Kathryn Leigh Kirt Transcript

April 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Dr. Kent: Welcome back to “Sound Authors”. On the fourth part of each show we feature authors of sound. My guest is Kathryn Kirt from Tulsa, Oklahoma. She’s done a CD for children and a CD for adults with her group, “The Good Intentions.”Welcome to the show.

Kathryn Kirt: Thank you so much.

Dr. Kent: How’s the weather down there in Tulsa today?

Kathryn: Well, I’m looking out the window right now and it’s pretty windy, but it’s very pretty. All the flowers are in bloom.

Dr. Kent: Your two CD’s are based on life experiences. You have a baby yourself. I guess that’s the inspiration for “Itty Bitty Ditties For The New Baby?”

Kathryn: That’s right, I wrote all of the songs in her first year of life.

Dr. Kent: And all of these songs are very short so people can learn them and sing them themselves, is that right?

Kathryn: Right, that’s exactly right. I was hoping that parents, grandparents and children would sing those songs to their own babies and I thought that short would help people learn them, no matter what their age.

Dr. Kent: Let’s listen to a little bit of “I Love Milk, Yes I Do.”

Song: I love milk, yes I do, I love milk, yes I do.It’s so sweet and good, and good for you!I love milk, yes I do, I love milk, yes I do.I’d have it all day if I could, and I do!It’s got vitamins and antibodies, its got everything I need.It’s a perfect five star feast for babies.I love milk, yes I do, I love milk, yes I do,It’s so sweet and good, and good for you!I love milk, yes I do, I love milk, yes I do.I’d have it all day if I could, and I do!

Dr. Kent: [laughs] That’s an awesome song. Who’s the little fellow, or lady, doing the interludes?

Kathryn: That is Faith Hart and she, at the time of the recording was six years old, and she is the daughter of my singing partner, Elizabeth Thompson.

Dr. Kent: What a beautiful voice in there. I love the little ditty aspect of this. I don’t think there are many albums out there. There’re all looking at the pop music link of two to three minutes. I love this, its something that…these little tidbits.Tell me a little bit about why you put this into a CD.

Kathryn: Well, my daughter was breast fed, of course, for the first eight months of her life. Most babies only have milk for the first six months and it was such a part of our bonding experience together, as mother and child. Also, I was just amazed; I could both nurture her emotionally and physically by doing this. And that’s all she needed for the first six months. We’re so used to eating all types of food as adults, but I just thought it was amazing that she literally got everything she needed from just milk.

Dr. Kent: And the songs are called things like, “Wake Up, Shake It Up”, “No Cry, No Cry”, “The Rubber Duckie”, “Please, Please, Pretty Please”. Did you find yourself, in this period, walking around and thinking like a little kid?

Kathryn: Well, I did actually, and at the time… let’s see, most of the songs were actually written when I went back to school. I’m a teacher, and though I’m taking a break right now, I was, at the time, teaching English at a high school about 20 minutes away.So that was a perfect length of time after I dropped off my daughter, to work on both the melodies and the lyrics, on the way to work and the way back from work, knowing that I’d see her right away again. So I’d get a little bit in my mind and just keep working on it. I’d also work on them as I walked the dog and my daughter around the neighborhood.

Dr. Kent: What did the neighbors think?

Kathryn: Oh they probably think I’m the crazy lady. [laughter] I’m working on songs all the time.

Dr. Kent: I know you call your group, “The Good Intentions”. Talk about your singing partner.

Kathryn: Well, Elizabeth and I have been singing together now for four years and just this summer we added two new members to our band, Jim Tilley plays mostly the mandolin and Jayula Kirt [sp] plays the keyboard.

Dr. Kent: And you play around Tulsa and the area?

Kathryn: We do! We play as often as we can, we’re all busy professionals in one way or another, or I should say, the three of them are. I’m now a stay at home mom and I have a part time job as the music director at a church. But we try to work around our schedules and play as much as we can. We’ve done the Farmers Market and Cinder One Market more recently and played at The River’s Edge and several other venues in town.

Dr. Kent: Let’s play a song from your album, “Join Hands”, by “The Good Intentions.” This is called “Pools of Sky”Pools of sky line my brick road,And gold leaved trees hang all above me.Faraway moon shines icy cold.I think its time to run away to the sea, to the sea.To a place where light shines unearthly.To a place were sea sand can…

Dr. Kent: Well, it’s been a real pleasure speaking with Kathryn Kirt. You can find her music on cdbaby.com. Look for “The Good Intentions”, her group, and “Itty Bitty Ditties for the New Baby”, by Kathryn Leigh Kurt.Thanks so much for being on the show.

Kathryn: Thank you very much; it was great to be here.

Dr. Kent: And we’ll listen to a little bit more from “The Good Intentions” on the way out here. Thank you so much to my guests, Suzanne Lieurance, Daniel Lee Stone and Tim Keller.We’ll see you next week, but think about Ella Fitzgerald today, that smooth silky voice, and we’ll listen to Kathryn Kirt on the way out.Pools of sky line my brick road, and gold leaved trees hang above me.Faraway moon shines icy cold.

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

Kathryn Leigh Kirt | Ditties & Tunes

April 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Interview with Kathryn Leigh Kirt [7:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today on the show, we spoke with musician and mother Kathryn Leigh Kirt, telling us about her CD filled with “ditties,” short enough for any parent to learn to sing, and for any child to learn! She also shared her “adult” music with us… More information about Kathryn Leigh Kirt and her music from her CDBaby site:

Itty Bitty Ditties for the New Baby includes 13 original songs written by Kathryn Leigh Kirt, a singer/songwriter who lives and sings in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The songs are performed by Kathryn with a lot of help from friends and family members. The guitar player is her brother-in-law Nathan Guilford from Oklahoma City. The singers include Kathryn’s father-in-law Bill Morris of Houston, Texas, her neice Siri Peterson from St. Paul, Minnesota, and her singing partner Elizabeth Thompson from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Last but definitely not least is Faith Hart, Elizabeth’s daughter who was six years old at the time of the recording. She masterfully handles all of the speaking parts. The songs were inspired by the experience of being a new mom, and they focus on things that a baby does everyday. New parents will have no problem relating to songs such as “I Love Milk, Yes I Do!” and “Three Wet Wipe Mess.” Some of these songs are easy enough for a toddler to sing, and Kathryn hopes that the whole family will join in and sing to the new baby! Singing can help parents, siblings, and babies feel calm and happy. Now that is a dream come true.

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

Tanya Lee Stone | Important Children’s Books

April 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Interview with Tanya Lee Stone: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tanya Lee Stone was our guest on the show today. She is a well-known author, and writes books for children that all have great importance in theme… Her newest book is a biography of Ella Fitzgerald (commemorating Ella Fitzgerald’s birthday on this date), and she has two new books coming out in the next year.More information from Tanya Lee Stone’s money:

Like many writers, Tanya Lee Stone has been making up stories since she was a kid. But her first series, Henry the Happy House, was never sold. She even drew the pictures. It’s a mystery why nobody wanted to publish it! As a high schooler, Tanya went to performing arts high school as a music major. Her writing improved when she studied English at Oberlin College (and Music at Oberlin Conservatory. She might even sing if you offer her chocolate.). After graduation she moved to New York to be an editor.Stone was an editor for 13 years. During some of those years, she also earned a Masters Degree in Education and learned all about seals and sea lions! (If you ask, she might tell you about the time she had to climb into a harbor seal tank with high rubber boots to give the seals their shots). She also traveled all over the world, hopping with kangaroos in Australia, eating the best caviar ever in Russia, and even living in England for awhile where she studied British literature. When Stone moved to Vermont and got her chance to write her first book, she got hooked on stories all over again. This award-winning author has written nearly 90 books for young readers. She has written books about animals, nature, science, history, and biography. She also writes poetry and fiction. Best-selling titles include Abraham Lincoln (more than 100,000 copies sold) and P is for Passover (more than 75,000 sold). Stone’s most recent titles are a young adult novel, A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl (Wendy Lamb/Random House), Amelia Earhart (DK), and Up Close: Ella Fitzgerald (Viking). Bad Boy was her first novel for teens and received starred reviews, as well as honors from the New York Public Library, Texas Tayshas State Reading List, School Library Journal, the ALA, Maryland Best Books, and the Kentucky Bluegrass Master Award List. Stone also writes articles and reviews and has been published in VOYA, School Library Journal, and the New York Times.Forthcoming titles include picture books Elizabeth Leads the Way (Holt) and Sandy’s Circus (Viking), as well as Almost Astronauts: The True Story of the Mercury 13. Many of the stories she now finds herself drawn to deal with themes of strong women and empowering girls. Stone is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, the Authors Guild, PEN American Center, ALAN (The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents), and the National Council Against Censorship. She has been a featured speaker at the Texas Book Festival, the New England Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, the Rochester Book Festival, the Connecticut Reading Association, the Vermont League of Writers, National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the International Reading Association (IRA), the American Library Association (ALA), as well as multiple schools and libraries. She is the Co-director of Kindling Words, an annual retreat for published children’s book authors and illustrators.

Posted by admin | Filed Under AUTHOR INTERVIEW, Childrens, Fiction, History, Inspiration, PODCAST

Suzanne Lieurance |

April 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Interview with Suzanne Lieurance: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Often-published children’s author Suzanne Lieurance was a guest on our show today, speaking to us about the process of writing a children’s book, and about her latest book The Locket. She had some interesting insights about how to write difficult non-fiction for children.

Suzanne Lieurance is a former classroom teacher, now a freelance writer, children’s author, speaker, and The Working Writer’s Coach. She is the author of over 20 published books for children. Lieurance is also the founder and director of the National Writing for Children Center and the Children’s Writers Coaching Club.

Posted by admin | Filed Under AUTHOR INTERVIEW, Childrens, Fiction, History, Inspiration, PODCAST, Politics

Tim Kellis | Relationships & Wall Street

April 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Interview with Tim Kellis: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We spoke with Tim Kellis today about marriages and why they break up so often in this country. Kellis analyzes the break ups from a Wall Street perspective.More information from Tim Kellis’ website:

Why is knowledge of mathematics important to understanding relationships?

Almost without exception, observed the great 20th Century philosopher Bertrand Russell in his exhaustive study of the history of Western philosophy, modern Platonists “are ignorant of mathematics, in spite of the immense importance Plato attached to arithmetic and geometry, and the immense influence that they had on his philosophy.

Russell aptly sums up why modern psychology has been remarkably unable to grapple with the very human struggle of modern relationships. Tim Kellis calls today’s relationship gurus Freudian failures as one out of every two marriages are dissolving in divorce. The approach by Dr. Phil and others is merely psychological and intuitive, when what’s required is a more analytical and scientific evaluation of the philosophy in human relationships we call happiness.

According to Kellis, mathematics is the very basis for science as well as a prerequisite for understanding logic and philosophy. A student of mathematics and engineering, as well as a brilliant Wall Street analyst, he tells his clients: “Happiness is a philosophy not a psychology.” The ability to comprehend the causes of relationship struggles requires the skill to analyze, comprehend and then write, he says. His mathematically derived analytical skills provide the foundation for his ability to find the relationship solution that can save marriages.

For Kellis, writing this book has been a life experience involving his professional and personal life, as well as his imposing intellectual and emotional development, that has led him to understand how to make a relationship work.

“Too often I’ve heard ‘I’d rather be happy and single, than unhappy and married.’ Yet my parents taught me that divorce was not an option in life, something they taught me not by what they said, but by how they lived. They had a very unhappy relationship for a very long time, but they stayed married. The only reason I was able to come to understand how to make a relationship successful is because I was able to overcome my own childhood shortcomings, forgive my parents and see them for who they really were–my parents.

Ambition and a strong aptitude for math helped lead Kellis to discover how to make relationships work. His math skills led directly to an engineering degree, nine years in the telecommunications industry, an MBA in finance, and finally on to Wall Street, where he became the very first semiconductor analyst to focus on the communications market.As an analyst you are required to be an expert in your field. The research completed before writing Equality: The Quest for the Happy Marriage was pursued in the same fashion as that required before becoming an analyst. The search for the truth requires a critical mind.

After publishing a 300-page initiation piece entitled Initiating Coverage of the Semiconductor Industry: Riding the Bandwidth Wave, Kellis became a leading semiconductor analyst at one of the biggest firms on Wall Street. As an analyst, he was in constant contact with investors, honing his presentation skills to the point that he became an expert presenter, a skill he believes is essential in his new role as relationship advisor. The experience he gained as a Wall Street analyst provided an excellent backdrop for researching and writing a book on relationships. As an analyst he had to deal with many egos, some healthy, some not. During this time, he learned why corporations and systems functioned at their best or worst and today applies much of what he learned to smaller, more intimate systems embodied in relationships.

What is the thread common to all corporations? Regardless of industry, almost every company starts out initially with the sole purpose of providing a product or service that makes its customers happy. The exception here is relationship therapists who have simply rationalized unhappiness. Competition exists to keep every corporation on its toes. Try to think of a product that makes customers unhappy or a television commercial where the actors are portrayed being unhappy using a specific company’s product or service. There aren’t any.

According to Kellis, “working with so many people who loved their jobs on Wall Street exposed me to many happy relationships. Their happiness was not simply a result of how much money they made, many of the happy relationships were with people who were not making a lot of money, but because they found working on Street incredibly intense and exciting. The common notion within mainstream psychology that relationships without arguments are impossible is simply a fallacy.

Posted by admin | Filed Under AUTHOR INTERVIEW, Business, Dating, Health, PODCAST, Religion