Weekly Summary (10/7/13 - 10/13/13)

How I Got Here: Lucky Diaz (The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Are You Experienced)

With the recent release of Lishy Lou and Lucky Too, Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band continue their run of bright and poppy kids music for the 21st century.

And so, as often happens when I get these "How I Got Here" essays, I was a bit surprised when I got Diaz's recollection of discovering Are You Experienced  by The Jimi Hendrix Experience -- was I expecting something shinier, I don't know.  But I think one of the lessons I'm learning in doing these is that context is everything, and it doesn't take a lot for a piece of music to change your life.

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One of the most vivid days of my childhood -- I believe it was a crisp early evening 1989, and for California, about as Fall as it gets -- I was riding my bike home from a friend's house.  In my back pocket was a Maxwell cassette tape (yes, I know let's all spare each other the- ‘man I'm so old comment’…) with the words "Are You Experienced" scribbled on it. My friend Ben had given it to me. He told me it was a guy named Jimi Hendrix and that I had to listen to him. Ben, already obsessed, had pilfered it from his father's pile of amazing cassettes and LP's which included Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac, and the Beatles, among other epic things I had no clue about yet.

At the time, I thought very little about the tape, and to be honest, it must have laid on my nightstand for a couple of days. At this point, I had been learning the guitar for about a year. I was obsessed with Chuck Berry, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton, and just about every guitar hero ever to roam the earth. Ironically, I was unaware of the greatest guitar slinger all. The man that defined the term.

I had heard the name Jimi Hendrix before, from my second cousin, April, who our family affectionately coined La Cuckoo. La Cuckoo was older than me by about ten or so years. As a young child, I remember her wearing a tie-dye shirt that sported Jimi Hendrix's iconic image. I once asked her who it was and she told me, Jim Hendrix. I said, "Who's that?" To which she replied, “One day he will blow your mind.”

My 8-year-old self had shrugged it off. I already didn't trust La Cuckoo. She once promised to make me a clown for Halloween. The memory of screaming my head off in horror as she spun me around to see myself in the mirror, only to discover that she instead painted me up to be Gene Simmons from KISS was still fresh. But I digress…

A few evenings later, I noticed the tape peeking out from under some comic books on my nightstand, and decided to finally give it a go. I put the tape in and pressed play.  The intro to " The Wind Cries Mary" began…

La Cuckoo was right.

Mind blown.

Never had I heard the guitar in such an incredible way. A chorus of voices. A true voice. Never had I heard the guitar sing, scream, yearn and expose. The hammer ons, the bends, the technique. Nothing like it now, and nothing like it since.

Song after song, more and more. The first piece of art I HEARD. A masterpiece of Mitch Mitchell on drums, Noel Redding on bass (or Jimi depending on historical accounts). A trio, creating a cacophony of organized insanity. Motown, the Blues, Pop, Jazz -- all of it. THIS WAS A BAND! There, in one vacuum of madness.

I sat there for what must have been three days of a long weekend, coming downstairs only for food and water. In my room, analyzing every second of that cassette tape over and over, side after side. Grabbing my guitar, trying to replicating what I heard, failing miserably, loving every moment of it. When I finally came up for air, I went to my local music shop looking for a Fender Stratocaster of my own.

I never stopped listening to that cassette.  I even packed the tape with me to take to music college.

I still am listening.

Never looking back, experienced. 

Review: Lishy Lou and Lucky Too - Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band

It is fun to see artists who initially just dip their toes into the family music pond dive in as they get more comfortable in their new waters. 

To extend the metaphor a little bit, when it comes to family music, Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band have plunged in with scuba gear and a new houseboat.   Since releasing his debut EP Luckiest Adventure a little more than 3 years ago, Diaz has acquired a full-blown band, married dynamo Alisha Gaddis, and barely stopped to take a breath.

On their fifth and latest album, Lishy Lou and Lucky Too , the couple's energy is used to enliven the record's conceit, loosely structured around the "Lishy and Lucky Radio Show," which may soon be transitioning to a TV show.  The album features a cast of wacky characters (a time traveler, a traveling salesman, a nosy neighbor) united in their taste for bad puns.  The jokes told in the interstitial sketches may amuse your local kindergartner, but will likely generate groans in the adult set.

They sit somewhat uneasily here because they interrupt the true stars, the songs themselves.  Co-written by Diaz, Gaddis, and Michael Farkas, many of them are irrepressible pop hits.  "Thingamajig" is a top contender for the year's best kindie pop song, while "Pockets," about Farkas' character who only communicates via instrument, has a strutting feel.  (The theme song is pretty darn catchy, too.)  It's not solely uptempo -- "Goodnight My Love" is a tender lullaby with nifty guitar work from Diaz. 

The 35-minute album is most appropriate for kids ages 4 through 8.  On one level, the album is an introduction to an actual TV show Diaz and Gaddis hope to make featuring all the characters on the album, and I think that concept will work better there than it does here.  But on another level, with songs about Jackie Robinson and Amelia Earhart, along with the fabulous album closer "When I Grow Up," ("When I grow up / I won't close my ears / to things I may not want to hear"... "When I grow up / I'm gonna dream / farther than my eyes can see") the album is also a celebration of dreamers and doers, of taking chances like Diaz and Gaddis are doing.  On that level, the album succeeds fabulously.  Definitely recommended.

Note: I received a copy of the album for possible review. 

World Premiere: "Lishy Lou and Lucky Too" Theme Song

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It's been a very busy year for Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band.  Not only did they release the Spanish-language album Fantastico! earlier this year, they've got a second album, Lishy Lou and Lucky Too , set for release next week.

Oh, did I mention that the album is the aural, radio show analogue to a hoped-for Lishy Lou and Lucky Too TV show?

Like I said, very busy.

But although it's all coming out now, Alisha Gaddis -- AKA "Lishy Lou" -- says that she and Lucky "were quietly and crazily working on all this for over a year."

Although Gaddis that she does most of the funny writing in the family ("Lucky is always the head of songwriting and all things musical"), they had some help for the new album.  In addition to having Michael Farkas help Gaddis and Diaz out with songs for the album, writer Chris McGowan wrote the Laugh-In   bits for the album.  McGowan and write Rebecca Leib also wrote a lot of writing for their other project (the TV show).

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As for the TV show, Gaddis says they "really want to expose kids to the classic live action television that we grew up with - I Love Lucy, Pee Wee's Playhouse, The Monkees - but with a modern twist."  (The fantastical characters in the picture above are all introduced on the Lishy Lou and Lucky Too website.)  One reason for the TV show, she says, is that "We want to entertain the kids in the Midwest or the far Pacific Northwest (and all those places in between) that we don't get to see face to face otherwise."

Asked whether it's easier or harder to write comedy for children, Gaddis says: 

I think it is just as difficult to write comedy for children as it is for adults.  You must always play to an audience's strengths, integrity and intelligence (at least that is what we believe).  Kids are clever sponges who deserve the best.  That is what we really try to give them.

So here, then, is the world premiere of the video for the Lishy Lou and Lucky Too TV show.

Weekly Summary (8/19/13 - 8/25/13)

Itty-Bitty Review: ¡Fantastico! - Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band

Although they’ve released just three albums for kids and families, Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band have almost enough bright, acoustic rock songs for kids and families to release a “greatest hits” album.  Diaz’ latest album Fantastico! takes a look back at some of his best songs, but with a twist.

Take “Gato Astronauta,” about a space-traveling cat.  In its original incarnation, the song had just two Spanish words -- the title.  With the help of Tejano music producers Noe Benitez and Christina Martinez-Benitez, Diaz reworked “Gato” and some of his other English-language hits into Spanish.  On the only entirely new track on the album, Diaz takes the traditional Latin American children’s singing game “La Vibora de la mar” and turns it into a shimmery pop song.  By marrying his bubbly pop songs to a new language, he's given the songs new life and suggested an alternative route to non-English music for kids.

The 22-minute album is appropriate for kids ages 3 through 8.  It'll obviously appeal to those looking for Spanish-language music, but it holds up even if you're just a fan of good kids' music.  A first-generation Mexican-American, Diaz grew up in San Antonio, Texas, and he says his mom is most pleased that he’s finally recorded an album in Spanish.  His new album neatly honors his family’s past and his own musical past while pointing the way to a new, very danceable future.  Definitely recommended.

Note: I received a copy of this album for possible review.