Frederick Douglass's books are great... but there are so many more to read

A lot of people have talking about Frederick Douglass in the past 24 hours. I'm gonna choose to see this as a good thing. Because FD has an incredible story that everyone should know. But his is one of so many stories that we should be sharing this Black History Month 2017.

To help you and your family or classroom or afterschool group or book club get started on a wonderful month of reading and learning about Black History, I've put together a little reading list. It has everything from picture books to big fat historical tomes.

I've also made a playlist of related songs. These tunes are all from my solo albums or albums by Deedle Deedle Dees. Except for the traditional "Follow the Drinking Gourd," I wrote all these songs. https://soundcloud.com/lloydhmiller/sets/because-some-of-us-really-do

These books are all easy to find for purchase online. Or, even better, at your local library or independent bookstore.

Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth by Anne Rockwell, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie  A picture book about Sojourner Truth I've recommended -- and read out loud at library and other shows -- for years

Mae Jemison (Rookie Biography series) by Jodie Shepherd This is one of those slim, simple biographies for kids. But it's a decent intro to Jemison, the first African-American woman in space (that we know of). And speaking of space...

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly Yep, this is the book they based the movie on (I always like the books better).

The Doctor With An Eye for Eyes by Julia Finley Mosca, illustrated by Daniel Rieley Part of new series about scientists, this book (coming out soon) tells the story of a Dr. Patricia Bath, a woman who grew up during the Civil Rights movement and aspired to be a doctor

My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass Like many people, I read an excerpt of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass in high school English. It's in many anthologies and is often the one slave narrative read (if one only reads one). It's amazing. But about 10 years ago, I discovered My Bondage and My Freedom, a book where he tells the story of the same events as Narrative from the perspective of a man later in his life and offers his thoughts on slavery, race in America, and other relevant topics. Read both if you can (you can often find both in one volume) but if you've never read Douglass before and need somewhere to start, I'd go for My Bondage and My Freedom.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates In New York City, where I live, I've seen at least people reading this book on the subway (the best place to read on the planet) many times, found it on the shelves of nearly everyone I know, and discussed it with at least 30 different people. It's kind of THE book for thoughtful people. I'm glad it's had the legs that it's had, continuing to be read by more and more people (and not just the New Yorker subscriber demographic). What is it? It's history, it's sociology, it's memoir, it's book about being black -- and being human -- right now in the world. You can read it in an afternoon or two. Instead of debating whether you should read it, just get it done. You can borrow my copy (GIVE IT BACK!)

Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend by Larry Tye, Only the Ball Was White: A History of Legendary Black Players and All-Black Professional Teams by Robert Peterson, We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson Two of the songs on my playlist ("Cool Papa Bell" and "Bring 'Em In") are about Negro League baseball players, players who played in the black baseball leagues pre-integration. These are three of my favorite books on that subject: a biography of Satchel Paige, the definitive history of black baseball in America, and a stunning illustrated book written and illustrated by the untouchable Kadir Nelson.

Kevin Garnett (Basketball's MVPs series) by Dan Osier We love sports biographies around my house. My son, a soccer and basketball fanatic, has checked nearly every one out of his school library (even the football and baseball ones). This one, about Timberwolves / Celtics star Garnett, is one of his favorites. He also likes the Dwyane Wade one. And anything about LeBron. I put this book on the list because I want to reinforce the idea that all reading is reading, even quickly-produced mass market biography books. I read a ton of books like this as a kid and when I say "read," I mean I read them over and over and over and over again (yes, I'm quoting Marshawn Lynch). My kid is into the NBA and the British Premier League so we read lots of book series on these topics but there are all kinds of  informational series out there that are excellent ways to get your kids obsessed with reading... and with black history.

I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives 1172-1849 edited by Yuval Taylor, foreword by Charles Johnson This is an excellent volume that compiles more famous slave narratives like Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs (which inspired my song, "Trapped in the Attic") and Solomon Northrup's story that they used as the basis for the movie 12 Years a Slave with lesser known but no less captivating tales from the late 18th century through the first half of the 19th century.

Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth by John Szwed My friend leant me his copy of this. Open to any page and you'll find another unbelievable story of Billie.

Who Was Harriet Tubman? and What Was the Underground Railroad? by Yona Zeldis McDonough, Who Is Barack Obama? by Roberta Edwards, Who Was Martin Luther King? by Bonnie Bader, Who Was Nelson Mandela? by Meg Belviso, Who Was Muhammed Ali? by James Buckley Jr., Who Was Jackie Robinson? by Gail Herman and Nancy Harrison There are a ton of these Who Was / Who Is / What Was books written by different authors. I listed the black history-themed ones I can see on our shelf in the living room but there are also ones about Rosa Parks, Sojourner Truth, Maya Angelou, and many many others. I like 'em! Admission: Our family favorites are the ones about Nelson Mandela and Genghis Khan (yes, the latter doesn't fit my black history month theme, but whatever).

Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckley: The Remarkable Story of a Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave by Jennifer Fleischner, Behind the Scenes: Formerly a Slave, but more recently Modiste, and Friend to Mrs. Abraham Lincoln by Elizabeth Keckley Elizabeth Keckley was a former slave who made dresses for Mary Todd Lincoln and developed an unlikely long-term friendship with her. The first book here is a well-done recent book about the friendship, the second is Mrs. Keckley's own version of her story.

Panther Baby by Jamal Joseph Jamal was my thesis advisor at Columbia. This is his memoir about the Black Panthers. Incredible.

Arthur Alfonso Schomberg: Black Bibliophile & Collector by Elihor Des Verney Sinnette My friend picked this up for me at the gift shop on a recent trip to the amazing Schomberg collection in Harlem to do some research. So glad he did. I knew nothing about this guy!

Giovanni's Room and Blues for Mister Charlie by James Baldwin I had to include a couple of non-history books (but books filled with history) by one of my favorite authors. I acted in Blues in college, did music for another production of it a couple of years ago.

Selected Poems of Langston Hughes When your 8yo comes home reciting Langston Hughes you know he's going to the right school.

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie I want to list about 20 more novels but I'm going to stop with this one, one of the best of the past few years. A book about a woman who moves from Nigeria to America... then moves back to find that she's now considered an "Americanah," someone forever changed by her time in the United States. A book about what it means to be a immigrant. To be a black woman. To be a person. What "home" is. A book for anyone who's ever tried to figure themselves out.

Oh and there are so many more books I want you to read but... So many other things to do. Songs to write and whatnot.

I'll probably keep adding to this list.

What are some of your favorite books on this theme?

Lloyd

Our new album is out today!

Our first album in five years comes out TODAY, September 29th. 

It's called Sing-a-long History, Vol II: The Rocket Went Up! It's the second installment in Dees leader Lloyd H. Miller's Sing-a-long History series, a collection of albums that tell stories from history using music. The first volume, Sing-a-long History, Vol I: Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!, came out last year. It's an introduction to the Civil War era featuring Lloyd backed up by a raucous jazz band performing songs from the 1800s as well as original tunes inspired by stories of the time. 

Sing-a-long History, Vol II: The Rocket Went Up! is a record of all original songs drawn from the history of science, discovery, and magic. The title track celebrates female astronauts. There are songs about marathon swimmer Diana Nyad, computer programmer Ada Lovelace, Charles Darwin, and Harry Houdini. And all sorts of other stories in song that we can't wait for you to hear. 

You can buy the album right now here. You can also find it on iTunes and other download services. 

Brooklyn CD release concert: October 22nd at Jalopy Theatre and School of Music at 3pm.

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thedeedledeedledees3

Stream our new album two months before we release it for sale

Visit our site to find out how.

Ready to jump in with the Deedle Deedle Dees? We've set some dates

Dees March Shows and more in Lloyd H. Miller's newsletter

The Deedle Deedle Dees are back!

2016 is a big year for the Deedle Deedle Dees. We're putting out our first album in five years, a record that explores the history of science and discovery. Release dates for singles, videos, and the album itself coming soon.

The Dees will be playing a bunch this year. We just added our dates at SXSW in Austin, TX, to the calendar as well as our annual appearance at the River's Family Music Meltdown & Book Bash in Northampton, MA. I'm now listing all full-band Dees shows and my own solo shows all on the same calendar on my site, lloydhmiller.com, in the interest of trying to confuse you all less (but I realize even this sentence I'm finishing now is confusing).

- Lloyd H. Miller, leader of the Dees / eater of peas

The Deedle Deedle Dees play for free this Saturday, April 18th

We'll be at Hudson Eats at Brookfield Place. Basically the World Financial Center with a facelift and a new name.

11am show

Details here.

Halloween Costumes Inspired by Deedle Deedle Dees Songs

Here's a brief list of costume ideas inspired by the songs of Lloyd H. Miller and the Deedle Deedle Dees . I've organized them roughly according to difficulty. Some brand-new unrecorded songs (like my new tune about Diana Nyad) are here to give you even more options. I've also included some suggestions for spinning boring store-bought costumes as something a bit more Dee-lightful (sorry).


EASY costumes
Diana Nyad - a cap and some goggles

John Muir - wear some pants and a shirt and some boots then add a long beard made out of whatever you've got lying around: your dad's old socks, a dishtowel, some construction paper, some yarn, etc.

Blood - wear all red clothing and say you're dressed as the "River of Blood." if people look at you funny, look all put-out and tell them about the Deedle Deedle Dees' song about the circulatory system. act like it's crazy they've never heard it.

Cool Papa Bell or Satchel Paige - put on your little league uniform. replace the name of your team on the jersery and the logo on the hat with the name and logo of some awesome Negro League team that Cool Papa or Satchel played for: the Kansas City Monarchs, the Homestead Grays, the Pittsburgh Crawfords, etc. where to get the logo and name? just draw 'em on heavy-duty paper and tape 'em on.

Subway car - get a box, decorate it like a classic Bluebird subway car, cut a hole for your head and arms. rule Halloween. tell people the history of the Bluebird you learned from our song.

Tenzing Norgay or Matthew Henson - Put on every piece of winter outerwear you have. say you're Tenzing Norgay leading the way to the top of Chomolungma AKA Everest. Or Matthew Henson on your way to the North Pole.

Diego Rivera - put on some pants and a button-up short sleeve shirt. put a pillow under your shirt to create a giant belly. get a paint brush. tell people you're Diego Rivera. if possible, have someone else in your family dress as Frida (but this costume is kind of labor intensive)

Wilma Rudolph - wear your school P.E. uniform or gym clothes. tell people you're Wilma Rudolph.




STORE-BOUGHT SPINS
Elsa or Anna from Frozen  - say that you're Marie Curie after working with radioactive material. or Eleanor's Roosevelt's nightmare of what it meant to be First Lady (a party hostess). or a bird (consult the song "Birds of America Don't Care-Oh" for a bird name you like to say).

A bear costume - Say you're dressed as the bear from "Growl Growl," our song about the creation of the Alaskan flag and the constellation configuration (that appears as a big spoon or a bear depending how you see it) that helps us find the North Star

Buzz Lightyear - Pick one of the four female astronauts mentioned in my new tune, "The Rocket Went Up" (Valentina Tereshkova, Christa McAuliffe, Mae Jemison, Sally Ride) and say you're dressed as her.

The classic two-person horse costume - say you're dressed as Baldy, the Civil War horse we salute in hip hop song

Pocahantas or any of those gross Native American girl costumes - Tie a baby doll to your back with a sheet. Tell people you're Sacagawea and that Lewis and Clark were your assistants as you led an expedition across the country.



HARD COSTUMES
Everything here is period stuff you'll have to gather or sew.
Nellie Bly - look up her picture and you'll see the challenge she presents. you'll need a long skirt, a hat, that fancy shirt, an umbrella if possible. maybe some stuff that looks like this is hidden in your basement or closet from a grandmother or something. or maybe you're a master of the sewing machine and can make it.

other period costumes with an accompanying Dee song:
Harriet Tubman
Theodore Roosevelt
Abigail Adams
Henry Box Brown
Edgar Allan Poe
Sojourner Truth

Help Deedle Deedle Dees leader Lloyd H. Miller make a grown-up musical

The show Lloyd H. Miller, leader of the Deedle Deedle Dees, has been working for over two years with Roy Nathanson was chosen for a residency in Brooklyn this fall. This means they get 10 days to workshop the show culminating in two intimate workshop performances on Nov 7 and 8 (you can come).

The show is called Trashed Out and features Roy's longtime band, the Jazz Passengers. It's inspired by Exiles in Eden, Paul Reyes' book about the foreclosure crisis in Florida. Is it depressing? Yes, in parts, but it's also exhilarating -- imagine a live band of virtuosos (many who come from behind their instruments to act) plus an ensemble of actors plus video projections all working together at once, performing all brand-new songs written by Roy and Lloyd, telling a story of homelessness and heartbreak but also one of love and family. It's the kind of show that's never been done before (have you seen a musical with a live jazz band that improvises and becomes part of the show?) but also the sort of show we don't see too much any more, an old-fashioned song-and-dance musical with big themes and a love story at its center.

Will you help us make it happen? We have to raise money to fund the residency and the performances. Visit our Kickstarter, watch our video, read all about the project, then donate what you can. We have some cool rewards even for small donations.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1307311692/trashed-out-bric-residency

The Dees play the Lower East Side April 27th

The drummer had a baby, I've been working on a very involved school project, and it's just been hard to schedule a show. So we're thrilled to announce our return to the stages of NYC Sunday, April 27th. We're playing the Manny Cantor Center on Lower East Side. mannycantor.org 11am.

See you there?

Some of what we read in 2013

These are not recommendations.

I was not paid to write about these books.

These are simply some of the books my kids and I read in 2013. I didn't include my wife's books because she hates social media and wouldn't want people knowing what she read (she read more than all of us combined this past year btw).

This was the first year my daugher, 8, finally started consuming series books at high speed. Clementine, Ivy & Bean, and the Babysitter's Club graphic novels were big. Her top book by far, though, was Smile written and drawn by Raina Telegemeier, a tale of a girl's dental adventures. This became sort of phenomenon amongst third grade girls at her school. She was on the waiting list at the library for it and desperate to get it so I just went ahead and bought it for her. A good investment. She read it like 15 times.

For me this was a year of the novel. I've spent so much of my life focused on history books and in 2013 I just didn't feel like reading the same kind of books I have for a long time (lots of biographies and popular histories). So I binged on novels. A lot of them I read on my phone. Not sure how I feel about this. Some of the ones I read in their actual physical form -- and could find in my disastrous post-holiday house -- you can see above.

Yes, I read the Story of O (I never had!) and James Salter's sex ode, A Sport and A Pastime. I am not ashamed.

I had never read Jesus' Son, CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, nor White Teeth before this year. I loved Johnson's novels so this was an oversight I needed to correct. George Saunders is another I finally got to and he pretty much took over my life as I debauched on most of his catalog on my phone during a two- or three-week period. Zadie Smith I finally tried after becoming entranced by her New Yorker piece on Joni Mitchell. Glad we finally got together, me and Zadie.

I read & Sons with an online book club with some friends who live in other places. We "met" on GooglePlus. It was really fun but we haven't successfully begun a second book. We began American Dervish together but I think only I finished it. Emily, Faiuna, etc: can we start again please? (sorry to quote Jesus Christ Superstar)

I finished vol. 3 of Robert Caro's LBJ biography and almost finished the fourth. These books are a problem for me. When I get near the end of one I put it aside, afraid of what my life will be like without it.

I read the kids the first two Harry Potter books and started the third. They're finally ready. I'm trying not to be a lunatic but I really want to get all crazy doing the voices and making it super scary and reading a whole lot at one sitting, often more than they can handle. Advice on this welcome.

Darin Strauss and I ended up following each other on Twitter. Not sure why. But I'm glad we did because I've discovered his writing (which everyone else already knew about it). He was nice enough to send me a copy of his memoir Half A Life after I tweeted about the copy I ordered being stolen from my porch (I like to think of the moment when the thieves, thinking they had some sweet electronics or something, opened the packages to find an elegiac literary memoir and two volumes of the Clementine chapter books). I sent him some albums for his kids in return.

Michael Hearst's wonderful encyclopedia of hard-to-believe read living things, Unusual Creatures, was revisited a lot. So were the books of Ezra Jack Keats. The Dees did a whole show based on his work at the Contemporary Jewish Museum along with Rudy Trubitt back in February and this started our family reacquaintance with books we knew (Snowy Day, Peter's Chair) and our introduction to ones we didn't (Regards to the Man in the Moon -- a book that forced me to have a number of conversations about 9/11 due to its beautiful picture of the old mighty towers).

Tomi Ungerer's Moon Man never gets old. Both kids still want it time to time.

Robert Sullivan's book about following in Washington's steps -- literally -- makes the whole experience of living in this crowded dirty part of the world much more pleasant. I think about it all the time. (I might have actually read this in 2012 but I can't remember)

D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths rules more every time you open it. But you know that. Persephone's tale was my 5yo son's most-requested of this past year.

I continued to re-read Paul Reyes' Exiles in Eden as Roy Nathanson and I revised the script and the songs for our musical Trashed Out that was inspired by it.

Morrissey's Autobiography: Booker Prize I say. It's as good as fiction so why not?

What am I forgetting? A lot. Jeanette Winterson! My friend Joy leant me two of her books and I read them in a week. Had heard of her but thought she was a romance novelist. Had no idea she was this icon of feminist and lesbian literature. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is about me! Well none of the specifics but the general feeling, the truth of every moment.

I'm sure I'll think of some other stuff worth mentioning and when I do I'll update this page.

What did you read?

Lloyd


some other stuff that I remembered we read:

my 8yo daughter 
To Dance, a ballerina's graphic novel  by Siena Cherson Siegel with artwork by Mark Siegel
The Whole World's Crazy and at least one book in Jimmy Gownley's Amelia Rules! series
at least one of those My Dumb Diary books
Radioactive, a Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss (the stunning graphic novel about Marie and Pierre Curie)
Weird, But True (put out by National Geographic) and many other fact-filled "can you believe it" true science books with similar titles. She often read these at the table (until we asked her to put them away) and quoted weird facts at length.


my 5yo son
(these are books I read to him)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl
Judy Blume's Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and the sequels (my wife has been reading these to both kids)
I Am Optimus Prime, Bumblebee's Best Friend, Luke Skywalker's Amazing Story, Star Wars: Blast Off! and many other terribly written, super-thin beginning reader books about Transformers, Star Wars, Spiderman, Ninjago, and other characters who deserve books that are at least a little bit better. If your kid is into these worlds, though, the encyclopedias are the way to go. Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary has been with us for at least three years (at one time it helped my son get over his fear of going to bathroom -- our deal was that I'd read it to him while he sat on the toilet) and we still continue to return to it.
and, of course, Captain Underpants and Commander Toad

2014 Ulysses book club

Yes, the James Joyce Ulysses. I've been wanting to do a musical book club for it and I finally finally have some co-readers.

Here's the basic plan if you'd like to join us:

- We'll read the Gabler edition

- We'll read two episodes a month. You can find a guide to the episodes here: http://www.rosenbach.org/ulysses-plot-summary Following this guide you should read to page 30 by the end of January. That's doable, right?

- We'll have meetings online and in person. If you're able to meet in person in the NYC area we'll sing songs that show up in the text (this is the whole reason I'm doing the club).


That's it! Get to reading. I hope you're as excited as I am.


Lloyd

The Deedle Deedle Dees play for free in Brooklyn Jan 4

As part of my Sing Back! series at Brooklyn Historical Society, the Deedle Deedle Dees are doing a free show to welcome 2014. Will you come? Saturday, January 4th at 3pm.


Details here.


til then, 

Lloyd

Teachers! Would your class like to write songs about abolitionists and the Emancipation Proclamation with us?

Dear Most Useful People in America (That's you, Teachers):

Would you like me to come into your class to write songs about the Emancipation Proclamation and abolitionists in Brooklyn? Of course you would.

On February 1st I'm devoting my show at Brooklyn Historical Society (I do a monthly family event there themed to their exhibits) to the Emancipation Proclamation (it's on display at BHS) and abolitionists in Brooklyn (they have a new exhibit on this that's about to open).

I'm looking for a school or schools to collaborate on this show with me. I'd come into your classroom throughout January, teach kids about the aforementioned stuff, and write songs with them about it. Then, on Feb 1st, they'd perform their compositions live on stage with me.

In answer to your potential questions:

- Do you have to teach in Brooklyn in order to participate?
Yes, but...
I'm down to do more versions of this project remotely (via Skype, FaceTime, etc) with schools outside Brooklyn or come to your school to do a special workshop / assembly program. Obviously this would take some planning / grant money / etc but we always work these things out. And if you teach in, say, Nebraska we'd figure out a lesson plan that's not only about Brooklyn but rather abolitionists in the country at large or closer to home.

- How do I sign up?
Send me an e-mail at lloydhmiller AT gmail DOT com. We'll make a plan?

More details on all of this soon.

L

This is our home (for a while at least)

The Deedle Deedle Dees are re-working our main site, www.thedeedledeedledees.com. So for now, check here for info on upcoming shows, announcements about new music, background info on our songs, and really anything else Dee-related you'd like to know.

Here's the latest:

- I'm releasing a solo sing-a-long album Sept 24th under my own name, Lloyd H. Miller. Read about it here.

- I'm doing a CD release show for the solo record on Oct. 13th at Shapeshifter Lab in Brooklyn. Details and tickets here.

- The Deedle Deedle Dees are currently writing a new album they hope to release in 2014.

Set list for Madison Square Park 6/18/13

Here's what we played today. I can't remember if this is the exact order.

I'm Gonna Light Up the World
- a song I wrote in Haiti while on a trip with my friend's nonprofit to distribute solar lights. i made it very simple so kids who don't speak English could sing it. i also recently sang it with a bunch of kids at a benefit for Gabby Giffords' organization.
- appears on S.S. Brooklyn, my solo sing-a-long album that's coming out this September.

Nellie Bly
- Nellie Bly was a reporter who took a trip around the world as a publicity stunt for a newspaper in 1889.
- the arrangement we played today we call the "Unchain my Heart" version because it re-works this longtime Dees fan favorite in a Ray Charles-esque way
- appears on Freedom in a Box
- watch us singing the original version on the streets of NewYork here

Cool Papa Bell
- Cool Papa Bell was a player in the Negro Leagues who was known for his amazing speed
- read more about Cool Papa and other Negro League baseball greats in Kadir Nelson's beautiful book, We Are the Ship
- watch a solo sing-a-long living room version of the tune here
- appears on Strange Dees, Indeed

Brooklyn by Bike
- a song about biking around Brooklyn by myself and on trips with my kids
- appears on S.S. Brooklyn, my solo sing-a-long album that's coming out this September.

Standing in the Garden / Visions
- written with a 4th grader for an event at the Met Museum. the song was inspired by Bastien-Lepage's  painting of Joan of Arc
- read more about Joan of Arc in Diane Stanley's cool book
- slated to appear on the Deedle Deedle Dees' next album (coming out, we hope, spring 2014)

Seventeen Years (a cicada love song)
- inspired by the seventeen-year cicadas that have come out this spring and summer
- watch a video of the tune here
- read more about cicadas on the fabulous website, Cicada Mania
- appears on S.S. Brooklyn, my solo sing-a-long album that's coming out this September.

Henry (Hudson), How Ya Gonna Find a Way?
- a song about the real explorer Henry Hudson that also references the fictional Henrik Hudson who appears in Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle
- sing along with me on this backyard video
- appears on Strange Dees, Indeed. Also an acoustic sing-a-long version will be on S.S. Brooklyn (Sept 2013).

Skating in Old Bryant Park
- a song that ponders: "What if the statue of William Cullen Bryant (for whom NYC's Bryant Park is named) got up and starting ice skating with everyone else one winter?
- appears on Strange Dees, Indeed

Marie Curie
- a scientist who did some of the early experiments with radium and other dangerous materials, Marie Curie is someone we admire quite a bit.
- this graphic novel about MC and her husband should be on your coffee table.
- appears on Strange Dees, Indeed

Sacagawea
- inspired by the woman who accompanied Lewis & Clark across the country, translating for them and helping them in many other ways. and with a baby on her back.
- i still haven't found a great kid book about her but this one is interesting
- appears on Strange Dees, Indeed

Baldy
- Baldy was General George Meade's horse in the Civil War. he got shot 14 times and lived. we thought he deserved a rousing hip hop anthem.
- appears on Freedom in a Box

The Brooklyn Bridge Song
- a song about a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge with my daughter, the history of building the bridge, and my meditations on death and time passing
- appears on American History + Rock-n-Roll = The Deedle Deedle Dees

Music in schools panel at KindieFest

Here's who's on it. I'll post more details later.

Lloyd H. Miller
moderator
For 10 years, Lloyd (leader of the educational band, the Deedle Deedle Dees) has worked as a teaching artist in public and private schools in New York City and elsewhere. His specialty is creating original musical productions with students. He has co-written and performed shows featuring all-original music based on classic literature like Hamlet, The Aeneid, The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Myth of Osiris, Twelfth Night, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. He's also done a number of shows inspired by the curriculum of a particular class or school like The Truth About New Jersey (a song cycle about the history of the state written with fourth graders) and Who Stole the Sousaphone? (a whodunnit developed with an entire second grade that incorporated student research about their hometown, Port Washington, Long Island).

Lloyd is currently in final rehearsals for a 6th, 7th, and 8th grade production of Moliere's The Imaginary Invalid. Re-imagined as a 1950s musical, the show features all brand-new songs composed by Lloyd and the kids. He's also working on a show based on The Araboolies of Liberty Street with his wife's second-grade class, a grown-up jazz musical about the foreclosure crisis in America called Trashed Out with jazz legend Roy Nathanson, and a sing-a-long album with producer Dean Jones tentatively titled S.S. Brooklyn.
Hear second graders sing the songs they wrote with Lloyd for Hamlet here: http://lloydmiller.bandcamp.com/album/hamlet-the-album
www.lloydhmiller.com
www.thedeedledeedledees.com
roynathanson.tumblr.com


Patricia Shih
For the past 27 years Patricia has offered up to 18 assembly concerts for grades pre-K through 6 (and sometimes 7 & 8) based on "Big Ideas!" themes.  "BI" is the umbrella title for all 18 shows, because every song in every show is about an important issue such as Bullies, Character Education, The Environment, Multiculturalism, Disabilities and more.  She offers 5 workshops and 2 residencies, where in the latter she helps the kids write a musical and then produce it for the entire school or community.  The workshops range from songwriting to Chinese culture.

A multi-instrumentalist, Ms. Shih plays 6 and 12 string guitars, piano, Marxophone, Chinese flower drum, and soprano recorder. She has six albums to her credit: two for adults, "Woman With One Closed Eye" (Glass Records) and "Leap of Faith" (Flying Fish Records); and four family/children's albums, "Your ImaginEngine!,""The Power of One" (NAPPA Gold Award & Parents' Choice Approved Award), "Big Ideas!" and "Making Fun!"(1997 Parents Choice Approval Award) on Glass Records. Her work is also included on three anthology albums: "Sharing Thoughts," "Early Ears" (Zoom Express, BMG), and "Rainbow Sign" (Rounder Records), which was honored by the American Library Association Notable Children's Recording Award, Parents' Choice Award, Parents' Prize, NAAPA Gold Medal, and the L.A. Times "Best of 1993" list. She is the author of two books about music: Gigging: A Practical Guide for Musicians (Allworth Press, NYC) and Truly Rotten Gigs from Hell: The Funny, The Sad, The Unbelievably Bad True Tales from the Music Trenches (Uncommon Publishing, Xlibris)
http://www.patriciashih.com/


Robbie Kumalo
Robbi Hall Kumalo is an artist with an incredible voice with tons of charisma and charm to win over any audience. Robbi started in the music business singing with a host of legendary artists including Aretha Franklin, Eileen Ivers, Arif Mardin, Jewel, Diana Ross, Jimmy Owens, Ashford & Simpson, Edie Brickell, Chieli Minucci, Gino Sitson, Bakithi Kumalo, John Hiatt, Chaka Khan, Rod Stewart, Mary J. Blige, and Harry Belafonte among many others. Bringing to the stage a level of excitement, Robbi gives to her audiences freely and unselfishly. Her band members are versatile and extraordinary players, who have performed with many music legends themselves. Robbi's personable demeanor is the essence of her show; first going deep into her own zone then pouring it all out in song. Robbi's larger than life stage presence and enticingly beautiful voice have given her the opportunity to perform in many settings, always with great success.

In addition, Robbi is very passionate about arts education and has spent nearly 25 years classrooms in schools all over the globe as Teaching Artist for Aesthetic Education.  Using music and theater arts as a mode of communication to teach everything from the sciences, to history, to culture, and to character, Robbi truly has found her calling by combining her ease of performance with her love to nurture young minds.  She is a teaching artist with New Jersey PAC and The Tilles Center.  Whether a school assembly, artist residency, or professional development workshop, Robbi has a lot to offer!
http://www.robbikumalo.com/fr_home.cfm



Uncle Devin
"I have been performing children's music for over 10 years and, most recently, have been selected as an artist with the Young Audiences/Arts for Learning - Maryland (YAMD) for the 2013-2015 school years.  YAMD is Maryland's leader in Arts-in-Education programs in the state.  I have primarily performed workshops and assemblies, but can also conduct residencies as well.  In addition to the schools, I have found great teaching opportunities performing at numerous summer camps, day care centers and libraries as well.

The Uncle Devin Show takes students on a magical journey through the Land of Percussion, allowing them to hear, see, and play different percussion instruments while gaining an understanding of the history of percussion and why it is the easiest, oldest, and most diverse form of musical creativity.  I can conduct the show solo, but most of the time, I use the assistance of my flute playing sidekick Mr. Grasshopper.  Together, we will have students bouncing to different genres of music while showing them how percussion is the heartbeat of them all.  Professionally, I am an Equal Opportunity and Dispute Resolution trainer, investigator and counselor, working in both the public and private sector for over 18 years.  I transfer these same techniques to my music to teach the value of diversity, self-identity and respect."
- Uncle Devin
http://theuncledevinshow.com/

Solve this real Revolutionary War era code and win a prize

The lyrics to "Cipher Cipher," our new song based on events in the life of Benjamin Church, contain a real Revolutionary War era code. I wrote the song with Arden Gill, a middle schooler I teach electric bass and ukulele. The Deedle Deedle Dees debuted this song at our show at BAM this past weekend -- and Arden helped us perform it.

Church was the head doctor in the Continental Army, but he was also a spy for the British and sent their leaders messages in code. Arden wrote a report about him for English class and her teacher suggested she write a song about him with me.

The chorus to our song is all numbers. The numbers stand for the letters of two words, the names of places where the Continental Army had arsenals (places where they kept weapons). We translated the names of the two places into code using Lovell's Cipher, an actual code used by leaders of the Continental Army. As Church was sending secrets to the British I guess he would have used a different code but I felt Lovell's system was a nice simple one for us to use in the song and to teach kids about how codes work.

Cipher Cipher
LYRICS

4X 

Cipher cipher

don't write the words down

else they gonna know

we're down with the crown

LLOYD

benjamin church

yeah my hands are red now

ARDEN

cos you're a surgeon?

LLOYD

nah nah nah take this down...

Eleven 

twenty-two 

six 

ten 

twenty 

twenty-six 

eight 

twelve 

six

Eighteen 

twenty-two 

two 

ten 

three 

twenty-five

nineteen

LLOYD

number one doctor

answer to GEE DOUBLE U

cept when I'm taking money

in the backroom

location of the arsenals

i just sent it to ya

do you know the cipher?

did they explain it to ya?

ARDEN

keyword is "mustache" 

spelled "M-U"

don't keep the letter

i sent you

tear it up

throw it on the fire

else they gonna know

I'm a liar

Here's how Lovell's system works. When you send someone a message, you also include a keyword. This keyword tells you which letter is represented by each number. If you read the link above, you might already understand how this works, but here, in brief, is how you do it:

1. Lay a piece of paper longways. Write numbers 1-27 across the top of the page. Write small because it's hard to fit all those numbers on one line. Why 27 when there are 26 letters in the alphabet? It's because there's an "&" in addition to the 26 letters -- just to make the code a bit more difficult.

2. Write the alphabet starting with the first letter of the keyword on the next line so that the letters line up with the numbers above. The keyword Arden chose was "mustache." In the interest of keeping our code relatively easy to solve we only used the first two letters of this word. So the alphabet you write under the numbers should start with the letter M. When you get to Z, don't write A next. Instead put an "&" symbol then write A under the next number.

3. Underneath this alphabet, write another alphabet starting with the second letter of your keyword, which in this case is U. Don't forget to put an "&" in between Z and A.

(Note: if you need help with steps 1-3, see the example in the picture below)

4. Write down the letter that corresponds to each number BUT switch lines with each new number. Above, for example, the first number is 11 which goes with W on the first line. Now switch to the second line for the second number 22. In the second line of alphabet, 22 goes with the letter O. For the third letter go back to the first line; for the fourth, the second line; and so on.

5. Once you've figured out the first word, return to the first line to start deciphering the second one.

6. Send us what you find out. Send your solution to thedeedledeedledees AT yahoo DOT com. The first person to send us the right answer will win four tickets for his or her family to see us at Symphony Space on March 2nd. The next four people to send us the right answer will win a signed poster for the show.

Set lists from the Met Museum Family Benefit 2/4/13

We're going to post lyrics and videos for the brand-new stuff we wrote for this event inspired by works from the Met's collection, but for now here are the songs we played. In the spirit of the event theme, we played all songs about "Heroes & Heroines."

SET 1, 6pm
Cool Papa Bell
a song about the Negro League baseball star

Parading Through Rome (is no fun on the ground)
inspired by Tiepolo's "The Triumph of Marius"

Standing in the Garden / Visions
inspired by Bastien-Lepage's "Joan of Arc." I wrote this with Bella Butler, a 4th-grade student who also performed the tune with the band last night.

Ah Ahimsa
a song about Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence

Henry (Hudson), How Ya Gonna Find a Way?
a tune about the explorer that got a river named after him

Little Red Airplane
a song about Amelia Earhart


SET 2, 7pm
Henry Box Brown
a song about the man who mailed himself to freedom from slavery in a box

Tub Tub Ma Ma Ga Ga
a song about Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, and Gandhi

Marie Curie
this song tells a cool story from the great scientist's life

Sandstone Bodhisattva Blues
inspired by the sandstone bodhisattva, ca. 550-560, China

Everybody Flat Against the Wall
a new dance craze (we hope), inspired by the Assyrian reliefs 

Sacagawea
about the woman who traveled across the country with Lewis, Clark, and a baby on her back

Baldy
a true tale of a very durable Civil War horse

Set list from BAM 2/2/13

Here's what we played during our two sets at BAM this past Saturday, Feb 2, 2013. Most of these songs are on albums but some are brand-new. Lyrics and notes to nearly all these can be found on this blog -- and some we're adding this week.

"Cipher Cipher" is a brand-new song based on events in the life of Benjamin Church, a doctor for the Colonial army & spy for the British during the Revolutionary War. This one contains a real Revolutionary-era code that we'll put up in separate post specifically about that song.

Words & music for all these by Lloyd H. Miller (me) except "Mean-Talkin' Blues," words and music by Woody Guthrie, arrangement by me, Chris Johnson, and Roy Nathanson.

12noon SET

Little Red Airplane ( featuring Gabe Nathanson on trumpet)

Skating in Old Bryant Park

The Golem (featuring Gabe Nathanson on trumpet, Roy Nathanson on sax, Maya Chatterjee, Emily Serotta, and my kids on vocals)

Birds of American Don't Care-Oh (w/ Gabe & Roy)

Whaleship Essex

Tub Tub Ma Ma Ga Ga

Baldy

Sacagawea

Mean-Talkin' Blues (w/ Gabe and Roy) -- studio version appears on this album: http://sparetherock.com/wordpress/releases/keep-hoping-machine-running-songs-of-woody-guthrie/



2:30pm SET

Cool Papa Bell

Camperdown Elm (w/ Arden Gill on ukulele)

Time Machine (featuring Emily Serotta & Margaret Grabar-Sage on vocals, Arden Gill on electric bass)

Working on a Bridge (w/ Emily, Margaret, and Arden on vocals)

Cipher Cipher (w/ Arden on vocals)

a song for Abigail Adams

Ah Ahimsa (w/ Emily)

Henry (Hudson), How Ya Gonna Find a Way? (w/ Arden on Margaret on vocals)

Marie Curie (w/ Emily on vocals)

Henry Box Brown