{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Episode 61: Peek inside the childlike mind of Chris Ballew and meet Caspar Babypants","description":"Part 1: You Don\u2019t Wanna Be a Rock-and-Roll Star  Chris Ballew lived the rock-and-roll life.  As frontman for the late, great Presidents of the United States of America, he wrote infectious, goofy, catchy hits about \u201cPeaches\u201d and a \u201cDune Buggy\u201d when heavy grunge dominated Seattle\u2019s FM radio waves. He toured all over the world. He played to packed arenas and stadiums. He even won a Grammy award.  But that\u2019s the old Chris Ballew.  Today, Ballew is a genial, funny everyman who now can laugh about his discomfort with his \u201cPresidents\u201d fame. He\u2019s still well-known and beloved in the Seattle music scene. He still makes infectious, goofy, catchy music that his fans love.  And those are fans of Caspar Babypants.  Yes, Chris Ballew has become a children\u2019s musician. He loves it. Little kids love it. And the kids\u2019 parents, who grew up listening to the Presidents of the Unites States of America, they love it, too.  We told a friend about our Check It Out! podcast interview with Ballew.  \u201cCaspar Babypants, you mean the guy from The Presidents of the USA? COOL!!\u201d  Yes, Check It Out! podcast hosts Kurt Batdorf and Paul Pitkin found it very cool to talk about music and creativity with the one and only Caspar Babypants.  When Ballew decided he\u2019d had enough of rock-and-roll and hopped off the \u201cpony that was (making) gold bricks,\u201d it wasn\u2019t a big musical leap for him to change things up. It\u2019s easy to hear similarities between \u201cPeaches\u201d of 25 years ago and the current \u201cNoodles and Butter,\u201d or between \u201cDune Buggy\u201d and \u201cButterfly Driving a Truck.\u201d   They\u2019re all goofy and funny and infectious. And as Ballew says, \u201cThat\u2019s just the sound I make, and I\u2019ve been making that sound my whole life, really.\u201d  When the Presidents became a thing in Seattle music in the early 1990s, it was a matter of good timing, Ballew said.  \u201cThe music scene at the time was \u2018heavy,\u2019 and not bad, but it just had a very visceral, kind of heavy, grungy vibe,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think people were really enjoying it, but they also wanted just some candy, you know, something really fun and bouncy.\u201d  The Presidents satisfied that craving at the right time. And now, Caspar Babypants satisfies Ballew\u2019s innate \u201cchildlike\u201d nature.  \u201cAs Caspar Babypants, people ask me like, \u2018How do you make this music for children?\u2019 and I tell them, \u2018I really don\u2019t make it for children, I make it for myself, number one,\u2019\u201d Ballew said. \u201cAnd I am just childlike. I live my life like a child. It happens to resonate with kids, but it\u2019s really pleasing me. So, I think that\u2019s how it kind of works. So, yeah. I was just pleasing myself, and it turned out to please a whole bunch of other people too.\u201d  The Presidents of the United States of America released three studio recordings, but Caspar Babypants has been much more prolific: 18 albums released between 2009 and 2019.  Ballew has \u201cthousands and thousands of little recordings\u201d constantly running through his head as part of his creative process. He\u2019ll play something for a few minutes and sing a little melody.  \u201cYou never know what it might grow into,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, I record it. In that sense, I\u2019m always kind of allowing myself to just make a little mess, and not try to make sense of it. And then, maybe later, I\u2019ll figure out what it is, after forgetting about the initial, sort of moment of creation. I\u2019m constantly recording tiny little bits.\u201d  It means Ballew has a lot of material to draw from, and a lot of songs ready to go. His laptop is full of songs in various states of the recording process.  \u201cWhen it\u2019s time to make a record, I listen to all of them, and I just cherry-pick the most developed, the clearest, the most successful 20, and make it into an album," he said. \u201cI\u2019m always working on a giant amount. And then, as a record comes due, I focus on the ones that just need the extra push, to kind of be perfect.\u201d  It also means some of Ballew\u2019s songs don\u2019t see the light of day for a long time.  \u201cI have this new song that I\u2019m very excited about. I don\u2019t think it will come out until 2022,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve got three records almost ready for the next three years. It\u2019s called \u2018Live Like a Baby.\u2019 And it's about how I, as an adult, just want to live like a baby.\u201d  Not with the downsides of being a baby though.  \u201cI mean, the freedom, and the way of experiencing the world as a purely energetic playpen. That's kind of my attitude,\u201d Ballew said.  He usually plays a three-string acoustic guitar as Caspar Babypants, similar to the stripped-down two-string bass he usually played with the Presidents.  \u201cIt creates a really interesting sound,\u201d Pitkin said. \u201cIt\u2019s unusual, it makes its own sound.\u201d  Ballew said it makes him play guitar more like a bass player.   \u201cIt sounds more rhythmic and chunky,\u201d he said. \u201cI kind of think about early Johnny Cash when I\u2019m playing a lot.\u201d  The simpler, rhythmic sound is easier for Ballew to play by himself.  \u201cAnd kids respond to that,\u201d he said. \u201cThey respond to the rhythm. And they want to get up, and dance, and move around.\u201d  That feeds his soul now, and Caspar Babypants has brought Ballew full circle.  \u201cWhen the President' started out, we were this goofy little band of dorks that were trying to rock. And in trying to rock, I think we endeared ourselves to our audience. They were like, \u2018Oh, those poor little guys on stage. Look at them trying to play a Led Zeppelin song,\u2019\u201d Ballew said.  \u201cI love it, because I\u2019m back to being a dorky little guy, trying to rock. Because I\u2019m by myself, I think the empathetic reaction from the crowd is even more intense. If I ask for call and response, I definitely get it. Because I\u2019m this tiny little guy on stage, trying to pull something off. And the crowd\u2019s like, \u2018Yes, we want to help.\u2019\u201d  Part 2: Help with grief from the Self-Help Shelf  If you\u2019re dealing with grief, Sarri Gilman recommends \u201cFinding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief\u201d by David Kessler for the Self-Help Shelf.  \u201cDavid is considered one of the world's leading experts on grief,\u201d Gilman said of Kessler. \u201cHe\u2019s written several books on the subject. And this book, \u2018Finding Meaning,\u2019 is my favorite of his books.\u201d  In this book, Kessler focuses on the traumatic loss of a loved one. Losing loved ones is a journey through many feelings.   \u201cTraumatic grief has some layers of feelings that can be hard to navigate, because we may not have experienced them before,\u201d Gilman said. \u201cAnd traumatic grief is particularly hard to do alone. This book is truly a helpful companion. It feels like David is in the room with you, reviewing stories of traumatic grief, and how people have carried those losses.\u201d  Kessler\u2019s words and pacing are careful and thoughtful, which makes it easily readable in the grieving process. He writes about his own traumatic grief sensitively, the same way he writes about other people\u2019s traumatic losses. He talks about the feelings we carry when we\u2019re grieving, and it is coupled with a trauma.   \u201cI think if you have experienced this kind of loss, you\u2019re going to feel understood,\u201d Gilman said. \u201cYou\u2019ll realize that you are not alone.\u201d  During the coronavirus pandemic, you may feel even more loss and grief unrelated to a death.   \u201cAlthough this book was written to support people who experienced a death, I think it applies to many losses,\u201d Gilman said.\u201d Traumatic grief can also come up from other kinds of losses like a divorce where there was abuse, loss of a child to addiction. I think this book is actually going to be very helpful, if you have traumatic grief for other kinds of reasons.\u201d  It doesn't have to be a recent loss. Often with traumatic grief, it could take a few years to process feelings.   \u201cDuring COVID-19, other losses that you had previously may be brought to the surface,\u201d Gilman said. \u201cAnd you may be feeling the trauma and grief, all over again, because COVID-19 has brought up a lot of loss and grief.\u201d  If this is your experience, \u201cFinding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief\u201d will be very helpful. It\u2019s available digitally from Sno-Isle Libraries.  ","author_name":"Check It Out!","author_url":"https:\/\/podcast.sno-isle.org\/","html":"