At the Editor’s Desk: The Voice in My Minivan

I’ve finally reached celebrity gold status with my children, all because I got to interview the voice in my minivan. I can’t wait to introduce all of you to my new friend Jack Forman, aka Jack from the Monkey House.

If you’re not familiar, Jack Forman is the front man of Recess Monkey, who will be bringing their high-energy, highly entertaining family rock show to the Krannert Center for Performing Arts on Saturday. Tickets are still available as of this writing, and if this isn’t THE family rock show of the year in Champaign-Urbana, I don’t know what is.

Jack Forman is also the voice who comes into my minivan on a regular basis. Jack also has his very own radio show on Kids Place Live, Sirius XM Satellite Radio’s channel for children. Almost every afternoon, Jack entertains and jokes around with thousands of children from the comfort of his Seattle home-based studio.

Listening to someone day after day forges a unique, if not one-sided relationship. Jack is always asking the kids lots of thought-provoking questions on the radio, so it was particularly fun to turn the tables on him.

Then again, Forman spent 13 years in an elementary school classroom before leaving to pursue his music and radio gig full-time; my questions were a piece of cake for him to answer.

“The backstory of our band is that we were teachers first,” he said. “Not music teachers. We were drawn to music because we really wanted to create an authentic link for kids.”

It’s that authentic relationship with kids that comes through in their music. They write songs about imaginary field trips, sack lunches, and the fundamental desire to have a pet of one’s very own. They are not just musicians, they are storytellers through song.

It’s their sense of humor that truly makes Recess Monkey stand out among family-focused acts. They don’t shy away from making people laugh. Sometimes it’s the parents; sometimes it’s the kids. Most of the time, it’s the type of humor that transcends age. And that’s no easy feat.

“What we strive to do, and what I think we’re really successful at, is creating a shared experience between kids and parents,” Forman said. “Our hope is that we’re making music that’s reaching kids and adults at the same time at their level.”

So what is it like to go to a Recess Monkey concert, and what can families expect? From telling jokes to encouraging everyone to sing along, to creating a dancing kiddie mosh pit, the shows are all about ways to engage. Every song, Forman said, has some sort of “built-in interactivity.”

“We’ve tried to find lots of different ways for people to connect with our music,” he emphasized.

And what gets them going more than anything? The mob of kids dancing in front of them.  “That is the juice that encourages us to keep on working on harder. That gives us our energy.”