Lanny Sherwin: News

(Nov. 20, 2008 – Santa Barbara, CA) - You gotta admit - the French love their smells. Think perfume, cheese, the bouquet of a vintage burgundy. And now we can also add that the French adore … stinky feet. Oui – c’est vrai! That is to say, they love Lanny Sherwin’s “Stinky Feet”, the children’s song which has earned 5 international music awards.

The song, from Sherwin’s award-winning “I Like Being Me!” children’s CD, was unanimously elected to receive a Special Award in “Les Vignes D’or” International Singing Competition & Songwriting Contest (www.lesvignesdor.com) this month in the town of Santenay, Bourgogne, France. A prize of $250 was granted by the Casino Of Santenay, “as a tribute to the charming and humorous” “Stinky Feet”.

Sherwin is a Santa Barbara, CA, singer-songwriter and President of Sandman Records (www.SandmanRecords.com), which has released four children’s CDs and won over 30 music awards. The reason? Sherwin credits his company’s whimsical motto: “Don’t Drive Parents Crazy!” He says, “That pretty much sums up where I’m coming from when I write and produce music. As a Dad, I listen to all kinds of kid’s music, and it’s hard to find songs that we can stand for very long.” The father of an 11-year old son, Alec, Sherwin says, “My inspiration usually comes directly from whatever is going on in Alec’s life … including stinky feet!”

“I guess you could say when it comes to “Stinky Feet”, I’m definitely #1,” says Sherwin. The CD “I Like Being Me!” is geared towards 4 – 9 year olds and addresses such topics as acknowledging the differences in people, valuing alone time, respecting the environment, and making mistakes, as well as dealing with odoriferous toes.

Les Vignes D’or International singing competition & songwriting Contest began in 2006. Founded by a group of passionate music lovers, this contest is above all a vibrant tribute to all singers, songwriters, lyricists, composers and performers.

Lanny Sherwin’s children’s CDs are available nationwide including Borders, Amazon, iTunes, CDBaby, and the Sandman Records website (www.SandmanRecords.com). Sandman Records has been creating children’s music since 2001. A portion of Sandman Record’s proceeds benefits the Spina Bifida Association of America, numerous preschools, hospitals and children’s fundraisers nationwide.
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-- May 24, 2008 --
W-a-a-a-a-y back last year I asked my customers to vote for one of my songs in the Independent Music Awards competition. Guess what? Their votes put my song, "Stinky Feet", over the top! Yep, when it comes to "Stinky Feet", I'm now Number 1.

Each year, the IMA assembles a panel of judges to determine the Winners & Finalists of the Independent Music Awards. Recognizing that ultimately it's the voice/choice of the people that matters most to an artist's career, the IMA "Vox Populi" poll was added in 2006 to allow music fans to pick their favorites.

This year, over 37,000 votes from around the world were cast in the "people's choice" component of the IMAs -- including the Fans of Lan. The irreverent "Stinky Feet" (from the I Like Being Me! CD) was named "Best Children's Song."

Of the 31 awards Sandman Records has won, this is definitely smells the sweetest!

Lanny Sherwin, children's performer in Santa Barbara, CA, helped obtain a grant from the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation to create a series of concert performances for children in Cottage Hospital.

Children in Santa Barbara's Cottage Hospital will have something cheery to
look forward to every month thanks to a grant obtained by singer-songwriter, Lanny
Sherwin.

The "Pickleberry Pie Hospital Concert Series" is being funded by the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation. The program consists of monthly performances at Cottage Hospital by Sherwin and other regional children's performers.

"I've been participating in the Los Angeles Pickleberry Pie program for a couple of years and wanted to establish something similar in Santa Barbara," says Sherwin, a Santa Barbara resident.

The Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation and Cottage Hospital both said an enthusiastic "Yes!", and the program was launched in April of this year.

Sherwin himself played the inaugural concert for children in the common area on the Pediatrics Floor, in clinics, and in individual rooms. Santa Barbara's Putnam Gillespie ("Putnee") played in May, and Dave Kinnoin of Los Angeles will perform in June.

The Pickleberry Pie Hospital Concert Series is a program sponsored by Pickleberry Pie, Inc.

Lanny Sherwin is President of Sandman Records, a children's record label whose 31 music awards he attributes to his company's motto: "Don't Drive Parents Crazy!" His label contributes to several nonprofits nationwide.

As he explains, "Music is such a great way to reach across cultures, ages, and genders. It's a delight to see the kids' faces light up when we come in to perform. And the music is enjoyed by families, nurses, and staff, as well -- they all need a much-deserved break!"

Pickleberry Pie: http://www.childrensmusic.org/annrep05.html

Santa Barbara Bowl: http://www.sbbowl.com/

Cottage Hospital: http://www.sbch.org/

Dave Kinnoin: http://www.songwizard.com/

Putnam Gillespie: http://www.putnee.com/

Babies need time, books and love, not genius gear.

By Barbara Kantrowitz
Newsweek magazine


April 23, 2007 issue - You see them everywhere: harried parents hauling their little ones off to classes in Mandarin, gymnastics or classical violin. At home, they're filling nurseries with "educational" rattles and mobiles. It's all for a worthy goal: making the most of the first three years of life, when critical changes in brain structure determine whether little Madison or Matthew will one day enter the Ivy League. At least that is what a growing number of parents have been led to believe. Sadly, it may all be a waste of time and money.

Thanks to what journalist Susan Gregory Thomas calls the "toddler-industrial complex," parents have become suckers for toys with "Einstein" or "genius" in their names. In her new book, "Buy Buy Baby," Thomas explains how a well-meaning 1994 report by the Carnegie Corporation led to the creation of a vast marketing effort aimed at parents of young children. The report, called "Starting Points," used neuroscience to make the case for more federally funded services for infants and toddlers by proclaiming that brain development in the womb and during the first year of life "is more rapid and extensive than we previously realized." Although the science was actually quite limited—and there was certainly no proof that toys or videos could make babies smarter—the report helped focus national attention on the early years.

It also inspired an unlikely player, actor-director Rob Reiner, who launched a campaign to convince parents and policymakers that more money should go to nurturing development during the early years. Reiner argued that focusing on "the prism of zero to 3" could solve a vast range of societal ills: teen pregnancy, drug abuse, crime. He found an eager ally in Hillary Clinton, who convened the 1997 White House Conference on Early Childhood Development and Learning. Before the conference, both Time and NEWSWEEK published major stories on the topic and ABC ran a prime-time special. The highly publicized conference, Thomas writes, played a major role in popularizing the idea of a critical "window" that would slam shut on the third birthday. And it persuaded states and the federal government to spend millions on new programs for babies and toddlers.
By this time, eager entrepreneurs had also spotted a unique opportunity. Companies with names like Baby Einstein, Brainy Baby, Baby Prodigy and Baby Genius became part of an industry that Thomas estimates now represents about $20 billion a year. Sara Mead, a senior policy analyst at Education Sector, a nonprofit think tank, argues that these companies cleverly tapped into "parental angst." In her new report on "Million Dollar Babies: Why Infants Can't Be Hardwired for Success," Mead contends that parents began to believe that if you skip baby water aerobics, "you can say goodbye to college." "This threat leads parents to waste billions of dollars every year," Mead writes. "The money spent on these educational toys might be better off in a college savings account." Mead points out that recent neuroscience research indicates that the brain continues to grow and develop "well into old age"—debunking the notion of a rigid zero-to-3 window. The most compelling science concerns the negative effects of early deprivation on very young children. On the other hand, overstimulation makes babies (and adults) anxious.

Instead of Mandarin lessons, researchers say parents would be better off spending more time talking, singing, reading and playing with their babies and toddlers. No special equipment is required. Affectionate interaction helps kids develop language and social skills. And here's some encouraging news. A University of Maryland study found that today's mothers actually spend more hours focused on their children than their own mothers did 40 years ago. Fathers are also spending more time with their children. It may not be a ticket to Harvard, but it's certainly a great start.

“A Father’s Lullabies” helps Dads, children to bond

By Drew Walen


Much work has been done to document the role of the mother in raising children by social scientists. But in all the history of fatherhood, only in recent years have researchers placed their focus on the impact a male role model has on the development of a child.

“So many of us did not grow up with models for nurturance, tenderness and affection” says John Badalament, Ed.M., creator of the acclaimed PBS documentary All Men Are Sons: Exploring the Legacy of Fatherhood. For those of us who are trying to be more nurturing and emotionally present, we’re trying to accomplish this in a cultural context that still teaches boys and men to despise vulnerability. Most fathers today grew up with fathers who adhered to a pretty rigid definition of masculinity unless they were outside of the mainstream. Those definitions are ‘be strong, be need-less, be independent.’ I think that still goes on today.”

Fathers’ roles in raising their children have increased in importance even as many men struggle to communicate their love. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are over 2 million stay-at-home dads now, a sharp rise from decades past and a telling statistic.

For those that are successful and communicative fathers, their children are significantly more likely to have healthy self-esteem, positive social behavior, exhibit empathy, and avoid damaging behavior such as drug use, truancy and criminal activity as found by research done by the National Fatherhood Initiative.

“Children with fathers who are affectionate and emotionally present and able to express vulnerability are psychologically healthier,” adds Badalament. It not only helps children, but according to fatherhood specialist and author
Richard Luov, fathers find their lives more satisfying when such nurturing bonds exist. The Glueck Study, a four-generation study of fathers, found that men who have connected, emotionally-present relationships with their children are more satisfied with their marriages at midlife, have higher career satisfaction and are overall healthier. The benefits are truly a two-way street.

Many tools are becoming available to help teach fathers how to express their love such as Badalament’s All Fathers are Sons video and workshop, Terrence Real’s Relational Recovery Institute, and popular media products like videos and CDs, such as Sandman Records’ new release Dream with Me Tonight, Vol.2 – A Father’s Lullabies.

"My main goal, of course, is to lull children to sleep with beautiful and meaningful songs that their parents will love too,” said Lanny Sherwin, creator of the award-winning CD series and President of Sandman Records. “But I also hope that the songs will subconsciously teach children and fathers that it's okay – even good – for a man to express his emotions openly. That's very important for children, and families, to hear. So many men have a hard time showing the softer side of themselves that seems to come so naturally to mothers— I know I grew up that way.”

Sherwin suggests that listening to and singing along with the lyrics may help dads begin to feel comfortable with the flood of emotions that a new baby evokes. “The birth of our son marked a significant change in the way I began to open up emotionally, and it would be wonderful if A Father's Lullabies encouraged other fathers to learn to speak with love and tenderness to their children.”



Drew Walen is a Nashville-based freelance journalist with publications in The City Paper-Nashville, The Tennessean, DiG Magazine, MC2 Magazine, and is a full-time father to George Roman Walen and husband to Jennifer Walen. He's also a published singer/songwriter who secretly wants to be Michael McDonald.

Sherwin Enjoys Sweet Smell of Success with "Stinky Feet"

Children's Song Wins ISC Award


(Santa Barbara, CA, April 14, 2008) - Here's some news that really stinks ... in a good way!

Lanny Sherwin's song, "Stinky Feet", (from the "I Like Being Me" CD) has won Second Place in the Children's Music category in the 2007 International Songwriting Competition.

Renowned for its prestigious celebrity judges, the ISC received over 15,000 songs from amateur and professional songwriters from 100 countries worldwide.

You can hear "Stinky Feet" in the "Music" section of this website.

The ISC has the most prestigious panel of judges of all the songwriting and music contests in the world. Some of them included Tom Waits; Loretta Lynn; Nelly Furtado; Ray Davies (The Kinks); Ornette Coleman; Jerry Lee Lewis; Robert Smith (The Cure); Cassandra Wilson; John Mayall; Joe Satriani; Michael W. Smith; Chris Hillman (The Byrds); Amy Ray (Indigo Girls); and many more.

For a complete list of 2007 ISC winners and to hear the winning songs, go to www.songwritingcompetition.com