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Art Police | Awards | Bugsters | Credits | East of Hope Street | Highwayman | Music | Roddenberry on Patrol | Voyager Bugsters!Attention! Since "Bugsters!" has been released on CD it is appropriate to take it out of the "Current Projects"-page and dedicate an entire page to this latest achievement of Tim's. Bugsters - Tunes & Tales
Other songs are of a more educational nature and teach the kids a few things about insects: They learn about the concept of Mimicry in "Camouflage", they learn to respect insects and not to fear them in "Look, But Don't Touch", or hear about different types of spiders in "Spider Life". "Insect Detective", on the other hand, gives the children a few clues that help them to guess the names of four very common insects - the children are required to think this time, not to act. And "Firefly", finally, is a cute little song about how beautiful it is to watch fireflies when they come out in the dark. The songs are very different in style, both in terms of educational goals (exercise, use of fine and gross motor skills, discover the world of insects) and in terms of music. That diversity adds to the charm of the "Tunes", and it also shows Tim's remarkable range as a singer. I have said it before, I say it again and I am more convinced than ever: Tim should do musicals on stage. He would be a terrific "Phantom of the Opera". Or "Man of La Mancha". He is ably supported by half his family. Jedda and Tim alternate as the lead singer in two songs, Jedda, Maddy, Angela, her daughter Jisel and Bill Burchell, who as always plays the keyboard, provide the background vocals, and the "Firefly"-song is so easy, that a little kid can sing it - wait and see till you have heard it. Credits for the Tunes: Produced by: Tim Russ Tunes (Credits for the Tales, see below - those have not changed). The new Tunes & Tales-CD can be ordered through Amazon.com. Or maybe if you ask your local bookstore to get it for you they will do it. The ISBN # is 0-9747064-3-4. Award!"Bugsters!" won "Parenting"-magazine's Gold Award for Best Children's audio book for Ages 4 and up and it was a finalist for the "Children's Music Web" award! Congratulations on a job well done. "Bugsters" is planned as an animated children's program or children's multi-media project with animated episodes, audio-books, e-books etc. After selling a demo-version of the first installment of the "Bugsters"-project, an audio book, at conventions last summer, it has now finally been released on CD. You can order it either through his webpage or through Amazon. (My copy of the CD-cover with all the signatures. Click on the thumbnail to see the full picture). It remains to be seen in which form(s) the project will be continued and when there will be further installments. In his recent Q & A for trektoday.com (check the Intervies-page for the link) Tim mentioned that a second CD of "Bugsters!"-stories is in the work and currently being shipped to publishers for print. Tim is also putting together a web page on this project here. Right now you see the CD-cover and get an introduction to the seven characters. It also offers examples of the coloring book and other puzzles that go with the CD and you can email them with your feedback. The two short stories on this CD are co-written by Tim and his girlfriend Jedda Roskilly, the two also share production credit. They also sing (songs are written by key-boarder Bill Burchell from "Neil Norman's Cosmic Orchestra") and breath life into some of their creations. Full credits for "Bugsters!" read as follows: The stories have a message, they are meant to teach children something in a pleasant way. The first one, "Work it out", is about the necessity to co-operate and work together in order to solve problems, the second one, "The Mothmen", is about prejudice and fear of the unknown. The length of the two stories (approximately 10 minutes each) is adequate to young children's short attention spans, the vocabulary is suitable for small children. This is obviously the one of Tim's current projects I am most familiar with, since I was lucky enough to be among the first to buy the demo-CD in Blackpool last summer. I like it, the characters are nicely drawn, the performances are good. The stories are suitable for younger children and the songs are nice as well (I particularly like the "Mothmen"-song in the second story - Tim should definitely do musicals!). My review of "Bugsters!" can be found here. Tim about "Bugsters!": "I'm working on a children's project called Bugsters, which I'm co-writing with a lady named Jedda Roskilly," he reveals. "It involves music and stories that children can learn certain lessons from. The main characters are seven insects and it takes place in a swamp, so it's a lot of fun." (Star Trek Monthly #85, November 2001, the full interview can be found in my interviews-archive) "I've also got a project called 'Bugsters,' which is an animated
children's show, it's already an audio book now, it will have a website
eventually - which will be linked to my own. It features seven insect characters
that live in a swamp, we tell some stories that sort of help children, they sort
of have lessons that the children can learn about and understand and also laugh
at. It has music in it, there's always a song in each of the stories." Tim explains in the recent chat why he is working on a project for children: "I think partly having a daughter and I think the market is a very good market to pursue, as children are being born every day. I love the audio book format because you're able to perform that live and it's very exciting and fun to put together and I enjoy listening to those types of stories in that format." |
