Randy Kaplan
Encyclopedia
Randy Kaplan is an American songwriter
, playwright
, poet
, and performer. He gained notoriety for his “not-JUST-for-kids” music in the mid-aughts, first in Brooklyn
, NY and later nationwide. Dedicated members of his fan base call themselves FORKs (Fans of Randy Kaplan).
Randy has released three not-JUST-for-kids CDs: Five Cent Piece (2006), Loquat Rooftop (2008), and The Kids Are All Id (2010). His fourth, Mr. Diddie Wah Diddie (a collection of Randyized versions of classic American country-blues
and ragtime
numbers from the early- to mid-20th century) is due out in early 2012.
Loquat Rooftop was voted a top ten CD of the year by NPR (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97510376) and COOL MOM PICKS, and his Sirius XM Radio hit “No Nothing” was nominated for Best Children’s Song of the Year by JUST PLAIN FOLKS
(http://www.jpfolks.com/).
The Kids Are All Id was voted a Top Ten CD of the Year by TIME OUT NEW YORK KIDS, FIDS AND KAMILIES (http://fidsandkamily.blogspot.com/), ZOOBLOBBLE (http://www.zooglobble.com/archives/2010/12/best_kids_music_2010_top_20_albums.html), OWTK (http://owtk.com/2010/11/owtk-2010-kindie-top-ten/), and FAMILY MAN ONLINE (which placed the record in the #1 spot). The Kids Are All Id was also voted a top five CD of the year by the NICKELODEON PARENTS PICKS awards and it won NAPPA’s highest honor, their Gold Award (http://nappaawards.parenthood.com/music10_4up.php).
, Long Island
around the corner from the landmark John Coltrane House
. He was educated at The University of Michigan
and The University of California Los Angeles and studied music at The Dick Grove School of Music in Van Nuys and with Fran Banish. Randy has lived in New York
, Los Angeles
, and Lawrence, Kansas
.
In the late 1980s Randy acted on TV sitcoms such as Growing Pains
, A Different World, and Ferris Bueller
and in dramas such as Beauty and the Beast
. He has also appeared in plays and films, and had his poetry published by Ugly Duckling Presse
(http://www.uglyducklingpresse.org/catalog/browse/item/?pubID=78).
Kaplan fronted the band “i” in Los Angeles for several years in the early 1990s. They performed at LA clubs such as The Troubadour, The Whisky-A-Go-Go
, and The Roxy
and at many other venues on the West Coast and in the Southwest sharing bills with bands and performers such as The Mother Hips
, Chuck E. Weiss
, Eleni Mandell
, Dan Bern
, and Andras Jones
and the Previous.
In 1993 Randy moved to New York City
. He lived and worked on the Lower East Side
and performed at venues such as Sin-é
, The Living Room
, and The Bottom Line. He released his first CD, Boyish Hips, in 1997. He has toured extensively throughout the USA, appearing at clubs, cafes, bars, and roadhouse
s in more than thirty states.
, Country Blues
, and Comedic Storytelling. He finger-picks and strums his way through unpredictable live shows which, in addition to his original compositions, include Tin Pan Alley
gems, Broadway
numbers, and Delta Blues
songs. “He doesn’t dumb it down for the kids… He just expects them to come along for the ride. And they do” (TIME OUT NEW YORK KIDS - http://timeoutnewyorkkids.com/arts-entertainment/movies-music-stage/58695/guitar-hero-too). As indebted to Maurice Sendak
and Ogden Nash
as he is to Woody Guthrie
and Dave Van Ronk
, “(Randy’s) original songs… are as imaginative and rambling as a preschooler” (THE LOVELY MRS. DAVIS). Randy started his kids’ music career in Park Slope, Brooklyn
where he was a music teacher at Beansprouts preschool and where he sang twice weekly at Perch Cafe. He now lives in Los Angeles, California.
“One of the most exciting newcomers to kids’ music since Dan Zanes
” (PARENTING MAGAZINE), Randy has released three children’s albums so far. All have been recorded by country-folk music master Mike West in Lawrence, Kansas. “FIVE CENT PIECE (2006) combines a gloriously wacky collection of oldies (and originals)” (NEW YORK MAGAZINE). It features all-time classics like "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," "Kids" (from Bye Bye Birdie), and "You Can't Always Get What You Want
" (a good first mantra for children) as well as original songs like "Shampoo Me" (the account of the friendly but demanding shark
in the bathtub), "Mosquito Song," and "Roaches" (they're tryin' on your underwear, checkin' out your grocery list, readin' your copy of Metamorphosis
).
“LOQUAT ROOFTOP (2008), Randy’s second kids’ CD, is Kaplan at his best: Memories; images, figurative and literal; sights, sounds… flavors, textures; humor and fun” (KIDSMUSICTHATROCKS.com). Like its predecessor, Loquat Rooftop contains its share of classics, such as “Charlie Brown
”, “Move It On Over”, and “Tomorrow” (from Annie
) and original songs like “No Nothing” (the tale of the depraved cat “Nothing” and the hungry monkey “Kqxhc” – you’ll have to hear the song to see how his name’s pronounced!), the eponymous “Loquat Rooftop”, and “The Ladybug Without Spots” (after an ill-advised watermelon seed gluing spree a ladybug devoid of polka dots learns to accept her spotless self). “Loquat Rooftop (is a) mixture of blues and folk-rock, laced with good humor and heart” (ZOOGLOBBLE.com) and was voted one of the Top Ten Children’s CDs of 2008 by NPR (NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO) and COOL MOM PICKS. “No Nothing” and “The Ladybug Without Spots” are among the most requested songs on SIRIUS-XM Radio’s Kids Place Live; Randy has also guest-hosted The Absolutely Mindy Show (Sirius-XM ch. 78) and performed concerts at XM Radio Headquarters in Washington D.C. (for their Rumpus Room series) which have since been rebroadcast several times.
Randy studied philosophy, writing, and literature at The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and at U.C.L.A. He then trained in acting, improvisation, and writing with Scott Bernstein in Los Angeles. Randy’s theater credits include Spring Awakening, Fifty Minutes, and The Fresca Wars. He has also acted in films (Never Say Goodbye
, Missing Parents) and on television shows such as Beauty and the Beast, Growing Pains, and A Different World. As a singer and songwriter, he has toured throughout the U.S. and released eleven CDs.
Randy collaborated with Brian & Erin Schey on CLEAVE, a musical comedy that was staged at The Boulder International Fringe Festival
in Colorado
in 2008 and in which Randy co-starred. Randy’s poetry has been published by Ugly Duckling Presse and he is the recipient of several ASCAP awards for his work.
In addition to his three not-ONLY-for-kids CDs, Randy has released nine not-REALLY-for-kids CDs. For the past five years he has worked with folk
and bluegrass
master Mike West who produced and recorded Randy's records in Lawrence, Kansas at his Ninth Ward Pickin' Parlor.
Not-REALLY-For-Kids CDs
SONGS FOR OLD LOVERS (2011) is a true concept album
which pays tribute to some of the earliest concept albums in American pop music history. Randy's original compositions are responses to songs from the 1930s and 40s, standards recorded by the likes of Frank Sinatra
, Peggy Lee
, Chet Baker
, and Nat King Cole
. There are nods to the songwriting styles of the day throughout, both harmonically and lyrically. (adapted from the liner notes by Montague Z. Young)
DURANGO (2008), a collection of 11 songs Randy co-wrote with Brian Schey over the past two decades, was released in November 2008. The record is bookended by two jazz/pop piano-based songs, the title track and "No Matter What" (which also appeared on the CD REBORN AS BEES in 1999). There are also skewed rock anthems, Mexican surf numbers, and cabaret-influenced ballads. Brian Schey is an accomplished composer, arranger, and producer who has toured the US and Europe as a bassist with, among others, Dan Bern and Great American Taxi. Randy and Brian have worked together in many styles, from rock to jazz to musical theater. Brian’s latest project is RUE, a gypsy-jazz-influenced band he formed with his wife, Erin Schey.
ANCIENT RUINS (2007) contains several bluegrass numbers - fiddle, banjo, guitar, upright bass and all- but there's also the trademark Kaplan unorthodox ballads and curiously anthemic rock songs. Along with his ten originals, Kaplan covers Nirvana's
"On a Plain
," Prince's
"I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man
," and Grandmaster Flash
's "The Message" (transforming this old school rap classic into a bluegrass barn burner).
For his CD PERFECT GENTLEMAN (2004) Randy amassed a collection of cheap yard-sale organs. He used their built-in drum samples to create rhythm tracks; he then utilized these rock, jazz, waltz, swing, bossa nova, dixie, cha-cha, and rhumba beats to fashion songs ranging from simply-structured folk and country ballads to torch song
s, lampoons, spirituals, and satire
s. By editing, manipulating, and overlapping the beats from these various 1970's organs Randy transformed the crude and kitschy samples into more polished and developed sounds. At times, though, he just placed a sound 'as is' into a new context. The characters who inhabit these songs often seek to gain mastery over their chronic pathologies, or at least to acknowledge them. These characters include an anti-prophet who asks only that he be given as big a funeral as Jesus
and Moses
, an overweight middle-aged man who carries around a picture of his shirtless teen-aged self in order to lure women, the ghosts of Edith Wharton
and Alexander Hamilton
, a trucker driven to prostitutes by southern evangelical radio preachers, and the first human on earth (the hermaphrodite
, Eve).
MIRACULOUS DISSOLVING CURES (2001) is a musically rich collection of threnodies and noiresque tales that find Kaplan battling the forces of love and loss as well as the hypocrisy of both the secular and religious worlds. In "Crushed Berries" the narrator laments that his "friends will save a fly from a spiderweb but then they'll order rack of lamb or baby back ribs." In "Volunteers" the ghost of Job's wife rails against G-d for letting her children die "because of some bet, some stupid bet." "Cutty Reel" is the dreamscape of a jilted degenerate; in an attempt to win back his beloved, he tries to buy a voodoo doll of her but finds that they're "all sold out." Stylistically, the record ranges from the quasi-Latin beat of "Crushed Berries" to the hint of electronica in "The Girl Who's Done It All" to the irresistible mix of synthesizer and Spanish guitar throughout "Unpaid Bills." There's also a full-color 12-page CD booklet featuring abstract paintings (by Yasmina Palumbo, Leila Hamilton, Masha Solomon, Lucille Dreyblatt, and others) juxtaposed to the words for each song. MDC was recorded by Colin Mahoney in Lawrence, Kansas. The record also features Brian Schey on bass and Bradford Hoopes on keyboards.
In 1999 Randy released two albums simultaneously, REBORN AS BEES and LAKE CHAMPIONS. Both were recorded at Z'gwon,th Studios in Lawrence, Kansas by Colin Mahoney, who also played drums. BEES was created as a tribute to Randy's father, who died in an automobile accident in the summer of 1997, and as an investigation of grief and hope. It is an eloquently dark and sometimes angry record but it is also universal in its hard-driving and melodic psychological study of loss, unfulfilled love, and the struggle to find second chances. Backed up by a full band, Kaplan opens the album quietly and gently with cautious hope in his voice: "I know the end is near but so is the beginning." He sings about unanswered prayers in "Deaf Ears," of a numb rebounding in "No Matter What," and with paranoid and helpless rage in "Many Times Over" and "Great Disguise." REBORN AS BEES, whose title comes from a Chasidic saying via Martin Buber
, is a true concept album.
LAKE CHAMPIONS was recorded during the REBORN AS BEES sessions. On a day when Randy didn't feel like working on BEES, he sat down with his guitar and recorded eight songs. He sent the demo to his anarchivist Scott Bernstein who decreed that it must be made into an official album. Randy sat down one more time and recorded eight additional songs. This eclectic record has just about everything: torch songs, ballads, and tales; hope, love, and despair. In "Drunk As Can Be" a southern boozer tries to extricate himself from an addictive relationship. In "I Didn't Buy It," a sympathetic cad second-guesses himself and his dearly disposed. The narrator of "Gold" enjoys requited and true love while in "Robinson Crusoe
" a man with a strong sense of entitlement tries to lay down the rules for a lopsided affair. In "Next To You" a woman makes her lover feel like Humbert Humbert and Jack the Ripper
. A man visits the seedy bars of his old neighborhood in "Standard Time Chop" and, repulsed, is filled with domestic yearnings. In "G-d's Song" a gentle, forthright, practical, and insecure G-d revises his commandments - eliminating circumcision
, easing the strictures on sexuality
, condoning drug use
, and admitting that even He isn't quite sure of what's going on. LAKE CHAMPIONS is a personal and intimate album that touches on all the trademark Kaplan subjects.
In early 1997, Randy recorded BOYISH HIPS at his friend Scott Bernstein's Hollywood apartment on his Tascam 4-track cassette recorder. On the record, his first CD, Randy used guitar, harmonica, piano, Fender Rhodes, and pots & pans as percussion instruments to orchestrate a joyful, Caribbeanesque sound. This deceptively light collection of songs includes "Slow Eater," in which a man denies being a binger and instead blames others for eating too slowly and too sparsely. In "Everyone I See," a man employs skewed logic to defend his inability to commit himself to one woman. "Coach Joe" tells the story of the life and death of a sexual predator
. In "Ten Page Letter," a woman demands "action not words" from a man who can do nothing about his feelings but express them in letters. "Send For Our Stuff" is both a love song and a tribute to the naive beauty of Los Angeles (where Randy lived for eight years), seen here as a place where one's innocence may be renewed. The confessional poem "Live Tigers" is set to piano and nylon-string guitar music for the record's final track. This experimental album is full of lyrical and emotional minefields and fraught with neurotic wit, unbridled perplexity, and desperate passions. The narrators of these songs have insatiable cravings for sex, food, love, and, sometimes, self-destruction.
Music videos
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, and performer. He gained notoriety for his “not-JUST-for-kids” music in the mid-aughts, first in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, NY and later nationwide. Dedicated members of his fan base call themselves FORKs (Fans of Randy Kaplan).
Randy has released three not-JUST-for-kids CDs: Five Cent Piece (2006), Loquat Rooftop (2008), and The Kids Are All Id (2010). His fourth, Mr. Diddie Wah Diddie (a collection of Randyized versions of classic American country-blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and ragtime
Ragtime
Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...
numbers from the early- to mid-20th century) is due out in early 2012.
Loquat Rooftop was voted a top ten CD of the year by NPR (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97510376) and COOL MOM PICKS, and his Sirius XM Radio hit “No Nothing” was nominated for Best Children’s Song of the Year by JUST PLAIN FOLKS
Just Plain Folks Music Organization
Just Plain Folks Music Organization is a website and community founded by Brian Austin Whitney with the intent of helping anyone involved in the music industry to network, share their experiences, build relationships, and grow...
(http://www.jpfolks.com/).
The Kids Are All Id was voted a Top Ten CD of the Year by TIME OUT NEW YORK KIDS, FIDS AND KAMILIES (http://fidsandkamily.blogspot.com/), ZOOBLOBBLE (http://www.zooglobble.com/archives/2010/12/best_kids_music_2010_top_20_albums.html), OWTK (http://owtk.com/2010/11/owtk-2010-kindie-top-ten/), and FAMILY MAN ONLINE (which placed the record in the #1 spot). The Kids Are All Id was also voted a top five CD of the year by the NICKELODEON PARENTS PICKS awards and it won NAPPA’s highest honor, their Gold Award (http://nappaawards.parenthood.com/music10_4up.php).
History
Kaplan grew up in Dix HillsDix Hills, New York
Dix Hills is a hamlet Dix Hills is a hamlet Dix Hills is a hamlet (and a census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Huntington on the North Shore of Long Island in Suffolk County, New York, United States. Dix Hills was named the 19th most affluent U.S. neighborhood by Forbes in 2008.. It is one...
, Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
around the corner from the landmark John Coltrane House
John Coltrane House
John Coltrane House was the home of saxophonist and jazz pioneer John Coltrane from 1952 until 1958. He continued to use the house as an alternate residence to his New York home until the end of his life. On his death in 1967 the house passed to his cousin...
. He was educated at The University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
and The University of California Los Angeles and studied music at The Dick Grove School of Music in Van Nuys and with Fran Banish. Randy has lived in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, and Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County...
.
In the late 1980s Randy acted on TV sitcoms such as Growing Pains
Growing Pains
Growing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in Huntington, New York, with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on ABC from September 24, 1985 to April 25, 1992.-Synopsis:The show's premise is based...
, A Different World, and Ferris Bueller
Ferris Bueller (TV series)
Ferris Bueller is an American sitcom based on the 1986 John Hughes's film Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It debuted on August 23, 1990, on NBC and was cancelled within its first season, a few months after its debut....
and in dramas such as Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast (TV series)
Beauty and the Beast is an American drama series which first aired on CBS in 1987. Creator Ron Koslow's updated version of the fairy tale has a double focus: the relationship between Vincent , a mythic, noble man-beast, and his Catherine , a savvy assistant District attorney in New York; and a...
. He has also appeared in plays and films, and had his poetry published by Ugly Duckling Presse
Ugly Duckling Presse
Ugly Duckling Presse is an American nonprofit art and publishing collective based in Brooklyn, New York City that publishes small to mid-size runs of poetry, translations, lost works, and artist's books. It was founded in 1993 by Matvei Yankelevich as a college zine before expanding to publishing...
(http://www.uglyducklingpresse.org/catalog/browse/item/?pubID=78).
Kaplan fronted the band “i” in Los Angeles for several years in the early 1990s. They performed at LA clubs such as The Troubadour, The Whisky-A-Go-Go
Whisky a Go Go
The Whisky a Go Go is a nightclub in West Hollywood, California, United States. It is located at 8901 Sunset Boulevard, on the Sunset Strip.-History:...
, and The Roxy
The Roxy
The Roxy was a fashionable nightclub on Neal Street in London's Covent Garden, known for hosting the flowering British punk music scene in its infancy.-Brief history:...
and at many other venues on the West Coast and in the Southwest sharing bills with bands and performers such as The Mother Hips
The Mother Hips
-Formation and Debut:Tim Bluhm , Greg Loiacono , Isaac Parsons and Mike Wofchuck met in 1990 while attending California State University-Chico, living off campus in Bradley Hall...
, Chuck E. Weiss
Chuck E. Weiss
-History:Chuck E. Weiss grew up in Denver, Colorado, where his parents owned a record store . Through his parents, and by spending time at the local blues bar Ebbett's Field, he met Lightnin' Hopkins. Lightnin' was impressed with his drum playing and took him on tour, where Weiss had the...
, Eleni Mandell
Eleni Mandell
Eleni Mandell is an American singer-songwriter. She currently publishes albums through Zedtone in Toronto, Ontario...
, Dan Bern
Dan Bern
Dan Bern is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, novelist and painter. His music is often compared to that of Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen, Phil Ochs and Elvis Costello....
, and Andras Jones
Andras Jones
Andras Jones is an American actor who has worked in movies and in television. He is perhaps best known for his role in the 1988 hit horror movie A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master as the central character Rick Johnson....
and the Previous.
In 1993 Randy moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He lived and worked on the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
and performed at venues such as Sin-é
Sin-é
Sin-é was the name of a music venue in New York City which helped launch the careers of several noted musicians in the early 1990s.-Original café:...
, The Living Room
The Living Room
The Living Room is a music venue on Ludlow Street on the Lower East Side in New York City that was established in 1988. The Living Room is co-owned by Steve Rosenthal and Jennifer Gilson. The Living Room has showcased some of the best of New York City’s singer/songwriter, alt-country, and rock world...
, and The Bottom Line. He released his first CD, Boyish Hips, in 1997. He has toured extensively throughout the USA, appearing at clubs, cafes, bars, and roadhouse
Roadhouse
Roadhouse may refer to:* Roadhouse * Texas Roadhouse, a western theme restaurant chain* Logan's Roadhouse, western theme steakhouse* Receiving house, a type of theatre venue- Film :* Road House ,...
s in more than thirty states.
Work
In his songs for children and their families, Kaplan blends American RootsAmerican Roots Music
American Roots Music is a 2001 multi-part documentary film that explores the historical roots of American Roots music through footage and performances by the creators of the movement: Folk, Country, Blues, Gospel, Bluegrass, and many others....
, Country Blues
Country blues
Country blues is a general term that refers to all the acoustic, mainly guitar-driven forms of the blues. It often incorporated elements of rural gospel, ragtime, hillbilly, and dixieland jazz...
, and Comedic Storytelling. He finger-picks and strums his way through unpredictable live shows which, in addition to his original compositions, include Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century...
gems, Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
numbers, and Delta Blues
Delta blues
The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, Helena, Arkansas in the west to the Yazoo River on the east. The...
songs. “He doesn’t dumb it down for the kids… He just expects them to come along for the ride. And they do” (TIME OUT NEW YORK KIDS - http://timeoutnewyorkkids.com/arts-entertainment/movies-music-stage/58695/guitar-hero-too). As indebted to Maurice Sendak
Maurice Sendak
Maurice Bernard Sendak is an American writer and illustrator of children's literature. He is best known for his book Where the Wild Things Are, published in 1963.-Early life:...
and Ogden Nash
Ogden Nash
Frederic Ogden Nash was an American poet well known for his light verse. At the time of his death in 1971, the New York Times said his "droll verse with its unconventional rhymes made him the country's best-known producer of humorous poetry".-Early life:Nash was born in Rye, New York...
as he is to Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
and Dave Van Ronk
Dave Van Ronk
Dave Van Ronk was an American folk singer, born in Brooklyn, New York, who settled in Greenwich Village, New York, and was eventually nicknamed the "Mayor of MacDougal Street" ....
, “(Randy’s) original songs… are as imaginative and rambling as a preschooler” (THE LOVELY MRS. DAVIS). Randy started his kids’ music career in Park Slope, Brooklyn
Park Slope, Brooklyn
Park Slope is a neighborhood in western Brooklyn, New York City's most populous borough. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush Avenue to the north, and 15th Street to the south, though other definitions are sometimes offered. Generally...
where he was a music teacher at Beansprouts preschool and where he sang twice weekly at Perch Cafe. He now lives in Los Angeles, California.
“One of the most exciting newcomers to kids’ music since Dan Zanes
Dan Zanes
Dan Zanes was a member of the popular 1980s band The Del Fuegos and is currently the front man of the Grammy-winning group Dan Zanes and Friends.-History:...
” (PARENTING MAGAZINE), Randy has released three children’s albums so far. All have been recorded by country-folk music master Mike West in Lawrence, Kansas. “FIVE CENT PIECE (2006) combines a gloriously wacky collection of oldies (and originals)” (NEW YORK MAGAZINE). It features all-time classics like "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," "Kids" (from Bye Bye Birdie), and "You Can't Always Get What You Want
You Can't Always Get What You Want
"You Can't Always Get What You Want" is a song by The Rolling Stones released on their 1969 album Let It Bleed. Written primarily by Mick Jagger with assistance from Keith Richards, it was named as the 100th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone in its 2004 list of "500 Greatest Songs of All...
" (a good first mantra for children) as well as original songs like "Shampoo Me" (the account of the friendly but demanding shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
in the bathtub), "Mosquito Song," and "Roaches" (they're tryin' on your underwear, checkin' out your grocery list, readin' your copy of Metamorphosis
The Metamorphosis
The Metamorphosis is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. It is often cited as one of the seminal works of short fiction of the 20th century and is widely studied in colleges and universities across the western world...
).
“LOQUAT ROOFTOP (2008), Randy’s second kids’ CD, is Kaplan at his best: Memories; images, figurative and literal; sights, sounds… flavors, textures; humor and fun” (KIDSMUSICTHATROCKS.com). Like its predecessor, Loquat Rooftop contains its share of classics, such as “Charlie Brown
Charlie Brown (song)
"Charlie Brown" is a popular Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller song that was a top-ten hit for The Coasters in the spring of 1959 . It went to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts, and was the first of three top-ten hits for the Coasters that year...
”, “Move It On Over”, and “Tomorrow” (from Annie
Annie (musical)
Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years with a blonde Annie as the poster...
) and original songs like “No Nothing” (the tale of the depraved cat “Nothing” and the hungry monkey “Kqxhc” – you’ll have to hear the song to see how his name’s pronounced!), the eponymous “Loquat Rooftop”, and “The Ladybug Without Spots” (after an ill-advised watermelon seed gluing spree a ladybug devoid of polka dots learns to accept her spotless self). “Loquat Rooftop (is a) mixture of blues and folk-rock, laced with good humor and heart” (ZOOGLOBBLE.com) and was voted one of the Top Ten Children’s CDs of 2008 by NPR (NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO) and COOL MOM PICKS. “No Nothing” and “The Ladybug Without Spots” are among the most requested songs on SIRIUS-XM Radio’s Kids Place Live; Randy has also guest-hosted The Absolutely Mindy Show (Sirius-XM ch. 78) and performed concerts at XM Radio Headquarters in Washington D.C. (for their Rumpus Room series) which have since been rebroadcast several times.
Randy studied philosophy, writing, and literature at The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and at U.C.L.A. He then trained in acting, improvisation, and writing with Scott Bernstein in Los Angeles. Randy’s theater credits include Spring Awakening, Fifty Minutes, and The Fresca Wars. He has also acted in films (Never Say Goodbye
Never Say Goodbye (film)
Never Say Goodbye is a 1956 film starring Rock Hudson and Clint Eastwood.-Cast:* Rock Hudson as Dr. Michael Parker* Cornell Borchers as Lisa Gosting* George Sanders as Victor* Shelley Fabares as Suzy Parker* Ray Collins as Dr. Bailey...
, Missing Parents) and on television shows such as Beauty and the Beast, Growing Pains, and A Different World. As a singer and songwriter, he has toured throughout the U.S. and released eleven CDs.
Randy collaborated with Brian & Erin Schey on CLEAVE, a musical comedy that was staged at The Boulder International Fringe Festival
Boulder International Film Festival
Boulder International Film Festival sponsored by the Colorado Film Society, is held annually on Presidents Day Weekend in Boulder, Colorado USA, and has developed a reputation as one of the most influential young film festivals in the U.S., with an extraordinary number of new-but-unknown feature...
in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
in 2008 and in which Randy co-starred. Randy’s poetry has been published by Ugly Duckling Presse and he is the recipient of several ASCAP awards for his work.
In addition to his three not-ONLY-for-kids CDs, Randy has released nine not-REALLY-for-kids CDs. For the past five years he has worked with folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
master Mike West who produced and recorded Randy's records in Lawrence, Kansas at his Ninth Ward Pickin' Parlor.
Not-REALLY-For-Kids CDs
SONGS FOR OLD LOVERS (2011) is a true concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
which pays tribute to some of the earliest concept albums in American pop music history. Randy's original compositions are responses to songs from the 1930s and 40s, standards recorded by the likes of Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and...
, Chet Baker
Chet Baker
Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...
, and Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...
. There are nods to the songwriting styles of the day throughout, both harmonically and lyrically. (adapted from the liner notes by Montague Z. Young)
DURANGO (2008), a collection of 11 songs Randy co-wrote with Brian Schey over the past two decades, was released in November 2008. The record is bookended by two jazz/pop piano-based songs, the title track and "No Matter What" (which also appeared on the CD REBORN AS BEES in 1999). There are also skewed rock anthems, Mexican surf numbers, and cabaret-influenced ballads. Brian Schey is an accomplished composer, arranger, and producer who has toured the US and Europe as a bassist with, among others, Dan Bern and Great American Taxi. Randy and Brian have worked together in many styles, from rock to jazz to musical theater. Brian’s latest project is RUE, a gypsy-jazz-influenced band he formed with his wife, Erin Schey.
ANCIENT RUINS (2007) contains several bluegrass numbers - fiddle, banjo, guitar, upright bass and all- but there's also the trademark Kaplan unorthodox ballads and curiously anthemic rock songs. Along with his ten originals, Kaplan covers Nirvana's
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
"On a Plain
On a Plain
"On a Plain" is a song by the American grunge band Nirvana. It is the eleventh song on their major label debut, Nevermind .-History:...
," Prince's
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
"I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man
I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man
Jordan Knight, of New Kids on the Block, recorded a cover of the song as a ballad for his 1999 self-titled solo debut. The video debuted on TRL on July 27, 1999 at number 10.-Track listing:US Single...
," and Grandmaster Flash
Grandmaster Flash
Joseph Saddler better known as King Grandmaster Flash, is an American hip hop musician and DJ; one of the pioneers of hip-hop DJing, cutting, and mixing....
's "The Message" (transforming this old school rap classic into a bluegrass barn burner).
For his CD PERFECT GENTLEMAN (2004) Randy amassed a collection of cheap yard-sale organs. He used their built-in drum samples to create rhythm tracks; he then utilized these rock, jazz, waltz, swing, bossa nova, dixie, cha-cha, and rhumba beats to fashion songs ranging from simply-structured folk and country ballads to torch song
Torch song
A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affected the relationship...
s, lampoons, spirituals, and satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
s. By editing, manipulating, and overlapping the beats from these various 1970's organs Randy transformed the crude and kitschy samples into more polished and developed sounds. At times, though, he just placed a sound 'as is' into a new context. The characters who inhabit these songs often seek to gain mastery over their chronic pathologies, or at least to acknowledge them. These characters include an anti-prophet who asks only that he be given as big a funeral as Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
and Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
, an overweight middle-aged man who carries around a picture of his shirtless teen-aged self in order to lure women, the ghosts of Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton , was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, short story writer, and designer.- Early life and marriage:...
and Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton was a Founding Father, soldier, economist, political philosopher, one of America's first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury...
, a trucker driven to prostitutes by southern evangelical radio preachers, and the first human on earth (the hermaphrodite
Hermaphrodite
In biology, a hermaphrodite is an organism that has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes.Many taxonomic groups of animals do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which both...
, Eve).
MIRACULOUS DISSOLVING CURES (2001) is a musically rich collection of threnodies and noiresque tales that find Kaplan battling the forces of love and loss as well as the hypocrisy of both the secular and religious worlds. In "Crushed Berries" the narrator laments that his "friends will save a fly from a spiderweb but then they'll order rack of lamb or baby back ribs." In "Volunteers" the ghost of Job's wife rails against G-d for letting her children die "because of some bet, some stupid bet." "Cutty Reel" is the dreamscape of a jilted degenerate; in an attempt to win back his beloved, he tries to buy a voodoo doll of her but finds that they're "all sold out." Stylistically, the record ranges from the quasi-Latin beat of "Crushed Berries" to the hint of electronica in "The Girl Who's Done It All" to the irresistible mix of synthesizer and Spanish guitar throughout "Unpaid Bills." There's also a full-color 12-page CD booklet featuring abstract paintings (by Yasmina Palumbo, Leila Hamilton, Masha Solomon, Lucille Dreyblatt, and others) juxtaposed to the words for each song. MDC was recorded by Colin Mahoney in Lawrence, Kansas. The record also features Brian Schey on bass and Bradford Hoopes on keyboards.
In 1999 Randy released two albums simultaneously, REBORN AS BEES and LAKE CHAMPIONS. Both were recorded at Z'gwon,th Studios in Lawrence, Kansas by Colin Mahoney, who also played drums. BEES was created as a tribute to Randy's father, who died in an automobile accident in the summer of 1997, and as an investigation of grief and hope. It is an eloquently dark and sometimes angry record but it is also universal in its hard-driving and melodic psychological study of loss, unfulfilled love, and the struggle to find second chances. Backed up by a full band, Kaplan opens the album quietly and gently with cautious hope in his voice: "I know the end is near but so is the beginning." He sings about unanswered prayers in "Deaf Ears," of a numb rebounding in "No Matter What," and with paranoid and helpless rage in "Many Times Over" and "Great Disguise." REBORN AS BEES, whose title comes from a Chasidic saying via Martin Buber
Martin Buber
Martin Buber was an Austrian-born Jewish philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of religious existentialism centered on the distinction between the I-Thou relationship and the I-It relationship....
, is a true concept album.
LAKE CHAMPIONS was recorded during the REBORN AS BEES sessions. On a day when Randy didn't feel like working on BEES, he sat down with his guitar and recorded eight songs. He sent the demo to his anarchivist Scott Bernstein who decreed that it must be made into an official album. Randy sat down one more time and recorded eight additional songs. This eclectic record has just about everything: torch songs, ballads, and tales; hope, love, and despair. In "Drunk As Can Be" a southern boozer tries to extricate himself from an addictive relationship. In "I Didn't Buy It," a sympathetic cad second-guesses himself and his dearly disposed. The narrator of "Gold" enjoys requited and true love while in "Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe that was first published in 1719. Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is a fictional autobiography of the title character—a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and...
" a man with a strong sense of entitlement tries to lay down the rules for a lopsided affair. In "Next To You" a woman makes her lover feel like Humbert Humbert and Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
. A man visits the seedy bars of his old neighborhood in "Standard Time Chop" and, repulsed, is filled with domestic yearnings. In "G-d's Song" a gentle, forthright, practical, and insecure G-d revises his commandments - eliminating circumcision
Circumcision
Male circumcision is the surgical removal of some or all of the foreskin from the penis. The word "circumcision" comes from Latin and ....
, easing the strictures on sexuality
Sexuality
Sexuality may refer to:*Human sexuality**Human male sexuality**Human female sexuality**Child sexuality**Human sexual activity*Sex in biology*Gender identity; how someone identifies themselves in terms of gender*Sexual orientation...
, condoning drug use
Drug use
Drug use may refer to any drug use; or:* Drug abuse* Drug addiction* Entheogenic drug use* Medication* Performance-enhancing drug use* Recreational drug use* Self medication...
, and admitting that even He isn't quite sure of what's going on. LAKE CHAMPIONS is a personal and intimate album that touches on all the trademark Kaplan subjects.
In early 1997, Randy recorded BOYISH HIPS at his friend Scott Bernstein's Hollywood apartment on his Tascam 4-track cassette recorder. On the record, his first CD, Randy used guitar, harmonica, piano, Fender Rhodes, and pots & pans as percussion instruments to orchestrate a joyful, Caribbeanesque sound. This deceptively light collection of songs includes "Slow Eater," in which a man denies being a binger and instead blames others for eating too slowly and too sparsely. In "Everyone I See," a man employs skewed logic to defend his inability to commit himself to one woman. "Coach Joe" tells the story of the life and death of a sexual predator
Sexual predator
The term sexual predator is used pejoratively to describe a person seen as obtaining or trying to obtain sexual contact with another person in a metaphorically "predatory" manner. Analogous to how a predator hunts down its prey, so the sexual predator is thought to "hunt" for his or her sex partners...
. In "Ten Page Letter," a woman demands "action not words" from a man who can do nothing about his feelings but express them in letters. "Send For Our Stuff" is both a love song and a tribute to the naive beauty of Los Angeles (where Randy lived for eight years), seen here as a place where one's innocence may be renewed. The confessional poem "Live Tigers" is set to piano and nylon-string guitar music for the record's final track. This experimental album is full of lyrical and emotional minefields and fraught with neurotic wit, unbridled perplexity, and desperate passions. The narrators of these songs have insatiable cravings for sex, food, love, and, sometimes, self-destruction.
Discography
- Mr. Diddie Wah Diddie (upcoming - 2012 - FAMILY CD)
- Songs for Old Lovers (2011)
- The Kids Are All Id (2010 – FAMILY CD)
- Durango (2008)
- Loquat Rooftop (2008 – FAMILY CD)
- Ancient Ruins (2008)
- Five Cent Piece (2006 – FAMILY CD)
- Perfect Gentleman (2004)
- Miraculous Dissolving Cures (2001)
- Lake Champions (1999)
- Reborn As Bees (1999)
- Boyish Hips (1997)
Music videos
- The Ladybug Without Spots (Mindsmack TV)
- I’m Not Hungry (Gabriel Leigh)
- Why the Angels Eat (Gabriel Leigh)