hail teachers! there is a new and quite extensive pamphlet for you written by one of my favorite authors homa tavangar. it takes you CD by CD through our catalog and serves up track and activity recommendations that should help you navigate the musical offerings on festival five records. i think it's long overdue and if you have any thoughts about what could make it more useful we would appreciate hearing from you.
-download pdf
Maybe someone in your family has a LeapPad? If that's the case, you can now find two swinging (or swingin' as we say) Dan Zanes LeapPad apps to bring hopped up songs (Sidewalk Dance Music) and relaxed songs (Good Night Music) to these hand held devises. I created the playlists especially for Leapfrog and think that for young people who enjoy listening to music this way these are....indispensable! and...essential! Check them out in the LeapFrog app center.
Christmas in Concord, my EP of handmade holiday music as recalled from my New England childhood, has been reissued digitally this week. In addition to the five songs from the original release there are two new songs, collaborations with the Pulitzer prize-winning play write Suzan-Lori Parks. We wrote "Counting the Days (Until Christmas)" during a drive back from New Hampshire to New York. Talk of our fathers' military experiences became a song during the late night five hour trip. The other new song is our updated version of "Rise Up Shepard, and Follow" which Odetta and Pete Seeger have both recorded along the way. Suzan-Lori sings and plays washboard which I think makes our rendition just right for Holiday dance parties...
After many years of playing and touring with Dan Zanes & Friends and many requests from fans, drummer Colin Brooks is happy to announce he is now accepting beginning students for private drum lessons at the Festival Five studio. The lessons will focus on the basic fundamentals of drumming while having fun with various styles, ear-training, improvisation, and expressing oneself creatively through the drumset.
For further inquiry, feel free to email Colin directly at skrooby(at)gmail(dot)com. Subject - drum lessons.
About Colin: Colin Brooks was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. He asked for and received his first drumset as a Christmas gift at the age of 7. He set about learning how to play by constant practice, jamming with his guitar playing father, and listening to and watching all of the drummers he saw on MTV back when they actually showed videos. He started his first proper band The Numbskulz at the age of 13 and turned professional by performing at all-ages local punk rock shows. He played in "too many different bands to remember" throughout high school in Little Rock, until shortly after graduating, he accepted touring jobs with the groups 2 Minutes Hate and Ho-Hum. After driving around the United States in a beat up vans for the better part of 5 years, he decided to move to Brooklyn in 1998 when a friend told him about an audition for a band called Skeleton Key. Since then, he has performed with many different local acts and singer-songwriters. He met Dan Zanes in 2004 and has been traveling the world drumming ever since.
