How neat. The Gustafer Yellowgold show at World Cafe Live on Saturday was a very cool display of original drawings and music by Morgan Taylor and his band from Brooklyn, NY. The basic set up was acoustic guitar, electric bass, and percussion (which included bongos, tambourine, maracas and a few other little percussion instruments). 
From time to time, the bassist would switch over to (I believe) French horn. There was also Rachel on Apple laptop. She was manning the controls of the projected images/storyboard on a large screen behind the band. 
She also, along with the two fellas, added backing vocals to each song. In the build up for the song about Slim the Eel, Morgan asked the crowd about the kind of pets they had around their homes. In this discussion, Rachel revealed that while growing up in England, she had a pet donkey named Tuppence (like "Tuppence a Bag" from Mary Poppins.) Considering my girl's new found interest in Ms. Poppins, this was a neat, and totally random, surprise.After the show, Morgan and Rachel worked the merch table selling Gustafer tee shirts ($20 - a bit steep) and a self-released DVD ($15 - which we bought). Morgan was also talking to the kids and handing out free tattoos of Gustafer and Slim (Gustafer's pet eel). He told the crowd that the band has secured nationwide distribution/production of the Gustafer Yellowgold DVD (with Little Monster, an imprint of V2), which is certainly great news.
If you get a chance to check out the show (they play a lot in New York City and around the rest of the Northeast), do try and go. It is great fun to see such original art and hear a clever story with good music crafted for little ones. My girl is still talking about Gustafer and carrying around the show's promo postcard with his picture on it.Oh, one side note: Before the band appeared on stage, the screen was showing old Pink Panther cartoons, which were great. This was courtesy of the band, not the venue. My daughter, until that morning, had never seen the Pink Panther - and it had been years since I had. Funny stuff!
*Look for a full Gustafer Yellowgold DVD review later this month over at Families.com
Jeff
2 comments:
Jeff - me again, Morgan's sister. Again, glad you liked the Gustafer show. You mention your little one liking Mary Poppins in this post as well as another one; when Morgan and Rachel were home here in Ohio for Christmas, they mentioned that they performed at a children's birthday party recently as Mary Poppins and Burt the Chimney Sweep! (They're truly multi-talented!) Just thought I'd let you know : )
Ann, Since you posted this I have been imagining Morgan and Rachel performing at my girl's 3rd B-Day party, which is just two months away. Although, in my dream they are floating between Mary & Bert and Caractacus & Truly (from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) while also mixing in a fair amount of Gustafer tunes.) Oh, If we could only afford real live music at her party, how amazing that would be!
Thanks for the tease, geez!
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