Fellow Passengers on the Express

If it’s true that children keep you young, that might explain why children’s music trio Parachute Express doesn’t seem to have aged at all in 15 years. Performing their high-octane shows for thousands of children across the country every year seems to be keeping 40-somethings Janice Hubbard, Stephen Michael Schwartz and Donny Becker as youthful now as when they first started.

“We always walk out after a show saying, ‘That was great,’ ” Becker said, “and that surprises me after all these years--to always feel uplifted.”

“Parachute Express without a doubt keeps me young,” he mused. “The moment I hit the stage, I’m like a teenager, I’m having so much fun. And at the end of the show . . . “

” . . . his valet rubs him down,” Schwartz cut in, breaking the others up. “The oxygen mask goes on, the ice packs. . . . “

The artists, who are celebrating their 15th anniversary with two concerts at the 1,460-seat Alex Theatre in Glendale on Sunday, met there recently to talk about what they do. Singer Becker, earnest and professorial, is the father of teens 16 and 19; sunny Hubbard is a classically trained singer-musician and first-time new mom; and irrepressible Schwartz, the group’s singing guitarist, is the father of sons ages 8 and 18.

They banter like affectionate siblings, proudly point out each other’s accomplishments and finish each other’s sentences.

“Yes,” Hubbard said with a laugh, “we’re still friends.”

“It’s like a marriage,” Schwartz said. “We bicker from time to time . . . “

” . . . we do not,” objected Becker.

“We do too,” said Schwartz, to howls of laughter from the other two. “It’s mostly in the area of wanting to do the best thing for our show,” he resumed more seriously. “But it’s never anything where we’ve ever considered divorcing.”

Parachute Express has earned high praise for its sleek, Manhattan Transfer-ish harmonies and creative lyrics that invite participation and thought. And while the trio’s target audience ranges in age from 14 months to 8 years, it’s not unusual for 10- or 12-year-olds to request autographs. It’s common too, after a one-hour show, for the group to meet with fans twice that long.

“It’s us, the kids and the janitor, waiting to lock up,” Hubbard said.

Parachute Express began simply as recording artists for Gymboree, a now international movement/play program for parents and preschoolers. It was Becker’s suggestion to give the program a signature musical voice; he and his wife still own one of the oldest Gymboree franchises.

The group soon broadened its scope independent of the program, expanding its musical reach too, from a traditional folk sound to sophisticated pop and jazz stylings.

It has survived the vagaries of a field in which big success goes to a media-driven purple dinosaur and a little red Muppet named Elmo, winner of this year’s Grammy Award for best children’s album. The group also survives in a business with no Top 40 radio to promote it--a challenge that major record labels couldn’t seem to surmount when they began signing children’s artists in 1990, dropping most of them just a few years later.

Express Operates Under Its Own Label

Parachute Express was with Walt Disney Records from 1991 to 1994; it now operates under its own Trio Lane Records label and tours 20 to 50 cities each year. It performed at the last two presidential inaugurals; its CD “Doctor Looney’s Remedy” won the 1999 Indie Award, given by the Assn. for Independent Music for best children’s recording; and Disney added the music video version of the title song as a bonus track on its recent “Goofy” movie and Winnie the Pooh home video releases.

With little TV and radio exposure, however, Parachute Express and other veteran children’s artists share the same frustration: the general perception that children’s music is something lesser, despite its recognized educational and emotional value.

“People hear people like us talk about how children’s music does not get its due,” Schwartz said, “and maybe think that’s sour grapes because we’re not in the public eye, we’re not an ‘adult artist.’ But we go through the same process as a pop artist: We know our market, we write for it, we create it and we perform it.”

“We’re also writing for the whole family,” Becker added. “We’re trying to find something that talks to parents and children.”

Age-Appropriateness Is Part of the Goal

Audiences haven’t changed over the years, the trio agrees, even though younger and younger fans are attracted to younger and younger teenage pop stars, whose songs are adult in content.

Becker, whose experience as a former elementary school teacher contributes to the group’s child-developmental sensitivity, is troubled that children are increasingly exposed to inappropriate content in the media.

“Not only in music, but in TV [and film] as well, there’s less and less discrimination. . . . Because 5-year-olds and 6-year-olds . . . “

” . . . they’re dressing like adults,” Hubbard interjected, “and listening to adult music. It feels as if some of the innocence is missing, or the joy of just expressing yourself. I don’t know if [adult] music dictates that kind of feeling.”

Still, she said, “I don’t think that the people who come to see us . . . “

” . . . buy into that,” Becker and Schwartz finished in unison.

“It seems we find a way to reach parents with the style of music, the harmony blends, without losing children,” Becker said, “because the themes, the fun and aspects of the music still speak to children.”

When not performing and recording, each pursues other interests: Becker has Gymboree; Hubbard, besides being a new mom, is an editor for Cinefex, her husband’s magazine for special effects aficionados; and Schwartz plays solo club gigs. Parachute Express is their central focus, however, and they are not looking beyond it.

“This is a career” Hubbard said. “It’s . . . “

” . . . definitely part of our lives,” Becker said, “as long as it continues to be fun and we have a ball. Traveling has its grind . . . “

” . . . but we still enjoy each other,” Hubbard said, returning her colleagues’ beaming smiles.

BE THERE

“Parachute Express,” Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale, Sunday, 1 and 4 p.m. $14. (800) 233-3123.