Last month, I was invited to attend an upcoming The Electric Company taping of a music video with Benji and Joel Madden of the band Good Charlotte. Although the new season will not air until next February, I wanted to share about it now since Good Charlotte has a new record coming out this November.
The studio that they shot in was pretty little, so I was only able to go inside for a little while. The remainder of the shooting time, I was sitting with friends Jen and Nikki in a nearby greenroom watching the group on a live studio feed. By the time that I thought to tape some of the feed, Benji and Joel were practically done. This small snippet is all that I managed to capture:
While we were waiting to interview the band, Priscilla Diaz, “Jessica,” from the Electric Company, stopped by. She was so cute and sweet. (Jen’s son loved “Jessica” and wanted to feed her…so cute!) We were able to speak to Benji and Joel briefly. Overall, I was impressed that the brothers were so cool, down-to-earth and hardworking. Both brothers are hugely popular so I tried to find out some things that fans might not already know about them. Below are my top seven tidbits:
1. They both have really great work ethics. When I was in the studio with them, I took note of how well they took instruction from the director. I admire performers because they have to do the same thing over…and over…and over again for extended periods of time. Refreshingly, there were no male diva attitudes on set.
2. Good Charlotte is a kid-friendly band. It was obvious that Benji loves being an uncle. He was psyched to perform something that his nieces and nephew could “get into”. He mentioned that practically everyone in the band has kids and that life on the road revolves heavenly around the kids.
3.The parents of the Madden brothers had a profound influence on their musical tastes. As kids, their parents listened to Lionel Richie (prelude to future pairings?), Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, gospel and Christian singers like the Winans. They were not really allowed to listen to a lot of other music because their mom was pretty strict about it in the house…although they used to sneak music in later. Their dad’s love for soul music obviously rubbed off on both Joel and Benji…they sing with soul!
4. Joel and Benji are big fantasy football fans. It was funny hearing them talk about being fans of the Redskins and Ravens. Tom Brady and Eli Manning, Calvin Johnson and Randy Moss are also some of their top picks. (I won’t mention which teams they “hate” though.)
5. Joel is a devoted dad. Benji is a doting uncle. Joel’s daughter is a big Sesame Street fan who loves music and when he makes up songs for her at home. He wanted to do something his “daughter could dig”, so he initiated with Sesame Workshop. Both Benji and Joel think that the kids will love the little musical skit that they were taping. (It is quite catchy!). The skit is about a missing hat and it turns out that the brothers actually fight over hats in real life. One of them (I forget which one) even has a prized fedora collection…
6. They think that their upcoming release Cardiology is their best record ever. As they said, “Knock on wood.” The video for “Like It’s Her Birthday” is already out on youtube. (No worries for Good Charlotte fans though…it’s not a kiddie album.)
7. Joel thinks that being a dad changes everything. He said that parenthood has changed him as a person…including making him a better songwriter. Although things are more deep and meaningful, he was quick to point out that some things are still just fun. (Although I was one of those people who used to roll my eyes mentally when parents said things like that before I had kids, I now agree. Being a parent definitely changes everything!)
I could totally be wrong and you might have known all of the above, but I didn’t. I’m not a good “fan” though….I don’t keep up with all of the latest interviews.
Anyway, I’m excited to see if Michael will be interested in Electric Company now that he is a little older and has outgrown Sesame Street. (Both shows are produced by Sesame Workshop.) Speaking of Sesame Street, there have been many Sesame Street related things that have passed through my “Inbox” lately. Below, are three of my favorites:
1. Sesame Street Live – Elmo’s Green Thumb is going to be at the Theater at Madison Square Garden on February 17-21. In this show, Elmo and his friends shrink due to an Abby Cadabby plant-growing spell mishap. Tickets go on sale to the general public on November 7th but there is a special presale going on now through November 6th., Mom in the City readers can use the exclusive presale code INTHECITY at http://www.theateratmsg.com to buy tickets before the general public.
2. Sesame Street has joined the gaming movement by launching Wii and DS Games.
And
3. Sesame Street is trying to make math fun for pre-k students with their free “Math Is Everywhere” kits. Bilingual parent guides and materials can be found at http://www.sesamestreet.org/parents/math. I will definitely be downloading this set for Sean’s (pre) pre-k homeschooling.
Many of our kids are around the same ages. Which Sesame Workshop show are your kids more interested in now…Sesame Street or Electric Company? Who are their favorite characters? (Sean still loves Elmo best.)