New York, Bagels, and Gluten Free

I was born in New York and even though I left when I was 8 years old, whenever I return, I head for those comfort food items I associate with the good times.  Like pizza, bagels and a street corner hot dog with mustard and sauerkraut.  Last week, I returned to New York City for a cousin's wedding. It was the first time I've been back in many years. The first time I've been back as a gluten free diner (allergy related).

Which means.... bummer... I can't eat pizza, bagels or a street corner hot dog.

In the world of gluten free, pizza was replaced fairly successfully, and hot dogs can be enjoyed with mustard and sauerkraut off a plate. But a bagel! Not being able to pick up a New York bagel with cream cheese made me want to cry.

When I arrived at my Uncle's apartment on the upper west side, I noticed something strange in his refrigerator. A package of gluten free  Udi's Bagels.  I learned my Uncle has recently joined the hoards of gluten free initiates and is thriving on the new diet. I have never tried Udi's gluten free bagels but I have tried other brands... and, well, yuck...

Gluten free baking is an art form. I could make this a very long post about different gluten free baking brands but this is about BAGELS...

Hungry, I opened the package.  They looked interesting.  They had a nice texture, of course, a lot denser than normal bagels.  But okay, what the heck, I stuffed one in the toaster.

It popped up a few minutes later looking nice and toasty.  Brown with a hint of crunch.  I lathered it in butter.  I put it to my lips and bit down.  It was delicious!  I have never had such a great textured gluten free pre-packaged bagel in my gluten flour-less life.

I came home to Los Angeles.  I went to my favorite grocery store, Fresco Community Market in Los Angeles which carries many gluten free options.  I purchased my own package to test it again. This time I bought Udi's Mighty Bagel.



I just finished it.  Every last crumb, and then sat down to write this post.

Click here to read more about Udi Baron and his wife Fern from Denver, Colorado.

Catch a Bubble

  
Bubbles are fun! They are fun to chase and are especially fun to catch. It's difficult though the little colorful globes of gas easily pop. I have to admit popping can be as much fun, if not more, as catching.  It seems a group of children agreed with me. I performed PBnDeb's music for Southwestern Law School's Community Day. We engaged in many random acts of bubble chasing and bubble popping.

Here's my attempt.

I didn't catch a bubble, but it didn't matter. I shared my music with a wonderful group of children. We sang. We danced. We laughed. It was a good day.

Click here to listen to PBnDeb Kickin' Tunes for Toddlers.

Thank you Liz Reinhardt and the Southwestern Law School Public Affairs office for allowing me to use these pictures.

PBnDeb's Song of the Month for October 2013

Edgar the Spider

My name is Edgar
I am a spider
Everyone likes me
Because I'm scary!

Every night there's a special delight
The spider dance, the spider dance
In the moonlight, you can see such a fright
The spider dance

This song is on our Storybook Adventures CD.  It's a fun Halloween tune.  Most people are afraid of spiders but I happen to LOVE them. Edgar was modeled after an Orb-weaver Doug and I found in our back yard.  We used to watch him set up his web every evening from the avocado tree next door to an old clothes line post.

At night I like to spin my web

Round and round with a sticky thread

I like flies there a tasty deal
But If I catch a moth now that’s a happy meal

Philip is wonderful as the voice of Edgar.  His big deep booming voice just captures the fun of being Edgar.  In the song we teach children that spiders have more to fear from us than we do from them.

Humans fear what they can’t see

I’m not as dangerous to you as you are to me

I only have fangs

You have two big feet

I’ll stay out of your way
If we happen to meet

And then we encourage children to dance - with Edgar!

So if you want to come out tonight

Watch me spin my web in the cold moonlight

Bring your flashlight, take a chance
Don’t be scared, spin your web, do the spider dance

Click here to listen to Edgar the Spider.

CD Baby's 'Capital Punishment' for PBnDeb

I love CD Baby. I really do. CDBaby.com provides a way for independent artists to distribute their music digitally, sell physical CDs, stream music and collect payments worldwide. Their customer service has always been responsive and patient with my questions. I've tried other music distribution websites with no results. Even better, I don't have record label overhead, I can make more than 50% on my music sales. I think many artists with labels and record companies behind them make a few cents on a CD sale. Maybe $1. But you'll have to ask them.

Now it's not to say that CD Baby doesn't have it's quirks.  I ran into one with the name of our band name. As you know an independent artist has to work super hard at gaining recognition. An artist agonizes over a picking a band name. Once that name is chosen you market it everywhere and you don't change it. If you hit, you are happily stuck with that name. Unless you are the artist formerly known as Prince now known as Prince again. So pick and stick.

Here's the 'agonizing' part. How did I get to PBnDeb? Well, it started with the fact that I write with the bass crazed Philip Bynoe, who is currently touring worldwide with guitar virtuoso Steve Vai.  My name is Deb Snyder. We write children's music. We need a kid-friendly name but Laurie Berkner, Banana Splits and the Wiggles were taken.

Philip's initials being PB brought back a childhood memory for me. I loved peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as a kid. I used to ask my Mom for a 'pbandj' sandwich. She would make one and cut it into delicious edible squares for me. But my name is not jelly it's Deb...bummer. Almost perfect. Anyway thanks to a little burst of imagination I put my first name in place of jelly. Watch out world of retail -- we have a band name!  It was time to start marketing.

On our first album I made a mistake by spelling our name with an ampersand PB & Deb.

And then I built our first website.  Did you know that ampersands can't be used in websites addresses. Hmm...

But pbndeb can be used which is okay for a link.  But for marketing I will use PBnDeb. Love it.  So with band name in hand, I proudly load up our content onto CD Baby.  When I go to see our artists page I notice something strange.  Our band name under each album and song is listed as Pbndeb. WHERE ARE MY CAPITALS?  Did I load them incorrectly? What a mess.

I wrote a customer help ticket immediately.  A very helpful customer service person notified me that there is a policy that band names can only have a capital letter at the beginning of each name. So you can have Laurie Berkner.  But I CAN'T have PBnDeb. Have you ever heard of the band Inxs?

Marketing your music is difficult enough. But in going through the punisment of losing my capital letters, I realized I didn't really care how you spell our band name. Just spell it.

What's in a name...nothing. What's in a song...everything. PBnDeb's music is just as exciting, entertaining and imaginative as Pbndeb's music. Well, you go be the judge.

Click here to go to Pbndeb's artist page on CD Baby

Pretend with Zoo Dance

Go ahead, open your world wide web browser, whichever one you like (me? I'm a Chrome girl) and type in the word p-r-e-t-e-n-d. Click here to read one such article. I could probably put links all the way down this page regarding the importance of pretend for a young child.

PBnDeb's music invites pretend play. Our music easily engages a child's imagination. One of the best songs for pretend play is 'Zoo Dance.' You can find it by surfing on PBnDeb on CD Baby / iTunes / Amazon or click on one of the many links I've shamelessly made available to you in this post. It's off our second album entitled Zoo Dance.

The song 'Zoo Dance' invites children to act out animals. It's a pop tune. And the way Philip orchestrated this song is rockin! Give it a listen just to hear the musical lines he wrote. I guarantee the bass line alone will encourage anybody, kid or not, to jump out of their seat and dance. I can't put a bass line on virtual paper so enjoy the opening lyrics.  

There's a brand new dance.

And it comes from the zoo.

Ya gotta pick an animal.

And do just what they do-o-o-o.

Act like a monkey.

Act like a monkey.

Swing your arms.

Eat bananas.

Ooh ooh ooh.

Be a monkey!

Philip and I wanted children to move, eat and sing (or roar) like the chosen animal. The child pretends to become the animal. It's educational.  It's creative.  It's fun!

Zoo Dance

I recently performed this song in a rockin' thirty minute set at Harvard Preschool and Kindergarten. I had elephants, monkeys, and lions stomping, peeling bananas and roaring all over the room. It was quite exciting. Both Philip and I have had friends send us funny videos of their children singing and acting like crazy animals to our tune 'Zoo Dance.' 

Give it a listen. Hey, it's only a .99 download, and I've got a long way to go to sell 1 million downloads. 

Let me know what you think: deb@pbndeb.com. 

If you don't have a young child, you are still welcome to buy the song and p-r-e-t-e-n-d you do. I think pretend is good for all of us!

And thanks.

Click here to read more about Phillip Bynoe and Deb Snyder as PBnDeb.

PBnDeb 999,999 Songs to Go!

The day after a big announcement is usually filled with fear and thoughts like, 'What the heck was I thinking!'  But this morning I am pretty calm about selling 1 million downloads.  It's a huge dream goal. I decided to tell Philip, my partner in music who is currently touring the world with Steve Vai, what I had gotten him, me, us into and he wrote back... from Australia, I think...

Deb's First email:

To:  Philip Bynoe
Re:  Deb's Dream

Philip,

Love seeing the pictures of you all over the world.  I have a dream and I am going to work towards it with quiet dedication but I am letting you in on it.

I want to sell 1 million .99 downloads of PBnDeb music.

To that end, I just uploaded 2 singles, Christmas is My Favorite Time of Year and Beach so I have access to market and sell those two.  I took care of you as co writer and I decided to use the Pirate Cartoon as the Album Cover for all of the singles.  I am trying something new with these songs  - CD Baby allows you to use Rumblefish for mechanical licensing which means people can sample and use the music in ads etc for a cost.  We only make 50% a tune but what the heck!

50% of something is better than 100% of nothing.  

I hope I can move our songs a little more.  Too many people LOVE our music.  We owe it to the world to put it out there.

Love

Deb

Philip's Reply -- (Deb's Dream got a little longer -- thank you world wide web -- a mere apostrophe becomes ')

To: Deb Snyder
Subject:  Re: Deb's Dream

Deb That's great and you will accomplish that and more. I have to come up with a way that I can be a part of It from the roAd. If you have an idea let me know, I plan to Sell our music on the us tour. Philip

Deb's Reply (I got excited and started verbally throwing up ideas... Hey - he asked!):

YAY!

I created two awesome album covers.  Once I get them uploaded... I will make the singles go live WORLD WIDE.

Hey I sold one song... 999,999 more to go!!!  woo Hoo.

I want to make another album Mr. Bynoe.

Idea for selling... your crazy partner is trying to get 1 Million downloads.  Want to play along!?

http://debpbndeb.blogspot.com/  for blog updates...

Tell them to like our FACEBOOK Page

www.facebook.com/pbndeb

Love

Deb

Philip's Reply:

To: Deb Snyder
Subject:  Re: Deb's Dream

Uh oh  I think I saw a chicken!!

A little explanation about the 'chicken'... I am not a step by step logical thinker.  I create in whirlwind. My mind whirls and twirls with creative ideas and thoughts.  Focus is hard for me.  My husband, Doug, bought me a sweatshirt once that puts it into perspective...  My Friends all think I have A.D.D. but they just don't understand...Oh look a chicken!

Oh look a chicken has become... Oh look another song idea.  I'm okay with that.  

Well anyway, now PB knows what is going on and is all for it... Now we just have to sell more downloads.  The two new songs I am talking about above 'Christmas is My Favorite Time of Year' and 'Beach' will be on CD Baby soon and then they will populate to iTunes and Amazon.

Thanks to all of you who support us and love our music!  This is fun.... only 999,999 to go.

Philip  Bynoe, Deb Snyder and Spenser

PBnDeb

Click here to go to CD Baby and get your.99 download.