Barefoot Boogie Baby

Blog  #2

Spiral Up Kids would like to congratulate our friends Ratboy Jr on the release of their brand new CD “ Smorgasbord”.  This twirly -whirly  mama, in particular,  already knows the words to all the new songs from the constant requesting it is getting on my commute. Although, I do have to say that my precocious 4 year old, Ruthie, is insistent that Matty is lying and that “the snowman that never melts” that Ratboy Jr sings about definitely does not exist!  Matty, we may be stopping by soon as she is looking to prove this theory.

It seems like everybody has a great new album out- Dean Jones, Uncle Rock- the Hudson Valley is just flourishing with fresh, new kids’ music!  We love it and we assure you that we also are hard at work (and play) with some silly, fun new tunes that we hope to send your way soon!

As “Smorgasbord” has joined our car CD rotation, along with “B is for Bob”, Ziggy Marley’s “Family Time”, and of course “Spiral Up Kids”, I’d like to talk about my little girl’s love for music and tell you the story of “Barefoot Boogie Baby”- the first song I wrote, before we dreamed up “Spiral Up Kids”.  It seems like only yesterday, yet it was over half of my baby girl’s life ago and dates back to the infant seat that came before the cow-print Britax Marathon. You see, I think my little girl was born with music inside her.  Maybe it was her latest dance moves that inspired all that kicking in my belly.  As I think back to my earliest days as a mother, and the sleepless nights that go along with those, I remember the mix CDs that my dear DJ friend, Rick from WKZE, made for me as a baby-welcoming gift.  It was through playing these CDs during our first days as parents that we realized that our newborn infant had specific tastes in music. She may have been happy to hear Jack Johnson’s Curious George Soundtrack during the daytime hours, but when she cried out in the night and her hysteria continued for what seemed like eternity, we noticed that one particular song on “Rick’s Mix” gave us back our happy baby.  Further investigation and testing our hypothesis led us to the discovery that our brand new baby loved Reggae… and she liked her music loud! Uncle Jeff in Brooklyn sent the reinforcements in the form of a package of Reggae CDs he burned for us that ended those nights where soothing Baby Ruth was impossible.  I’m not saying the Reggae put her back to sleep- it didn’t- but it made her happy and we danced all night!

Family trips are often daunting for new parents- except for those lucky enough to have the baby that zonks out as soon as he or she is buckled into the carseat.  That baby was not ours!  Our little one saw the carseat as her ticket to a rock concert.  As soon as she learned how, she immediately began peeling off her shoes and socks and grooving in the backseat.  This was especially true on longer trips, like the 2 ½  hour trek to Grandma’s farm, which had Daddy drumming on the steering wheel, mama singing, and a mini music-critic in the back goo-goo-gaga-ing and grunting her opinions as to what station should be on before she had the words to tell us!  When she was pleased, there was a lot of squealing, kicking, and shaking going in the backseat of our VW Jetta station wagon. Thank goodness for satellite radio and all the choices!

Music has always been a huge part of our lives and it became even more so, as parents.  We weren’t going to the festivals and concerts that we attended in the “pre-Ruthie years”, but got to know the local kids’ music scene- which is flourishing in the Hudson Valley. In addition to developing our own music project, “Spiral Up Kids”,   we saw Dog On Fleas, Uncle Rock, the Zucchini Brothers, Father Goose, The Sippy Cups,  The Fuzzy Lollipops, Hot Peas & Butter, and just recently, Gustafer Yellowgold.  My daughter has been on “Ratboy Jr tour” for the past two years and they even played her rockin’ rainbow princess birthday party last month.  She’d pick live music over Elmo on stage any day! We’ve also tried to take her to see some of the Greats- Pete Seeger, as a baby, Peter Yarrow and Levon Helm at one, Bob Dylan ,  Bob Weir, and the Allman Brothers at two and by three, our red Radioflyer wagon was ready for Ruthie’s first festival,  Mountain Jam.  We did have a traumatic moment where we lost our beloved “Lammy” in the crowd of people on the field, but it all worked out – thanks to some superhero friends, who helped a couple of damsels in distress in their search, and some kind-hearted hippies who found a beat-up stuffed lamb and tied it to the rainbow bridge where we found it. I’m not sure who we’ll be going to see this summer, but my baby girl is sure to be dancing in the carseat on the way- and dancing in the sunshine when we get there!  Come see Spiral Up Kids and dance with us!

For me, “Barefoot Boogie Baby” is all about family and just having a good time together, singing, dancing, and being silly.  I love car trips because they offer up moments of just being together as a family that are often hard to find in busy everyday life.  On a road trip, we’re just all hanging out together! Bringing all your “pre-child” talents and loves and using them in your parenting is something I feel strongly about.  Maybe Ruthie’s love for music comes from the environment we’ve created, but more likely, it’s organically inside her. At 4, she hears a song and tells me where she feels the music in her body, she makes up her own silly songs and performs them for us in the livingroom, and she invites her friends over for playdates to play “band”.  She also takes a fabulous dance class with the Vanaver Caravan. I hope as she grows older, she never loses the confidence and creativity that she possesses right now! She is amazing! Check out Ruthie, Jonah, and some other great little musicians playing and having a great time in our Spiral up Kids video, “Friends”!   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WoqUnEtvkk

We hope we can get your little one dancing in their carseat or in the living room!

Georgia

What song gets your little one dancing in their carseat?

Twirly Whirly…

Blog #1

Hi! I’m Georgia- the Twirly-Whirly Mama behind the music of Spiral Up Kids. Since our magical music project began a few years ago, the little ones (Ruthie & Jonah) who entered us into this wild trip of parenting have moved beyond babyhood and into the brilliant but beastly pre-school years. (My wickedly wonderful little imp Ruthie is snatching the mouse away and poking the keys right now as I try to write this.)

Last week, we, in the Hudson Valley, had the pleasure of what Accuweather dubbed a “snowicane” which left us without electricity for 5 days out here in the apple orchards. While initially we were ready to jump ship and head for Grandma’s, with the help of the miraculous generator, it turned into a rather enjoyable adventure (well, most of it anyway- the shed collapsing in the backyard with the riding mower and bicycles in it was not a highlight but we’ll dig it out as the days grow warmer and assess the damage.) The snow was incredible and reached over 3 feet high and certainly portrayed that beauty can be found within the beast. (Can you tell we are into princesses around here?) The culprit of all the power company’s havoc, bringing down wires and trees, was the same enchanting creator of a wonderland, especially as seen through the eyes of a little girl not much higher than the snow drifts.

We spent our days painting a tea set and hosting numerous tea parties, building a fabulous snow fort, like the structures I remember constructing in my childhood, and cuddling up under blankets with books- “Fancy Nancy” tops our list these days, along with classics like Robert Munsch’s “Paper Bag Princess” . These would’ve been perfect days for baking cookies, but heat, water, and a few lights were our luxuries- no oven! We even wrote a little song- “Electricity- Come Back to Me!” but I’m not sure that it’ll merit being on our next album! Ruthie did call out “I miss my TV!” a few times but overall we fared well and made it through. This late February blizzard certainly left us full of gratitude when the lights did come on and full of eagerness for Spring to melt the snow away and bring on the sunshine! I’ve started dreaming of the golden prize that lays beyond what we hope are the last few cold days ahead… the afterschool romps at the playground, the local farmers’ markets, the flowers springing up in our yard, and even the mud puddles!

With Spring on my mind, I’d like to share with you the story of “Ducks” (Track # 9 on our album). Believe it or not, it’s mostly a true story. I wrote the lyrics to “Ducks” about 2 ½ years ago, when we were still living in Beacon, the land of Pete Seeger, and Ruthie wasn’t 2 yet. Beacon was just beginning it’s renaissance as a town and as much as I now love living out in the country amongst the apple orchards, I loved living right near town with our favorite “hotspots” like the Wee Play playground, http://www.weeplayproject.org/, the natural market, http://beaconnaturalmarket.com/, the ice cream stand http://beaconcreamery.com/, and of course the Hudson River.

We had a Sunday morning mother-daughter ritual of heading down to the riverfront park which houses the train station. In our little family, my husband & I have very different tastes in bread, which always leaves us with plenty to share with the ducks at the end, or in this case beginning of the week. So Sunday mornings were for the farmer’s market http://www.thebeaconfarmersmarket.com/, where we always tried to buy at least one thing from every vendor and danced on the dock, and feeding our friends the ducks, my little girls’ favorite. In fact, it became such an important part of our lives that sometimes, we’d stop and buy a loaf of bread for the ducks, if we didn’t have any extra growing stale in our kitchen. At this particular spot on the Hudson, we would carefully climb down the rocks and sit and throw ripped up slices of bread into the river as my little girl giggled with glee when the ducks swam over to gobble it down. We always tried our best to get some to the “little guy” who couldn’t seem to get there quick enough. Of course, we usually were met by the Canadian geese, who also got a share of the loot, but we’d been at our routine several weeks before my little girl got her first glimpse at the violence of nature and survival of the fittest. I don’t remember the exact details of the day, but I know the lyrics of the song came straight from whatever happened. We must have witnessed a duck attack- biting and fighting, seagulls swooping, pushy geese, and absolutely no sharing of the bread, which I’m sure was plentiful. I do remember my daughter’s shock and surprise at the birds’ aggressive behavior and boldness. After all, those geese were probably bigger than she was or at least about the same size.

And so… “Ducks” (with Tim & Darren’s musical alchemy) was born. Now these boys are two of my favorite people, but in the many years I’ve known them before becoming “Mama”, I never would’ve dreamed of seeing them “Quack” on stage and they’re so good at it! Of course, I never would’ve dreamed lots of things in the time pre-dating my beautiful “Ruthie Rainbow” who turned four last month. Being a mama- and a twirly-whirly one- has brought so much wonder and magic into my world and as I dream of warm spring adventures, I am anxious to get out to the fabulous pond on the SUNY New Paltz campus to search out some ducks amongst those big white honking geese that I find mildly frightening. Perhaps this spring, the ducks will learn to share. Here’s hoping Spring arrives soon!
We miss you, Mr. Sun!

Georgia

What are you looking forward to this spring?

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