I’ve already revealed my fatherly adoration for Peter Himmelman in the review I did for his My Green Kite album. It’s not like I need to run down all the singer-songwriter’s accomplishments, such as his long career as a performer for grown-ups, his film and TV scoring (i.e., the show Bones, his entertaining Web site and the five family recordings — including his new My Trampoline on the aptly named Minivan record label. So, I’ll let the singer-songwriter do some talking for himself.
FM: What kind of grown man writes songs about African leopard tortoises and pinheads?
PH: I guess you could say that I’m a man who, for better or worse, is way tapped into to his seven-year-old self. Turtle wise: I love my tortoise as much as any man has ever loved a reptile. He’s wise, gentle and extremely big on patience, which is something I’ve discovered is important. As for the pinhead thing…it’s what my wife calls me (in the most tender way I might
add) when she compares the size of my head to my 19 year old son’s.
FM: What’s different or particularly outstanding about this bouncy new album of yours compared to your previous family-friendly discs?
PH: Oh, that question. It’s for the marketing department. My honest answer is that there’s nothing inherently unique about this record. No special new formula. No laboratory tested techniques on display. Just a continuation of the themes of wonder that I will most likely keep pursuing for a long time.
FM: In your live shows, you improvise songs with children’s names and random concepts. Is this talent the impetus for writing music for kids?
PH: No, I’d say that talent (which is partly innate and partly developed), has served me well in almost everything I do — from fatherhood, to being a husband, to my life as a creator in general. Notice I didn’t use a capital C in creator…
FM: How does making music for kids differ from making tunes for adults?
PH: The only real difference is the context from which I’m writing. With kids for example, I’d never write a song about losing a woman or a too high tax bill — these kinds of things are just outside of the experience of a kid and they’d go right by them just as if I were reciting a terse poem to you in Pashtun…which I assume you don’t speak.
FM: What do your children think of your music?
PH: It’s funny how uninterested they’ve always seemed. It’s as though I were an accountant who’s been crunching numbers at his desk after dinner. Making music is just something I’ve always done since they were babies. But, to be more reflective, I happen to know that they are all very proud and inspired to have been raised in a loving home where their father has been doing something rather daring and interesting.
FM: How has family music changed from the time you were a child…assuming you really are a grown-up?
PH: Oh I’m grown up all right. It’s just that at 49, I can’t (or refuse) to forget age 6 or 10 or 25. As far as the family music business or the adult music business goes, I’ve always been a bit outside of what goes on. I do remember some wonderful music by a the Animals, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, even Burl Ives and Mitch Miller that I enjoyed a lot as a kid.
FM: Who are some of your favorite musicians, classic to contemporary?
PH: Stravinsky, Debussy, Miles Davis, Pete Seeger, Mel Torme, Thelonius Monk, Bob Marley, JJ Cale, The Monkees, Woody Guthrie, Fats Domino, John Lee Hooker… and The Guess Who.
FM: What’s the best way to turn young people on to playing music and being open to listening to different artists?
PH: Keep them off network television, keep them tuned into Pandora radio, bring home new recordings for them to listen to, and open up yourself to new sounds and musical experiences.
*****
For more about Peter Himmelman, listen to/visit his podcast/blog at Furious World, go to his Web site, and be sure to read the review of My Trampoline.
