Santa & Baby - a sneak preview

Did you ever see a picture and think to yourself… “THAT wants to be a SONG”? Well, that’s exacly what I thought when I saw the following picture of my friend Beth Oram’s little dog named Baby.

Baby! Photo by Beth Oram Photography.

It looked to me like this little puppy just wanted to be part of Santa’s team! So, Mike and I wrote the song, we recorded it one night a couple of weeks ago with some friends at Berklee. The groove is inspired by the Spin Doctors (Yeah!), and the message for this Christmas song is about giving, helping friends, and taking steps to make your dreams come true.

Our friends at Planet Sunday are hard at work on the cartoon version. The following is an “animation rough” also known as a storyboard. The finished version of this cartoon music video will be ready in time for Christmas 2011! We always like to give our fan families an inside view at what’s in the works!

Enjoy the (preproduction) story of “Santa & Baby”!

-Debbie

Debbie & Friends Nov. 2011 Tour

What a fun tour! Thanks to our friends in NJ, PA, and MD who came out to see us! Here are some pictures from our fun times together!

Nov. 3, St. Peter’s School, Philadelphia, PA
We had a great time with my nephews at their school in Phila! Here they are working the wolf puppets with the band.

Nov. 4, Axelrod Arts Center, Deal, NJ
In NJ, we played at a wonderful arts center with a fun crowd of 250+ preschoolers, teachers, and parents!

Nov. 5, Upper Darby Performing Arts Center, Drexel Hill, PA
Drexel Hill is the place to be for families concerts! Harry Dietzler, Paul Moffitt and the folks at UDPAC know how to do it right! We got the whole family involved with this show. Here’s a picture of my mom and nephews joining the band on stage.

Nov. 6, Gordon Center for Performing Arts, Owings Mills, MD
Finally, we played in MD for the first time for a wonderfully enthusiastic crowd! Here’s a picture of my crazy band doing their thing!

We even had our good friends and special guests, Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer join us on stage for a couple of songs!

Thanks again to all of the families who came out to see us! We hope to see you again soon!

We’re Going on Tour!

Debbie and Friends on Tour!

I’m exited to tell you that we’re taking the band on the road! If you live in NJ, PA, or MD, I hope you can come out to see us this weekend!

Here’s the schedule!

Friday, Nov. 4 at 10am Axelrod Arts Center, Deal, NJ
We’re so excited to be playing Debbie’s home State! For tickets and more information, please visit the Axelrod Web site or call 732-531-9106.

Saturday, Nov. 5 at 1pm Upper Darby Performing Arts Center, Drexel Hill, PA
This beautiful theater is just outside of Philadelphia. For tickets and more information, please visit the UDPAC web site or call 610-622-1189.

Sunday, Nov. 6 at 3pm Gordon Center for Performing Arts, Owings Mills, MD
Please join us for our first show in MD! We even have special guests, Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer joining us on stage for a song! It’s going to be a great time! For tickets, please visit the Gordon Center Web site or call 410-356 SHOW (7469).

Special guests Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer play a song with us!

We hope to see you soon!

Walk Away

I’m so happy to present our new cartoon music video designed to help kids who are dealing with bullies.

Meet Lucy Lou, her dog named Boo and their friends!

Taking on Bullying - a sneak preview

That’s right! Debbie and Friends is taking on bullying with a new dance number called “Walk Away,” and we’re excited to share a sneak preview with you!

The cartoon music video is in production right now. The following is our rough sketch storyboard version.

As you know from previous cartoon music videos, the storyboard contains the song and the general visual direction of the cartoon. After the storyboard is approved, the animators start the hard work of coloring and animating. It takes 30 drawings for every second of animation, so there is a lot of work ahead!

The band and I hope you enjoy the new song. “Walking away” is one of the strategies taught for dealing with bullies. I hope it proves helpful for some of our young friends who may experience bullying.

The final version of the cartoon music video will be ready in September!

-Debbie

Take the Wendell Cartoon Challenge!

I’m so happy to introduce you to our new cartoon music video, “Wendell”! You may recall the song from our second CD, More Story Songs and Sing Alongs. In the cartoon version, Wendell is a boy who shows us that when you use your imagination, you can overcome obstacles and make your dreams come true!

Enjoy Wendell’s adventures and try to find two challenges:
1. When does “the spider” appear that is in every Debbie and Friends cartoon?
2. What is the “Debbie” character supposed to be in this cartoon?

If you have the answers, email them to Debbie [@] debbieandfriends.net along with your email address and your child’s first name. I’ll send a personalized congratulations email with a Debbie and Friends coloring page and Fan Club PDF to you for your child. Challenge ends July 9. Congratulations emails will be sent on July 10.

Good luck with the Wendell Challenge!

-Debbie

In Concert with Bob McGrath

Thank you to everyone who came to our sold-out show at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, MA on Saturday, March 26, to celebrate the release of our new DVD, STORY SONGS & SING ALONGS. We had a great time singing along with our special guests and good friends Bob McGrath from Sesame Street and Darcel Wilson. Here is a video of our last song that day.

Introducing Our New Band Member: The Big Bad Wolf!

The Big Bad Wolf in concert with Debbie and Friends.

BIG NEWS from Debbie and Friends! The Big Bad Wolf is joining the band! He made two guest appearances with us in March. The first time was at our WERS “The Playground” live radio debut and the second time was on stage at our DVD Release Concert at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, MA. Everyone enjoyed the Wolf’s performances so much that we asked him to join the band! He’s now in Florida at a puppet maker’s workshop getting a special “wolf makeover” so he’ll be ready for our very busy concert schedule beginning this summer.

Here’s a sketch of what our new, improved Big Bad Wolf will look like.

The new and improved Big Bad Wolf!

The Wolf will join the band starting in July. Please check our show schedule and save some dates! We look forward to seeing you and making music with you again soon!

Mike and the Big Bad Wolf!

Wendell Cartoon - Storytelling Differently

Today more than ever, video is an essential way to break through the noise and reach new fans with music. For Debbie and Friends, cartoon music videos are a great vehicle for this.

I’m always pleasantly surprised to learn that families from all over the world discover Debbie and Friends music every day through our YouTube channel and various cable outlets.

Many of our songs are based on classic tales, and therefore well suited for visual presentation. Some of our songs are not based on stories and I was always convinced those songs were not good candidates for video. “Wendell” in particular, is a cumulative movement song about a boy who finds a toy Robot. The Robot adds a new physical challenge with each verse. It’s fun to perform, but I couldn’t imagine it as a music video. My amazing animator, Goichi Hirata from Planet Sunday, had another idea. He suggested that we approach it differently and tell the story from the perspective of Wendell’s imagination. For children, the Robot will represent hope and a doorway to, literally and figuratively, scaling walls and overcoming life’s obstacles. Brilliant! Needless to say, I was very excited about Goichi’s idea and we’re moving forward with the project!

To help with some production questions and to include our fan families in the process, we held a “pick Wendell’s hair color” poll on Facebook. (Purple hair won!) Here are some initial images Goichi came up with for the cartoon characters in the song.

Wendell finds the Toy Robot.

Wendell and the Robot flying.

Wendell and the Robot arriving at the Toy Fair parade!

And, here’s the storyboard version of the animation.

I feel so fortunate to be able to work with such talented and creative people as Goichi Hirata and Greg David at Planet Sunday, and to share the stages of development with our Debbie and Friends fan families. I hope you enjoy learning about the process behind our cartoons, and will share this information with your kids in anticipation of this new video coming out in June!.

DVD Concert Memories

What a fun crowd filled with friends at the Regent Theatre!

Thank you to everyone who came to our show at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, MA on Saturday, March 26, to celebrate the release of our new DVD, STORY SONGS & SING ALONGS and to sing along with our special guests and good friends, Bob McGrath from Sesame Street and Darcel Wilson.

Here are some pictures from our fun time together! (Thanks to Beth Oram Photography for “capturing happy”!)

Debbie and Bob McGrath singing “Sing a Song” with everyone.

Darcel Wilson, Mike Carrera and Debbie Cavalier

Our fans and friends!

Our own Eric Saulnier on guitar!

Our dancing band!

Having fun!

Bob McGrath!

Story Songs & Sing Alongs DVD.

Our new DVD is available on our Web site .
http://debbieandfriends.net/music.php

Thanks again, everyone! I hope to see you at another D&F concert soon!

-Debbie