become a father again, and I happened to randomly check my spam e-mail filter. In there I found an e-mail from a VP of music at Disney saying they were interested in working with us. I re-read it 4 times and send it to Kevin, asking, "Do you think this is legit?"

I talked with Steve Roslonek, AKA Mr. Steve on PBS, once, and he said that he'd learned a lot about songwriting, especially with TV's very short time limits on songs... what have you learned about songwriting in writing for Jake?
Hoskins: He's correct -- before this, we were writing songs however long they needed to be. Now it's a 30 or 60 seconds. We have a tendency to write 2:33-long songs. It's a challenge to write an entire arc of a song in a short time period.
Hendrickson: Another challenge is writing so many songs in so little time. You have to find different ways to get to the heart of [the theme].

What have you been pleasantly surprised by in working on the show? What was more difficult than you anticipated?
Hoskins: We anticipated that we'd have to change our writing style, but that's not been the case. In fact, they told us that, "if you're writing it as a 'Disney song,' you're doing it wrong."
Hendrickson: Yeah, it's been amazing.
Hoskins: We're introducing new characters in our songs, obviously, but there hasn't been a shift in musical styles.

In terms of a challenge, I guess maybe the deadlines, the constant pressures of a TV schedule. Can be hard to keep up and feel good about it. But sometimes it's nice to have deadlines, opportunities to do something in a compressed time period.

What are some of your favorite songs from the series?
Hoskins: Well, this might sound like PR, but I really do like the "The Never Land Pirate Band" from this upcoming episode. It's a stadium band pirate rocker -- sort of like "We're Not Gonna Take It," but with a positive spin.

I like the way it starts out, with Jake and the band just singing on the deck, and as the episode progresses, it gets filled out to a full band arrangement. It's like how a song is written, from "la la la" to demos to a hootenanny rock concert.

Hendrickson: It's basically the invention of pirate rock.

What's next for you?
Hoskins: We just finished a Christmas song for the Walt Disney World Christmas parade -- that's looking like it'll turn out cool. We were recording the Christmas song on Halloween, which was a little strange.
Hendrickson: We're settling in to doing Season 2 -- a lot more pirate rock songs.

Photos/stills courtesy and copyright Disney Junior

Interview: Laura Veirs

On her forthcoming album Tumble Bee: Laura Veirs Sings Folk Songs for Children, Laura Veirs makes old folk songs sound new. It's a cliche, sure, but there is often a kernel of truth in a cliche. There is certainly truth in that one regarding Veirs' album, her first for families, on which she invigorates songs so that people who've never heard many of these songs might not necessarily think of them as "old folk songs." (And those of us who have many of these songs many times over can listen again with fresh ears.)

I chatted briefly with Veirs recently (on her birthday, no less) about her musical memories, why she made the album, and what kinds of gifts a musician gets for a baby shower.

Zooglobble: What are your earliest musical memories?
Laura Veirs: I definitely remember Dad singing me to sleep. He plays very casually -- the piano, guitar, charango. By very casual, I mean almost "half-correct." It was nice not to have that pressure.

I actually don't know how to read music, which, now that I'm a parent puts me in a bit of a dilemma. For me it'd be nice to play piano with my son and have him play along, but I'd prefer him to have the joy.

Anyway, we listened to a lot of classical music and the stars of the day -- Olivia Newton-John, Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Young. It wasn't a big emphasis, more of a passing fancy.

When did you start thinking about making this album? Before your son was born?

No, it was after he was born -- before he was born, I was touring. I thought it'd be be fun to do something easier. I wouldn't have to slave over the songwriting.

I was doing less touring and for years, parents told me that my music calmed their kids. So I thought it'd be fun to look at the canon of awesome songs and research them. Woody Guthrie, sure, but also songs like "Jamaica Farewell," though I had to change the chorus on that one. Traditional music is the "people's music."

What did you refer to in doing your research?
A couple folks in particular. Harry Belafonte, in particular his Live in Carnegie Hall album. The arrangement of "Jump Down" on that album influenced our version on Tumble Bee. Also "The Fox," which the Blue Sky Boys did a cool version of.

The other person was Peggy Seeger and her album Animal Folk Songs for Children. Her mother Ruth was the first woman to win a Guggenheim Fellowship -- she was an avant garde composer.

Who else?... Neil Young. We put on one modern song on the album by musician and friend Karl Blau. He's really prolific, a genius songwriter. It's the title track, written when he was 20, about a girl he couldn't catch.

We specifically didn't want to make a goofy album. Some of the songs were familiar -- "The Fox," "Jamaica Farewell." Some weren't -- the Woody Guthrie songs, Peggy Seeger. We were unfamiliar with "Prairie Lullaby" -- Jim James [from My Morning Jacket] recommended that one. Songs like "King Kong Kitchie" were hazy in our memories -- it was cool to see them come back into focus.

Did people give you music as baby gifts? I'm curious whether people naturally gave you music because you're a musician or avoided it because they didn't want to risk giving you a gift you didn't like.
Most of our friends are musicians; we got lots of rock-and-roll-related clothes. But not so much music. My husband [Tucker Martine] is a producer and pretty much has whatever music is released. We didn't get a single CD...

Photo credit: Alicia Rose

Interview: Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops)

Opera singer to string band fiddler is not, as best I can tell, a common musical path, but that's exactly the path that Rhiannon Giddens has taken. The North Carolina native trained to sing opera, but also found herself drawn to learning the fiddle. One thing led to another, and by 2005, she was one of three musicians founding the Carolina Chocolate Drops. The band, now a quartet, has brought the centuries-old African-American string band tradition to a new century and new audiences.

Including kids, as can be shown by their performance at the Green River Festival's Meltdown Stage earlier this month. I was intrigued as to what motivated Giddens and her bandmates to play for kids in addition to adults, as well as finding out more about the challenges (and benefits) of playing for a family audience. Giddens kindly agreed to take a few minutes out of her busy schedule (the band plays the Newport Folk Festival this weekend) to talk about just that...

Zooglobble: What are some of your musical memories growing up?
Rhiannon Giddens: Singing with my dad, mom, and sister (all the time!) and seeing amazing people like Sweet Honey in the Rock, Sapphire the Uppity Blues Women, and the North Carolina Symphony.

What do you think your daughter will remember musically from her childhood?
That's a big question, I'm eager to know myself! I hope she takes away the variety that she's being exposed to, and that music is a necessary part of life, even if she doesn't go into music professionally.

What made you interested in playing the Meltdown (family) stage at the Green River Festival?
We are super-committed to getting in front of children whenever we can - it's so important to expose them to live music like ours especially in this age of the iPod.

What did you do differently during that set as opposed to the main stage set later in the day? (It appeared perhaps that maybe you had more introductions to instruments, for example?)
Definitely more introductions to instruments, more interaction and participation with the audience - kids remember more when they are doing something as opposed to just listening.

When you were constructing the setlist, were you thinking that there were a number of songs of yours that were off-limit for content reasons?
Not really - so many kids love "Cornbread and Butterbeans," for example, and most of it goes over their heads; we chose stuff that would best demonstrate the musical things we were trying to show.

What was the best part about performing specifically for kids and families? Anything that was hard getting used to?
We have done a lot of educational shows so we are pretty used to the challenges and rewards - keep it moving, keep it interesting, and don't talk down to kids. And it's great to see them getting into it - they are usually more uninhibited when their parents aren't there!

Do you want to do more of those types of shows?
Always!!

What else is coming up for the band?
A new recording, a vaudeville show in Chicago, and lots and lots of shows!!!

Photo credits: Julie Roberts