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| Robin And The Giant Release 8th Album In Ocala Recording artists Robin And The Giant have released their eighth CD album titled, "In Ocala." The album contains fourteen songs, including the title song, "In Ocala." The collection pays homage to the city in Florida that the duo calls home. "In Ocala" has numerous references throughout the collection to Ocala-specific places and events. There's even a song written in honor of world renowned photographer Bruce Mozert, who calls Ocala home, with a song titled, "He Captured Mermaids." In a press release issued to local media, Robin And The Giant say, "We like Ocala. We think it's a pretty nice place to live. So we've taken that simple sentiment and set it to music." Robin And The Giant have made a name for themselves internationally as a children's duo through their presence on the internet. Robin And The Giant CDs and mp3 downloads are distributed through CD Baby and their digital downloads are available from I-Tunes, Rhapsody, Wal-Mart.com, Amazon, Napster, and many more digital retail outlets. Robin And The Giant say, "We are children's recording artists and with this CD we re-tooled that genre just a little so that the fourteen songs on this collection will be enjoyed by both children and their parents." One of the songs on the CD is a standard for Robin And The Giant written in 1989 titled, "Stand Up For The Children" and was performed that year for an event as part of the Year Of The Young Child ceremonies. At the time it was included on a Robin And The Giant cassette album titled, "Stand Up For The Children." The song was again produced and re-recorded in 2007 for the Robin And The Giant CD titled, "Not Too Long Ago." The version of the song included on this new CD was performed live in 2008 at the Florida Music Festival in Orlando. It was introduced to the audience as a song whose lyric was entered into the U.S. Congressional Record in 1989 by Congressman Cliff Stearns. A tribute poem to the old theme park Six Gun Territory is also included on the "In Ocala" collection. That poem is titled, "The Heart Of Six Gun." When discussing why they have released a CD that focuses on Ocala, the duo replied, "There are, quite often, negative things said about small towns. They're called "slow, " or they're accused of being "backwards" and Ocala is not left out of that small-town-bashing. We hope that maybe in some small way our songs will show the world that sometimes slow is not such a bad thing. We're not elected officials, so we can't make ordinances. We're not land developers so we can't build malls and parks. However, as entertainers we can contribute to the spirit of the town and the world around us and that is exactly the intent of this CD." Cut number twelve on the CD is "Slocala Blues" which pokes fun at those who poke fun of Ocala's "slow" reputation. Three other Ocala-specific songs on "In Ocala" are titled "On The Suntran, " "Exit 352, " and "The Pumpkin Patch At Druid Hills, " a song originally released on the Robin And The Giant CD titled "It's Only Pretend." The song, "On The Suntran" tells the story of a working girl who commutes on the local bus system. The song mentions quite a few local landmarks including The Paddock Mall, Vanguard High School, Nobility Homes, Coehadjoe Park, Embarq, Jervey Gantt Park, CFCC, Munroe Regional Medical Center, and more. Rounding out the collection are "Queen Of The Rainbow" which was originally written for the beauty pageant of the same name held in Dunnellon each year, "Suzy And Her Yellow Balloon, " is described as "a silly song that tells the story of a love affair between (presumably) The Giant and a "donut lady" at the Magnolia Bakery on Magnolia Avenue in Ocala." There is no evidence that there ever was an actual "Suzy" but The Giant isn't confirming the issue one way or the other. "Fais Do Do" is also on the CD and is the first cover song ever recorded by Robin And The Giant. It is a French children's song. The decision to include it in a collection of songs titled, "In Ocala", is because The Giant has a particular fondness for the French bread sold at the Publix supermarket on East Silver Springs Blvd., in Ocala. "I Stand For America" is a patriotic song. The first verse of the song was inspired by a Veterans' ceremony held at the Ocala/Marion County Veterans' Memorial Park during which the names of more than a hundred departed Veterans were read and yet only about thirty people were in attendance. The song grew from that first verse to include references to a Fourth of July parade and the arrival of immigrants at Ellis Island. "With This Clay" is a song about doing great things with raw materials, hard work, and faith. It is included on the "In Ocala" collection because Ocala is like "The Little Engine That Could." Ocala manages to have great plays at the Ocala Civic Theatre, great events like "God And Country Day" and "Light Up Ocala", a great Christmas parade, a fabulous art community, top notch locally produced radio shows, an award winning local newspaper, top-of-the-line locally published magazines, and so much more. All on a shoe-string budget compared to the much larger cities in America. Last, but not least, is the song, "I'll Know I'm Home." This is a song for Florida. While the image of Florida is often portrayed as a place with awesome theme parks (which it is), to those of us who call Florida home it is also about the Scrub Oaks rustling in the breeze on a summer evening, or the sight of a garden of Blazing Stars blooming in Autumn when much of the rest of the country won't see their gardens blooming again until Springtime. This song originally appeared on the "Partners In Rhyme" CD. write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Jazz News :: home page |