I’ve always been a bit of a rule bender. I believe that sometimes rules exist to keep stupid people from hurting themselves from doing stupid things. I believe in developing good instincts and to live life with a lot of adventure and have tried to inspire this in my child. My son is my one and only, he is my world, my sunshine, and the air I breathe. In his wonder years he was the greatest playmate and we had a blast. We forged creeks, climbed trees, rode bikes, played on the monkey bars, swings, tackled and played tag, explored rocky ravines and took in the wonders all around us. What’s funny is that it was I who had to coax him to do things a little out of the ordinary for a little fun. He was the cautious one and when I’d say, “look a short cut, let’s take it!” He was absolutely mortified! Dare we do something as risky as exit through a door that was posted with “entrance only,” he was certain we’d get caught and hauled off to jail!

It was quite an education in the mechanics of licensing a song when I recorded my first children’s album and all I can say is “Shame on the Sham!” The “Sham” I am referring to is Sam The Sham who wrote the classic rock & roll tune called “Wooly Bully.” Why the shame? Well one day I was inspired by a 4-year-old preschool student who had come in from the play yard filled with excitement because a roly poly (aka “potato bug”) had just climbed on his arm! In a magical moment of improvisation, I began singing about the adventures of this gentle little bug and right there in that classroom a song was born called “Roly Poly.” The lyrics happened to fit perfectly to the tune of “Wooly Bully” and the teachers were amused since they recognized it and the kids were very thrilled to bop out to a rock and roll tune about the sow bugs they just experienced outside. I thought it all very wonderful and was sure that this fun little song would be included on my first album! It even became the theme song for the school’s earth day celebration and it was quite a site having over 80 kids sang their hearts out, rolling their arms singing “ROLY POLY” in one be voice to the Roly Poly song!

I was excited and recorded the song and had my 7 year old help me with the vocals since it was an echo song. But alas getting the license to permit me to use this song was a different story. To license a song the best place to begin is with the Harry Fox agency out of New York. They manage licenses and royalties for millions of songs. They have a very simple song search tool called Songfile that makes it easy to find and license a song, but only if they manage 100 percent of it. If they do, then it’s a piece of cake. But if they don’t, then you have to go directly to the publisher. “Wooly Bully” had 2 publishers and it took some searching the internet to find them. The first publisher, who owned 25 percent of the song rights, agreed to grant me a license, but only if the second publisher, who owned the remaining 75 percent, agreed. Well after many emails and some calls to pinpoint the appropriate person at this company, they sadly declined my request for the license. I was stunned. I couldn’t believe that Sam the Sham or those associated with the “Sham” wouldn’t grant the use of this song for children — I mean this was for kids and it was GREEN too! Shame on the Sham!

One of the many hats I wear is “preschool music teacher.” In my music classes there are those kids that simply have to be heard. I see that star fire in their eyes and on their faces. They simply need to stand out, shine and share it with everyone!

I understand this. When I was 5, my dad took my brothers and I to a big theater in Cleveland, Ohio to see Captain Kangaroo live and on stage, along with his side kicks, Mr. Green Jeans and the Dancing Bear. It was all very exciting and it was the first time I had ever seen a big stage like that. The show began and all I could think about was how I could get on that stage! I was compelled! There was no way I was going to be happy unless I somehow, someway, got on that stage! I sat there vibrating in my seat and I kept bugging my older brother, who was about 10 at the time, to ask them if I could go on stage. I was relentless and he probably realized he needed to do something just to shut me up. So he went over to the stage manager and became my very first booking agent. He did a good job ‘cause the manager said yes. So I ran over and was on my way to stardom!

There I was on stage with Captain Kangaroo! I felt good, I made it, I was where I belonged, I was a star! Everyone was looking at me, waiting to see what I was going to do, man it felt great. I had everyone’s attention, woo-hoo! The Captain asked me some questions and there it was, THE MICROPHONE, I was talking through the MICROPHONE! He asked me if I wanted to sing a song, well of course I wanted to sing a song but I had absolutely NO IDEA what song! It was almost kind of annoying, all his questions. I just wanted to BE there, it’s not like I had PLAN. My mission as far as I was concerned was accomplished. The Captain patiently went through a list of songs and when he landed on “Mary Had A Little Lamb” I said, “Sure!” Well “sure” I had heard the song before but I didn’t know the words. So luckily I did know the title line and then after that I relied completely upon my brother who was in the audience looked kind of freaked out, mouthing the words to me. No problem, I muddled through and thankfully, I had the cute thing going for me. I was a HIT, I knew it because they CLAPPED when I finished.