One of Berkeley’s hottest music acts is a band of city librarians

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Michael Kwende, Claremont branch librarian and founder of the Story Time Band, holds up a flamingo puppet during a May 8 performance at Live Oak Park while Juan Castille, back-up singer and percussionist, dances along. Puppets, costumes, plush animals are part of every set. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight Local

Editors’ note: This week we’re republishing some of our favorite stories of 2025. This story was first published on June 12.

Jumping, singing, squirming or deep-snoozing in the cocoon of a stroller or grown-up’s arms, kids and babies by the dozens fill a grassy slope in Live Oak Park, moving to the tunes of a band of Berkeley librarians.

These city librarians staff reference desks, help locate books on shelves, renew library cards and all the usual duties of the profession. But their job descriptions include another gig: making fun, zany music for children as the library’s official Story Time Band.

While library storytimes with singing and instruments are commonplace, including in Berkeley, it’s rare for them to be led by full, professional bands with so many fans they’ve outgrown library spaces.

“Love my doggy ice cream, love my doggy ice cream,” chants Michael Kwende, Claremont branch librarian, band founder and lead storyteller — reading from the book Groovy Joe Ice Cream and Dinosaurs, accompanied by guitar, keyboard and drums.

The band has outgrown library spaces and now performs mostly in parks, with regular shows at Freight & Salvage. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight Local

The band’s repertoire, a kind of world music, hip-hop, reggae, blues, sing-along playlist spliced with read-aloud storytelling is intended to boost early literacy or help children learn language skills, Kwende said. Rhyming. Counting. Word repetitions.

If audience size and feedback is a measure, the band is a smash. So popular, it performs today mostly in parks, with regular shows at Freight & Salvage, a downtown venue known for hosting major music acts.

Puppets, costumes, plush animals are part of every set. Fairies, flamingos, foxes. Many little ones — Story Time regulars — giddily greet them as old friends.

“It’s such an amazing public resource … a community event,” says mom Rachell, from Oakland, joined by her 1-year-old daughter at the May 8 Story Time Band performance at Live Oak Park, where a lively crowd of children, parents, caregivers and more have gathered. Blankets spread on the grass. Strollers lined up at the rear. Sunhats and sippy cups galore.

The amplified sound makes a big difference, Rachell says. “The music is really good.”

“I am me, we are we, we are us, they are them,” Kwende rhythmically reads across the Live Oak lawn to a big-eyed (and wiggly) crowd. The words are Mo Willems’, from his book Me and Other Bunnies, but they are transformed by Kwende’s deep baritone voice, backed up by the band’s music. Guitar riffs. Rat-a-tat-tats from the drums. Keyboard melodies. “We are a lot of bunnies. And I am still me.”

Band of librarians grew out of Claremont branch’s storytime
Castille, Tienne Lee and Tim DeWolf perform at the Live Oak Park concert. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight Local

The Story Time Band grew out of a smaller musical storytime that Kwende led at the library’s Claremont branch, starting in 2014. He was joined by retired librarian Tim DeWolf, on guitar.

Kwende, 52, has worked at other libraries before Berkeley, where he’s now been for 12 years. He always knew he wanted to specifically be a children’s librarian, he said. And he’s always been drawn to the connections of language and music. Pacing, cadence, tone.

His voice, Kwende said, is his instrument. His formal education is in library science.

Kwende reads from Eric Litwin’s Groovy Joe Ice Cream and Dinosaurs. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight Local

“Music and stories are inseparable,” Kwende said. “Since my first storytime, singing and reading stories rhythmically was always part of how I connected with young audiences and their caregivers. I learned a lot of this from children’s television shows such as Sesame Street, Electric Company and Yo Gabba Gabba, among others. I was and still remain a student of legendary children’s music singers including Ella Jenkins and Jose Luis Orozco.”

“I have noticed that many authors write with a rhythm that is often musical and these are the books I like to share with the children in our musical storytime sessions.”

Music isn’t his only vehicle: Kwende also launched children’s library programs in animation, slime making, and paper craft.

Kwende, who grew up in Seattle, said his family listened to all kinds of music — gospel soul, funk, reggae, jazz, the blues. His first musical love was hip-hop.

Kwende says his voice is his instrument. “Since my first storytime, singing and reading stories rhythmically was always part of how I connected with young audiences and their caregivers,” he says. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight Local

His list of musical influences is like a world tour: Black folk, especially of the Gullah culture of the South Carolina Sea Islands, West Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Calypso, Mento, and Capoeira Angola music of Brazil.

“We use multiple folk songs from these regions in our musical storytime events,” Kwende said.

“I bring the musical influences I grew up with and love into my work, which typically shows up as reinterpretations of children’s nursery rhymes and songs and ‘adult music’ too,” he said.

Each musician brings something unique to the band’s sound and selections, expanding its appeal in ways kids seem to adore. Kwende also gives credit to illustrator Jerome Lu, who does the band’s fliers, t-shirts, social media and a limited edition Story Time Band library card.

Over time and based on growing audiences, Kwende added Story Time Band musicians, drawing from the library family of interested and musical staff and volunteers.

Lee, the band’s newest recruit, plays keyboard and drums and serves on the Berkeley Public Library Foundation’s board. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight Local

In addition to Kwende, better known in the storytime world as “Mr. Michael,” and DeWolf, “Mr. Tim” (who also plays banjo), other members include library specialist Juan Castille as back-up singer and percussionist (from bongos to djembe to a full drum set); library specialist Donovan Russell on bass guitar; and the newest addition, Tienne Lee, on keyboard. Lee, who also plays drums, is on the Berkeley Public Library Foundation’s board.

“It’s all interactive. The whole purpose is we’re teaching kids early literacy with music and movement,” said Castille, aka “Mr. Juan,” a longtime musician who grew up in Berkeley and has worked at the library for 25 years.

The band riffs, remixes, invents and ad libs, he said.

“Our brand is a very unorthodox approach to storytime, which some children’s librarians have dismissed as not storytime at all, but that’s OK, because we don’t do what we do for them, we do it for the children,” Kwende said. “As long as they are learning to love books, music, and movement at our events, we have done our jobs.”

Pandemic was the Story Time Band’s big break

The Story Time Band took shape in the pandemic, Castille said, when indoor library activities largely stopped. They started practicing in Strawberry Creek Park around 2020, he said, “improv pop-ups,” and some families took note.

“We had a few moms come up to us, and say, ‘Can we get this on a regular basis?’” he said. “People were starving for music.”

Nameless at that point, the band started rotating parks — Bateman and Virginia Tot Lot, as well as Strawberry Creek. Its following grew.

Parents and caretakers leave strollers in clusters during the concert. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight Local

This was great on warmer days. But rain and cold cut playing days short.

Then Freight & Salvage entered the scene in 2022, as the COVID shutdown eased, offering the band a residence, or home base, with regular bookings.

“The Freight was born out of weather,” Castille said. “That’s where the band really kicked off.”

One of the first Freight concerts drew almost 400 people, he said.

Soon after, Story Time Band stuck as the official name.

“It started out as routine musical storytime and it transformed into a movement. We haven’t really seen anything like what we do, not in a library,” Castille said.

Performances at parks are in partnership with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, as part of its Together Wee Play program for children 4 and under. These events are held at Live Oak Park (every second Thursday) and Frances Albrier Community Center (every third Thursday) on a regular basis.

The band has also played at the city’s Tuolumne Camp and partners with the Berkeley Unified School District, playing in elementary school classrooms and libraries.

Mesmerized toddlers know all the songs
Toddlers wander the park during the concert. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight Local

Kwende is crooning: “Let’s go to the moon. Countdown, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 . . . We’re going to the moon. We can do the moon hop.” It’s Story Time Band’s twist of Zoom Zoom Zoom We’re Going to the Moon, by the Kiboomers.

Kids are hopping, watching, mouthing and shouting the words.

Stephanie, a nanny, has been bringing her young charge to Story Time concerts for years, she said, tracking them down whenever they can. Her first concert was at Freight & Salvage, over two years ago.

“For me it was a surprise to have a concert for kids that’s so well structured,” she says. The toddler with her stood mesmerized by the band. “He knows all the songs, and we play them at home, too.”

To catch a band performance, check schedules on the library’s calendar, the park department’s Wee Play pages, the Freight & Salvage website or the band’s Instagram.

One of Berkeley’s hottest music acts is a band of city librarians

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