I so want to be a punk rock mama. When it comes down to it, though, I am just far more Ann Taylor than Vivienne Westwood. To feed that inner need to be hardcore and to give some hope for amplified hipness to my child, I think I'll be cranking up the Candy Band in the car. And soon.
The Candy Band is comprised of four Detroit-area mamas who take nursery rhymes and classic kid songs and make them punk favorites for kids and their parents who cringe to hear the sing-songy version of "I've Been Working on the Railroad" for the four-hundreth time. At the helm is electric guitarist Paula Messner who is 43, a mother and a musician with a substantial pre-parenthood history in the business and a desire to rock out with a new generation.
While the band and their kidified punk shows that have been on many local stages, the Today show and Lollapalooza are very cool, what I love most is how they got started. Since all of Messner's musician friends were busy with gigs and day jobs, she simply recruited non-musician mommies she knew to form a group with a more raw sound. And like only a true punker could (sigh, jealous), she found those friends while working as an aerobic instructor at the Y. Dude, seriously, how killer are you if you can form the Candy Band in between grapevines one story above the lap pool?
Punk up your own parenting by checking out the Candy Band's four CDs, available online.
[photo credit: jeff matlock]
