Modern kid’s music is filled with many insanely talented players. Yes, of course, that’s what makes the music sound so terrific. But what you may not know is that the kindie (kid’s + indie) genre is full of hilarious people with bright, bold, bizarre and beautiful personalities.

Recess Monkey features one gentleman who can be described using all four of those ‘B’ letter adjectives. He is Jack Forman, bass player, and afternoon DJ on Sirius XM Kids Place Live (Channel 78). To celebrate his band’s new album Desert Island Disc, we wanted to see if we can get Jack shunned to his own desert island by asking the question: Who Knows Him Best? Jack’s bandmate Drew Holloway or his wife Ellen Cottrell, in this first ever Kindie Rock Cage Match!

Fingers crossed his marriage remains a happy one by the end of this story!

Each answer will receive a score of 0-5 based on its proximity to Jack’s response. We’ll tally up the score at the end and declare a winner!

As you can see, Ellen has a mighty lead as we head into the second and final round…and it’s long-form answer time! Let’s see if singer/guitarist/songwriter extraordinaire Drew Holloway can make up ground or if he’s doomed to end up with his head in the sand!

We asked Jack what his biggest rock star moment has been in his kindie rock life thus far:

Our first time playing the Getty Museum in Los Angeles in 2009, I was running back to our hotel from the gig to get something I’d forgotten. Driving back up the hill in our rental car, I randomly turned on Kids Place Live on SiriusXM and discovered that they airing one of our Rumpus Room live shows from a couple of weeks earlier when we were on tour through Washington DC… and it hit me that at that moment, I was listening to our band’s live set being aired nationally on satellite radio as I drove up this beautiful hill to a live gig that we were going to start playing in the most majestic setting to a huge audience. I felt so proud of what we had built over the years- like we’d “made it.”

Here’s how Drew and Ellen each answered this same question:

Drew: He really loves his new job as a DJ and relishes the chances to meet fans of the show out and about. Still, I’m going with our In Tents run with Seattle’s Teatro Zinanni. It was a sold out series, with plenty of tight costumes, amazing moments and he got to jump on a teeterboard wearing a fake moustache. (0)

Ellen: I think Drew probably has this one covered, but my two immediate thoughts are either the first time he was recognized “out in the wild” (at our favorite Seattle Indian restaurant, I think) or getting to perform with TONS of kindie artists at Sirius/XM studios and/or Kindiefest. (0)

Finally, we wanted to know about Jack’s most memorable Recess Monkey concert.

Definitely the Seeds of Compassion show we played in 2008 at what was then Qwest Field in Seattle. We opened for the Dalai Lama in front of 50,000 people- how do you top that!? The experience was really surreal at every step, but mostly how strange it was to play for such an enormous audience, but one that was so far away it was like watching television. We were in the end zone, playing to a completely empty field with 50,000 spectators watching in the stands. Also, his Holiness sounds a lot like Master Yoda when he laughs.

Drew: If not the Teatro Zinzanni (circus) shows then maybe our first Seattle library show where people were watching in through open windows because it was so jammed packed! (0)

Ellen: They opened for the Dalai Lama in 2008 for an audience of over 50,000 at Seattle’s Qwest Field.  It was pretty epic. (5)

There you have it! Ellen, Jack’s lovely wife, wins in a landslide 29-5! We made a marriage stronger, but have placed the future of one of kindie rock’s greatest bands in jeopardy! Oops!

Recess Monkey’s pearl of a 9th album, Desert Island Disc, is an orchestrated piece of perfection and is out now.

What else would you ask Jack? Add your questions to the comment section below. 

— Jeff Bogle