Talking with Tim

When I interview folks, I periodically like to follow-up and get suggestions for other people they think I should interview. That’s how I landed an interview with Zak Champagne, a fellow music nut (in a good way) and a fourth grade math teacher at Mandarin Oaks Elementary School in Jacksonville, Florida. Shelby Miller of the Shifted Sound podcast recommended that I pick Champagne’s brain for his thoughts on teaching math and enjoying music. My thanks to Champagne for his time and Miller for the suggestion.

Tim O’Shea: What attracted you to teaching in the first place and math in particular?

Zak Champagne: First and foremost, I was going to be a rock star. Teaching wasn’t really in the plans until college. You see I had everything ready for rock superstardom except for the talent of playing or singing music. Now I was in a band…but we were much more into the superficial things about being in a band rather than actually being a band. But…I sort of knew towards the end of high school that I wanted to teach. Once I got into college (University of North Florida) I thought I wanted to teach high school. It seemed rather logical to me. But while I was preparing to become a teacher, I took a job at a youth center here in town and ended up working with K-2nd grade students. And it was during that time I had found my calling.

Now the math thing is a bit more interesting. Once in elementary school I saw a need to make mathematics meaningful to my students. I encountered so many young students who already hated mathematics. And to me that was not okay. I have to find a way to inspire my students to love mathematics for what it is. And I found one of the best ways to do that is to make it meaningful and fun.

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I still remember buying the vinyl release of The Rainmakers back in the mid-1980s.

So find find out they had a website gave me hope that the band was still together. Sadly they split up in the late 1990s, but they still maintain a website, which includes lyrics, videos and audio clips.

My favorite song of theirs is Let My People Go-Go, which features the following great lyrics:

Jesus went out for a walk with his mother
The scribes and the pharisees plotting hugger-mugger
They locked him up and they threw away the key
He said why’s everybody always picking on me?

I did not put you here to suffer
I did not put you here to whine
I put you here to love one another
And to get out and have a good time

Let my people go-go-go
Let my people go-go-go
Let my people go-go-go
Let my people go

Those lyrics take me back to a fun time earlier in my life.

I crave myriad means to learn about new music–and I’m truly partial to independent quirky music. So when Coverville’s Brian Ibbott tipped me off to Shelby Miller’s Shifted Sound podcast, I was ecstatic. So happy, in fact, I got Miller to agree to an email interview. Miller is a middle-aged father of three who loves music. A little over two years ago, he began discovering how much fantastic music was available on the Internet from independent bands he hadn’t heard a million times on the radio. So, as a way to share the music he found as well as figure out what podcasting was all about, he started the Shifted Sound podcast. Shifted Sound is a free weekly podcast showcasing great independent music from around the world. Music the masses should be embracing. And, even if they don’t, his kids love the show. Or at least that’s what Miller told me. Now on to the interview.

Tim O’Shea: In the About section of the blog, you note the show “is an experiment which will change and grow as needed.” How has the show changed and grown since it first launched?

Shelby Miller: The Shifted Sound podcast began as a way to share new music with people who might not hear it otherwise. Before I started the show, as I searched the internet for more music to listen to personally, I discovered more and more independent bands who were producing great songs and I was constantly telling my friends and coworkers about them. I eventually decided to try it on a broader scope with a podcast. So, in that respect, Shifted Sound has remained the same. I still feel like I’m sharing some great music with friends. What has evolved a bit is how I approach the show. When I began, I always plays two songs each from five different bands. And, of course, they were probably bands I hadn’t played before. Now I’m a bit more lenient with myself as far as how many bands I play, and I’ve started playing a couple of songs per show that I have played before as a bit of a reminder for listeners. One of the issues I’ve had over the more than two years of producing Shifted Sound is that I am often moving on too quickly. I have to spend so much time looking for new music that I can’t really get to know too many bands, which I regret. Playing some of their music repeatedly on the show allows me to go back and rediscover and enjoy music that might have slipped off my radar a bit too quickly. I also ran into a period last year where I was a bit burned out on it all and decided to go down to a show every two weeks. That didn’t last too long, though, because I had too much music I wanted to share. So now I record two shows on one night, but still post one per week. That way I get every other week off from having to organize and complete a show.

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I once wrote a column called Stream of Babbling. Periodically I may try a new version of it. Like now.

My fiancée called me this afternoon after safely arriving on her California business trip. I’ve only been to California once in my life (got there thanks to her) and she called to tell me she wished I was there. I agreed–noted my regret that it just was not possible (she’s there, busy with work; I’m in Atlanta with family and work commitments) and as I made the list, she said: “No, I wish you were here because the rental car has satellite radio and I know you would just love that.”

I had to scream in mock jealousy for a moment, and then realized: “Wow, this woman knows me better than I know myself… “

Indiana Jones and Blood: Apparently the business of blood drives is getting to be good money or something. I normally donate to the Red Cross, but for the past year or so, certain medicines I’ve been on has prevented me from donating. Well my church had a blood drive today–and in an effort to recruit people, the blood drive folks (one of Red Cross’ competitors) had staff dressed up as Indiana Jones. This bewildered my son (and honestly myself) to no end. If I was wanting to donate blood and I had to be standing in line waiting to donate (which happens quite often when I donate at a drive), I know I would be saying: “How about getting those two out of the costumes and into the information gathering section–speed up this process?” Finally from a marketing standpoint–I’m left wondering a variation of what my son asked me: “Why is Indiana Jones working a blood drive?” Oh well. As long as people are helped, it’s a good thing.

This will keep me busy for awhile. I just discovered 1980s classic video playlists at VH1 Classic. In addition to the music videos, they have also archived MTV interviews with the 1980s artists. The Elvis Costello playlist alone is mouth watering. Everyday I Write the Book… nuts they don’t have The Only Flame in Town… but they do have Veronica…God, the poignancy on that last one and Costello’s anecdote at the end is bittersweet. On that note, I must go.

Music is a subject that captures my interest on a daily basis. The environment that sometimes fosters or inspires music or other creative projects is another aspect of pop culture that hold my attention quite easily. So when I found out about Michael Walker’s 2007 book, Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock-and-Roll’s Legendary Neighborhood, I knew I wanted to interview him about the book if possible. Fortunately it was quite possible. I’ll let Walker’s website describe his book and himself before launching into the interview:

“In the late sixties and early seventies, an impromptu collection of musicians colonized a eucalyptus-scented canyon deep in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles and melded folk, rock, and savvy American pop into a sound that conquered the world as thoroughly as the songs of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Thirty years later, the music made in Laurel Canyon continues to pour from radios, iPods, and concert stages around the world. During the canyon’s golden era, the musicians who lived and worked there scored dozens of landmark hits, from California Dreamin’ to Suite: Judy Blue Eyes to It’s Too Late, selling tens of millions of records and resetting the thermostat of pop culture.

In Laurel Canyon, journalist Michael Walker tells the inside story of this unprecedented gathering of some of the baby boom’s leading musical lights–including Joni Mitchell; Jim Morrison; Crosby, Stills & Nash; John Mayall; the Mamas and the Papas; Carole King; the Eagles; and Frank Zappa, to name just a few-who turned Los Angeles into the music capital of the world and forever changed the way popular music is recorded, marketed, and consumed. It was Brigadoon meets the Brill building, and the reverberations from the unprecedented music being made–and the sex, drugs, and rock and roll lifestyle it created –profoundly shaped the attitudes and expectations of an entire generation…

Michael Walker has written extensively about popular culture for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and other publications. He lives in Laurel Canyon.”

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So this morning I went looking for evidence of an old 1986 band, David & David. Never heard of ‘em? Well, more than likely you did indirectly, as while David & David did not last very long, the two main members, David Baerwald and David Ricketts appeared on Sheryl Crow’s debut album, Tuesday Night Music Club. They also worked separately or together with folks like Toni Childs and Robbie Robertson. Their sound always was distinctive and almost always with a good hook.

But before I could link to any David & David work, I stumbled across David Baerwald’s appearance on Arsenio Hall promoting his 1990 solo album, Bedtime Stories. For whatever reason, there’s a promo for the Laura Dern/Nic Cage/David Lynch Wild at Heart film before the appearance. The music starts around the 30 second mark.

You can regularly find David Baerwald’s music at any good used CD store. Do yourself a favor and pick it up. Or hey, I bet you can score some stuff off of iTunes as well.

Astounding.

As one may expect, there’s a great back story to this 1970 clip. I cannot make you read Charles Wolfe’s Oxford American essay about Armstrong’s relationship with country music and this video clip in particular. But hopefully I can get you interested with this snippet:

“Then Cash himself, cracking a rare grin, moved in and sat and talked with him about Jimmie Rodgers, one of Cash’s heroes. Yes, Satchmo remembered backing him on ‘Blue Yodel No. 9,’ and yes, it would be fun to try to recreate it. So with Cash playing Rodgers and Armstrong playing—well, himself—the pair brought the audience back to 1930. Cash and Armstrong swapped choruses on the old blues standard—Cash doing a swaggering vocal, Armstrong playing a dynamic, elegant series of trumpet breaks, in spite of the fact that his doctors in New York had told him to stop playing for good.”

A major way that my son, Colin, and I have always bonded has been through music. So last year, when I discovered the podcast of Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child (a show from Valley Free Radio [103.3 FM, Northampton, Massachusetts]) both Colin and I were pretty darn happy. The show, recently also picked up by 93.9 The River, is hosted by Bill Childs along with Ella, his daughter, and (sometimes) Liam, his son. As detailed at the show’s MySpace page: “We play both music that’s officially for kids (e.g., Dan Zanes, Frances England, CandyBand, Lunch Money, Asylum Street Spankers) and a lot that’s not (e.g., Pixies, fIREHOSE, Beatles, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, and again the Spankers). And we start and end every darn show with They Might Be Giants [TMBG].” I recently caught up with Bill for an email interview.

Tim O’Shea: How did you first come up with the idea of Spare the Rock, and was it hard to get Ella to speak on air?

Bill Childs: We had moved to Northampton in the summer of 2004 for me to take a job teaching law school. At a local cafe, I came across a flyer for Valley Free Radio seeking programmers and people to help get the station started up. I had done radio in college (WMCN, 10 blazing watts of power) and was looking for a community-related activity, so I decided to apply for a show. I rapidly got involved on the policy side as well; I have dropped out of that role for the most part for quite a while, as there was some unpleasant infighting that seemed unproductive to me.

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Two items of interest to point toward.

First, I thought I knew everything about music worth knowing. Boy was I wrong. I stumbled across a show, Sound Opinions, that apparently has been around in Chicago for almost a decade. In more recent years, the show was picked up by American Public Media/Chicago Public Radio and is getting national distribution. Fortunately for me, while Atlanta’s public radio station does not carry it, the show fortunately makes podcasts downloadable.

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Every once and awhile, I hear someone understandably questioning what we get for all the taxes that U.S. citizens pay (for those of you reading outside the United States, sorry for not writing to you). Any time I run across a government service, I always assume that my taxes have paid for a big chunk of whatever it is. And I’m happy to say, most of the time as delusional as I may be, that thought makes me feel just fine.

Look at the following picture:

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