August 29, 2007

Dan Zanes and Friends to bring family folk music to Long Center

Purdue Convocations is presenting the show as part of the Family Adventures series.

Winner of the 2007 Grammy Award for Best Musical Album for Children for "Catch That Train," Zanes performs American traditional songs, dance classics and original compositions.

"I'm excited by a sound that has the raw spontaneity of early rock and roll, the handmade traditions of American folk and the breezy soulfulness of certain West Indian music."

During the performance, the audience will be invited to sing and dance with the band, and the first rows of seating will be removed to create a dance floor in the front of the theater, said Kerry Schutt Nason, Purdue Convocations director of marketing.

"My show will be a wild party," Zanes said. "We show up to have the best party that we can have. While we are committed to the idea that what we do is art folk, at the same time if we can take that and make it into more of a party, a communal event, that's what we want to do."

The goal of Dan Zanes and Friends is to make music that families could enjoy together, as opposed to music that is just for kids or just for adults, Nason said. An article in the New York Times Magazine said the former rock singer "is on a mission to make kids' music cool. Special guests on his albums include Lou Reed, Aimee Mann, Natalie Merchant, Sheryl Crow and Rosanne Cash.

Zanes' band includes Rankin Don, a.k.a. Father Goose, who joins Zanes on stage to rap nursery rhymes and the ABCs. Other regular appearances on the set list include "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," "Polly Wolly Doodle" and "The Hokey Pokey."

Zanes spent the 1980s as the lead singer and songwriter for the indie rock band the Del Fuegos. In 1991 after the band broke up, Zanes moved to the Catskills and listened to a lot of gospel groups from the '40s and '50s. With the birth of his daughter in 1994, he found himself playing traditional music with a lot of other fathers while watching their kids, and they soon became a playground hit. This marked the beginning of the second chapter of Zanes' career, whose "Romper Rock" has found its way into the pages of Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and Entertainment Weekly.

Patrons are invited to bring their children to the theater beginning at 2 p.m. to learn more about folk music instruments from local musicians in the St. John Pavilion at the Long Center. Families also are invited to stay after the show and meet Zanes and his band at an autograph session in the pavilion.

Tickets to Dan Zane and Friends are $24 for adults and $15 for children and are available at the Elliott Hall and Stewart Center box offices at (765) 494-3933 or (800) 914-SHOW. Tickets also are available through Ticketmaster outlets. The show is recommended for all ages, and is particularly geared to preschoolers.

Writer: Christy Jones, (765) 494-1089, christyjones@purdue.edu

Source: Kerry Schutt Nason, Purdue Convocations director of marketing, (765) 494-5045, knason@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

Publication-quality photographs of Dan Zanes and Friends are available at https://www.purdue.edu/convos/zanesimages.shtml