Secret Agent 23 Skidoo
Presents "Kid-Hop" Tunes for the Whole FamilyNORTH ADAMS, Mass. - "As a parent, its hard to find kid music that doesn't
annoy you" says Joel Sullivan aka Secret Agent 23 Skidoo. So Sullivan stopped looking for that music and started creating it himself. After 10 years of writing and performing hip-hop geared towards adults, Sullivan began a project to use the beats and rhythms of hip-hop as a base for kid friendly rhyming that parents can enjoy as well. Secret Agent 23 blends smooth rapping with occasionally eclectic instrumentation and an all-positive message in concerts for music-lovers of all ages. Secret Agent 23 Skidoo will perform at MASS MoCA on Saturday, June 13, at 2 PM in Club B-10.
Set to organic grooves and head bobbing beats, Secret Agent 23 Skidoo's songs are about imagination, curiosity, friends and family, and self-confidence, interspersed with tales of dragons, mermaids, and a musical grasshopper. His songs celebrate the joy of life while addressing the importance of determination, creativity, and exploration. The song Luck from his debut album, Easy, has already hit #1 on XMKids satellite radio. The flagship song for the album, the rollicking Gotta Be Me, is a Free to Be ... You and Me for the new millennium. Equally innovative are his songs that take a more imaginary bent. Hot Lava captures the power of childhood imagination, nailing the 7-year-old feeling of pretending on the fly (don't touch the floor! -- it's hot lava! -- jump from couch to couch!)
Hailing from North Carolina, Joel Sullivan has been a hip hop artist performing as Cactus for over a decade. After creating several projects with Asheville, North Carolina's hip-hop collaborative group Granola Funk Express as Agent 23, Sullivan adopted the kid-friendly name Secret Agent 23 Skidoo to create more family-oriented music. Inspired by his own experience of being a father, Sullivan gets his 5-year-old daughter Saki in on the act, smoothly trading lines with her on the song Family Tree.
Tickets for Secret Agent 23 Skidoo are $6 per person. Tickets are available through the MASS MoCA Box Office located off Marshall Street in North Adams from 11 A.M. until 5 P.M. (closed Tuesdays). Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413-662-2111 during Box Office hours or purchased on line at www.massmoca.org.
