{"id":108785,"date":"2025-12-25T15:29:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T15:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/108785\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T15:29:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T15:29:11","slug":"one-of-berkeleys-hottest-music-acts-is-a-band-of-city-librarians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/108785\/","title":{"rendered":"One of Berkeley\u2019s hottest music acts is a band of city librarians"},"content":{"rendered":"

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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<\/p>\n

Editors\u2019 note: This week we\u2019re republishing some of our favorite stories of 2025. This story was first published on June 12.<\/p>\n

Jumping, singing, squirming or deep-snoozing in the cocoon of a stroller or grown-up\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s official Story Time Band<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While library storytimes with singing and instruments are commonplace, including in Berkeley, it\u2019s rare for them to be led by full, professional bands with so many fans they\u2019ve outgrown library spaces.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLove my doggy ice cream, love my doggy ice cream,\u201d chants Michael Kwende, Claremont branch librarian, band founder and lead storyteller \u2014 reading from the book Groovy Joe Ice Cream and Dinosaurs<\/a>, accompanied by guitar, keyboard and drums.<\/p>\n

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

The band\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Puppets, costumes, plush animals are part of every set. Fairies, flamingos, foxes. Many little ones \u2014 Story Time regulars \u2014 giddily greet them as old friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such an amazing public resource \u2026 a community event,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

The amplified sound makes a big difference, Rachell says. \u201cThe music is really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am me, we are we, we are us, they are them,\u201d Kwende rhythmically reads across the Live Oak lawn to a big-eyed (and wiggly) crowd. The words are Mo Willems\u2019, from his book Me and Other Bunnies<\/a>, but they are transformed by Kwende\u2019s deep baritone voice, backed up by the band\u2019s music. Guitar riffs. Rat-a-tat-tats from the drums. Keyboard melodies. \u201cWe are a lot of bunnies. And I am still me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Band of librarians grew out of Claremont branch\u2019s storytime
\n\"\"\/Castille, Tienne Lee and Tim DeWolf perform at the Live Oak Park concert. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside\/CatchLight Local<\/p>\n

The Story Time Band grew out of a smaller musical storytime that Kwende led at the library\u2019s Claremont branch, starting in 2014. He was joined by retired librarian Tim DeWolf, on guitar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kwende, 52, has worked at other libraries before Berkeley, where he\u2019s now been for 12 years. He always knew he wanted to specifically be a children\u2019s librarian, he said. And he\u2019s always been drawn to the connections of language and music. Pacing, cadence, tone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His voice, Kwende said, is his instrument. His formal education is in library science.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Kwende reads from Eric Litwin\u2019s Groovy Joe Ice Cream and Dinosaurs. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside\/CatchLight Local<\/p>\n

\u201cMusic and stories are inseparable,\u201d Kwende said. \u201cSince 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\u2019s television shows such as Sesame Street, Electric Company and Yo Gabba Gabba, among others. I was and still remain a student of legendary children\u2019s music singers including Ella Jenkins and Jose Luis Orozco.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Music isn\u2019t his only vehicle: Kwende also launched children\u2019s library programs in animation, slime making, and paper craft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kwende, who grew up in Seattle, said his family listened to all kinds of music \u2014 gospel soul, funk, reggae, jazz, the blues. His first musical love was hip-hop.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Kwende says his voice is his instrument. \u201cSince my first storytime, singing and reading stories rhythmically was always part of how I connected with young audiences and their caregivers,\u201d he says. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside\/CatchLight Local<\/p>\n

His list of musical influences is like a world tour: Black folk, especially of the Gullah <\/a>culture of the South Carolina Sea Islands, West Africa, Latin America,\u00a0 the Caribbean, Calypso, Mento, and Capoeira Angola music of Brazil.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe use multiple folk songs from these regions in our musical storytime events,\u201d Kwende said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI bring the musical influences I grew up with and love into my work, which typically shows up as reinterpretations of children\u2019s nursery rhymes and songs and \u2018adult music\u2019 too,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Each musician brings something unique to the band\u2019s sound and selections, expanding its appeal in ways kids seem to adore. Kwende also gives credit to illustrator Jerome Lu<\/a>, who does the band\u2019s fliers, t-shirts, social media and a limited edition Story Time Band library card. <\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Lee, the band\u2019s newest recruit, plays keyboard and drums and serves on the Berkeley Public Library Foundation\u2019s board. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside\/CatchLight Local<\/p>\n

In addition to Kwende, better known in the storytime world as \u201cMr. Michael,\u201d and DeWolf, \u201cMr. Tim\u201d (who also plays banjo), other members include library specialist Juan Castille as back-up singer and percussionist (from bongos to djembe<\/a> to a full drum set); library specialist Donovan Russell on bass guitar; and the newest addition, Tienne Lee<\/a>, on keyboard. Lee, who also plays drums, is on the Berkeley Public Library Foundation\u2019s<\/a> board.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all interactive. The whole purpose is we\u2019re teaching kids early literacy with music and movement,\u201d said Castille, aka \u201cMr. Juan,\u201d a longtime musician who grew up in Berkeley and has worked at the library for 25 years.<\/p>\n

The band riffs, remixes, invents and ad libs, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur brand is a very unorthodox approach to storytime, which some children\u2019s librarians have dismissed as not storytime at all, but that\u2019s OK, because we don\u2019t do what we do for them, we do it for the children,\u201d Kwende said. \u201cAs long as they are learning to love books, music, and movement at our events, we have done our jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pandemic was the Story Time Band\u2019s big break<\/p>\n

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, \u201cimprov pop-ups,\u201d and some families took note.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a few moms come up to us, and say, \u2018Can we get this on a regular basis?\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cPeople were starving for music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nameless at that point, the band started rotating parks \u2014 Bateman and Virginia Tot Lot, as well as Strawberry Creek. Its following grew.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Parents and caretakers leave strollers in clusters during the concert. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside\/CatchLight Local<\/p>\n

This was great on warmer days. But rain and cold cut playing days short.<\/p>\n

Then Freight & Salvage entered the scene in 2022, as the COVID shutdown eased, offering the band a residence, or home base, with regular bookings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Freight was born out of weather,\u201d Castille said. \u201cThat\u2019s where the band really kicked off.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the first Freight concerts drew almost 400 people, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Soon after, Story Time Band stuck as the official name.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt started out as routine musical storytime and it transformed into a movement. We haven\u2019t really seen anything like what we do, not in a library,\u201d Castille said.<\/p>\n

Performances at parks are in partnership with the city\u2019s Parks and Recreation Department, as part of its Together Wee Play<\/a> program for children 4 and under. These events are held at Live Oak Park (every second Thursday) and Frances Albrier Community Center<\/a> (every third Thursday) on a regular basis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The band has also played at the city\u2019s Tuolumne Camp<\/a> and partners with the Berkeley Unified School District, playing in elementary school classrooms and libraries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mesmerized toddlers know all the songs
\n\"\"\/Toddlers wander the park during the concert. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside\/CatchLight Local<\/p>\n

Kwende is crooning: \u201cLet\u2019s go to the moon. Countdown, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 . . .\u00a0 We\u2019re going to the moon. We can do the moon hop.\u201d It\u2019s Story Time Band\u2019s twist of Zoom Zoom Zoom We\u2019re Going to the Moon<\/a>, by the Kiboomers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kids are hopping, watching, mouthing and shouting the words.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me it was a surprise to have a concert for kids that\u2019s so well structured,\u201d she says. The toddler with her stood mesmerized by the band. \u201cHe knows all the songs, and we play them at home, too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

To catch a band performance, check schedules on the library\u2019s calendar<\/a>, the park department\u2019s Wee Play<\/a> pages, the Freight & Salvage<\/a> website or the band\u2019s Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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