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Going Platinum: Skinnamarink and The Elephant Show | Sharon, Lois and Bram... and Randi

Melissa Roth: Weirding Way Media.

Amy Englehardt [Singing]: 80s TV Ladies, So sexy and so pretty. 80s TV Ladies, Steppin’ out into the city. 80s TV Ladies, often treated kind of sh-[wolf whistle]. Working hard for the money in a man’s world. 80s TV Ladies!

Melissa Roth: Welcome to 80s TV Ladies with your happy hosts, Sharon Johnson and Susan Lambert Hatem.

Sharon Johnson: Hey, everyone, I'm Sharon.

Susan Lambert Hatem: And I'm Susan. Now, Sharon, we have not spent a lot of time on this podcast covering retro kid shows.

Sharon Johnson: That's very true. We have not covered any retro kid shows.

Susan Lambert Hatem: None.

Sharon Johnson: But we gotta start somewhere. And as I've said before, I really wasn't interested in watching kid shows even as a kid.  

Susan Lambert Hatem: You know, and I was as a kid, I think. But we weren't little kids in the 1980s, so I think our kid shows, at least my kid shows are actually from the 70s. Like, I love The Muppet Show, Electric Company, Zoom. Did you watch any of those?

Sharon Johnson: Well, my kids shows actually would have been more from the 60s, but yes, I did watch the Muppet Show. I was aware of Electric Company and Zoom and some of the other kids shows, Reading Rainbow, but never watched any of them because by then I had no reason to. However, in the 60s, my younger sister was about four or five years old and my mother wanted someone to sit with her to watch Sesame Street in case she had any questions. So I volunteered. So I watched a lot of Sesame Street, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Sesame Street was, was fine.

Sharon Johnson: It's a great show.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Yeah, I love Sesame Street.

Sharon Johnson: And I'm, I'm, I haven't watched it a long time, but, but I'm sure it still is. It's really a great. It was really a great show.

Susan Lambert Hatem: It was a beautifully crafted show that was what was. It was really a smart show for kids. And I would say Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, little more kid-kid. But I learned to read and do the alphabet with Sesame Street. And, because I learned early to read. And so I was watching it with my sister, who was older. Right? So it was, I don't know, it was a big part of my schooling, as was Schoolhouse Rock.

Sharon Johnson: It really wasn't for me because we were overseas when I went to kindergarten and first grade. My dad was stationed in Taiwan at the time, so there wasn't any-- I don't think we watched any TV, if there even was any TV available. But I'm aware of. Because I was aware of all of TV, frankly. I'm certainly aware of Mr. Rogers and somehow must have watched some of it, maybe with my sister, I don't know. Just, you know, in case she had questions. Because when they started doing parodies of it on Saturday Night Live, I'm like, yes, of course I know that show. You know, it wasn't a surprise to me.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Well, here's the thing about Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. I like Mr. Rogers actually, a lot. He reminded me a little bit of my grandfather, because my grandfather had a really calm sense, at least to me. But I didn't like when he would walk over and talk to the castle puppets. Remember the castle?

Melissa Roth: Yes. Oh, yes. The King and the Queen.

Susan Lambert Hatem: I didn't like them for some reason. The same feeling as H.R. Pufnstuf.

Melissa Roth: H.R. Pufnstuf?

Susan Lambert Hatem: H.R. Pufnstuf. And the little flute in the pocket. There was something about that that just, like, creeped me out.

Sharon Johnson: I mean, don't get me wrong, I also watched a lot of Saturday morning cartoons in the late 60s. But then we also then moved to Japan in the early 70s, and so there was a whole swath of TV that I didn't see.

Melissa Roth: Yeah, but you got Ultraman before we did.

Sharon Johnson: I did?

Susan Lambert Hatem: Yeah. I didn't. But Sesame Street I did love, because I loved Count von Count, who counted.

Melissa Roth: The Count.

Susan Lambert Hatem: The Count. And--  

Melissa Roth: Oscar.  

Susan Lambert Hatem: Oscar the Grouch. But Big Bird, I liked Big Bird because he was very large, but he was sort of very bashful.

Melissa Roth: Yeah, he was shy.

Susan Lambert Hatem: He was very shy. And.

Melissa Roth: And they had excellent guests.

Susan Lambert Hatem: They had excellent guests.

Melissa Roth: Just to realize why we're so cool as people because we watched Sesame Street. Just like Google Stevie Wonder on Sesame Street.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Yes.

Melissa Roth: That's all you have to do. And you're like, oh, that's why we're so groovy.

Sharon Johnson: I think Bert and Ernie were my favorites, along with Cookie Monster.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Cookie.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Cookie Monster was great. Cause Cookie gave you lots of room to want to be greedy about cookies.

Sharon Johnson: Yes.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Gave you permission.

Sharon Johnson: Yeah, absolutely. He was all about the cookies. And I'm like, what's wrong with that?

Susan Lambert Hatem: Yeah. How can this be wrong?  

Sharon Johnson: Absolutely nothing.  

Susan Lambert Hatem: Not a fan of the Snuffleupagus. ‘Snuffle Puffagus.’

Melissa Roth: That was later.

Susan Lambert Hatem: That was later.  

Melissa Roth: Snuffles came later with Elmo.  

Susan Lambert Hatem: I think when I was babysitting, I ended up watching that. And it bugged me a lot. That big. That he would show up to talk to Big Bird but disappear when other people came.

Melissa Roth: Oh, he was Big Bird’s imaginary friend.

Susan Lambert Hatem: It was really like. It was like. They were like gaslighting Big Bird, though. Oh, it was really tough. I didn't like that. I was older. It wasn't really for me. So maybe it was speaking to--  

Melissa Roth:: Stop gaslighting the Big Bird.

Susan Lambert Hatem: But I'm like, stop gaslighting Big Bird, man. He's. Just stay there for one second, Snuffleupagus. Come on, man. Nope. Every time Big Bird tried to introduce Snuffleupagus to someone else.

Melissa Roth: No. He would hide.

Susan Lambert Hatem: He would wander off. Wander off. Quote unquote.

Melissa Roth: So mean.

Susan Lambert Hatem: We have. Okay. But anyway, then the other thing I loved was Schoolhouse Rock.

Melissa Roth: Yes.

Sharon Johnson: Oh, yeah. Yeah. To this day. I, mean, to this day, Schoolhouse Rock is still. I mean, I think all kids should be forced to watch, if nothing else, Schoolhouse Rock. And sadly, these days, kids don't even get that much understanding in school about how our government works.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Absolutely.

Sharon Johnson: Schoolhouse Rock is a great basis for how--

Melissa Roth: You can subscribe to Schoolhouse Rock TV on YouTube.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Are there new ones, or is it all the old ones?

Melissa Roth: I think it's all the old ones.

Susan Lambert Hatem: And English. [Singing] Conjunction Junction. What's your, function?

Melissa Roth: [Singing] Hooking up words and phrases and clauses. [Talking] Oh, yeah. Come on, man.

Sharon Johnson: That's awesome.

Melissa Roth: I think I used that in the SAT. Conjunction. Let me think. Yeah, okay. For my GMATs.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Hooking up words.  

Melissa Roth: Until I got into grad school. Yeah.

Susan Lambert Hatem: All right, now, of the 80s shows. Now, Kevin, should we bring you into this? You don't even have a microphone. Was there a show that you watched?

Melissa Roth: Cyberchase is Kevin-- Cyberchase and Reading Rainbow.

Susan Lambert Hatem: ‘The Big Bumpy Couch’? Big Comfy Couch. That one's hard to say in a podcast.

Melissa Roth: Yeah, but Reading Rainbow is universal. I mean, as an adult, I was watching it with you. [Singing] Butterfly in the sky. I can go twice as high. Just take a look. It's in a book. A Reading Rainbow. Reading Rainbow.

Susan Lambert Hatem: All right, well, maybe we're gonna have to cover some more, kids shows. Sof the live action kids shows that I caught occasionally would have been Pee-wee's Playhouse, of course. Punky Brewster. Fraggle, Rock I didn't get into, but I think I would have if I had time to pay attention.

Sharon Johnson: See, it's interesting. I didn't think of Fraggle Rock as a kid show. I remember watching it. I want to say it was on HBO for some reason early on. I'm probably wrong, but that's what I remember.

Susan Lambert Hatem: No, it might have been that.

Sharon Johnson: And I love Fraggle Rock.

Melissa Roth: We need to visit Fraggle Rock.

Sharon Johnson: But one of the other ones that I didn't remember and don't love was Kids Incorporated. Because many years ago, when I was a caption editor and whoever owned that show was getting ready to put it out on video, we had to caption all of those shows, and I had to caption a whole bunch of those shows. And I didn't care for it. It was annoying at best. It was not what I would call great or even good kids TV. But apparently it was very popular.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Apparently it was very popular. That. And You Can't Do That on Television. But I didn't really watch them.

Sharon Johnson: And unfortunately, I mean, I know I'm once again in the corner of the room by myself, not a Pee-wee's Playhouse fan.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Here's the thing. I don't know that I was a Pee-- I was not a Pee-wee's Playhouse fan at the time. I was a Pee-wee's Big Adventure fan. The movie, the first one, and then later went back to Pee-wee's Playhouse. It was one of the things we looked at when we were starting Ty the Pie Guy, and I came to appreciate it a little bit more for what it was doing. Because I wouldn't have liked that kind of show if it wasn't subversive. But it was subversive. But I wasn't really picking up on the subversive until later. But the guest stars on that show are crazy.

Melissa Roth: Well, who is Cowboy Curtis? It's Laurence Fishburne.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Yes, but I mean, it's got everybody. The cast is amazing, and the guest stars are amazing. We watched Saturday morning cartoons. That was just because it was the thing to do. It wasn't like a lot of those spoke to me.

Sharon Johnson: Yeah, exactly. It was just. It was on TV. It was in the morning on Saturdays and sat down, and you watched Saturday morning cartoons. But once I got beyond school, grade school, whatever. Saturday morning cartoons, I really didn't watch TV animation anymore. If I watched animation, I would go to the theater and see whatever latest Disney movie was out.

Susan Lambert Hatem: And then there's all the 80s animated shows. An explosion of ones based on toys or sold toys. The GI Joe, Smurfs, DuckTales, Inspector Gadget. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

Melissa Roth: Oh, that was huge for my nephew. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

Susan Lambert Hatem: That held a place in people's hearts. And, Jen and the Holograms. I remember watching a little bit of that.

Sharon Johnson: A lot of kids TV.

Susan Lambert Hatem: A lot of kids TV. So when we first started talking about our guests today, Sharon, you had no idea of them or this show?

Sharon Johnson: Had never heard of them. They were a complete-- It was completely news to me. I had no idea it even existed.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Never heard of The Elephant Show?

Sharon Johnson: Nope.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Or this song?

Sharon Johnson: Well, not the Elephant Song. No. Skinnamarink I was, familiar with because it is an old song. But I certainly wasn't aware of it in the context of The Elephant Show or these singers.

Susan Lambert Hatem: I think the reason you know the song-- Now did you go to summer camp?

Sharon Johnson: No.

Susan Lambert Hatem: No. Because you were in Japan. You were in summer camp at military bases. It was like summer camp all the time.

Sharon Johnson: Something like that. Yeah. Now, I must have known it from. I watched a lot of old movies on TV. You know, I'm thinking I must have heard the song somewhere. Somewhere out there. Yeah. But, I was not aware of it, that it had been. Become a staple and become the song that our guest today is most known for.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Well, it's the song that's been in my head for the last month since we've been talking about this show. [Singing] Skinamarink a dinky dink, Skinamarink a doo. I love you. [Talking] That's the song.

Sharon Johnson: That's it.

Susan Lambert Hatem: And now I've put it in your head, dear listeners.

Sharon Johnson: You're welcome.

Susan Lambert Hatem: All right. I did remember this show and certainly some of the songs, particularly Skinamarink. And, you know, I'm gonna ask them to sing it. Do you think they'll sing it?

Sharon Johnson: I sure hope so.

Susan Lambert Hatem: I mean, they're Canadian, so they have to do the nice thing.

Sharon Johnson: One can only hope.

Susan Lambert Hatem: But do you think they're sick of the song by now?

Sharon Johnson: I can't imagine that they are. I mean, they're still. They must still be doing it, I would think, in their shows. It's got. Because it's so closely associated with them and it's such a great song and the kids, I'm sure, just love it.

Susan Lambert Hatem: It is a sweet song.

Sharon Johnson: So our, guest today is Sharon Hampson. She is a Canadian musician who, along with Lois Lilienstein and Bram Morrison, created the joyful pop folk trio Sharon, Lois and Bram, which toured Canada, North America, and had two television shows and several specials in the 1980s and into the 90s. Sharon still makes appearances today with her daughter Randi, who will also be joining us for this show.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Sharon, Lois and Bram's first album was One Elephant. Deuce Elephants. Am I saying that right, Melissa?

Melissa Roth: Deuce Elephants.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Oh, I gotta say it like a French person.  

Melissa Roth: No.  

Susan Lambert Hatem: One elephant. Deuce Elephants.

Sharon Johnson: Exactly.

Melissa Roth: That's it. Just think, ooh-la-la while you're saying it. Ooh-la-la.

Susan Lambert Hatem: One elephant. Deuce Elephants. It was released in 1978 and became the fastest selling Canadian children's album ever for the time, ultimately has become triple platinum. It was part of the wave that changed children's music becoming a little smarter, a little, poppier, but also not talking down to kids. Their recordings and live performances were so successful, it launched two critically-acclaimed popular television shows in the 80s and 90s.

Sharon Johnson: The Elephant Show, which ran from 1984 to 1989 on Nickelodeon in the U.S. and CBC in Canada. And then Skinamarink TV which ran from 1997 to 1999 on the Learning Channel in the U.S. and CBC in Canada.

Susan Lambert Hatem: They have produced over 20 full length albums, received countless awards, appeared at the Kennedy Center, the White House, Carnegie Hall and were inducted into the Order of Canada, their country's highest honor.

Sharon Johnson: Singer-pianist Lois Lilienstein died of cancer in 2015. Sharon and Brad continue to tour, often joined by Sharon's daughter Randi Hampson. Brad retired, but still makes appearances. They have almost 200,000 followers on TikTok with 30 million views. And they have just released a new album which includes previously unreleased tracks.

Susan Lambert Hatem: For over 40 years, Sharon Hampson has been creating music for kids and parents. She is joining us today with her daughter Randi. We're so excited to welcome a true 80s TV lady and her daughter to our podcast. Welcome Sharon and Randi.

Sharon Hampson: Thank you. Happy to be with you.

Sharon Johnson: Thank you so much for joining us today. We're really looking forward to this.

Randi Hampson: She's an 80s TV lady in her 80s.

Sharon Johnson: That's right.

Susan Lambert Hatem: That's the best kind.

Sharon Johnson: Why don't you first tell us about the new album release, Elephant Showstoppers, that's available on vinyl and for streaming.

Sharon Hampson: The music on the album, the vinyl. I'm thrilled about the album. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful product. It's a beautiful package. It's full of surprises and delights and lots of wonderful music, all of which comes from The Elephant Show. Songs that were on The Elephant Show but were never released on any kind of CD or cassette or anything like that. Now you can tell them the rest.

Randi Hampson: Other than watching it on television, you wouldn't have had the opportunity to hear these songs. So the idea of vinyl is because The Elephant Show is so nostalgic, we figured the parents who grew up on The Elephant Show might have record players and might have appreciation for having a physical item in their hands with large pictures. There's never-before seen images on it. There are song lyrics and memories behind the songs. And what we were hoping was when a fan would hear a specific song that it would conjure up a memory of the activity that was going on on the show at that time. But the songs are so good that you can just listen to them without having ever experienced the elephant show. And that's what we're hoping will happen is the parents get the nostalgia and the kids get to enjoy fun songs and share that experience with their parents.

Sharon Hampson: And Lois is very present in this album. Lois, who's been gone for how many years? Almost 10 years, but she is very much part of the album. And she and I sing a song together which I particularly love. It's called Love Grows Under the Wild Oak Tree. And, it's very sweet. It's beautiful harmonies, a lovely arrangement. And when I think about the video, it makes me laugh because there was a wind machine and it was blowing us back and forth and back and forth. And it's, it's so contrary to what we're listening to. It's, you know, it's, it's a delight. So hopefully people will have those kind of memories.

Randi Hampson: We had another really, really cool thing happen this weekend. Toronto has a downtown area which is very much like Times Square. And, there are all sorts of electronic, Huge electronic billboards all over the square. And The Elephant Show Stoppers’cover picture was on the Amazon billboard this weekend. So Lois’ son flew in from California, and my mom and Bram and Elephant all went down to check out the billboard and take a look. And we told fans that we were going to be there. And fans showed up to say thank you and take pictures and sing Skinamarink. And it was just a really cool afternoon.

Sharon Hampson: And when they show up, we always hear very touching stories. Often we hear, you were my first concert. Always lovely memories like that, which really touch my heart.

Susan Lambert Hatem: That's amazing. You know, we know so much more about childhood development now and how vital it is to share music and reading and engagement with your kid at an early age. Which we knew, right? And we did anyway.

Sharon Hampson: Kids television and in concerts. And I think that speaks highly to our success because people would come to a concert or watch the TV show and they would do it together. If we say, okay, everybody stand up. We're gonna sing about peanut butter, everyone stood up. And kids learn from their parents. Sometimes now they don't, the parents don't all always stand up. And I think if you want your kid to participate, you better show them that participation is a good thing. In the early days, everybody did everything. And we loved that. We loved that. And it wasn't like this thought-out, psychological decision. It was just, let's all make music together. It was, you know, so regulars, the right thing to do, the ordinary thing to do, and it worked.

Randi Hampson: The thing is, also, I know that music was part of my mother's childhood. It was part of Lois's childhood. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a music degree. From a very young age, Bram also was playing guitar. So the importance of music in their lives growing up extended into their adulthood. And the tragedy now is we know the benefits. I mean, when Sharon, Lois and Bram started out, they just loved sharing the music with children and families. And it's so desperately needed now, and kids are just plopped in front of screens and left, and the joy of doing it together is absent.

Susan Lambert Hatem: I think it's really hard in an increasingly digital world to get kids, I think, to engage in the real world. And, you know, there's a huge advantage in the digital world. It's certainly, you know, I have a 17-year-old. And so during COVID the way that he got to hang out with his friends was through video games. And I would hear them and they were talking and laughing and engaging, and it was super beneficial.

Sharon Hampson: Thank goodness.

Susan Lambert Hatem: And thank goodness. But then it also took time to sort of, once we started to be able to come back. I'm so thrilled. My son went to a concert the other night, like an actual concert with his friends, something I did at 17. And, you're like, this is so amazing. I'm so thrilled he gets to have that experience. I do a lot of theater. So he has been dragged his whole life to musical theater and, and regular plays and, you know.

Sharon Hampson: Yay! You perform in musical theater?

Susan Lambert Hatem: I produce and write and direct. I don't perform.

Sharon Hampson: Oh, cool.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Yeah.

Sharon Hampson: We love musical theater. We love any kind of theater, but we love musical theater. And by the way, when Randi and I and our little band do performances, children are just the same. They get up, they do it, they sing, they dance, they do everything that we ask them to do. Sometimes the parents are a little more reticent, but the kids, they're 100% ready to do it.

Susan Lambert Hatem: I think that's incredibly powerful and so incredibly important. Music, is just. I'm a huge music fan. I mean, I've produced albums and I'm not even a musician. Like, I just love music. So how did you get started in music?

Sharon Hampson: You know, as Randi said, I grew up in an environment where there was music all the time. It was folk music. I grew up on Pete Seeger. I don't know if you know who Pete Seeger is, but, you know, he was the definitive song leader and everybody-sing-along leader. And I grew up with his music and in environment where everybody sang. So singing together was sort of a natural thing in my life. And when I was in high school, I had a friend who taught me how to play guitar, and I played cello in high school and I took piano lessons. So music was a way of life. But I was introduced at a folk music club, at a coffee house. you know, Sharon's going to come up and sing now, at a hootnanny. And I was very shy and very nervous, but they called on me. So up I went and I sang. And I guess I really liked it. So I quit school a few months later, much to my parents horror. And I was in the final year of high school, which in our case at that time was grade 13. And I turned to my friend in a math class and said, should I quit school? And she said, you might as well. You haven't been doing your homework.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Oh my God, don't tell my kid that.

Sharon Hampson: Years later she said to me, why did I say that to you? You never did your homework. You didn't need to do your homework. Anyway, I quit school and it was a heartbreak for my parents. And I got involved in the folk music community. And I always had an affinity to working with children. So I seem to have that connection from the time that I was young. You know, I was in grade six, and the kindergarten teacher would ask if I could come and help with the children on a break or something like that. So I liked little kids. I still do. They're good company. And then along the way, well, I knew Bram because there was folk music in Toronto. The coffee house scene was thriving. And so we knew each other from that sort of at a bit of a distance from that environment. And I was involved in a program called Mariposa in the Schools, which I helped organize, which put musicians like us into the schools on a freelance basis to do little workshops with individual classrooms. Eventually we did concerts and you'd go in for a day and do four or five workshops. And as Graham said, nose to nose on the, on the floor with the kids. And we all really learned in that environment. And Lois and I were introduced by a mutual friend. She knew we were both doing music for children and she suggested that we meet each other. And she invited us both for lunch and that's how we met each other. And she was doing a wonderful program in the library called Music for Children for three to five year olds. And she brought me into that program. I brought her into the Mariposa in the Schools program. We became friends and colleagues before we ever intended to make a record.

Sharon Johnson: Were those kind of children's programs pretty much standard, for lack of a better word, amongst in Canada and in schools, or did you just happen to--

Sharon Hampson: I think we created some, something new and different, and it was very successful.

Randi Hampson: And a lot of important children's entertainers came out of that program. So Raffi cut his teeth there. You know, Sharon actually auditioned him to be part of the program.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Was he good enough then? You know, I'm not sure.

Sharon Hampson: And Lois, also in her Music for Children program, he asked her if she would help promote his first record. And she promoted it and told her, the parents about it. So we were all very helpful in that regard. Canada got really good at promoting children's artists. And, you know, maybe partly because we have a national broadcaster, CBC Radio and television, you know, you could reach the whole country. And that was something pretty unique to Canada. And there were people who were interested. So eventually, Lois, Bram and I were on the, in the Mariposa in the Schools program. And the organization was going to do a record. And we said, oh, great. Got held up because it was part of, an organization and there was a hierarchy and they had to get permission from the board of directors and all of that stuff. So Bill Usher, who was our first producer, said, well, why don't we just make a record? And it ended up being Lois and me and Bram with no intention to start a career, just to make a really good record. We believed that children deserved the best we could offer the highest quality. Musicians, arrangers. You know, we worked very hard on arrangements. My husband was very involved. You could tell them about your dad.

Randi Hampson: Oh, Joe, I know who my dad is.

Sharon Hampson: I just thought I'd add a little-- Joe wrote a number of songs for us, and he also did wonderful vocal arrangements and instrumental arrangements. But he really taught us how to sing in harmony. Bram said that he learned how to sing harmony from Joe. Joe spent a lot of time helping him because Lois and Bram had never done that. And if you listen to the first couple of records, you hear Sharon singing harmony a lot of the time, because the others were not so good at that yet, but they got a lot better at it. And the response to the record, partly because of CBC and national radio, the response to the record, much to our surprise, was incredible. So immediately people started to know us.

Randi Hampson: Well, it's also because it was a really good.

Sharon Johnson: Yeah, there is that.

Susan Lambert Hatem: So I have two questions. One is I want to go back and hear about your dad, but also, Randi, I want to hear about you growing up in this household of music and you basically, I read that you guys crowdsourced your album before there was crowdsourcing.

Sharon Hampson: Yeah, well, our version of crowdsourcing was to go to family and friends and say, we need to raise $20,000. Would you kick in, loan us 500 or $1,000 each? And that's how we raised the $20,000 to make our record, through family and friends who certainly never believed they were going to see that money again. But they did. The record came out in September of 1978. And in December we made a party, a little holiday party, and we put their checks in Christmas crackers. We knew how to make good parties.

Susan Lambert Hatem: That sounds like it.

Sharon Hampson: And they all got their money back, much to their surprise. But the thing is, they knew us from our various musical careers and they believed in what we were doing and they were happy to support us. So it was a lovely community.

Susan Lambert Hatem: And then, Randi, let's talk about growing up in this household of music makers.

Randi Hampson: Well, my dad's mother, she played piano and organ in the silent movie houses. And his aunt was a choir director and a music teacher. So when I was about five, she bought me a little studio upright piano, and I started taking piano lessons. And so similar to my mom, I played French horn in junior high and high school. I sang in the choir, I played in the bands. So music was very much a part of my life too. And I went to camp and I collected songs and I did music at, ah, day camps. And when I come across a good song, I would come home and say, hey, I learned this. I think it might be a fun one for you guys. So, you know, I'll listen to songs and I'll be like, oh, I taught them that. But I also got to. When my dad was working on arrangements, sometimes, since it was three parts, I would sit at the piano with them and we would try out the arrangements together. We would sing the three parts together. So my whole life was surrounded by music. And then once Sharon, Lois and Bram were starting, I was very enmeshed in going to the studio, watching them record, singing in the children's chorus if it was a camp song, teaching them new songs that, you know, just. And any way that I could participate, I was always interested in doing that.

Susan Lambert Hatem: That's amazing.

Sharon Hampson: Isn't that nice? Yeah, I think it's amazing too. It didn't seem extraordinary. It seemed regular because we were a family and we did that stuff together. You know, singing together was. And we used to have parties here, music parties. And I loved, you know, the Mariposa in the Schools community had really good parties and a number of them were here and, and they were all, ah, generations. Our kids were at them and we played musical games and party games, and it was a great way of being a community.

Randi Hampson: Lois' son David is a very good friend of mine. And Lois used to say that David was just along for the ride. Like, whatever they were doing, he was doing too. And that was just really a philosophy that was shared. So, we would ring in the New Year's together and we'd play charades and go tobogganing. And it was multi-generational, and that was just really a Sharon, Lois and Bram motto. And it's extended now because my son Ethan is our bass player and his roommate Zach is our drummer and my partner is our guitar player. So just being along for the ride is just extended to the next generation now. And my sons have a sister who was seven. She-- We just went and did a little concert at her school and she wrote our introduction for. She came up and she introduced us. So we, you know, it's even extending to a fourth generation now, which is pretty cool.

Sharon Hampson: And recently Randi and I did. It was called Stage Door Stories. It was an evening for adults where we get to tell stories and we sang some songs and there were questions from the audience and it. And Ethan, her older son Ethan, my first grandson, was part of that because he was playing guitar for us on that occasion. And I love that he was able to participate with his version of stories, things that he's heard over the years. It's wonderful, actually. And Randi's partner, who normally plays guitar for us, in his previous history had no exposure to us or what we did or anything like that. And the first time he was at one of these little concerts, it was at Eva's school. And the kids were so good. They were so wonderful. And afterward Jim said, I need to bring Kleenex to all of these concerts. He was so touched by the response of the children. That was an interesting classroom that the music teacher in that school, she was teaching the kids in the school how to be an audience, audience behavior, how you listen, you don't talk to each other, you participate, you applaud. I mean, I thought every, every school should have that instruction.

Sharon Johnson: Absolutely. I hadn't really thought of that, but that is absolutely something that everybody has to learn at some point. When you go to any sort of live performance, there are rules, if you will, for the audience in terms of behavior. But I had a question. As you, you were talking about the talks and quasi performances that you gave for the adults. Did you get them to sing along with you as well?

Sharon Hampson: Oh, yes.

Sharon Johnson: Oh, that's fantastic.

Randi Hampson: We've done teacher workshops and keynote speeches. And in some respects, when people are genuinely there because they've chosen to be there, like, they're not going because their kids want to see or you know what, there's just something in their energy, which is so fun and enthusiastic. We were doing a keynote for a group of early educators, and they were in a banquet hall. So there were huge round tables and people were far away, and there was empty spaces at the front. Sharon said, would some of you please come and sit closer? And this woman at the back said, Sharon, I'm coming! And she's like, running up to the front, and she was just like, she couldn't get there fast enough.

Sharon Hampson: So we meet a lot of adult fans, people who grew up on us and our music and the TV show. They're so devoted. Often, you know, I'll meet someone and she will get a little teary and they're embarrassed, and I say, don't be embarrassed. You're having tears because you're having happy childhood memories. That's a good thing.

Sharon Johnson: Absolutely.

Sharon Hampson: So we meet a lot of people like that. And also, Randi and our team do a lot of post a lot of stuff on TikTok. I know nothing about any of this except RRandi and the team tell me and Bram to turn up. And this is what they want us to do. We love it. We have so much fun doing it. But people write and they use an expression that until this, I had never heard before. Memory unlocked. They hear a song and it reminds them of their childhood, and they respond with their version of the song. It's. It's lovely. And they're remembering, and I love that people are remembering us with some level of pleasure.

Sharon Johnson: Oh, gosh, that's amazing.

Susan Lambert Hatem: That is fantastic. So how did the show actually happen?

Sharon Johnson: So we have to take a break, but we'll be right back to talk more with Sharon and Randi and to hear what it is like to tour with your kid and your parent and their favorite songs and memories from the show.

Susan Lambert Hatem: [Singing] Skinamarink a dinky dink, Skinamarink a doo. [Talking] And we're back. So you put out an album, and it was hugely successful in 1978.

Sharon Hampson: Exactly.

Susan Lambert Hatem: And then how did that turn into a show for CBC?

Sharon Johnson: Well, it didn't right away. I mean, we put out that album never intending to do anything more. We even went back to our individual performing careers. Briefly. Then it was clear that we should make another album. And our producer, Bill Usher, really, he was a producer and he wanted us to make more records. And there was every reason to do that. So we ended up putting out four records for like 1978, 79, 80, 81.

Randi Hampson: They did a couple of little TV specials in there, half hour specials as well, on two of the major networks, CTV and CBC.

Sharon Hampson: Exactly;  

Sharon Johnson: What was that like, the first time that you found yourself doing a show for TV?

Sharon Hampson: Well, it was the first time for the trio. Yes, it was the first time for the trio. I had done. Right, yeah, for sure. Yeah. I'd been on TV, something for teenagers. It was called the After 4 Club. Gordon Lightfoot and I were on the same show together, which is kind of cool. So I had had some TV experience, but where I was a guest, not where I was the feature. And over the course of our career, people would come to us and, and say, would you like to do some TV? People who were involved in TV. And we'd say, yeah, after we'd done these few specials. And we'd say, oh yeah, for sure. And they'd say, you know, have you got money? No. And they go away. That happened quite a lot until these two guys, neither of whom was a parent. They had nieces and nephews, which is why they knew about us. They were just graduates of film school. And they came to us and said, would you like to do a TV show? And we said yes. And they said--  

Randi Hampson: They asked if Sharon, Lois and Bram had money. And Sharon, Lois and Bram said no. Do you? And they said yes.  

Sharon Hampson: Which was a lie.  

Randi Hampson: Even though they didn't. They just figured, we got the ideas, we're going to find a way to make it happen.

Sharon Hampson: And we only learned because we have this new vinyl album. We had a little party to celebrate the launch of it. And we had it at a wonderful children's bookstore here. And we invited people who were somehow connected. And one of those producers, they both wanted to come, but they had commitments. But one of them came and he told this delightful story. He said, yes, we went away and we didn't have any money, but my brother is a doctor. And I went to my brother and he said, okay. He went to all of his pals and asked them each to kick in $2,000.

Sharon Johnson: Wow.

Randi Hampson: So that's the second crowdfunding story.

Sharon Hampson: Exactly.

Susan Lambert Hatem: That is so great.

Sharon Hampson: Isn't that sweet?

Randi Hampson: Yeah.

Sharon Johnson: So they came back with money and the first thing we did with them was a little special called Sharon, Lois and Bram at Young People's Theatre. SLB at YPT. Young People's Theatre was a wonderful theater. The first place we ever did a concert, actually. So they came back with a plan to do this special and we did a charming special. It was short. I can't remember how long it was.

Randi Hampson: 20 minutes, 22 minutes. Because there's commercials.

Sharon Hampson: Yeah, it was a half hour special. So we did that with them. And by then they had found a broadcaster to show it. And then maybe they came in with some money we could proceed with The Elephant Show. And that's how The Elephant Show was born. Was very unexpected. And every year we did 13 segments of The Elephant Show. We never knew if CBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was going to renew it, though it was hugely popular. And so every year at the end of the season we'd wonder, is it going to be renewed? Are we going back to plan the next 13 programs? And for five years it was renewed and then we stopped.

Randi Hampson: But the reason you're probably even talking to her at all is because The Elephant Show got picked up by Nickelodeon in the States and then they completely exploded.

Sharon Hampson: So it really changed our career, really changed it. And we went from, occasionally coming to the States to play at little venues to playing at state fairs and those big, beautiful outdoor venues. I mean we, we played at incredible places over the years and had a huge audience.

Susan Lambert Hatem: So it was all done when it started airing on Nickelodeon.

Randi Hampson: Yeah.

Susan Lambert Hatem: That's amazing.

Sharon Hampson: Yeah. The thing is that Nickelodeon did something that we did not love. They put the show on at, I think it was 11 o'clock in the morning. So it changed the audience.

Randi Hampson: It had been a show that when children first started going to Sharon, Lois and Bram concerts, it was 0 to 11, probably, 10 or 11. And they would do school concerts up to grade six. And when they started showing it at 11 o'clock in the morning—

Sharon Hampson: We lost that audience.  

Sharon Johnson: Yeah, because they're in school.  

Sharon Hampson: It became three and under. They had a huge audience. Obviously, the show was very successful, but it changed our audience and the kind of shows that we, we could do.

Randi Hampson: But the other thing that's happened, of course, with children's music is they don't get to be kids for very long anymore. You know, even my niece became a Spice Girl fan, you know, when she was little. And partly kids listen to whatever their parents are listening to. And one of the nice things about Sharon, Lois and Bram music was that you didn't run screaming from the room. They had good quality arrangements and interesting musical genres.

Sharon Hampson: That was the goal. I mean, our first record said a children's record for the whole family. And that was always the goal, that they should be able to share the music and enjoy it together.

Randi Hampson: But the other side of it was that once they were on Nickelodeon, they went from playing in high school gyms to playing in stadiums. And I actually just took a picture of a marquee, which they were sharing that had massive celebrities on it. So, like, you know, it was the Beach Boys, James Taylor, Doc Severinson, Randi Travis, Sharon, Lois and Bram.

Sharon Johnson: That's awesome.

Randi Hampson: Yeah. So it was the Allentown, Pennsylvania Great Fair or whatever.

Melissa Roth: That's where I grew up! You were at the Allentown Fairgrounds. That's huge.

Randi Hampson: Oh, wow. Really?

Melissa Roth: Oh, yes.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Were you there, Melissa?

Melissa Roth: I think I was.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Okay. I think so, too.

Melissa Roth: Yeah.

Randi Hampson: Well, I remember trying to teach Grant the Billy Joel song Allentown so that he could play a little bit of it for his solo in Allentown.

Sharon Hampson: Oh, that's funny, Randi.

Randi Hampson: So, Melissa, I wonder if I saw you there.

Susan Lambert Hatem: I bet we crossed paths.

Susan Lambert Hatem: I love that. Everything happened in Allentown.

Melissa Roth: Of course, it's the center of the universe.

Randi Hampson: So that. I'm kidding. But, you know, kids will come up to my mom and Bram and say, do you recognize me?

Sharon Hampson: I love that. The thing about the vinyl that I loved is that kids would hold on to that album cover because there was our picture and they could connect with those people. They felt like they knew us. Harder to do on a cassette. And so it tickles me that we have this vinyl with our pictures on it, and kids like to make that connection. And. And, you know, a mom could say, oh, this is Sharon. And Sharon and Lois are singing that song together so the kids can connect with the people.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Yeah. I mean, and I think that's one of the reasons, you know, physical media at least has a little, I don't know. Vinyl is a little bit better, right? It's a little renaissance.

Randi Hampson: Yeah.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Because there is something, again, really wonderful about having something tactile and, you know, that thing. It's so funny when our oldest child got a record player in college. Our oldest child, who's 28, but that was cool.

Randi Hampson: Oh, that's nice.

Susan Lambert Hatem: They're like, oh, I need. Do you have any albums? I'm like, our albums are long gone or warped. Like, the albums I kept,  

Randi Hampson: I kept mine.  

Susan Lambert Hatem: I kept a lot of my albums, but they got warped because I was moving. So I was in LA and I was moving, and I was like, I just never really had good storage.

Randi Hampson: Most of mine are gone.

Sharon Johnson: Albums are gone, the CDs are gone. But I still have the vinyl sitting in a box, thinking that someday I'm going to get myself a player and--

Susan Lambert Hatem: Well, you got to be careful because I kept some stuff and then I pulled one out because I'm like, I got to get. Of course, Owen got one that you could then digitize stuff from the album.

Melissa Roth: That's great.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Which was great. And I was like, I need you to do this album. And it was an album from a theater show called Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris that they had done in Cleveland, Ohio in 1977-1980. And I had seen a performance of it. My dad took us and when I was nine. And of course, I really connected with the Belgian middle-aged facing death songs and, killing, the bulls on Sunday. I was. I kept that album my entire life. And then like four years ago, I was like, oh, and you've gotta transfer-- And that it was warped. Oh, but I did find a cd, which was unusual. It had been transferred later.

Randi Hampson: And does it stand the test of time?

Susan Lambert Hatem: It totally does. Are you kidding? And my sister also had the same response. She was two years older. She just did a performance of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris in North Carolina. She does theater too.

Sharon Hampson: You should probably be telling us about your parents because it's interesting that you're both so immersed in that.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Yeah, my mom was a microbiologist at CDC for 42 years. Is very disappointed in her artistic daughters.

Sharon Hampson: Did she do musical theater in part time as a hobby?

Susan Lambert Hatem: No. But she did take us to a lot of concerts and, she did take us to theater and expose us to a lot of art. So art was very important to her and she loves music, but she is a scientist through and through. And she was so sad. Our father was a news-- He started as a newsman, but then went into theater, and he took us to a lot of theater too. That was wildly inappropriate for us.

Randi Hampson: And that was when your parents divorced?

Susan Lambert Hatem: Mm-hmm.

Randi Hampson: That's hilarious. Well, I was gonna say my parents were very disappointed when I decided not to follow in their musical footsteps and became a family lawyer.

Susan Lambert Hatem: But, you know, very handy, I bet. Very handy because we're like, we're both artists. And now we're like, we need some lawyer, doctor, something useful, a plumber or someone who. A handy person. I need. That's what I need. I'm like, want our children be. Because we're useless.

Sharon Hampson: It's not a bad suggestion.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Oh, my gosh. This is so fun. Okay, so let's. Let's go back to the music for a second. Because I'm very curious about three songs in particular. A lot of your songs are very memorable to me. I do remember the songs. And I was a little bit older for the show by the time it was on Nickelodeon. I was not a child. I was probably still a kid, but not a child.

Randi Hampson: It would have helped if you had a younger sibling to watch with.

Shraron Hampson: Yeah, then you would have gotten away with it.

Randi Hampson: But there is a sweet spot in terms of the age, for sure.

Susan Lambert Hatem: I did go to summer camp, and I was a camp counselor. So a lot of these songs were very familiar to me, and some of which I know from you guys because they were just sort of in the ether, I think, your version of them. So we have to, of course, talk about Skinamarink and what that means to you. Both when you guys did it and found it and now. And it's become what it has become for you.

Sharon Hampson: I love Skinamarink. We've only sung it a gazillion times. Once we started singing it, we said, whatever we do, we'll always end with Skinamarink. What a wonderful song. I mean, it's a love song. And people sing it to each other. They kids sing it to the grandparents. They singing at weddings when they're clinking the glasses, I mean. And it came to us in a most unexpected way. Lois had gone to Chicago to ask her family for money for the first record. And while she was there, she was visiting with her cousin Lisa. And she said, Lisa, do you know any good songs? And Lisa sang Skinamarink for her. And Lois came back and said, this is a really nice song. I think we should include it. We said, oh, yeah, we love it. So we put it on the first record. It's not the last song. And Bram doesn't sing on it. Lois sings, and I sing harmony with her. And there's even an instrumental break in the middle where there's a woman who does tap dancing. We put a piece of wood on the floor in the studio, and she tap danced. And her name. Her name was Shirley Temple.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Not THE Shirley Temple?

Sharon Hampson: Sharon gets that. Not THE Shirley Temple.

Susan Lambert Hatem: She would have been 70? Okay.

Sharon Hampson: She was Mr. Temple's wife.

Susan Lambert Hatem: That's adorable.

Sharon Johnson: That's great.

Sharon Hampson: So we recorded the song and we loved it. And Bram played a really neat little guitar part that sounds like a ukulele. And then when we were doing our very first concert, we said, it's such a great song. Let's end the show with it. And that changed everything. I love the way people love that song. And we now have a book, The Skinamarink Book. We tease. We say that the book would have been a pamphlet if Randi hadn't extended the story in the book. So the book has more verses, and it's delightful and it's beautifully illustrated. So it's a great song. I love it. You know, I will never tire of that song.

Randi Hampson: And you're right, it is in the ether. So people, if you say, do you know Sharon, Lois, and Bram? They won't necessarily say yes. But if you say, do you know Skinamarink? Oh, yeah, of course I know that. So they don't know that that’s why, but that is why, for sure.

Susan Lambert Hatem: All right. In searching the Internet, scouring the Internet, I came across a lot of spellings of Skinamarink. How did you guys decide how you were gonna spell it? Was that the spelling?

Sharon Hampson: I don't know the answer.

Randi Hampson: You know, you just did it. I think what happened was they decided how they were gonna spell it on the first album and that. And that's been it. So it's like 46 years of spelling it that way now. It was really funny, though, working with the editor of the book and phonetically spelling out, ‘I love you to Boop boopy doo.’

Sharon Hampson: How do you?

Susan Lambert Hatem: How do you do that?

Randi Hampson: And is it boop boopy doo or Boop boopy doop? And is there two o's in boo boop?

Susan Lambert Hatem: I'm very curious. Which part means I love you? Is it Skinnamarink or Dinky Dink?

Sharon Hampson: Whichever works for you.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Now, when you recorded that, did you have any idea you were recording basically what has become the definitive version of the song?

Sharon Hampson: Not a clue here. This is a really nice song. Let's include it. We had no idea. And then, because it was this delightful song, made sense to use it at the end of the first concert when we did that, we thought, that's a really good thing to do. Let's keep doing that. It just kind of grew and grew. We had no idea. But what a lovely, unexpected surprise.

Randi Hampson: Normally, musicians tour songs and then go into the studio and they did it in reverse. They picked a whole bunch of songs that they thought would be interesting to record, and then they, you know, they wanted to make sure that each of them got their moment to shine and that, you know, they balanced out their turns and their features and everything like that. But truly, what they did was they created an album, and then they picked a way to do it in front of an audience. The fifth album was called 1, 2, 3, 4 Live. And really, they had figured out the magic of how to include the audience and, you know, how to get them engaged and how to teach them a song in a way that wasn't boring and took too long. And once that happened, once they had their hits, the audience always knows what to do. When we do a concert, we try and balance the old favorites with things that are lesser known or stuff we'd like to share. But the bulk of the songs that we choose to sing with them are the ones that they want to hear. And from the second we get on stage till the last, ‘I love you, Boop boopy doo.’ They sing everything 100%.

Susan Lambert Hatem: When did the elephant come in? And does the elephant have a name?

Randi Hampson: Elephant never had a name there. It happened that there was Babar production in the theater where they were going to be performing. And because the record was called One Elephant, Deux Éléphants, and because they had decided to call their company Elephant Records, they thought, gee, it would be fun to have an elephant come on stage. And sometimes it was Bill Usher's wife, sometimes it was me, sometimes it was me and Lois's son David. You know, we just rent these Babar costumes. And then once they did the pilot for The Elephant Show and had some money they invested in, you know, the idea of Elephant having a different appearance.

Sharon Hampson: You know, so here's a really great marketing idea. Let's do this. I mean, we never did anything like this. It was random. You know, as Randi said, there was the elephant. Well, let's, you know, we have songs the elephant could come out and dance to. As simple and straightforward as that. It was meant to be.

Susan Lambert Hatem: That is amazing. Now, how many elephant suits exist right now?

Randi Hampson: There's one at the National Museum in Ottawa that's in storage right now. It was part of an exhibit, but it's. When Lois died, we asked if we could borrow it, and they said for the. For a memorial, the celebration for her. And they said they were concerned about the condition of it because it was like, it's 40 years ago now. Right? But we had a celebratory concert at the Winter Garden Theater, which we filmed as part of a documentary about Sharon Lois and Bram. And Elephant has made a reappearance.

Susan Lambert Hatem: So Elephant's back.

Sharon Hampson: They're very happy to see. Elephant. And it's interesting, you know, without really planning this, we just never assigned a gender to Elephant. So we wouldn't say he is blah. We would say, Elephant, where are you going? Or Elephant is coming with. We just referred to Elephant as Elephant. And weren't we ahead of time?

Susan Lambert Hatem: Yes.

Sharon Hampson: I mean, our notion was that we wanted every kid to be able to identify with Elephant, this youngster that, you know, who was having fun and adventures and moods and all that. And so it was a very smart thing.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Well, and the One Elephant, Deux Éléphant? Which I did badly.  

Sharon Hampson: Deux Éléphant.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Deux Éléphant. Is such a beautiful bilingual children's song. Like it's really lovely and yet silly. And how did that song come to be one of your signatures?

Sharon Hampson: Interesting. Lois. I learned the song from Lois. And then I was in a multicultural in a French immersion classroom of little kids. And it's a wonderful game where kids, you know, hook on trunk to tail and it's, it's, you know, you start with one and then it's two. Then it's. It's a charming game. We did that. And then after we were all done and the kids were gone, the teacher said to me, you know, that would be a beautiful French, French song. So she kind of helped me translate it to French. And then I had a friend who, a man that I knew was teaching French at the university and he fiddled with it a little bit more to make it better. And we knew that it was perfect. And when we made the record, we loved the idea of making it, calling it One Elephant, Deux Éléphant. And there were several French songs on the album. So it was perfect. It was perfect.

Randi Hampson: There's a Spanish version of it too.

Susan Lambert Hatem: No.

Randi Hampson & Sharon Hampson [Singing]: Un elefante se balanceaba, Sobre la tela de una araña, Como veía que resistía, Fue a llamar a camarade.

Sharon Hampson: Ah. I think she knows it better.

Randi Hampson: The camarade is a friend.

Sharon Hampson: Yeah. We were on tour and we were at a church dinner and there was a Japanese troupe and one of them was sitting next to Bram and they were chatting and he sang a bit of One Elephant. And then, they sang their Japanese version of it. We couldn't believe it. Music, you know, things turn up that you don't know about their worldwide, which is, which is wonderful.

Susan Lambert Hatem: It's so universal.

Randi Hampson: You know, we've had a bunch of, videos of Skinamarink that we put up on our socials. And one of them is as an acapella version. It's really sweet. It's almost. It's 5.8 million views, something like that. All of a sudden, we had Thai and Filipino and Vietnamese people tagging all their friends. So normally our videos are like 50% American and 50% Canadian. And on this video, like Vietnam was the third most watched country and we have no idea why.

Sharon Johnson: That's amazing. Oh my gosh.

Susan Lambert Hatem: It's in the ether. You put it in the ether. How is Bram doing? He's on the TikToks?

Sharon Hampson: Yes. Yeah.

Randi Hampson: In the summertime we did a concert at Fan Expo, you know, had like 500 adult fans and cosplay come out to watch and sing with Sharon, Bram and Elephant. So that was pretty cool too.

Susan Lambert Hatem: That's pretty amazing. That is pretty amazing. So what's the secret to staying friends and parents for so long and children?

Sharon Hampson: It's really interesting because we really were friends. I mean, I think most groups that break up break up because of relationships or, problem relationships. When we came to know each other, we all had long-term partners. You know, when you're in a long-term relationship, you figure out how to make things, how to work things out. So we had that fundamental basic understanding with each other as well, obviously within our relationship. So we liked each other. We shared, you know, our families. We got together for family events and occasions.

Randi Hampson: When you aren't into drugs and alcohol and the, the seedier side of fame and everything like that, it's, I think, a little easier than a rock band or something like that.

Sharon Hampson: Our drug of choice was food.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Oh, that's the good one.

Sharon Hampson: Musicians who toured with us would come back and people would say, you know, where did you tour? They said, not where did we tour, where did we eat?

Sharon Johnson: Getting back to The Elephant Show and I saw something about some of the guests who had been on the show. And I know since Susan mentioned Andrea Martin, but I will tell you that the name that popped out to me was the Nylons. And, I don't know if you can tell us anything about the episode they were on or. I'm a big fan. I'm a long-time fan of theirs, of that group and love their music. Talk about harmonies. I mean, acapella music is all about harmonies and it's one of the reasons I love them so much.

Randi Hampson: It was Treasure Island and Fabulous. It was a fantastic episode.

Sharon Hampson: Their video was amazing.

Randi Hampson: They had a really good time doing it too. It was Wimoweh.

Sharon Hampson: It was Wimoweh, The Lion Sleeps Tonight and they were hiding behind trees and they'd pop out and it was a terrific. It was-- George Bloomfield was the director. He's a very interesting director. And that was, that was a good video. It was thrilling to have really good singers. We also had a female duo from Quebec,  

Randi Hampson: Kate and Anna McGarrigle. Did you ever hear of Kate and Anna McGarrigle?

Sharon Hampson: No. Well, you would because, Rufus Wainwright is the son of one of them. Yeah. They were on the show and I was so thrilled. They sang a song called Heart Like a Wheel. Those two women sound like their voices are coming out of one person.

Sharon Johnson: Oh, wow.

Sharon Hampson: It is so perfect. It's so beautiful. We had Andrea Martin, of course, was. She was a character. Do you know who Chuck Mangione--

Sharon Johnson: Oh, yes. Yes.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Yeah.

Sharon Johnson: It's one of the albums that I have in my closet.

Sharon Hampson: He was on The Elephant Show.

Randi Hampson: He was on The Elephant Show and he played Feel So Good. But he also. He played Little Boy Blue, so. And he was playing his horn for the sheep in the Three Bear episode.

Susan Lambert Hatem: What amazing memories. What's one of your favorite from the show?

Sharon Hampson: Skinnamarink TV was so completely different. We were characters, at a TV station. It was kind of stolen from scTV and they tried to assign characters that were--

Randi Hampson: Close to their personalities.

Sharon Hampson: Exactly.

Randi Hampson: One of my favorite moments from The Elephant Show was there is a parade in Toronto called Carabana which is celebration of all things Caribbean. And Sharon, Lois and Bram got to be on a float in the parade and they sang a song that my dad wrote called Talk About Peace. And that was the really cool memory from that.

Sharon Hampson: That's a great song.

Susan Lambert Hatem: And that's on the new release.

Randi Hampson: It is during COVID what we did was we invited friends and musicians from across North America to self-tape themselves singing the song. And we edited together a video of talk about peace which we shared during COVID as well. So that's.

Sharon Hampson: Is it on YouTube, Honey?

Randi Hampson: It's on YouTube.

Sharon Hampson: Oh, great. I love it. I think it's amazing. People in their own little living rooms, you know, either individually or couples or a family did their, you know, a little version of it. It was just. It's wonderful.

Randi Hampson: Our friend Colin Mochrie from Whose Line Is It Anyway? And his wife and dad sang and so it was just. It was great. Very special.

Susan Lambert Hatem: That's so cool. All right. Where can people find you and see what happening?

Randi Hampson: Thanks for asking. We have a website. It's sharonloisonbram.com or sharonloisbram.com. You'll find it either way. And we are always releasing new content on our socials. Thankfully, as long as my mom is willing to say yes to things she and I continue to do. We're doing two more Stage Door Stories concerts in Ontario. We are singing at the Mariposa Folk Festival next summer. I just think that children's entertainment and programming doesn't get the same sort of prioritization that it used to in the 80s.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Or funding.

Randi Hampson: Yeah, or funding. Yeah, for sure, for sure.

Susan Lambert Hatem: It's a real shame. And I think a lot of, you know, I actually produced a kid's show called Ty the Pie Guy. It was a web show. It won Best Family Show at the Vancouver Web Fest. It was Canadian hit. It was called Ty, T-Y, the Pie Guy. Kids would call into Ty's oven phone into his kitchen with a problem, and he would then bring them into the kitchen and they'd solve it through cooking. It was really fun.

Sharon Hampson: How lovely. How old was Ty?

Susan Lambert Hatem: Ty was an adult.

Sharon Hampson: Ty was an adult, but he was dealing with children's issues.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Yeah, it was very Pee-wee Herman, Mr. Ro.

Sharon Hampson: One of the things that we did during our career was there used to be a very big, successful Santa Claus parade. It was a lovely big parade. And they invited us to host it for a couple of years, which we did. And that was one of those new, never having done that before, experiences with all kinds of challenges. But Caroll Spinney was a co-host with us, who was Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch.

Sharon Hampson: We loved working with him. He was a lovely man.

Susan Lambert Hatem: I wish there was more funding for particularly live action kids television in the vein of what you guys did and Sesame Street and. Yeah, yeah. Tough. It's tough to find.

Sharon Hampson: Well, I vote for you on that.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Yes. Well, I'll do that.

Randi Hampson: You want a little Skinnamarink?

Susan Lambert Hatem: I was going to say, would you sing this song?

Sharon Johnson: Oh, my gosh. Would we ever.

Susan Lambert Hatem: For us.

Sharon Hampson & Randi Hampson [Singing]: Skinnamarinky dinky dink, Skinnamarinky do, I love you. Skinnamarinky dinky dink, Skinnamarinky do, I love you. I love you in the morning and in the afternoon. I love you in the evening underneath the moon. Skinnamarinky dinky dink, Skinnamarinky do, I love you. Too. Boop boopy doo.

Sharon Johnson: Thank you.

Susan Lambert Hatem: That was amazing.

Sharon Johnson: Thank you.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Thank you so much. Yes. Zoom wants to know if I'm playing music.

Sharon Johnson: Does it really?

Susan Lambert Hatem: Yes, it does. Thank you so much for sharing so many wonderful stories with us. This was delightful. So great to have you on the show.

Sharon Johnson: Thank you, Sharon and Randi. As I said before, it's lovely to have another Sharon on the show. We are just so glad that you took the time to join us. Thank you.

Randi Hampson: Great to meet you both. Lovely time for us.

Sharon Johnson: It was fun for us. Thank you.

Sharon Johnson: It's time for today's audiography. Find out about Sharon, Lois and Bram at sharonlowisandbram.com. Also be sure to follow them at TikTok and Instagram and all those links will be in our description.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Get their latest Elephant Song Showstoppers album off their website and you can also find the children's book they talked about and all their books and albums and memorabilia at sharonloisandbram.com@skinamarink/shop.

Sharon Johnson: Thank you all for listening. So let us know what your favorite kids shows of the 70s and 80s are. Were they animated? Live action? Do they have puppets? What do you think? And we now have 80s TV Ladies merch. Yes, you can show your 80s love and support this podcast. Get yourself a mug, a T-shirt. And we've got more merch coming. So let us know if there's some specific merch that you'd like for us to create for you.

Susan Lambert Hatem: Do you need a tote bag?

Sharon Johnson: Do you need a pen?

Susan Lambert Hatem: Oh, we do have pens, but we use them just for promotion. I don't know how to sell them.

Melissa Roth: I need a tote bag.

Susan Lambert Hatem: You need a tote bag?

Sharon Johnson: Do you need a hat?

Susan Lambert Hatem: Oh, maybe a hat would be good. And tell us what you want on your merch. That'll be really exciting. We can make whatever we want, I guess. It's our store.

Sharon Johnson: Go to 80s TV Ladies.com/shop for your 80s TV Ladies merchandise.

Susan Lambert Hatem: We so appreciate your feedback. If you like our show, please leave a rating or a review on Apple podcasts or Spotify. You can mention what shows or ladies you'd like us to cover. You can find us on any podcast platform at 80s TV Ladies.

Sharon Johnson: As always, we hope 80s TV Ladies brings you joy and laughter and lots of fabulous new and old shows to watch, all of which will lead us forward toward being amazing ladies of the 21st century.

Amy Englehardt [Singing]: 80s TV Ladies, So sexy and so pretty. 80s TV Ladies, Steppin’ out into the city. 80s TV Ladies, often treated kind of sh-[wolf whistle]. Working hard for the money in a man’s world. 80s TV Ladies!

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