Who’d have thought Warren (above) would become a doctor of rock and roll and Dan (right, with daughter Anna) would find new musical voice to communicate across generations? Opposite page: the Del Fuegos circa 1980s
When his daughter, Anna, was born, Dan began looking for music that they could listen to together. “I found some great things, but not what I was looking for,” Dan says. “There was a sound in my head that I wanted to share with her, but I couldn’t find it, so I had to create it myself.” Shortly thereafter, Dan began playing music with a group of parents he met at his daughter’s playground. They called themselves the Rocket Ship Revue, and their CD, “Rocket Ship Beach,” was a hit both with children and with their parents. Music critics called it children’s music that “won’t make adults cringe,” but Dan calls it something else. “What I’m really trying to do is create all-ages music,” he says, “music you would play in the kitchen at a family reunion that everyone in the room would be excited about. I never want to lose anyone along the way. For me, it’s a way of connecting one generation to the next.”
Since he founded Festival Five Records in 1999, Dan has released six highly acclaimed albums, all of which rank among the topselling family music CDs in the country. And critics adore them. Variety magazine calls last year’s “House Party” “uncommercialized sweetness.” His latest release, “Widdecombe Fair,” is a reissue of his favorite family album by folksingers and musicians David Jones and Bill Shute. Dan Zanes and Friends, as his ensemble is called, has been on tour for much of 2003 and 2004, playing to sold-out audiences of predominantly preschool children and their parents in theatres across the country. “I think it’s important for older people and younger people to enjoy music together,” Dan says. “I think I’ve found my calling. Everything so far has led up to this. I actually feel somewhat useful in the world, and
that feeling was never a byproduct of playing rock and roll.” Looking back, Dan says his years at PA helped make him curious about the world, which, in turn, has helped him be a better musician. “No matter what you do in life, it’s important to have a good education,” he says. “I used to think that you couldn’t be a real rocker if you had gone to private school. But I was wrong. It has helped me have a more creative life.”
The tie that binds It’s been a long time since Dan and Warren have shared a stage, but the brothers talk regularly and are proud of each other’s work, as different as it is; however, the days of Dan and Warren performing together are long past. “These days, we just enjoy being brothers,” says Warren. g 25