Groovin’ with Baby Loves Disco

Kids Stuff
By William Feldman

Welcome to Kids Stuff. Today’s column includes music to a new beat, Baby Loves Disco. I also have an urgent warning and an acknowledgment.
Baby Loves Disco supplies good, old-fashioned family fun for parents looking for a break from the routine playground circuit and let loose for some post nap-time, pre-dinner fun.
The appropriate age range for Baby Loves Disco is 6 months to 7 years old and of course their extended families. They run the events approximately eight months out of a year. At Baby Loves Disco events you will find that all of the snacks for the kids and the adults are healthy and are included in the price. There is nothing there for parents to say no to.
Heather Murphy Monteith combines her role as a mom, dancer, choreographer and just having fun into a creation for others to enjoy. She grew up in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia and attended Julia R. Masterman School and eventually wound up graduating from Central High School. She went on to attend Temple University, where she graduated with a degree in fine arts.
She has always been a dancer and studied with the Philadelphia School of Ballet, among others. She realized she missed dancing, so she began professional dancing as a modern dancer at Headlong Dance Theater in Philadelphia.
Baby Loves Disco was born after Heather had her first child, Max, in December 2002. Like most moms, Heather had a play group once a week. When the kids started to walk, they took them to the Zoo and the Please Touch Museum.
"I was really excited to do these things, but I was really surprised because there was a lot of commercialism," she said. "I thought there has to be other options for socializing and having fun. My husband and I love listening to records on a Saturday night and dancing around in the house. I said we should have a disco party. Finally, we did, and we had too many kids to fit in my living room."
She contacted Tony Schiro of Fluid, a nightclub on Fourth Street between Bainbridge and South streets. She told him she wants to throw a kids party, just once during the day at his nightclub. He liked the idea and brought in balloons and helped with the catering.
"Just to cover my expenses I put up some fliers in some playgrounds, hoping that forty people would show up to cover my expenses. But the event sold out. It was a hit. I was surprised," she stated.
Someone then asked her if there would be more events monthly. Heather did not think so. That was in a November, and she started back up with a monthly series in February 2005. The rest is history. She met her partner, Andy Blackman Hurwitz, a year later at a Baby Disco party. They re-named the idea Baby Loves Disco.
"Andy and I took it up to Brooklyn," she said. "From there we took it from east to west. Andy is the head of Ropeadope Record Company and with being with a record company, it created connections with some venues."
At that point, Andy had been the one flying out and doing most of the consulting at the shows.
"Essentially, we fly out, meet the host mom and make sure the party gets up," Heather said. "We actually have the good fortune of having a lot of media response. We have been in USA Today, as an example."
Heather noted that they are thinking about franchising.
"We never really imagined getting to that level. Now that we have expanded and we have developed the infrastructure, we are questioning the next thing to do."
According to Heather, Baby Loves Disco uses live disc jockeys at all events, never pre-recorded music.
"We don’t have just one DJ traveling cross-country," she said. "We use local talent and a DJ named Cosmo Baker, who works out of New York for a company called The Rub. When we contact the local DJs we send them a play list that is utilized by The Rub. The events are not always the same. Special events have included one for grandparents, Super Bowl parties and Baby Loves New Years, which was especially popular in Philadelphia."
Heather hopes in five to 10 years to get out of doing all of the ground work and travel around to the different hosts and make sure that the quality control is maintained.
"I miss being creative," she said.
Baby Loves Disco is so successful because it was started by parents, for parents, she said.
If anyone is interested, Baby Loves Disco will transform Philadelphia’s Shampoo nightclub, located at 417 N. Eighth St. (phone: 215-922-7500) into a childproof disco on Feb. 3, March 2, April 6 and May 4.
For more information, go to www.babylovesdisco.com
They have Baby Loves Jazz Greatest Hits I & II (Baby Loves Music) — the co-founder of Baby Loves Disco launches this jazzy collection of favorite children’s songs. The two-disc gift set features artists like Sharon Jones, Aaron Goldberg, John Ellis and more.

URGENT MESSAGE:
BE SMART: NEVER DRINK AND DRIVE. Ultimately, your decision affects everyone around you!!

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Marc Hinkle, of South Philadelphia, is a sixth-grader at Christopher Columbus Charter School, located at 13th and Wharton streets. He was one of a few kids chosen to perform in Kidz Bop World Tour, which was at the Wachovia Center in November. Kidz Bop features popular songs, sung by kids for kids.
Marc’s parents, Carol and Joseph, were proud to see him perform. Marc decided to audition after reading the newspaper with his mom and noticing an insert for Kidz Bop.
Marc is not new to performing, as he has been singing and performing since he was 5 years old. He has performed in a few school productions and a couple of church productions. He is a natural singer and has had no formal musical training. Marc auditioned for Kidz Bop by singing Eye of the Tiger by Survivor.
Prior to the show there were two practices at the Wachovia Center, which led up to his big day on Nov. 24. His role consisted of a little dancing and singing.
"We learned a little bit of the choreography. They taught us certain steps that were easy to learn. While we were practicing, they gave us the lyrics to the songs," he said. "There were certain parts that the cast would sing, certain parts the choir would sing, and then there were certain parts that they both would sing together. I wasn’t really nervous, because when you thought about it, the audience was really far away. The stage was eight feet tall and the audience looked like little jelly beans in the crowd. I just had a good time."
On the personal side, Marc is an honor student. His favorite musical group is My Chemical Romance, however, he loves singing soft rock and hip hop. Besides singing, his hobbies include playing guitar and keyboard. He also loves art drawing and design, but his ultimate favorite hobby is magic and card tricks. I can understand that one.
We will probably hear more about Marc with his success in the future. ••
Columnist William Feldman can be contacted by e-mail at wmkidscolumn@aol.com