Ella-Bella Bee Future
Where are we going with this?
Let's create communities that take action!
Having children perform this all over the English-speaking world--or even just Washington State--can change how much people use pesticides/insect-killers and herbicides/weed-killers. It could change how fast we do or don't have pollinators, how in danger or safe our food supply.
How? Have high school students and middle schoolers perform piece for elementary students, elementary students to perform for their peers. Students become invested, their families become invested in pollinators and our future. Plus, I'm getting tired!
To do this we need to finish clear charts and have the script super clear. We need to point to all the ways the cast can be expanded. Some of this has been done. Recordings can help children and teachers.
Ella-Bella isn't a good organizer. Are you?
We need help, perhaps a specific person helper to contact schools to get it going. We need a grant to help this person.
Flash Mob Performance:
Flash mob performances of delightful costumed crowd of human "Bees" to cheerfully perform at malls, groceries, Home Depot and Lowe's. Bees would dance and then run from large puppets of of herbicides and pesticides.
This is especially good around company shareholders meetings. If there are enough participants, I can get media attention!
We can show Krogers (Fred Meyers), Lowe's, and Home Depot that we do not want them to sell glysophates, neonicotinoids, and such. These are bad for Bees, Birds, and Humans.
Workshops:
Workshops showing how easy and inexpensive it can be to plant something in a pot. How can more of these be
done?
Distribution:
The recording was expensive, but made so that kids could listen to the information in the lyrics all year long so that Ella-Bella would make a difference. How can the digital recordings get into kid's homes, libraries, schools?
A Coloring Book:
was begun with lyrics and pictures. Finish and marketing?
A Poetry Book:
Could there be an Ella-Bella book? Who is the right artist?
Many songs didn't make the final cut, but woudl work in a book.
All about entertaining while educating about Bees and Hummingbirds--why you should care--cause they are amazing--why they make a difference--they feed us--and what you can do to make a difference! Enjoy some of the silliness, lyrical gymnastics and musical magic of this talented team!
Released August 12, 2022
Janet Rayor- Bee & Hummingbird vocals, lyrics & melodies; Clayton Murray- Bob-Bee vocals, harmonies, composer; Don Dieterich- Rob-Bee harmonies, castanets, all percussion, and drums. Photo and artwork Peter Shaw Photography. Hummingbird mask Kim David Hall. Sound Engineer Chris Spencer, SophiaHat Studio, Recorded 2022. All rights reserved.
Thanks to Jaspar Lepak who never doubted I could write this show, Cornell University entomology Professor Cole Gilbert who gave scientific okays to the lyrics, Victoria Sadowski who helped record the first rendition of the show, Victoria Millard for help with Betty Bat's song, Peter Shaw for hours of enthusiastic photo/artwork collaboration, Kim Hall for delightful inventions (Hummingbird and little bees), Steve Rice for publishing advice, and my sisters Diane and Linda Rayor and mother Connie Rayor who always believed in the project.