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

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.

Recorded LIVE at WERS 88.9 FM!

Debbie & Friends on WERS Live!

Debbie and Friends had really fun time playing LIVE in the WERS studios on March 20, with Host “Ginger Snap” of The Playground. We sang songs, told stories, and even had a special guest appearance with The Big Bad Wolf, who stars in a a number of our recordings. If you missed it, don’t worry! The following is a recording of our WERS on-air debut. Thank you, WERS The Playground and “DJ Ginger Snap”! Debbie and Friends thinks you ROCK!

Debbie & Friends LIVE on WERS FM by Debbie and Friends

Here are some pictures from our time on the air!

Debbie singing on WERS Live!

Mike singing on WERS Live!

Rory and Kevin playing on WERS Live!

DJ Ginger Snap and Billy on WERS Live!

Behind the Scenes!

Debbie and Friends is hard at work on our new DVD to be released on March 29, 2011.

On December 18, we performed a live action concert shoot for the DVD at Berklee College of Music’s CAFE 939. The following is a fun “Outtakes Video” featuring some special moments from that day.

Cinderella is here!

Hi Everyone,

Thanks again for voting for your favorite “fairy”! As you know, the fairy Godfather won the fairy contest by popular demand, and he’s read to make his cartoon debut!

Presenting Debbie and Friends’ “Cinderella” song. It’s the classic tale with a twist, including self-esteem and friendship messages for kids.

ENJOY!

Thank you to Planet Sunday for the amazing animation work! You guys are the greatest!

Debbie and Friends DVD Shoot - Cafe 939 Berklee

Yesterday, the band and I had the great opportunity to make music with some of our fan families as a 4-camera crew and audio recording team captured our time together at Berklee’s Cafe 939.

The videos will be part of our new DVD, scheduled to be released on March 29, 2011. We’ll have a special DVD release concert at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, MA on March 26 (mark your calendars!) Click here to order tickets.

The DVD shoot was a such a fun time! My favorite moments were when all of the families were singing our songs along with us, as strongly as the band. Very special!

The following are some pictures from the day.

Mike and Debbie

Debbie and Friends Fans

Un-Freezing the Band!

Debbie, Eric, and the kids!

Mike and Sue

D&F Remix Contest, Winner Announced!

Thanks for all of your interest in the Debbie and Friends GarageBand Remix Contest. It’s been great fun!

The winner is Boogie Cindy from the Boogie Wonder Band, and 12-year old Alaïa Lamontagne. Congratulations to Cindy and Alaïa for producing a very creative rendition of “Willy Won’t” complete with a percussion break, vocal effects, a kids shout-out chorus, and much more.

As you will hear, they transformed “Willy Won’t” from its original Southern-rock feel to that of an Electronica tune. It’s very cool! To hear the winning track, check out the music player on the Remix Contest Site:
http://debbieandfriendsremix.ning.com/

Thanks again to everyone who participated, and congratulations to Boogie Cindy and the Boogie Wonder Band from Quebec, Canada. Your prizes are on the way!

Debbie & Friends Remix Contest

Calling all Kids (and their Parents): Create a Debbie and Friends Remix in GarageBand and enter your remix to win some great prizes!

Here’s a chance to try your hand as a record producer. Between now and April 4, families can play around with the tracks of “Willy Won’t,” a new song from our forthcoming CD, More Story Songs & Sing Alongs, to create their own version.

It is easy to enter the contest at http://debbieandfriendsremix.ning.com/.

Contestants may download the Garageband file to the song “Willy Won’t” from the contest site, and load it into their GarageBand app on their Mac computer. The family mix engineers can then record additional tracks, raise or lower the volume on existing tracks, add special effects, and add their own special touches to create a unique version of “Willy Won’t.”

Contestants must submit their remix entries by Sunday, April 4th, as instructed on the contest site.

All entries will be considered, and the winner will be announced on Monday, April 5th. The winners will receive great prizes from Debbie and Friends including CDs, music instructional books, t-shirts and other great gear. The winning remix will also be featured on this blog.

Here’s the original version.

Let’s hear what yours will sound like! Good luck!

MEDIA CONTACT:
Beth Blenz-Clucas, Sugar Mountain PR
(503) 293-9498 beth@sugarmountainpr.com

Bob McGrath and Me

Recording with Bob McGrath, Dec. 2009.

Here’s a sneak preview to the Debbie and Friends’ duet with Bob McGrath, “Until Next Time,” currently in production. What an honor to record with Bob!

Special thanks to Berklee’s David Mash who is featured on classical guitar. I hope you enjoy the song! It will be part of the new Debbie and Friends’ CD, MORE STORY SONGS & SING ALONGS, to be released in March 2010.

Until Next Time, duet with Bob McGrath by Debbie and Friends

Song Inspiration: My Newphew, “Will”

I have a nephew named “Will” who is a major source of inspiration for my Debbie and Friends’ songs. As many of you know, when Will was 3-years old, he told the story of the Three Little Pigs with such enthusiasm one day that it inspired me to write a story song. That led to a series of story songs and I’m so grateful to Will for his creative spirit and for being such a source of inspiration.

Will is now 8 and continues to inspire. He’s got a great sense of humor. In fact, he went through a stage of making silly faces every time his picture was being taken. Even his school picture!

Will’s school picture with a silly face!

Of course, I had to turn that into a song!

And so, “Willy Won’t Smile for the Camera” is slated to be on our new CD in January. Here’s a production version of the song featuring Will himself singing the bridge (where he tells us why he does what he does).

“Willy Won’t” featuring Will - In Production by Debbie and Friends

And now, a new music cartoon for “Willy Won’t” is in development. It will feature Will and his whole family in cartoon form. Here’s a preview of what they look like on the big screen!

Stay tuned for the Storyboard version of the cartoon. It will be posted in a couple of weeks. Then, in January, the real cartoon will be released.

Thanks Will, for being my inspiration! You have a very proud Aunt (actually several of them!)