Robbi Kumalo | Intelligent Children’s Music

November 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Interview with Robbi Kumalo [10:37m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Our musical guest ROBBI KUMALO has sung backup with such greats as Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, Jewel, Diana Ross, Rod Stewart and Mary J Blige, and talks with us about her new, intelligent children’s album.

Reviews from her ‘business’ website at www.balidali.com

On Music Makes Me Happy, Robbi K (Robbi Hall Kumalo) blends pop, R & B,jazz, hip-hop, blues, and more into a sunshiny gem of a children’s CD. Robbi, an accomplished singer, has backed up Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Mary J. Blige, Harry Belafonte, and others. But with such tunes as the doo-wop-flavored “I Love My Teacher” and the effervescent Caribbean romp “Summer’s Here,” she cements her status as a unique voice in children’s music.”
“Our Favorite Things” FAMILY FUN MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2007

“Several new CDs for children span a variety of musical genres. Robbi K’s soulful album of worldwide musical styles, Music Makes Me Happy, offers diverse tracks of “post-Barney and pre-Britney” music for 7-to-12-year-olds. Blending music from jazz to various cultural traditions, Music Makes Me Happy also incorporates children’s voices.”
Laurel Fishman, GRAMMY.com

Biography from her website www.balidali.com

Born in New York City, Robbi Hall Kumalo, grew up funny, dramatic, and completely stage-struck. Her family nickname was “Sarah” (as in Bernhardt), and responding to the eclectic mix of musical styles (from R&B to Chopin) played in her home, she wrote her first song “A ‘U’ Monkey Face” – a tribute to her brother’s funny face – at the age of three. Robbi’s early years were filled with dance and piano lessons, singing in her church choir, and appearing in local musical productions.

When Robbi K’s daughters were smaller, she began looking for outstanding children’s music to share with them. What became evident was that, aside from the legendary Ella Jenkins, she couldn’t find many other performers of color doing live, diverse and well-rounded children’s music. Where were the role models for her girls and for millions of other kids? The burgeoning field of children’s music was lily white and mostly male.

She says, “My desire is to offer music kids and their families can really get involved with, and connect to the many cultures that flavor our lives. Our children are a lot hipper and smarter than ever; and much more swift than when we were their age. Music doesn’t have to be pablum or speak down to them. It should spark their minds and hearts, as well as their hands and feet.”

Robbi K has released three children’s CD’s: Set It Free and Keep the Beat (honored with a Parents’ Choice Award), and most recently, Music Makes Me Happy, a 2007 Parents’ Choice Silver Award winner, a Children’s Music Web Award winner, and an iParenting Outstanding product award.

Posted by admin | Filed Under Folk, Jazz, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST

D. Castle-Shepard | Faith

November 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Interview with D. Castle-Shepard [12:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

D. CASTLE-SHEPARD is a military chaplain, historian, and author. He speaks with us about Thanksgiving in Iraq, and about his concept of the militia at home. His new book Faith in the New Militia has been well-received across the country.

About Faith in the New Militia (from www.dcastleshepard.com)

In an age of terror and greed-based economics, not enough has been said about the place of faith in American society, or faith-based answers to real world problems. In essence the excessive globalization must be countered by new strategies at the local level. Conscience must be redefined after all of the distortions of moralizing and demonizing. Ultimately, people must learn to accept true community with the courage to uphold commitments, and overcome the fear of true intimacy.

About D. Castle Shepard (from www.dcastleshepard.com)

D. Castle-Shepard is a 27-year citizen-soldier (Lieutenant Colonel) and veteran of Iraqi-Freedom (2003). His education includes an M.Div and an MSW. He lives in a rural community with his wife and two children, and practices social work with low- income clients and their families.

Formerly a charter member of the Christian Coalition, Castle-Shepard still embraces radical ideas. But in post-9/11 America he has refined his perspective:

Grassroots militia are vital to American life in the 21st Century

His own white population is spiritually inferior to African Americans

Western capitalism is incompatible with the teachings of Jesus

Muslims are no less likely to enter heaven than Christians

Terror will not be defeated until global corporations are brought to accountability

All of this and more without abandoning his Evangelical Christian faith. With a primary focus on repentance, Castle-Shepard’s deepest convictions are centered around the believer’s need to recognize and renounce self-justifying tendencies. Faith calls all people to seek the glory of God, and refuse glory to the flesh. In his mind, Jesus taught us that people who justify themselves will not be justified by God. Therefore the believer must always grow deeper in awareness of self-righteous presumptions, and renounce them. Hope is in the light of God to expose these deceptions, and lead us to peace in His Truth.

Castle-Shepard’s book is available from the publisher at www.bloomingtwigbooks.com/shop

Posted by admin | Filed Under Thanksgiving, Religion, Politics, AUTHOR INTERVIEW, PODCAST

Pat Williams | Sports & Life

November 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Pat Williams Interview [14:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

PAT WILLIAMS, senior vice-president of the Orlando Magic, is an inspirational author, speaker, and former professional athlete with a long list of publications. He is also the father of 19 children (14 adopted), and speaks with us about family, sports, and a few of his more than 2 dozen books.

The following is his biography (taken from his website at www.patwilliamsmotivate.com)

Pat Williams is the senior vice president of the NBA’s Orlando Magic. Also one of America’s top motivational, inspirational, and humorous speakers, he has addressed employees from many of the Fortune 500 companies and the Million Dollar Round Table. He has been a featured speaker at two Billy Graham Crusades and two Peter Lowe Success Seminars. He has also spoken on many university campuses.

After serving for seven years in the United States Army, Pat spent seven years in the Philadelphia Phillies organization, two as a minor league catcher and five in the front office. He then spent three years in the Minnesota Twins organization before moving to the National Basketball Association. Since 1968, he has been affiliated with teams in Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, including the 1983 World Champion 76ers, and now the Orlando Magic which he co-founded in 1987 and helped lead to the NBA finals in 1995. Twenty-three of his teams have gone to the NBA play-offs and five of them have made the NBA finals. In 1996, Pat was named as one of the 50 most influential people in NBA history by a national publication.

In his NBA career, he has traded Pete Maravich, traded for Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Penny Hardaway, and won four NBA draft lotteries, including back-to-back winners in 1992 and 1993 and most recently in 2004. He also drafted Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney and Darryl Dawkins and signed Billy Cunningham, Chuck Daly, and Matt Guokas to their first professional coaching contracts. Twelve of his former players have become NBA Head Coaches and seventeen have become assistant coaches.

Pat and his wife Ruth are the parents of 19 children, including 14 adopted from four nations, ranging in age from 20 to 34. For one year, 16 of his children were all teenagers at the same time. Pat and his family have been featured in Sports Illustrated, Readers Digest, Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, The Wall Street Journal, Focus on the Family, New Man Magazine, plus all of the major television networks, The Maury Povich Show and Dr. Robert Schuller’s Hour of Power.

Pat helps teach an adult Sunday school class at First Baptist Church of Orlando and hosts a weekly sports radio show. In the last 10 years he has completed thirty eight marathons, including the Boston Marathon 10 times and also climbed Mt. Rainier. He is a weight lifter, Civil War buff, and serious baseball fan. Every winter he plays in Major League Fantasy Camps and has caught Hall of Famers Bob Feller, Bob Gibson, Fergie Jenkins, Rollie Fingers, Gaylord Perry, Phil Niekro and Tom Seaver.

Pat was raised in Wilmington, Delaware, earned his bachelors degree at Wake Forest University, and his master’s degree at Indiana University. He has a doctorate in Humane Letters from Flagler University. He is a member of the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame after catching for the Deacons baseball team, including the 1962 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship team. He is also a member of the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame.

Posted by admin | Filed Under Sports, Thanksgiving, Motivation, Inspiration, AUTHOR INTERVIEW, PODCAST

Tom Paxton | Oklahoma Bard

November 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Interview with Legendary Folk Singer Tom Paxton [12:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It was our great honor to have legendary Oklahoma bard Tom Paxton on the show this week. His political songs, his love songs, and his ballads have accompanied lovers of American folk music for three generations, and nearly half a century. All folk musicians look up to him as a powerful wordsmith, a generous guide, and a fearless fighter for what he believes in. We spoke about his connections to Oklahoma, and we had the pleasure of a brief serenade about George W.Here is the complete biography from Tom Paxton’s website, www.tompaxton.com:

In describing Tom Paxton’s influence on his fellow musicians, Pete Seeger has said: “Tom’s songs have a way of sneaking up on you. You find yourself humming them, whistling them, and singing a verse to a friend. Like the songs of Woody Guthrie, they’re becoming part of America.” Pete goes on: “In a small village near Calcutta, in 1998, a villager who could not speak English sang me What Did You Learn In School Today? in Bengali! Tom Paxton’s songs are reaching around the world more than he is, or any of us could have realized. Keep on, Tom!”

Guy Clark adds: “Thirty years ago Tom Paxton taught a generation of traditional folksingers that it was noble to write your own songs, and, like a good guitar, he just gets better with age.” Paxton has been an integral part of the songwriting and folk music community since the early 60’s Greenwich Village scene, and continues to be a primary influence on today’s “New Folk” performers. The Chicago native came to New York via Oklahoma, which he considers to be his home state. His family moved there in 1948, when Tom was 10 years old, and he graduated from Bristow High School and The University of Oklahoma, where he majored in drama while his interest in folk music grew and eventually predominated.

Brought to New York courtesy of the US Army, Tom remained there following his discharge. His early success in Greenwich Village coffeehouses, such as The Gaslight and The Bitter End, led to an ever-increasing circle of work. Then in 1965 he made his first tour of the United Kingdom — the beginning of a still-thriving professional relationship that has included at least one tour in each of the succeeding years.

He and his wife, Midge, have been married 41 years and have two daughters, Jennifer and Kate. All three women have served as inspiration for many songs, and now three grandsons, Christopher, Sean, and Peter are adding to the sources of inspiration.

He has performed thousands of concerts around the world in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, Scandinavia, France, Italy, Belgium, Holland, England, Scotland, Ireland and Canada. That these fans still enjoy his work is a testament to the quality of his recent work, and to the enduring power of modern standards like The Last Thing On My Mind, Ramblin’ Boy, Bottle Of Wine, Whose Garden Was This?, Goin’ To The Zoo and The Marvelous Toy. Paxton’s songbooks, critically acclaimed children’s books (available from HarperCollins - see the page for children), award-winning children’s recordings, and a catalog of hundreds of songs (recorded by artists running the gamut from Willie Nelson to Placido Domingo), all serve to document Tom Paxton’s 40-year career.

Tom was nominated for a Grammy for “Best Contemporary Folk Album of 2003″ for his Appleseed Records CD, Looking For The Moon. He was nominated in 2002 for his children’s CD, Your Shoes, My Shoes. He has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from ASCAP, and in February he will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the BBC in London.

Tom Paxton’s place in folk music is secured not just by hit records and awards, but by the admiration of three generations of fellow musicians. An internationally recognized and loved cultural figure, he has always chosen goodwill over commercial success. His generosity has taken the shape of a benefit concert performance for a little girl fighting leukemia, or a personal note of encouragement to an up-and-coming songwriter. This is the man who wrote and lives the words, “Peace will come, and let it begin with me.”

He is one of the great songwriters of the last century and will be reckoned as one of the greats in this new century, as well. He is a man we have come to regard as our friend.

“Tom Paxton’s songs are so powerful and lyrical, written from the heart and the conscience, and they reach their mark, our most inner being. He writes stirring songs of social protest and gentle songs of love, each woven together with his personal gift for language. His melodies haunt, his lyrics reverberate. I have sung Tom’s songs for three decades and will go on doing so in the new century, for they are beautiful and timeless, and meant for every age.” (Judy Collins)

“Tom Paxton embodies the spirit of folk music in the most beautiful sense. Not just in his song crafting, his work ethic, his politics and his dedication to people’s music, but also in his kind and generous heart. When I first started playing folk festivals, I was all of eighteen, shaved headed and politically outspoken. Many people in the folk community at that time seemed defensive and threatened by me, but I remember Tom was a notable exception. He was nothing but warm, welcoming and supportive to me from the git go. He’s the coolest.” (Ani DiFranco)

“Every folk singer I know has either sung a Tom Paxton song, is singing a Tom Paxton song or will soon sing a Tom Paxton song. Now either all the folk singers are wrong, or Tom Paxton is one hell of a songwriter.” (Holly Near)

Tom Paxton’s music is available from itunes, CD Baby, and from every store in the world that stocks American folk music. Look for him in the UK on tour in the spring, and we will keep up to date via his website at www.tompaxton.com

Posted by admin | Filed Under Folk, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST

Joyce Carol Thomas | Story

November 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Interview with Joyce Carol Thomas [11:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We had the great pleasure this week to speak with author and poet Joyce Carol Thomas. She wove an elegant thread for the first half of the interview, telling about the rich, and free, history of Oklahoma, and her heritage there. She also spoke to us about her multiple award-winning book Marked by Fire, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and a re-released hardcover edition.

More information about Joyce below, from her website here:

Joyce’s book titles include bestseller Linda Brown, You Are Not Alone: Brown v. Board of Education, The Gospel Cinderella, Hush Songs: African-American Lullabies; Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea; I Have Heard of a Land, Crowning Glory; and National Book Award winner Marked by Fire.

Ms. Thomas’ more than 50 books have earned her more readers and more rewards: the National Book Award, the American Book Award, three Coretta Scott King Honors, two Governor’s Awards, three American Library Association Awards, the International Reading Association Award, an Oklahoma Lifetime Achievement Award, and many more.

Joyce Carol Thomas is a native of Ponca City, Oklahoma (the setting for some of her fictional works). When she was 10 years old, Thomas and her family moved to the rural area of Tracy, California.

A graduate of Stanford University, fluent in Spanish and French, Ms. Thomas has traveled to Australia, China, Ecuador, Guam, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, and Nigeria. She has taught from grade school to the university level, including the University of California at Santa Cruz and Purdue University. Her last teaching appointment was as Full Professor in the English Department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she taught Creative Writing courses in poetry, drama, and fiction.

She now lives in Berkeley, California, near her family, where she continues to write and publish.

All of Joyce Carol Thomas’ books are available for sale in your local bookstore, online at her website at www.joycecarolthomas.com and at amazon.com

Posted by admin | Filed Under Oklahoma, Childrens, Fiction, Poetry, AUTHOR INTERVIEW, PODCAST

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