"The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T." or "Extracurricular Tito" (Part Two)

One of my favorite things about being a kids/family music performer is that I get to meet a lot of other like-minded performers. Eric Herman has taken advantage of this and frequently meets and records other performers during his travels. Last year I had the privilege of getting a call from Ava Scofield who records under the name Ava & The Mystic Mangos. Ava told me she found out about me from a young girl that had sang on her previous album who stated that The Hipwaders were her favorite band. Easily swayed by flattery, I quickly agreed to Ava's request to sing on the album she was currently recording. It was the most difficult but thrilling vocal experience I've ever had. I would never consider myself "singer" but more of a vocal "stylist" and with that mindset tried to fit my voice to her music. Her music was performed by top-caliber jazz, classical, blues and pop musicians and I understood that I couldn't slack through the recording session. Ava was a great musical director and would ask me to sing phrases a multitude of ways. It really opened my eyes of what I was actually capable of doing with some direction and try to use that experience when I sing now.

Ava's album, "Jam 'n' Jive", covers the world of a child of earth - from the smallest bug to the great Blue Whale. You can check out my goofy vocal contribution on the interactive title track, or a more "serious" me on my favorite track, "Sailin' With a Whale". I love her "Sowbug" song that goes from gentle nursery rhyme to trip hop and back. The song grooves and grooves hard. The album peaks with a bunch of amazing young singers trading lines on the kid-empowerment song, "Millions of Voices". In a world of overly auto-tuned crap like the Jonas Brothers and other you-name-it Disney acts, it's refreshing to hear young talents that can actually sing.

Check out samples from Ava's album at CDBaby

A while back my boys were telling me they wanted to have their own webcast which suprised me as they rarely sing, act or otherwise perform when asked. I figure they got the idea from one of their favorite T.V. shows, iCarly, and saw that it could be a lot of fun.
Within a few days of them asking, I came across Gwyneth Butera's daughters' (The Gooney Bird Kids) "webcast", "The GBK Zoo". Featuring kid music reviews, cooking, and some random dancing, the show was a hit with my boys. I was quickly motivated to head out to the garage and see if I could could up with some music specifically for the show. Inspired by the Gooney Bird Kids and their exhuberant antics, I was able to write and record a 30 second theme for the show and quickly sent it out to them. They've used it on their last 4 shows and I love the way the vocal and instrumental versions weave in and out of the show. Right now the show is on hiatus as the gang is vacationing in France. Meanwhile check their show out GBKZoo and perhaps when they get back we'll have a "GBKLourve" episode. Sorry, I couldn't resist...

"The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T." or "Extracurricular Tito" (Part One)

"Take a while to laugh and smile and say, 'Hey, what a ride!'"

That's what Eric Herman sings on his latest CD release, "What A Ride!", and he couldn't be giving out better advice. "What A Ride!" is a sweet ride that goes from the existential to the absurd and finds humor in the mundane.

My family was fortunate to have Eric and his family as a house guest last year during one of his tours through the country and I gained some insight into the Endres family and what makes the world of "Eric Herman" keep spinning.

Eric and his wife, Roseann, are truly partners in his music. Besides acting as a sounding-board for his ideas, Roseann is also a lyricist, artist and animator. His daughters are his muses who are very enthusiastic about their father's music - as they should. The family is able to travel and enjoy "the ride" together - something that many of us can only dream of.

While staying with us, Eric asked me to say a few phrases into his recorder and even cajoled my son, Aidan, into speaking into his microphone - a very hard task I've rarely been able to accomplish since his was a toddler. Our "work" appears on his CD and I love seeing Aidan's name and mine together on the same album.

Back when Aidan was a toddler, he had no problem talking or singing into a microphone but once he started grade school he seemed to become a bit self-conscious. He sang on my first "kid/family" album, "The Smile Project", which was cool, but my favorite recording of him and I was a cover we did in 2001 of Blue Oyster Cult's "Go Go Godzilla". I had a blast grabbing bits of dialog from old Godzilla movies and we created a tribute to the movies that Aidan loved at the time. Check it out:

"GO GO GODZILLA" - Aidan & Tito Uquillas

...to be continued...

"Now, What's In This Here Goodie Bag?"

As Gunnar Madsen says in the song, "Now, what's in this here Goodie Bag?"
Truth is we ran out of room to put the reviews of our "Goodie Bag" EP on our website. Hey, it's a cheap site and we'd rather spend the money on recording music and stuff!

Anway, I think I can add new reviews from time to time to this blog so I'll post the links here instead of making our cluttered website even more cluttered:


About.com (Kids Music)

Dadnabbit.com

Zooglobble.com

Chattanooga Parent Magazine

Cool Mom Picks

...to be continued?

The Bees Knees and a Christmas Mix

So, our Christmas album is finally recorded and mixed thanks to the hard work and discerning ear of Robert Cheek. Next Friday I hope to have the project mastered and then we'll go about getting the art done and the cd manufactured in time for the holidays.
I had a lot of fun finishing up the recording and mixing but the best experience I had was hearing some music by a new artist that absolutely floored me. Jules is a local Sacramento musician who goes by the name, "Sea of Bees". Now I don't know what it is about the word "bee" but many of my favorite albums have the word in it. From a recent favorite "The Bird and the Bee" album, to my favorite Soft Boys album, "Can of Bees", to the best Guided by Voices album, "Bee Thousand", I think it might be impossible to have a bad album with the word "bee" in it and I know that the "Sea of Bees" album will be no exception.

The story goes that while on break from recording with the band she's in as a side person, Jules was singing and strumming away on guitar when John Baccigaluppi, The Hangar studio owner and engineer, heard Jules and asked her if she'd like to make a record. And so they are.
I was privileged enough to be asked to come into the small recording room they were working in to hear some of the tracks they had in progress. I was blown away by the quality of the songs and Jules quirky, inviting voice. John's arrangements are inventive and perfectly frame Jules' voice and the songs. I've heard at least half the album now and can say that "Sea of Bees" has a big future ahead.

Fortunately, Luxury Wafers (awesome blogsite...check out the amazing bands, including one of my favorites, The Heartless Bastards) was able to film Jules performing a few of her songs live at The Hangar.

Here's my favorite:

Sea of Bees - Willis - Luxury Wafers Sessions from Luxury Wafers on Vimeo.

Mommy the Superhero (free download)

Sorry Dads, but Mommies just may have an edge when it comes to superhero attributes. It's just Dads have the better PR department while Moms' accomplishments are much more inglorious.

Fortunately, we have a day to give Mom her due and sing her praises...which we in The Hipwaders are more than happy to do:

Always Mom - The Hipwaders

(from "Goodie Bag" EP)



Mommy & Me

The Hipwaders at Suisun's Kids Festival

Life's richest moments and memories usually consist of both the good and the bad, the Yin & Yang, the sweet & sour. The bittersweet does provide the best memories and The Hipwaders just had that kind of a show.

The City of Suisun put on a Kid Festival yesterday and event chairperson Anita Skinner did her best to provide local kids and families with an awesome event. Cities are usually only able to put on one kid-oriented event a year and yesterday was that day.

But, it rained.

Now, normally, that'd be the end of the story. People wouldn't show up. Vendors would rue the day they paid their fee to hawk their wares as families won't show up to an event if a downpour is in the forecast.
With us it's a little different. Fortunately, the rain let up about an hour prior to our show and we were able to set up. Surprisingly, Lt. Governor John Garamendi showed up to the event as he had a meeting with the local city politicos later that day.

Our friend, Alan Blondin, did think that Garamendi went a little overboard with the Stormtrooper security.

I had the chance to speak with the Lt. Governor and took the opportunity to ask that he lend an ear to the concern of my fellow paramedics who don't have the power that police and fire unions have to highlight issues important to their profession. He reminded me of his role in the 1982 California State Senate bill that led to the licensing of paramedics. I also thanked him for his role as State Insurance Comissioner and Prop 103 in his fight to end corruption in the insurance industry that led to massive rebates in fees to car and homeowners.

Word on the street is John Garamendi may be running for Governor next year. I think he got The Hipwader vote when he introduced us to the crowd at the Suisun Harbor.


While "crowd" perhaps isn't the right word, people showed up from as far away as Sacramento and Brentwood. It's always fun to see our friend Alex rocking out. We were also happy he requested "Field Trip" off our new cd. It's probably our favorite song to play.

So while the people danced away - as a did a giant Subway sandwich (?) - we were able to have fun for and hour and a half until the rain returned and we had to cut the gig short. It was supposed to be a 3 hour tour!

We promised Anita Skinner we'd do all we could to help her in her quest to get Suisun City to have another kid-focused day this summer. While most of the planned events got rained out and the vendors got soaked (pun intended) we had a blast and got to meet up with old fans and made some new ones, too.

Oh, yeah, and the Lt. Governor asked for business cards. We also hooked him up with some cds (he's got 10 grandchildren). Perhaps The Hipwaders will be performing at a family function at the California State Capitol for "Governor John Garamendi".

National Library Week: A Celebration in Song

I got the library bug from our rural school's weekly visits from the bookmobile. While in the midst of National Library Week we should point out that Melvil Dewey directed the first library program in the country at Columbia College in 1887. Best known for his system of classifying books, his greatest achievement was probably his invention of the hanging vertical filing system which premiered at the 1893 Columbia Exposition in Chicago.

But we don't have a song about that:

Dewey Decimal System (free download!)

The bookmobile went and lost a wheel
Crashed into my room
I fell in the book deposit bin
I could not swim
I was so scared so unprepared
I cried HELP

Ivan librarian gave me a card
He said this will take you places
Besides where you are
Head for the future
Or go to the past
A library card will get you there really fast

I decided to spread the word
About what I’d heard
So I fixed that wheel on the busted bookmobile
Backed out of my room
With good cheer I gathered all to hear
What I’d been told

CHORUS

Dewey has ten classes
each class has ten divisions
each divided on and on

First there’s generalities
Philosophy, psychology
Religion, social science, languages

Next up there’s math and science
Medicine, technology
Arts like music, clowns & puppetry

At the end there’s literature
Geography and history
The biography of Mr. Melvil Dewey...