WRIU Children's Show Plays Tiger Rag

Bill Parker from The WRIU Children's Show in Rhode Island played "Tiger Rag" from our Dixieland Jazz for Children CD on March 2, 2008 from 5:00-8:00 pm.

Hold that tiger! Hold that tiger! Play that Tiger Rag! Thanks Bill!

Out With Kids Tournament

Jeff Bogle is hosting a kids’ music “tournament” on his site
http://outwiththekids.blogspot.com/2008/03/owtk-ncaa-kids-music-tournament_20.htm, and Dixieland Jazz for Children is included in the “Singin’ in the Rain Region.” Go to the site and vote for my CD, but hurry because the deadline is tonight!

In this tournament, Jeff will review each album and feature a song from each artist. Here is the Dixieland Jazz for Children review:

"Johnette Downing's music, while new to me, is certainly not new to the global kid's music industry. Rarely do you see someone bring to the table more awards, reviews and accolades than Ms. Downing does. Her new release sees her teaming up with Jimmy LaRocca's Original Dixieland Jazz Band (established 1916!) to produce an ode to Dixieland Jazz featuring original tunes and lyrics written especially for children. The disc is meant to serve as a child's introduction to the musical traditions and dances, like the Charleston, of jazz - Dixieland style. With a song about the Charleston, it is fitting that this disc would be in the Singin' in the Rain region. The Bear loves this track (link to listen below) and dancing the Charleston around the house. While this record is tailored for kids, "Dixieland Jazz for Children" is truly an authentic jazz record with an upbeat, happy spirit that will surely have any toddler or older child strutting around the house. A really fun collection of tunes!”

Radio 8 Jazz House - Germany

Walter Henne of Radio 8 in Germany sent us a nice note informing us that he will feature our new CD Dixieland Jazz for Children on Radio 8 Jazz House at 8:00 CET on March 30, 2008. He sent us the transcript for the show and, if you live in Germany, you won't want to miss it. Mr. Henne plays every song on the CD as well as some other great jazz tunes.

Thanks Walter for featuring our CD and for all the kind words you said about our music on your show!

Author Visits by State

Hey book lovers! My publisher, Pelican Publishing, just told me about a great website. It is Author Visits by State, a state-by-state listing of children's book authors and illustrators who do school visits. Check my listings and dozens of other author listings at:

http://www.authorvisitsbystate.com/

Thanks Kim at Author Visits by State for a great resource and for including me on your list!

April 2008 Tour Dates

April 1-4, Performance and Workshop Tour Continued, San Jose, Costa Rica
April 5 at 10:15, 12:15 & 2:15, Storytime Storytelling Festival, Louisiana Arts and Science Museum, Baton Rouge, LA
April 13 at 12:15 & 3:45, French Quarter Festival, Dutch Alley Stage, New Orleans, LA
April 15-18, School Residency Program, Metairie, LA
April 19 at 10:15, Kids Jazz Fest, Louisiana Children's Museum, New Orleans, LA

Mighty Moose Radio

Paul from Mighty Moose Radio in Cranberry Bog, MA, United States sends a note that he is playing "Rocking Seahorse" and "I've Got Happy Feet" from our Dixieland Jazz for Children CD. Check it out at www.mightyradio.com

Thanks Paul; we are "mighty" happy you like our tunes!

Offbeat Magazine

Our Dixieland Jazz for Children CD is listed on the Offbeat Magazine website as a New and Upcoming Louisiana CD release for March 1, 2008. Check it out at:

http://offbeat.com/artman/publish/printer_2352.shtml

Thanks Offbeat for the upbeat listing!

We Like Kids! Playlist - March 9, 2008

Jeff Brown, the Co-Program Director for KTOO-FM/KRNN-FM in Juneau, Alaska played "I've Got Happy Feet" from our Dixieland Jazz for Children CD on his We Like Kids! radio show on March 9, 2008 to celebrate Women's History Month.

Thanks Jeff! We like YOU too!

Singing Praises!

Here is a nice letter I received from Laurie Peck, the Children's Librarian at the Mountain View Public Library in Mountain View, CA:

"Thank you so much for an outstanding show! Your material, timing and sense of humor were perfect for the preschool and young school age audience - and the adults loved you as well! Your voice is lovely, clear and pitched just right for the little ones to sing along. And we loved to dance with you! We will recommend you highly!!!"

Thanks Laurie for the high praise! I'll see you all again on July 29, 2008 at 10:15 a.m.!

Gooney Bird Kids, March 4 Podcast

Gooney Bird Kids played "Walking in the Sunshine” from our Dixieland Jazz for Children CD on their March 4, 2008 Podcast.

Thanks Gooney Bird Kids for spreading the sunshine!

KUNM-FM Radio Leaps Into Johnette's Music

KUNM-FM radio in Albuquerque, New Mexico played "Leap Frog Croaky” from my Wild & Woolly Wiggle Songs CD and “Amphibians” from my Fins and Grins CD on their The Children’s Hour radio show on March 1, 2008.

Thanks KUNM-FM for leaping into my music!

WHOV-FM Plays Tracks from Dixieland Jazz for Children CD

Tracks from Dixieland Jazz for Children will be played on the new program titled Young World Radio on WHOV-FM (VA), a Hampton Roads area radio station that serves Virginia Beach, Hampton, Norfolk, and Chesapeake.

Thanks WHOV-FM for jazzing it up with our music in VA!

TD Monthly Features Dixieland Jazz for Children CD

Dixieland Jazz for Children CD is now being featured in TD Monthly, an online trade publication for the toy industry. Here is the review:

"Multi-award-winning New Orleans singer/songwriter and children’s musician Johnette Downing, staying true to her Louisiana roots, joins forces with Jimmy LaRocca's Original Dixieland Jazz Band on "Dixieland Jazz for Children." The recording gives Johnette the opportunity to share with children all over the world music that provided the soundscape for her own childhood. "Johnette Downing brings the spicy flavors of her home state to all her recordings," Elizabeth Waldman Frazier of Waldmania PR told TDmonthly. "It was Johnette’s idea to update Dixieland jazz, fusing it with her own lyrics and new melodies." Launch date: May 6, 2008."

Thanks TD Monthly for grooving with our music!

Kids Music That Rocks Reviews Dixieland Jazz for Children CD

Here is a short review for my Dixieland Jazz for Children CD that appeared on the Kids Music That Rocks Blog.

"An innocuous introduction to Dixieland music. Johnette keeps the lyrics as simple as possible, and gets musical help from veteran Jimmy LaRocca."

Thanks Kids Music that Rocks for the innocuous review. Yeah!

We Care New Orleans

Founded by Johnette Downing, We Care New Orleans is an informal group of children's musicians from North America joined together to help day care centers in the Metro New Orleans area rebuild their media collections after Hurricane Katrina. The group adopted five day care centers as well as the New Orleans Recovery School District and sent boxes of CDs, cassettes, books, toys, musical instruments, videos, art supplies and other items as donations. Each box included a note from the children's musician donor to the children for whom the items were intended. The note was a way of letting children in New Orleans know that real people across the continent care. For more information about We Care New Orleans, join our Yahoo Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wecareneworleans/

One donation we received had special meaning because it involved children helping other children. It was a box of hand-painted frogs from Feel the Music, The National Foundation for Music and Healing. Fifty percussion frogs were hand-painted by children who lost a parent on 9/11. The frogs symbolized how healing leaps from one community to another; from children of one disaster to children of another disaster. For more information about Feel the Music, check out: http://musicandhealing.org/

March/April Tour in Costa Rica

This month I head out for another great adventure in Costa Rica; my third performance tour there. From March 23 through April 4, 2008, I will be touring in San Carlos, Upala, Canas, Liberia, Heredia, Puntarenas, Nicoya, Turrialba and Santa Cruz, Costa Rica. I can’t wait to see all my old friends and look forward to meeting many new friends as well.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Here is a great little hand clapping chant I learned from students in the United Arab Emirates in Ras Al-Khaimah.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Chicka chicka boom boom
Chicka chicka boom boom
Chicka boom
Chicka boom
Chicka chicka boom boom

The hand movements go like this:

Fist, fist, palm, palm
Fist, fist, palm, palm
Fist palm
Fist palm
Fist, fist, palm, palm

Hamburger Lokalradio, Switzerland

Four tracks from my Dixieland Jazz for Children CD will be played on "Hamburger Lokalradio in Switzerland on March 16, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. The tracks are Introduction, Dixieland Jazz, Alligator Snap and Rocking Seahorse.

If you live in Switzerland, please tune in!

Thanks Hamburger Lokalradio for digging our tunes!

Gooney Bird Kids

I was a “highlighted artist” on the February 19 podcast of Gooney Bird Kids and my “Stingray Shuffle” song from my FINS AND GRINS CD was played.

Thanks Gooney Bird Kids for shuffling along with my tune!

WBRS-FM Plays "I Want to be a Frog Today"

My song “I Want to be a Frog Today” on my FINS AND GRINS CD was played on Saturday Morning Cartoons on February 9, 2008 on the Waltham radio station WBRS-FM in MA.

Thanks WBRS-FM for playing my tune!

Downing Releases Jazz for Children CD

Louisiana children's author and musician Johnette Downing has just released a new CD titled Dixieland Jazz for Children that's available locally but will hit stores nationwide in May. "It is the first Dixieland jazz CD for children which is kind of cool since the band I collaborated with recorded the first ever jazz recording in 1917; sort of like history repeating itself," Downing wrote me by e-mail. Downing collaborated with Jimmy LaRocca's Original Dixieland Jazz Band for 19 original songs. To listen to sound clips from the CD, visit Downing's Web site at: http://johnette downing.com/store.html.

-Chere Coen, TheDaily Advertiser, Lafayette, LA, February 3, 2008

Thanks Chere for including our CD in your column!