I finished a CD last year that used a song (and a photo) of our old, beloved Starlite Drive-In as its centerpiece. Most of you local folk know that the drive-in is now the site of “Starlite Elementary”, which is sort of the punchline in the song. For the CD packaging itself, I wanted a photo of the school to reference the verse in the song.
In late 2011, I contacted Starlite Elementary principal Mark Donnelly, asking permission to photograph the sign. In his principal voice, he first asked “Uhm…what’s this for?” When I told him it was for a music project, he honestly said, “Oh cool!” Turns out Mark plays guitar, is a big fan of our local KPIG radio, and loves songwriters. As the CD’s production wound down last year, he said I would need to come by and play for the kids sometime.
So last Friday, I played for a hundred third graders. Mark kicked it off with an impromptu song that namechecked every teacher and staff member in the room and then told the kids how their school used to be a drive-in theater. He introduced me; I talked about the song and then said instead of playing it, asked if they’d like to see a video. Of course they did.
We played the semi-final cut of the video for “Starlite Drive-In Saturday Night”, which is being produced locally by RabbitHat Productions. The video uses old cartoons and movie clips, snack bar footage, and some performance video to illustrate the song. It was wonderful seeing/hearing the kids “ooh’ing” and “ah’ing”, espeically when they saw the shot of their school’s sign snuck into the video as a cameo appearance. I got their approval to post the video on YouTube when it’s complete.
I figured a roomful of kids would be great for singalongs, so I taught them my “Taqueria” song, then talked a bit about Woody Guthrie and closed the set with “This Land Is Your Land”. It was encouraging to see that ALL the kids knew about Woody Guthrie and that they were interested in hearing about where the song came from.
Principal Donnelly loves having musicians play for the kids. I asked him about this after I played. He stressed that “Music is the universal language we all enjoy. This is especially important with folk music and the language of cultures. We learn from music. Music makes us smile”. He added, “When it can happen at school then students become engaged.”
What you can do: Are a musician or songwriter? Want to play for a very attentive and appreciative crowd that’ll really appreciate what you do and what you can bring to a roomful of kids? Contact Principal Donnelly at Starlite Elementary. Trust me. It’s a great gig.