Kindiefest, Schmindiefest

Kindiefest is over, but the memories linger on.  Did we have a great time?  Yeah.  But I always come back from Brooklyn with ideas of how I wish my Kindiefest experience had been different.

Don't get me wrong - I think Kindiefest is pretty darn great as it is; to make changes is akin to pulling a thread in a bulky sweater -- doing so would unravel the whole enterprise.  So consider these add-on suggestions, from somewhat serious to slightly less so.

KindieCamp: There is a big opportunity for musicians who are expert in a particular area to share that expertise with others in a concentrated format, far more than a 60-minute panel or even 2-hour chat can do.

Would it be possible, for example, to have a video camp with Recess Monkey?  Tell a dozen artists to bring an idea for a video, a camera of some sort for capturing video, and a computer of some sort for editing video to Seattle for 48 hours.  For a relatively low cost -- $1,000 per artist/band? -- the band -- known for its raft of low-budget, slick-looking videos -- could help other musicians formulate, create, and edit their own video, giving them both the fish and teaching them how to fish.

Or perhaps Jeni and Jim and Keli from Jiggle Jam go over specific details and budgets in putting together their own music festival.  Nothing too trade-secret-y, but enough info to get musicians (or interested families) going by themselves (with a follow-up all-access pass visit to the Jam over Memorial Day weekend to see it in action).

Songwriting weekends, app-development weekends -- there are many possibilities.  The added benefit?  Spending time with a core group of people working through the same issues you are.  Building capacity and connections.

KindieTalk: Hey, I love the panels - and as a perennial moderator, I appreciate their inclusion.  But as a non-musician, I don't get as much out of panels on, say, breaking into TV, as musicians might.  There might be some news/big-picture value to some panels, and sometimes they generate big laughs, but I don't take much away from them.  I often spend the majority of the panel time outside in the Littlefield courtyard gabbing with musicians and other attendees (or inside chatting loudly, sometimes to the chagrin of Kindiefest organizers).  It's where I learn most of what I take home with me - what's going on with the new album, how much touring are they doing, who they're recording with.

On top of that, the conversations at the end of the evenings on Friday and Saturday night are often highlights of the weekend for me.  They're funny, insightful, and, well, more honest than the panels, which for obvious reasons tend to avoid the warts of the business.  When I come stuffed to the gills with ideas, it's from these after-hours and sideline conversations.

Add to that the fact that there are tons of people I would have loved to have had conversations with and didn't, or people who might have wanted to catch up with me and didn't, and it contributes to a feeling that there was a lot more I could have spent time with.

Is it possible to have a conference that doesn't consist, you know, of anything that a conference typically has - panels, keynotes, name tags?  Can you have a conference with a big gaping hole at its center?  Probably not.  But I could probably definitely fill 48 hours just talking and listening one-on-one and in small groups.

KindieSing: As nice as it was to hear 10 artists on Saturday night and 8 on Sunday afternoon, the downside was the artists -- more so on Saturday night, not so much on Saturday -- didn't get a lot of time to play, to settle into a groove.  And the audience was similarly short-changed.  I've never been to a performing arts showcase, one of those two- or three-day affairs where bookers from across the country watch acts perform, aside from Kindiefest, which is a shorter version of that.  And it strikes me that extending the length would make it less likely that other artists would spend as much time listening, singing, and dancing along.  It's one of the great joys of the conference dedicated to making music for kids (and families) that the artists in the audience often act as joyfully as the kids they normally play for.  So much harmony and clapping along.

MindyFest: Someone e-mailed me after the conference asking if Sirius-XM Kids Place Live's Mindy Thomas could be assigned to every panel next year.  I totally agree.  Mindy is a hoot and a half, and not only on my panel when she spent most of the time audibly wondering whether she should say something, then saying it.  She's a genuinely nice person who bears the burden of being the person everyone wants to talk with lightly and with good humor.  So why not make it all Mindy, all the time?

KindieFelt: I just want to echo what Jack Forman and I said before we introduced Hand Aid's "Felt Around the World" (thanks, Kindiefest organizers!) -- next year, a panel of puppets.  Tell me you wouldn't pay to see that.  Conference gold, my friends, conference gold.

Red Eyes and Nemeses: Kindiefest 2012

There are relatively few benefits of living on the West Coast from a Kindiefest perspective.  It's a long plane flight, which means reduced flexibility in choosing how you get to Brooklyn, how long you stay, and what you do when you get there.

One advantage, however, is that you get a 5-hour flight.  That's not so great when you're going there anticipating the conference (or when you have to do it on a red-eye as I did this year).  But when you're flying back, it's a lot of time to sit and think about all that you heard during the weekend.

It is hard to overestimate just how much listening one does at Kindiefest.  There are the panels, of course - those are more typically geared toward musicians, but if you are more broadly interested in how one carves out a career as kids musician, a non-professional musician can find nuggets of things to ponder.

Besides the panels, there is all the music.  The showcase performances on Saturday night, the public festival on Sunday -- it's more than 7 hours of music in total, from all sorts of genres and all around the country.

And depending on your personality or need, you can spend more time than either of those just listening to others in one-on-one (or more) talks. Conversations are two-way, of course, but as a member of the media who isn’t looking to do interviews but meets a lot of artists who want to say ”hi” or tell me about their album plans or just introduce themselves, I do a lot of listening then, too.  It's enough to make you want to see a museum or go out for a run on Sunday morning, neither of which I got to do this year.

What did I do at this year’s Kindiefest?  Well, I got into Littlefield, the conference's home for the past 3 years, about 12:15 PM Saturday after the aforementioned red-eye, so I missed the keynote on Friday night and the post-talk schmoozing.  Which meant there was even more schmoozing to do in the limited amount of time I was there.  I did a lot of it -- seeing old friends, like Jeff and Dave and meeting folks I had previously known only through the magic of the Internet (hi, Jeff Giles!). I also talked with a lot of musicians and booking artists and PR folks.  I don't think I talked with every single one of the 350 or so record-setting number of attendees, but there were times when I felt that I did.  The only way I know I didn't is that there were folks that I wanted to talk to whom I realized on the flight home I didn't.

Late in the afternoon, I moderated a lively panel on The State of Kindie, a free-flowing discussion on all things kindie music.  An hour-long discussion is way too short to even scratch the surface of the various topics covered, such as what's improved over the past 10 years (too much to mention), what concerns still remain (sometimes a lack of diversity in audiences), and whether or not the Grammys matter.  On top of that, people gave their one piece of advice to artists.  (Mine had to do cooperating and competing, out of which the notion of nemeses -- that one person who brings out the best in you in competition -- took hold.)  If this description sounds dry, I assure you the panel itself was not, as the panelists were funny and engaged.

The showcase was even more crowded this year, with 10 different artists taking the stage.  The number of artists meant that the performances themselves were shorter than in past years.  There were way too many (and probably too brief) to adequately give them all justice in a review, but a handful of memories from the evening:

-- Renee & Jeremy captivating the audience with their chilled-out lullabies (not to mention Chris Ballew joining in on their version of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Give It Away).  For those of you wondering if the duo sounds as good live as they do on record, the answer is an unequivocal "yes."

-- Speaking of Chris Ballew, I was so glad to see Caspar Babypants play live.  As you might expect give how long he's been performing, he's very good at holding an audience's attention with nothing more than a voice and a guitar.

-- Lori Henriques playing a solo piano set, including a great new song, "Dinosaur," which was great as a kids' song about a dinosaur and also as a metaphorical song about a relationship breaking up (that was, to be clear, my interpretation and not -- I checked -- Henriques' intent).

-- Mista Cookie Jar put on an energetic performance with Ava Flava, the youngest performer of the night, rapping and singing.  All that and a roller-skating backup dancer.

-- Elska's performance, which between the music (electronic), costumes (sewn), and songs (fanciful), was the most eclectic and unusual of the night.

-- It is always good to see Dan Zanes perform; this time he eschewed his ”Friends” for a different set of friends, the Latin band Bomba Yo.  There was a 20+ (er, 10+) minute song featuring one of the band's female members dancing in front of the stage, then the pink-tutu-ed Sarah Shannon of The Not-Its joining in, then other women, then Chris Ballew, Rudy Trubitt - even I ended up joining in (shyly) near the end.

On a related note, I must say (again?) that one of the things I will always love about the Kindiefest showcase is that there is nothing like an audience of musicians for crowd harmonizing and fill-in hand-clapping.  Does my harmonizing, fill-in hand-clapping soul good.

After the showcase and some chatter at the venue, a large group of us went to a bar a couple blocks away and continued the conversations we'd all been having all day.  Artists, media, bookers, etc. -- while I learn stuff from the panels, I learn much more from these informal conversations.

I woke up too late and was moving too slowly to be able to take a jog through Prospect Park, so instead I went to see Recess Monkey play at 92Y TriBeCa.  I realized I hadn't seen them play live in a couple years, so I got to hear some newer tunes, including 3 off their upcoming album.  They are a fine-tuned machine playing live at this point.  They are, I would note, the model of the new kindie band.  Skilled musicians and songwriters, talented at more than just music (note how many videos they make), and always seeking new opportunities to have their music heard (they're playing with a circus, for cryin' out loud).  They are good nemeses for other musicians to have, though it's hard to curse them.

I skedaddled back to Brooklyn for the public showcase. Again, too many bands (and I missed Apple Brains, SteveSongs, and almost all of KBC Kids), so I'm not going to provide individual comments, but I will note that the hard work of publicity for the event paid off.  What was often a somewhat lightly attended event at least early in the afternoon in past years was completely packed when I walked in around 12:45.  Good to know word got out.

Why do I spend so much time talking about an industry-only conference, you might ask, particularly if you're not in the industry.  It's because this is one of the most significant events of the year and what transpires here leads to stuff you’ll end up enjoying for years to come.  Plans are hatched, songs are written, connections are made that will lead to some awesome experiences for kids and their families.  I'm sure I know but a small amount of everything that results from this gathering of artists, but even if you never come to Brooklyn, this weekend matters.

Hats off to the organizers, thanks for asking me to join y'all again.  Totally worth the red eyes.

Video: "Yellow" - Renee & Jeremy

Renee & Jeremy's new album of covers A Little Love is out in a couple weeks.  It's good.  Really good.  (Stream some long-form samples at their website.)  But I can hear some hipsters saying, "Coldplay? Really?"

I'm sorry -- the LA duo (and Kindiefest showcaser's) cover of "Yellow" is gorgeous.  And their new video for the song, created by Jon Izen?  Just as much so.  If you don't like this, I feel sorry for you.

Renee & Jeremy - "Yellow" [YouTube via Huffington Post]

Listening and Talking To Kids Music Folks Is Awesome!

As previously noted in this space, I'm lucky enough to heading back to Brooklyn later this month for Kindiefest, the annual family music conference.  They've been announcing details during the course of the past two months and they've now posted the full schedule here.  There are lots of great artists and other kids music luminaries attending, including folks from Random House Children's Books, Spotify, a whole bunch of venue representatives, Ralph Covert, Kathy O'Connell -- the list goes on.

I'm particularly geeked, of course, about the panel I'll be moderating -- "The State of Kindie" -- which will feature Dan Zanes, Mindy Thomas from Sirius-XM's Kids Place Live, Jeff Bogle from Out With the Kids, Christina Reffords from Cool Mom Picks, and Darren Critz from Symphony Space.  That will be a blast, and hopefully will send people into the artists' showcase following that panel buzzing with big ideas and a little inspiration.

(Artists, by the way, if you haven't already filled out the brief and anonymous survey I'm doing on some "big picture" kids music industry questions, I'd encourage you to join the more than 50 artists who have already done so.  It's not officially related to Kindiefest, but I expect to use some of the results to help guide my moderating there.)

I'm also excited that Scott Schultz, co-creator of Yo Gabba Gabba! (not to mention the new Aquabats Super Show!) will be giving the keynote presentation Friday night.  In the wake of Jack's Big Music Show, Yo Gabba Gabba! kept (and keeps) music for kids highly visible on TV, continuing to reinforce the idea of family music not as one of last-gasp effort, but fully viable alternate (or duplicate) career.  It's an important show for family musicians.

Finally, members of the general public in the greater NYC area shouldn't miss out on Sunday's public concert.  With artists like Moona Luna, Apple Brains, and WeBop from Jazz at Lincoln Center, it'll be a super-diverse show.  It starts at noon, with tickets (just $12-$15) available here.

So, I hope I'll see you there (register here).  It's always an adrenaline-soaked, throat-parched event from tons of conversation.  As someone who writes about the music (and helps bring some of it to Phoenix), it's a great chance to meet the far-flung makers of the music and see many of them perform.

Kindiefest 2012: This Time With Pizza

It's true -- Kindiefest is coming back for the 2012 edition, and the fine folks running the show promise pizza this year.

What's that? You can get pizza where you live?

Well, how about Dan Zanes, Kathy O'Connell, Mindy Thomas, Jeff Bogle, the ever-elusive Jeff Giles, Darren Critz, Nerissa Nields, to name just a few? Do those folks stop by on Friday night for pizza night? Thought not.

And, er, me.

Now, it's not easy to get me to fly across the country, but somehow that's what Kindiefest compels me to do every year. After each year's event, no matter how good, I say to myself, "I think I'll probably skip next year's event." And then I find myself taking the train in from JFK and preparing to talk and listen pretty much constantly for the next 48 hours until I get on the train back to JFK. As someone who books shows in Phoenix, it's also an opportunity to see artists who might make a subsequent appearance in these parts. And I pretty much think about the issues raised in Brooklyn the whole year long.

I'm looking forward to the panel I'll be part of (details to come), the artists I'll be seeing perform (Caspar Babypants, Renee & Jeremy, Mista Cookie Jar, Moona Luna, and more), and the conversations I'll join in on. It's a great way to see where the field is at right now, and where it's heading. (You can register here.)

Don't forget that even if you're not part of the genre as an artist, writer, booker, or otherwise, there's the public showcase on Sunday, which usually features a half-dozen or so artists at a crazy-good price. NYC-area families should definitely consider attending.