arts&life
music
Music Man
SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Musician Randy
Kaplan is the whole
package — roots
rocker, storyteller,
laugh-out-loud
funny and fun for
the whole family.
ABOVE: Randy Kaplan with a fan.
details
Randy Kaplan will perform
at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 11,
at the Ann Arbor District Library
Westgate Branch, 2503 Jackson.
Free admission. (734) 327-4200;
aadl.org. For information on other
upcoming performances, visit his
website at randykaplan.com.
andy Kaplan left the
University of Michigan
after his sophomore year
in 1986 to pursue an acting
career in California and New
York. As he found intermit-
tent work in theater and films
— but mostly on television
(Growing Pains, Beauty and the
Beast, A Different World) — he
also looked for opportunities
to sing and play guitar. Along
the way, he earned an English
degree from the University of
California at Los Angeles.
R
nition through the National
Parenting Product Awards and
Nickelodeon Parents’ Picks
Awards as well as on Top Ten
Lists of National Public Radio
and People magazine. He also
is a three-time winner of the
ASCAP Plus Award.
While in California, Kaplan
met Julie May, a singer who
grew up in West Bloomfield and
Bloomfield Hills and worked
as assistant to comedian Dana
Carvey. After marrying and hav-
ing a son (Ryland, now 6), the
One temporary job, teach-
ing at a preschool, got him
interested in children’s music,
and that came to the forefront
of his entertainment projects.
Kaplan began composing, per-
forming and recording upbeat
sounds for young people and
their families.
Six children’s albums later,
along with eight adult albums,
Kaplan holds notable recog-
couple decided they wanted to
stay close to family and returned
to Michigan in 2015.
With a master’s degree
in teaching from Oakland
University, Kaplan became an
English and music teacher at
Farber Hebrew Day School
in Southfield and continued
his entertainment career on
weekends. His wife arranged
bookings, taking him to venues
around Michigan and beyond.
Kaplan’s next show will be
in the city he knows well as a
student and performer — Ann
Arbor, where he will be intro-
ducing songs from his seventh
album, tentatively titled 6
Strings 12 Yams, among a larger
program that begins at 3 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 11, at the Westgate
Branch of the Ann Arbor
District Library.
“When I sing live, I play
acoustic guitar and use a little
harmonica rack a la Bob Dylan
so I can accompany myself with
an additional instrument,” says
Kaplan, 51, who also tutors vari-
ous subjects. “I will include a mix
of all six albums. I do requests,
too. For my live songs, I have
slightly different versions, which
can mean a new verse or a differ-
ent take from what’s on the CD.
Still, it’s mostly the hits that have
been played on the radio.
“The new album, still to be
recorded, is going to have some
string instruments with old
country blues and ragtime. With
blues, I especially have to change
the lyrics a lot because they’re
not kid-friendly. I do a lot of lyri-
cal adaptations and call them
Randyized songs. I add stories
and comedic monologues.
“About half the songs on my
CDs are original songs that I
wrote, comedic stories and bal-
lads. Half the songs are covers
or adaptations.”
Trippin’ Round the Mitten,
released last year, was the first
CD made since Kaplan moved
back to Michigan. His wife
sings on some of the recordings
— as does his son.
“At first, the CD was going
to be very Michigan-centric,”
Kaplan says. “I found a leaf on
the ground in the exact shape
of Michigan, and I used that for
cover art. Although one song is
like a Michigan travelogue, the
selections wound up being very
diverse.
“There’s a new hip-hop ele-
ment on it, and I do a couple of
rap songs. There are silly songs
and a song about space travel.
The stream-of-consciousness
stuff is like the way little kids
jn
think, and I try to capture that
through the lyrics.
“One song, ‘Honk Honk,’
came after I had some nose
surgery. My little son kept grab-
bing my nose, and I wrote a rap
song about noses. ‘Spaceman’
is my parody of ‘Mr. Bass Man’;
it’s about my kid wanting to
be an astronaut. ‘Every Second
Counts’ is about morning chaos
in a house where kids have to
go to school and the parents
have to go to work.”
Kaplan, who grew up on
Long Island, has played guitar
since he was 10 and had a band
in junior high school. Rock ’n’
roll launched his career, but
after starting with open mic
nights and getting requests for
other performances and styles,
he did lots of folk and blues
with a band he organized.
“In the late ’90s, I made
my first CD on my own and
released it,” Kaplan recalls.
“That was for adults. I per-
formed the songs around the
country for about five years,
but I found my niche with chil-
dren’s music.
“I made a young people’s
recording, and someone sent
it to Sirius XM radio on my
behalf. The program director
liked it, and my songs were
played on Channel 78. Every
year, when I release a CD, I per-
form on their satellite station.
That’s how I get gigs around
the country.”
At home in Bloomfield Hills,
Kaplan plans for performances
before Jewish organizations,
including synagogue and
temple groups and Friendship
Circle. Some weekends, he
works with Horizons —
Upward Bound, which provides
free Cranbrook classes for
young people from Detroit.
“I’m building my Jewish
music repertoire because I
want to make a CD of Hebrew
and Jewish-themed songs,” says
Kaplan, whose son attends
Hillel Hebrew Day School. “I
already have one that I wrote
— ‘The Hebrew-Speaking Bear’
— and I send it out with trans-
lations and a glossary.” •
February 1 • 2018
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