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Press
Sweet Relief
Orlando Sentinel, September 24, 2006 - Jim Abbott
"Parents' suffering ends, kids are happy. Insipid and inane have gone the way of the dinosaurs.
Barney is really a dinosaur now.
Once an inescapable media star, that big purple preschool character became a cultural icon by delighting toddlers at the same time his sing-along ditties made otherwise sane parents want to wrap something around his lovable neck.
Parents will always be called on to make sacrifices for their kids, but suffering through mind-numbing songs apparently isn't required anymore. A new breed of kid-friendly performers is making music that everyone can enjoy.
Hot new kid-friendly acts such as Justin Roberts, Hot Peas 'N Butter, Laurie Berkner and Dan Zanes play songs that sound very much like the contemporary music that appeals to many adults. Roberts began as an indie-rock musician, Zanes is with the Del Fuegos and bassist Francisco Cotto of Hot Peas 'N Butter has played with world-music group Yerba Buena.
They Might Be Giants has even turned its quirky career toward kids music.
"If you want children to grow up and value music, then you have to introduce them to music when they are young," says Elizabeth Wimberley-Bernbaum, 36, a Maitland mother of two young children who enjoys the new trend. "What are you teaching them to like?
Sales are soaring
Wimberley-Bernbaum is helping organize a six-hour children's music concert as part of the Jewish Community Center's annual Family Festival on Nov. 5 at Lake Lily in Maitland. Roberts and Hot Peas 'N Butter will be among the performers.
It's not the only event showcasing the new stars of children's music in Central Florida. Walt Disney World is wrapping up its seven-week Playhouse Disney In Concert, which features musical stars aligned with the company's record label and Disney Channel programming.
Although other corners of the music business are still slumping, sales for children's music headed into the summer with a whopping 55 percent increase over the same period in 2005, according to Nielsen SoundScan reported on Billboard's Top Kid Audio chart.
Acts such as Laurie Berk-ner, known as the "Sheryl Crow of the diaper set," are logging sales that would rival pop stars. Berkner's CD/DVD package, We Are . . . The Laurie Berkner Band (Razor & Tie/Two Tomatoes Records/Starbucks Hear Music), debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Music Videos chart and has gone on to be certified triple platinum.
In a nod to the changing focus of the children's genre, more than 80 percent of the sales were made at Starbucks stores.
The secret behind such interest? Giving the audience good music.
"We don't really think of it as children's music," says Danny Lapidus of Hot Peas 'N Butter. "We think of it as music."
Never 'sing down'
A graduate of New York's High School of Music & Art and Binghamton University, Lapidus played in a rock band that opened for bigger stars at venues such as Irving Plaza and the Wetlands. He listened to the tales of Professor Louie, a children's performer who was a friend of his father, and decided to try it.
"I used to follow him around while he played for children, and eventually he handed me all these traditional folk songs and blues, really great music. He showed me that it's not just for kids, it's for anyone.
"Watching Professor Louie, I saw that he never sang down to the kids. He always treated them like any other audience. That became our mantra."
Lapidus had known his future partner, Cotto, since high school. The bassist added a world-music sensibility to Hot Peas 'N Butter. The sound is earning the duo fans among adults, too.
"It has been phenomenal, the reaction from adults," Lapidus says. "I've been approached by people who say to me in an embarrassed sort of way that they listen to our stuff when they are alone. That's a great reaction."
Now Lapidus wouldn't go back to an ordinary rock band.
"To me, this is very freeing as a musician. Not only have we not lowered our musical level, we've increased it. There's no preconceived formula that we have to take part in. We're free to be who we are."
Richard Peeples, an Orlando children's performer who launched his career as "Mr. Richard" after working as a library storyteller, echoes that sentiment. He started his music career playing with Mississippi blues-rocker Jimbo Mathus, who still contributes to Mr. Richard music.
Mr. Richard's whimsical songs go by such titles as "Airplane Jane" and "Stinkeroo!," the latter about, well, things that stink. In one of his typical nods to adults, the finale includes a snippet of the distinctive guitar riff from Lynyrd Skynyrd's "That Smell." A song about underwear is also an audience favorite.
How is it that a guy who wanted to be a rock star back in his 20s can enjoy doing such silly songs? Peeples says it was an easy transition.
"I love kids and music, so it was a great combination for me," says Peeples, 45. "Many times, I prefer their company to grown-ups' because they are so straight with you and so funny. I never talk to a kid like they're a little baby. I talk to them like they are friends. They're people, but they're really short."
Family music
Observers don't see the new wave of children's entertainers falling into the same image problems that befell Barney. The key is to do music that involves the whole family.
"With anything in children's entertainment, you can oversaturate the market," says Sloan Coleman, the president of Wiggles Live USA Inc. "I've seen it with live characters or animated characters, you always have that worry, 'Are we taking it too far?' "
The Wiggles, an Australian quartet that has found a platform on the Disney Channel, began the transition from the Barney era. Three of the four members have degrees in preschool education; three of the four also once played in a rock band called the Cockroaches.
Somehow, those elements became the Wiggles: "Four adults that were a band for children," Coleman says.
Turns out the kids aren't the only ones listening.