The Agenda with Steve Paikin (Audio) - Rediscovering Sharon, Lois & Bram

Episode Date: October 17, 2024

Children's entertainment musicians Sharon and Bram return to The Agenda to discuss their new album including lost songs and new music. They're joined by Randi Hampson, Sharon's daughter and performance partner.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's been several years since we've had Sharon and Bram grace our studio where they performed their classic skin of a rink With the help of quite a few TVO producers. I might add now they are back with a new album called Elephant showstoppers and it brings Sharon Bram and Sharon's daughter Randy Hampson to our studio and it is so great to see you guys again Thank you so much for making the trip back. We're happy to be here. It's a thing of beauty. Now, five years ago, you were here, and we were talking about your farewell tour.

And now you're here talking about a new album. So you can't get rid of us. Something didn't happen along the way. Exactly. Which is what? Randy. Oh, Randy. Do we have you to thank for this, Mischief?

Well, I'm just trying to keep the music of Sharon, Lois, and Bram in the minds and hearts of yet another generation of fans and friends. That sounds like a good thing to do. It is the most delightful, rewarding, enjoyable, fun job I could ever ask for. And you will notice that she said, enjoyable, fun job I could ever ask for.

And you will notice that she said Sharon, Lois, and Bram. She's gone. 2015. Lois died of a rare form of cancer in 2015. But she's still there with us. Should we show the picture? Sheldon, bring this up here if we can. We're going to show the picture of Sharon, Lois, and Bram. There they are.

Lois, Lillian, Stein, bottom right. Look at you guys. I should ask this question. You know, the Beatles were happy for a while and then they broke up. The Stones were happy for a while. They're still together, but you know, they've had... Roughly. Exactly.

Exactly. You guys always looked so happy when we saw the three of you together. How much of that is showbiz and how much is the real deal? Two things. First of all, we really liked each other. We still like each other. And I think that's what keeps groups together or separates them when they don't like each other. And we loved what we were doing. We loved making music. We loved connecting with families. Nothing could be better than that. So that's a reason to smile.

OK, that's your take. Let me get your take. Well, I feel I feel. Just say ditto. Ditto. Well, she ditto. I ditto, too. Ha ha ha.

There was a friendship beyond the professional association? There was a friendship there. And also, when we started together, we were adults. There was a friendship beyond the professional association? There was a friendship there. And also, when we started together, we were adults. We weren't kids. And so we stepped into this whole thing with kind of an idea about how to be together. We weren't experimenting anymore with getting along.

We knew that we did, and we did. We are very, I mean, Lois' son David is a month older than me. We grew up together from the time we were three. We're best friends. Rem's brother Jeff, a very dear friend of mine, he sometimes when my mom and I play concerts together, he will join us on stage and play mandolin for us. And we like each other outside of the business.

I mean, there was always the fun and delight of being together when they were performing and touring. But outside of that, we marked New Year's together and all of our special occasions. And Bram lived three doors down from me for, you know, ten years. And we're like, it's family. Well, let me ask, I'm going to ask both of you the same question from opposite sides of the coin. Was it always secretly your hope that someday your daughter would perform with you?

I never thought of that. I never thought of that. I never imagined that. I mean, she had another career. She was a family lawyer. She is still. But always involved in music. Always involved in music and always involved in our music.

And she did research. She worked with a company. She gave us a lot of songs that ended up on records or on TV shows. So her involvement was constant. But her role with us, I never kind of imagined, and it's perfect. I'll ask you the same question. Was it always your hope secretly someday to sing with your mom?

When I was three, she used to sing this song called Mommy What If, and I would do it as a duet with her. I mean, they recorded it, not with me because I was too big by then. But people started telling me when Bram said he wanted to retire, people started saying, you should sing with your mom. And even Lois saw it. She was unable to do a charity appearance and said,

get Randy to do that with you. But my mom came to it reluctantly. She was nervous about it, and she was unsure. And COVID helped us get there. We started singing together on Facebook Live just to do it. In the living room. To do it. And then we did Zoom concerts,

and it just sort of went from there. With much encouragement from Brad. Yeah. Okay, now let me ask about you. Because you're not touring anymore, but you're still with the thing. So how, what do you miss by not touring? Probably nothing.

My energy level is way down. I don't think I could do it anymore. So that was that was part of it. It's hard. It's really really hard and you know it. And so I couldn't do that anymore but I really wanted to be part of it. I mean the music is central to it and And so I'm still involved in putting the music together when that is appropriate and receiving the occasional pat on the back. There it is. Well, am I allowed to ask, how old are you now?

In December, I'm going to be 84. 84? Yeah. You're a young pisher. What are you going afterward for? Yeah, and she's a lot younger than me. I? Yeah. You're a young pishir. What are you going afterward for? Yeah. And she's a lot younger than me. I'm 81.

Oh my goodness. Years younger. She could practically be your daughter. You know, she's so much younger. It's true. Yeah. Yeah. I keep telling everybody else that she's 81, and then she says, I think you forget that

I'm 81. She pushes me out there. She pushes her in. But you know, Randy, I mean, how old's Mick Jagger? How old's Ringo Starr? Exactly. And they're incredible. Paul McCartney.

Yeah. You guys in your 80s are not that old anymore. I'm so happy that we're living in a time when old people get up on stage and are impressive, and the audience wants them. I think it's terrific. Yeah. And Bram does, you know, if something special

is happening. Like this. Yeah. This is, you know, if something special is happening. Like this. This is special. Oh, yeah. Shall we show it? OK, can I show it? Here, Sheldon, you got this here? I'm going to bring up this.

That's the new album. This is the new album. There's a nicer shot of it there. And OK, Sharon on the left, Lois in the middle, Bram on the right, the omnipresent elephant at the bottom. And it's elephant showstoppers, that's your new thing. Bram, what's, I guess what can people expect from a new album brought out by a couple of people,

few people here, who've only been in the business for about 60 years? Okay, so let's define new in this context. Sure. Because obviously, it's not brand new, because Lois is in all of them, or most of them. What's happened is that a couple of people who are huge fans. And part of our team.

And part of our team said, you recorded a lot of songs for your television series that got put on the shows, on the air, but never got put on recordings for people to come back to. So everything on this recording is from the first series, Sharon Lawson Brown's Elephant Show, and now we've put it together, Side A and Side B, which used to be the way it all happened. That's a real LP.

How about that, as we used to call them back in the day? That's a real vinyl, I guess they call it now. It's full of treasures. It's the first vinyl in 23 years. And my mom always talks about how children would connect with the images on the cover of the album and know that these are the people singing the songs. Walk around holding the album.

They felt the connection. When you hear a streaming song on a platform, you don't see the pictures or anything like that. But this is full of treasure. So even if you don't have a record player. Oh, look at this. He's opening it up. OK.

It's got a poster. Oh, man. Will you look at that. Look at that. Look at you guys. I mean, you think this is big. That's four times as big. That's beautiful.

And on the other side of that has song lyrics. Oh, yes, it does. Stories behind the songs, and then pictures in the film strips of behind the scenes and pictures that have never been seen before. So even if you want to listen to it on streaming, it is a treasure without a record player. I don't have one.

I've never heard it. Well, yes, you have heard it, but not from the album. No, no, I mean, I haven't heard it yet. You haven't heard it on vinyl. Played on a record player. You two and Lois were such a huge part of the history of this station, of this place. Yes.

And I want to go back 40 years. Are you ready to see yourself 40 years ago? Yeah. Okay, Sheldon, roll it, please. ["The New York Times"] Roll it, please. They have fun, enormous fun, but they call for everyone to have. Thank you. People watching this will not have heard Bram say, I look the same. They won't?

Well, now that I've told them. Oh, yeah. I do. When you saw yourself, you said, hey, I look the same. People are so devoted to that show. How did that come together in the first place? This is a very sweet story. That's what you, when you saw yourself, you said, hey, I look the same. Yeah. People are so devoted to that show. How did that come together in the first place? This is a very sweet story.

We had a little celebration of the launch of the album, the vinyl. And Arnie Zapursky, who along with Bruce Lawson, produced The Elephant Show. And Arnie came to that party. And he said, because I told the story about how people used to come to us and say, would you like to do TV? And we'd say, sure.

And they'd say, have you got money? And we'd say, no. And they'd disappear. Arnie and Bruce came to us and said, would you like to do TV? They were young guys. They had no children. They had nieces or nephews.

That's how they knew. They were just out of film school. They said, would you like to do TV? And we said, sure. They said, have you got money? We said, no. Have you? And they said, did they say no?

They said, yes. They said they have a little money. They didn't. They didn't. They were going to go and get it. And they did. And he told us that his brother, Arnie's brother, was a doctor and he went to his doctor friends and asked them each to kick in $2,000.

No kidding. And that's how it started. Yes. Wow. And lasted how long? We ran the show for five years, and then it ran on Nickelodeon. I mean, we shot the show for five years,

and it ran much longer here. And then on Nickelodeon for I don't know how long. Lives forever. Yeah. And that was the first of the series, and we had another series called? Yes, of course. Skin and Rink TV. Skin and Rink TV.

Skin and Rink TV, which had more doing in it than it had two characters. And they had voices. The thing, you know, on Elephant Show, our elephant was gender free. Right. Not a she, not a he. And it was a kind of relaxed decision.

It was like, we want every little kid to be able to connect with Elephant. And so we just, we never did he or she. And boy, were we ahead of the time. Yeah. Kind of like the Pokeroo at this place. The Pokeroo is gender neutral as well. Now, tell me this. If you go to a rock and roll concert

nowadays, you see a lot of people in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, right, who of course grow up with all the music. How about your shows? Who's in the audience at your shows? It's four generations now. Four generations. Yeah. Bram would say that five have grown up on Sharon Lohse and Bram now. Four generations. Yeah. Bram would say that five have grown up on Sharon Lose and Bram

now. But we get babies, and then we get the kids who grew up on the show who are now bringing their children and their parents and sometimes their grandparents. And so we really have expanded. But we've also got a lot of adult fans. have expanded, but we've also got a lot of adult fans.

Bram made an appearance at Fan Expo with us this summer. And there were 500 people in the crowd in cosplay outfits. And it was probably 95% grownups. That's right. That's right. But it is five, you know. Yes. It is five, because there was three right off the top.

Because at our concerts, the first concert, you had the kids, you had their parents, and some grandparents. There's three right there. And then add all these years, at least two more. Could be six by now. I got to ask you this, though, Sharon. In an age of social media, when there is so much,

I don't even know how to begin to describe it, but there's so much toxicity and there's so much bad stuff that kids can get a hold of, why do you think this stuff is so eternal? The songs that you sang, the way that you did it, why does it work all these years later? I think because the music is good, really good. That was a fundamental value that we shared. Good arrangements, good songs, good musicians, the whole thing.

I think because it engaged the whole family that it was something that they could share. And these days it's hard for people to find sharing. Here's how, here's my theory. A lot of what we do is folk music. It started in the 1800s, maybe in the 1700s. We don't know. It's anonymous. But it survived all of those generations.

If it was a crappy song, it got forgotten. If it stayed alive through all of those generations, there's got to be something for it. You know, she'll be coming around the mountain, seems like stupid simple to us. But it's a good song. And still singing it all these years later. Yeah.

From the first record. Yeah. We're still singing songs from the first record. Yeah. So you know that we're on TikTok and Instagram and Facebook. And every now and then, we'll post a skin and wrink. The views are in the millions and millions. And people, why am I crying? And I can't remember what I had for breakfast,

but I still know all the words and actions to this song. And they say, memory unlocked. Yeah. I love that. I needed this today. My grandmother sang this to me. She's gone. It made me happy to think about her.

Like, just all of these messages. You met the young producer who is producing this segment, Maya Abramson, before we started this. Right. Do you know how verklempt she has been over the last few days in anticipation of this? I can't tell you. She really, she's sort of been overcome with emotion. We meet people who are teary. Yeah. And they're embarrassed. And I always say don't be embarrassed. You're having happy childhood memories. That's a very good thing. It's a beautiful thing. Do I have this right? Did you play the White House once upon a time?

Yes, we did. We did. 1992. So Bill Clinton is president? Yes, he was. And we met him. You met Clinton. We met both of them.

Yep. Both meaning? Bill and Hillary. Bill and Hillary. And his wife, whoever she might be. Yes. It was very exciting. We have a photo to prove it. Yes, we she might be. Yes. It was very exciting. We have a photo to prove it.

Yes, we have a photo. We weren't allowed to use the photo for publicity for all those years, but it hangs on my wall, and proudly so. We were thrilled to meet him. I think it was just during his presidency, like that was once he wasn't president anymore, you could use it. Oh, I don't know. We haven't thought about that at all.

We never used it. We never used it in that way. And Bram, are you going to tell your story? I don't know which story you mean. The Memento. The one that's in my washroom. I'm sorry, I still don't know. Oh, Bram came out of the washroom.

We came into the White House. We had a little brunch with all the guests. Oh, that one. With all the guests before we met the washroom. We came into the White House. We had a little brunch with all the guests. Oh, that one. With all the guests before we met the Clintons. And Bram went to the washroom. And I stole. What? I stole paper towels that had the stamp of the President

of the United States on it. And I said to him, you know they were watching you take that. And he said, he said, everybody takes that. That's why they're not cloth, they're paper. Hang on, hang on. The RCMP. The FBI is on the other side of that door. They want their toilet paper back.

Too late. That's wonderful. Okay, the last time you were here, you know you did a song. So of course, we're going to impress upon you to do us a song again before you leave. What do you want to do? Will you do it with us? You know, if I can remember all the hand motions, let's see.

Maybe there are others here who will join us as well. And we could sing you the new version of it, which is part of our Skin and Mareen book. Let's do it. Yes. OK, we'll start. I'll start. I'll start. We Let's do it. Yes. OK, we'll start. I'll start. I'll start.

We'll follow the key. Yes. Yes, exactly. Here's a little ditty that we all know and sing. We share it with our families and let our voices ring. It also has some actions they're really fun to do. And now we'd like to sing this special song with all of you. Boom boom boom.

Skinnamorinky dinky dink, skinnamorinky doo. I love you. Skinnamorinky dinky dink, skinnamorinky doo. I love you. Put up the sun. I love you in the morning and in the afternoon. I love you in the evening underneath the moon. Oh.

Skinnamarinky dinky dink, Skinnamarinky doo, I love you. We love you, Steve. I love you. We love you, Steve. I love you. You're all terrific. I love you. We'll see you next time. I hope. I love you too. Boop boop bee doo. Okay. You guys have still got it.

Outstanding. Thank you so much for coming in. This is so wonderful. We do. It's so much fun. We love you. We love you. We love you.

We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. Two, boop, boop, bee, doo, muah. You guys have still got it. Outstanding. Thank you so much for coming in.

This is so wonderful. We do so much death and destruction on this program. It's so great to do something as lovely as this. What a pleasure. Happy is good. Flo, bye. Thank you. That was a joy.

You are perfect. Back at you, lady. OK. Thanks so much, everybody. Thank you.