Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band just returned from one of its most glorious and important trips — to China, where the children’s pop-rock group performed before thousands at the nation’s version of the Oscars at Olympic Stadium in Beijing.
Yet, just last week, the ensemble’s married leaders, guitarist Diaz and vocalist Alisha Gaddis, part-time-Columbus residents, took a trip maybe even more important, given the duo’s commitment to all things family.
That unfolded as an excursion to Disneyland, near their other home in Los Angeles. Their daughter Indiana — how better can Gaddis remind her Columbus parents and friends that she’ll always be a Hoosier? — celebrated her third birthday with Mickey and the gang.
“I wanted to pay homage to my home state (via my child),” said Gaddis, the Evansville-born daughter of Columbus East High School football coach Bob Gaddis and his wife, Karen.
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Much of life seems to be a celebration these days for Gaddis and her clan. That will include a free, 45-minute concert at 6 p.m. Friday as part of the Columbus Area Arts Council’s First Fridays For Families series. The greatest-hits-style show at The Commons downtown marks the group’s first local performance in nearly five years.
The band, including drummer Deacon Marquin, will sport its latest space-age costumes — fitting for an act that seems to be rocketing its way to big-time success with songs such as “Thingamajig” and “Pretty Princess.”
And all just a few years after the 37-year-old Gaddis was serving then-boyfriend Diaz canned beans for supper to save money in expensive Los Angeles.
“Since our popularity in Asia has been happening in different countries (such as China), the news doesn’t necessarily trickle very quickly over here,” Gaddis said. “We’re definitely bigger there than in the United States. It has taken on a life of its own.”
She is hard-pressed to explain it all. But proof of the phenomenon rests on Gaddis’ Facebook page. It features warm shots of her posing sweetly with pint-sized fans in China, where concert crowds as large as 15,000 may gather for the English tunes with a Chinese translation on a Jumbotron.
“I think people relate to the feeling we’re trying to project — the happiness and the joy,” she said.
That growing popularity figures to boom, since the band just filmed a variety of new TV musical clips to air in Shanghai and elsewhere in China. This simply builds on the band’s previous success, including an Emmy for its PBS TV show, “Lishy Lou (Gaddis’ character) and Lucky Too” and a Latin Grammy for its children’s disc “Fantastico!”
One hardly can be all that surprised about Gaddis and her hubby’s unconventional success, especially after realizing that Gaddis and a friend jokingly launched the Snort School of Lyricism in 2001. While in session, all songs for it had be snorted instead of sung. Gaddis followed that with a foray through stand-up comedy.
But she and her spouse’s tunes have been serious enough to have earned publicity from big media outlets such as National Public Radio, CNN and People magazine. Columbus resident Caitlin Smith, who works with the local arts council, hopes to have her two tykes in tow at the Friday event.
“I was really impressed when I found out (months ago) we had a Columbus person who who traveling and performing all over the world,” Smith said.
Online clips — on social media and elsewhere — show that the band’s appearances are more like high-energy parties of sorts with enough exuberance to perhaps rival Disneyland.
“It seems like a full stadium experience,” Smith said.
Gaddis acknowledged that, in China, the band’s concert tickets have sold for what would be $85 to $100 in American currency.
“It’s just incredible to be able to be ambassadors of the United States while going to other countries,” she said. “We do that with a lot of pride and thoughtfulness. And it’s so nice that we have been received with everywhere with open arms.”
Not to mention dancing feet.
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Who: Part-time Columbus residents and globetrotting children’s entertainers and Grammy winners Lucky Diaz and Alisha Gaddis, better known as Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band, in concert at the Columbus Area Arts Council’s popular First Fridays For Families series.
When: 6 p.m. Friday. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
Where: The Commons, 300 Washington St. in downtown Columbus.
Admission: Free. Sponsored by Old National Bank.
Information: artsincolumbus.org.
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