Kevin and Danielle Jonas, THERE'S A ROCK CONCERT IN MY BEDROOM
[0:01]Hi, this is Vivi Owens, and you're listening to the award-winning podcast.
[0:05]Moms don't have time to read books, and speaking of books, I have two of my own books.
[0:10]Coming out this spring and summer, Princess Charming is a picture book, which debuts on April 19th,
[0:16]and bookends.
[0:17]A memoir of love, loss, and literature comes out on July 1st, and it is truly a labor of love.
[0:23]I hope you'll pre-order, order, and join me on tour as I go across the country.
[0:28]You can find out more at ziviowens.com, or bookendsmemoir.com, and you can follow me on Instagram at ziviowens,
[0:36]because I always post about everything.
[0:38]Enjoy the show!
[0:41]Kevin and Danielle Jonas are co-authors of There's a Rock Concert in My Bedroom,
[0:46]and yes, this is one of the Jonas Brothers.
[0:49]Kevin Jonas is a father, actor, investor, philanthropist, and one-third of Grammy-nominated,
[0:56]and multi-platinum pop band Jonas Brothers.
[0:59]He was born and raised in New Jersey, where he resides with his wife and two daughters,
[1:04]Alina and Valentina.
[1:06]Danielle Jonas is a mother, TV personality actress, and founder and designer of jewelry company, Danielle Jonas Co.
[1:13]She was also born and raised in New Jersey, where she resides with her husband and two daughters,
[1:17]Alina and Valentina, the same ones.
[1:19]So here you go!
[1:21]Get your kids to come listen!
[1:22]And then, a Jonas brother is on his way.
[1:24]Welcome, Kevin and Danielle.
[1:26]Thanks so much for coming on mom's.
[1:27]Don't have time to read books to discuss your amazing children's book.
[1:30]There's a rock concert in my bedroom.
[1:32]Oh, thank you for having us.
[1:34]Oh, it's my pleasure.
[1:36]So please tell listeners what is your children's book about and why write this book?
[1:40]Well, we wanted to do a children's book forever,
[1:43]and it only made more sense as our kids got a little older,
[1:45]and we had children who kind of helped the whole story.
[1:48]And we started to see books that they were reading that they liked,
[1:51]but we've always wanted to encourage them in different ways.
[1:54]And one of the things that we deal with a lot
[1:56]is having to be incredible on people.
[1:58]And then we started to happen with our daughters
[2:00]as they were starting to do dance recitals,
[2:02]going to school performances,
[2:04]and how those nerves could kick in sometimes.
[2:07]And so for us, this was just kind of a fun way to remind them
[2:10]that it's about having fun when our daughter, Alina, had a dance recital.
[2:14]She actually got like super in her head.
[2:16]She practiced like every day, even after the rehearsals,
[2:19]and kind of stopped having fun with it.
[2:22]And I think then when we turned off,
[2:25]the noise in her head in a way
[2:27]and just kind of created a family dance party.
[2:29]And it kind of helped her just remember to have a good time.
[2:32]Yeah.
[2:33]So this kind of emulates that in a capacity.
[2:36]I think our family dance parties might do the opposite thing.
[2:39]Nobody should see our family dance party.
[2:41]I know, but that's the whole point, right?
[2:44]That's the whole thing.
[2:45]It's just not its completely letting loose,
[2:47]like not even caring.
[2:49]And I think sometimes you can get in your own way.
[2:51]And I can do it.
[2:52]You can do it.
[2:53]You know, we don't have to do it.
[2:54]So it's just about having a good time.
[2:55]It's also a good tool to have,
[2:57]because all of them are so different,
[2:59]that like our oldest Salina will tell us,
[3:03]you know, how she feels if she's nervous,
[3:05]if things are going on in school,
[3:07]whereas our youngest Valentina, she doesn't.
[3:10]So using the books, like at that conversation,
[3:14]it's kind of like little read something.
[3:17]And I'll be like, hey, do you ever feel this way at school?
[3:20]Or does anybody make you feel like this?
[3:22]And then she kind of opens up.
[3:24]But if I ask her when she comes home from school,
[3:26]like, hey, you're doing good.
[3:27]She's like, yeah, mom.
[3:28]I'm like, what's really on?
[3:31]Yeah.
[3:32]But really sometimes I'm like, tell me like one thing.
[3:35]One thing from school, that's it.
[3:36]Just you must have learned something.
[3:37]Something must have happened.
[3:38]Yeah.
[3:39]I was like, we actually started doing that in a dinner,
[3:41]which has been really wonderful.
[3:43]We only tell us the worst, not the worst,
[3:45]but tell us the bad part of your day and the best.
[3:47]Yes.
[3:48]We do that too.
[3:49]We do best and worst.
[3:50]And then most challenging and time you left the hardest.
[3:53]Yeah.
[3:54]I was going to learn the hardest.
[3:55]I was like, oh, I like that.
[3:56]And it really does allow them to really bring out the conversation
[4:00]around dinner time.
[4:01]And so for us, it works really well.
[4:03]I don't know when it shifts.
[4:04]I feel like when people ask me, I'm like, I go on forever.
[4:07]You know, I'm like, here's what happened in my day.
[4:09]Let me explain.
[4:10]You know, I don't know when it shifts, but.
[4:14]Oh my goodness.
[4:15]So do you do either of you or do your daughters have the lucky charms?
[4:20]Was that something that was given to you as advice or just?
[4:23]Oh my gosh.
[4:24]You know, that was definitely something when we were talking about the book.
[4:27]They always have things that they give to each other.
[4:30]For some reason, they're always making each other bracelets.
[4:32]For necklaces or like our oldest rights cards to everyone in their family.
[4:37]Like she wanted to make balanceances here for, I think.
[4:40]It doesn't work.
[4:41]Like a hundred people including their box.
[4:43]So like it's always about she always wants to do something special.
[4:46]And they really are, you know, not doing it on a horn,
[4:49]but they really do think about others a lot.
[4:51]Then which makes us really happy.
[4:53]They had their first day school and they had a necklace that was broken in hand.
[4:57]So big sister, little sister.
[4:59]And they bought me in their backpacks.
[5:02]So they do do those little things to like have those little reminders.
[5:06]He also has their reminder on stage.
[5:09]There's different things that we like to do.
[5:12]All right.
[5:13]So what's your reminder on stage?
[5:15]Also, my guitar picks actually happened
[5:18]around our whole office here.
[5:19]But my has our initials like candy.
[5:21]Oh.
[5:22]And beyond.
[5:23]So every night I've got my family with me.
[5:26]That's so sweet.
[5:27]What if you're in like a fight?
[5:29]You just like toss it to the side.
[5:30]And you know.
[5:31]Actually, I really try not to be.
[5:38]That's one thing.
[5:39]It's like kind of going, you know, people always say,
[5:41]like, don't go to bed and angry.
[5:42]It's like, I try really hard not to go on stage angry.
[5:45]Yeah.
[5:46]I feel like any time you're doing something creative
[5:49]and there's too much emotion packed in there.
[5:51]It always seeps out whether you're cooking.
[5:53]No matter what.
[5:54]You just can't get out of your head and can't get out your own way.
[5:56]And so I understand that feeling big time.
[5:59]Well, next Valentine's Day, if your daughter wants to.
[6:04]He wants to make some extra money.
[6:05]I'm happy to help.
[6:06]Have her help my kids because it was like pulling teeth
[6:09]to do all the valentines for all the kids and all the classes.
[6:12]Each one individually.
[6:13]So if she wants to make a hundred Valentine's, you know, I'm in.
[6:17]I'm a little business on the side.
[6:19]It'd be amazing.
[6:21]You know, one thing that struck me about your book is, you know,
[6:24]just how important family is in helping people get each member
[6:28]of the family get over their own challenges, whether it's stage fright
[6:31]or whatever it is and how it was so great that in the book,
[6:34]the whole family really bonds together.
[6:36]But I feel like that's so often not the case, right?
[6:39]There are all these kids who don't have the luxury of a tight-knit family.
[6:43]Just people who totally love them and support them and will do anything.
[6:46]And yet they have to somehow muster up these inner resources
[6:49]to get through situations like this.
[6:51]And maybe they end up not doing, you know, what do we say to kids like that?
[6:54]Or people who maybe don't have the parents who have all these incredible tools
[6:59]or the little love note that the mom leaves or something like that, you know?
[7:02]We definitely thought about that while writing this book.
[7:05]And obviously we wanted to share some of our personal story in that, you know?
[7:09]So not necessarily exactly what you're saying.
[7:12]But I think for people like that, we definitely grew up in a way
[7:15]where at a certain point we were still young in, you know, the entertainment business, right?
[7:19]And you just instantly do anything on our own and kind of had to grow up very fast.
[7:23]And I think you take lessons that you learn from a lot of different places with you.
[7:27]One of the first things I learned was not from my parents about my work career and my life,
[7:32]which was don't, you know, look at the people that you admire and learn from their mistakes.
[7:38]And that was a huge lesson for me.
[7:39]It's like, wow, yeah.
[7:41]Did sometimes they'd been through it.
[7:43]They know more and it doesn't always have to be a parent.
[7:45]The parent is always having answers.
[7:47]What do you think? Of course they do.
[7:50]We're always right. We're always right.
[7:52]I mean, not my parents, but you know me.
[7:54]Exactly.
[7:55]So what was it like collaborating to write the book together?
[7:58]Was that really fun?
[7:59]Like, did you, like what was that process like for the two of you?
[8:02]I always liked doing things with him and like down to the TV show and then even working on our homes together and stuff.
[8:10]So doing something like this and when he brought it to me and we started discussing it,
[8:15]it was actually exciting because we had to be together and, you know, just,
[8:19]I love projects that we can do this together.
[8:21]You know, my life does take me away and travel.
[8:24]So it's time when we can do a little project together.
[8:26]It really, you know, it's another way for us to connect.
[8:28]Everybody's like, well, my friends are like,
[8:30]he likes to talk to your husband.
[8:32]I don't know.
[8:33]I'm like, oh my God.
[8:34]Turns out we actually like each other.
[8:36]It's so convenient when that happens.
[8:39]See that.
[8:40]Oh, I know.
[8:41]Yeah.
[8:42]Great.
[8:43]I have a children's foot coming out to actually in April.
[8:46]And I feel like people think it's, oh, thank you.
[8:48]It's so easy to do, but it's really not.
[8:50]Like, you have to be really aware of how many pages there are and what goes on what page and, you know,
[8:54]did you find that to be a challenge?
[8:56]Tell me about what that was like.
[8:57]Yeah.
[8:58]There was definitely some things we wanted to put in and then, you know,
[9:00]we did come to like, there was like a cross road at one point in the book.
[9:04]But like, do we need the charm?
[9:05]Do we not need the charm?
[9:06]Like, is that taking away from the story?
[9:08]But we always felt like part,
[9:09]I was something it wasn't to take place of the thing you can do by yourself.
[9:13]It was just a reminder of people that love you.
[9:15]And I think so for us that was always kind of like, it's important and fun.
[9:18]And I think for us, we have a great team around us.
[9:21]So it did make it maybe a touch easier.
[9:23]But the book as an overall, I just really loved me.
[9:27]I think the like pictures and stuff worked hard for me.
[9:30]Because you wanted to be cute enough and like,
[9:34]attention to younger kids.
[9:36]So I had like, you were very focused on their eyes.
[9:40]She really was.
[9:41]It was really interesting.
[9:42]Like how they looked in the eyes and like, you're sensitive to those things.
[9:46]Like she loves people.
[9:47]Like when she meets someone, she'll like really connect with them,
[9:49]depending on what their voice sounds like.
[9:51]Yeah.
[9:52]How's my voice doing?
[9:53]I don't know.
[9:54]I hope I'm okay.
[9:55]Very good.
[9:56]Very good.
[9:57]I can tell actually that you didn't like that.
[9:59]Yeah.
[10:00]Well, my daughter loved the outfits.
[10:02]So if you were, you know, I don't know about the eyes or whatever, but the clothes.
[10:05]Yeah.
[10:06]No.
[10:07]A little extra, you know.
[10:08]There you go.
[10:09]How do you feel?
[10:10]I mean, this is obviously your performer, right?
[10:13]And the book is about you're having your children sort of follow in your footsteps and
[10:17]tread the same path, whether it's stress inducing or not.
[10:20]How do you feel about if your daughters did want to be singers and all of that, would
[10:25]you say no or yes, or have you noticed talent?
[10:28]I mean, it's definitely, I get this question probably the most out of any point.
[10:31]I'm sorry.
[10:32]I'm sorry to ask.
[10:33]No, no, no, no.
[10:34]It's interesting.
[10:35]It makes sense that people would be interested in that question.
[10:39]I think we've always talked about it very similar to what my parents did, which was never pushed
[10:43]us to do this stuff.
[10:44]Like it was never forced upon us, but it was always supported.
[10:48]And it is something that they wanted to do or have a passion.
[10:51]I would make sure that you understand what kind of sacrifice is it takes and the practice
[10:56]that didn't get there and the work, how hard it is, right?
[11:00]But we'd never be pushed upon them or forced in any capacity.
[11:03]I've seen and met too many stage parents to do that.
[11:07]I bet.
[11:08]But if they wanted to do it, you wouldn't be like, no, don't ever try this.
[11:12]No, but I would definitely push them to understand what it all means.
[11:16]And I explained to them some of the challenges with it.
[11:19]It's not all, it might look easy for dad now, but it wasn't all the way.
[11:24]And how do your kids now that they're getting older?
[11:25]How do you feel?
[11:26]I mean, I was watching some of your earlier days of your show together and like your dad
[11:30]coming over and you deal with that and, you know, that's cool.
[11:34]We like it.
[11:35]Oh my gosh, that was funny, flanting out the dinner party and yeah, exactly.
[11:40]So do your kids, what do they make of it when they get to watch their parents sort of navigate
[11:46]in law relationships and all that on YouTube or whatever?
[11:49]You know, it's bad enough that we have it on like home movies.
[11:52]Yeah.
[11:53]I don't think they've even seen the show, I think, no, they did, but they had no interest
[11:57]in it.
[11:58]It was kind of like, okay, and we're kind of finding that like, they're getting a little
[12:06]bit more sensitive with going to concerts and making it all done that way, which is kind
[12:13]of funny to watch them through it because they've kind of grew up with it and grew up
[12:18]with him being, you know, on stage or getting attention in some ways and they got a little
[12:25]weird, this tour where they kind of were like, people are watching us, you know, like
[12:30]what do you do?
[12:31]Yeah.
[12:32]Why are they watching us?
[12:33]And we had to like try, like kind of calm their nerves on like, you know, everybody loves
[12:38]you and wants to wish you well and want to like see do things that are great and, you
[12:43]know, and just they want to be a part of our family and you should feel so happy that
[12:48]you're rooting for you and, you know, things like that and trying to make them feel comfortable
[12:53]about it.
[12:54]Definitely.
[12:55]Yeah.
[12:56]I mean, you got, I mean this in the nicest way, you seem like totally normal parents,
[13:00]right?
[13:01]I mean, like, you seem like anybody, anybody else who would be a drop off or pick up
[13:04]or whatever.
[13:05]And yet, you have like this whole other life, right?
[13:08]So how do you know?
[13:09]It is hard to balance sometimes for sure, you know, like you definitely walk into moments
[13:13]where you're like, cool, like our daughter's first day of school last, you know, before
[13:17]really before the pandemic began was I was following my tour and I was in a different
[13:21]state.
[13:22]And so I actually took our tour bus overnight to get to home so I could wait for her first
[13:27]day of school and then had to leave directly after to get to the show that night.
[13:31]So like, I want to try to be there for the, we both do it.
[13:34]We want to try to be there for the moments that are important, but there are definitely
[13:37]times where it's like, I also have to be in two places at once.
[13:41]What are some of the books that you like to read to the girls?
[13:45]A lot of like conversational ones for to be out of like at like getting angry and like
[13:52]what's the theme?
[13:53]Yeah, like very themed ones just because it does help them like connect to their emotions
[14:00]and I find that they have the hardest time with that right now, especially to every since
[14:05]the pandemic and all that.
[14:07]So yeah, I think what was it pop pop my top?
[14:10]That's what I was just saying.
[14:11]I think I can't remember exactly the book, but it was a while and that one was great
[14:14]because our daughter did like, you know, I expressed her emotions and that one was like,
[14:19]we would remind her about the tools and that you learned in that book to pop yourself
[14:25]down.
[14:26]And really, you know, I think that's the whole reason for these books, right?
[14:29]Yes, they're entertaining and they're fun, but there's, you know, there is a message and
[14:32]there is a learning environment in them.
[14:34]And I think that's what we all get out of books, but specifically with children's
[14:38]picture books.
[14:39]I was literally just telling someone the other day.
[14:41]I was like, yeah, you know, when I was low girl, I remember my mom gave me a book that
[14:45]was called like managing your ups and downs because, you know, I always had like moods
[14:48]and I was like, that she just gave you a book and I was like, I mean, I love to read
[14:51]it.
[14:52]It's okay.
[14:53]I know.
[14:54]I mean, I don't know.
[14:55]They're managed enough, I guess.
[14:58]So are there, are there more children's books collaborations between the two of you in your
[15:02]future?
[15:03]I would definitely think so.
[15:05]Well, we are just really excited about this one coming out and it's definitely a project
[15:09]that's been going on for a long time, so like three, four years.
[15:12]So it's nice to see it finally coming to fruition.
[15:14]Did the pandemic set it back and like what was going on?
[15:18]Actually, no, it actually kind of helped us get it done because we are home together.
[15:22]So it kind of was allowed us to like kind of focus on getting some of these projects done.
[15:27]And then just one more question on the guitar piece of it.
[15:30]I mean, oh, in the book, I would just like to play and she was thrumming and strumming
[15:33]and experimenting.
[15:35]There's such a pressure, I feel like, to get your kids guitar lessons, voice lessons,
[15:40]like have everything very structured.
[15:42]So what's your sort of philosophy on that with your kids or with kids in general who
[15:47]want to grow up to be singers?
[15:48]Should they do those classes?
[15:50]Should you just let them play on the instruments?
[15:51]What do you think?
[15:52]I think I was, I come from a different place a little bit.
[15:55]I was actually self-taught.
[15:56]So I was home from sick from school.
[15:57]I had strep for like three weeks.
[15:58]I was so bored of what whatever was on TV.
[16:01]So I had parents had a guitar in the house and a teacher self-retar book.
[16:04]Literally, that was the name of it.
[16:06]And that's how I started to learn.
[16:07]I just picked that up and after about a week, that faked being sick to stay home and keep
[16:13]working on the guitar.
[16:14]I turned out that paid off.
[16:16]I don't advise that to Joe's and listening, but at the same time, our daughter really wants
[16:21]to learn piano right now, but somehow we like to really play around with a piano for
[16:25]a while just to see if that would break interest, just playing around, not really being
[16:29]structured.
[16:30]And it has not broken.
[16:31]She's really interested in it.
[16:32]And it's not finding interesting ways, especially now with technology, like there are so
[16:36]many cool programs that you can do that would be kind of gamified all a little bit.
[16:41]And I think that's a really cool and special way to start.
[16:43]If you're worried that they're not going to take it too serious or it's going to become
[16:47]a burden or that they're going to come and regret it.
[16:49]I do find that the arts and music is super important for child development and growth.
[16:55]And it was in our house since all the time.
[16:58]My brother was eight years old when he did his first Broadway show.
[17:02]So like, you know, that's my daughter being working in the city every single night.
[17:06]I don't know if that would work for me in my brain right now, but at the same time,
[17:11]he loved it.
[17:12]He didn't go on a film of vacation because he wanted to not miss any shows, like that was
[17:15]what he loved, right?
[17:17]So if it's inside you, it'll come out, you know.
[17:21]I love that.
[17:22]It's so great.
[17:24]Do you have any advice to aspiring picture book authors?
[17:27]I think just find your story and stick with it.
[17:29]You know, and finding community our brother-in-law is and your sister's husband has been wanting
[17:34]to write in terms of books for so long.
[17:36]He actually is working, I think he just sold his first one, which is credible.
[17:40]And, you know, he founded these literary groups where they worked on their writings together
[17:46]and like, you know, get notes from peers, which we're all trying to do the same thing,
[17:49]which I think was really helpful.
[17:51]So, any communities like that would really help people as they're starting out?
[17:54]Yeah.
[17:55]Amazing.
[17:56]Is there anything that you wish you'd known when you were your daughter's age, that
[18:01]as parents just any one piece of advice and that's a big question, but I guess I wish that
[18:07]I knew that everybody went through similar things like being nervous about public speaking
[18:13]or other things, but I wish that like my brain really like took that in and that I wasn't
[18:19]the only one.
[18:21]Yeah, that's good advice.
[18:22]That's good advice for now, for grown-ups, I mean, oh, that's a percent.
[18:25]And I think that that's why this is so fun for us because we're, the book is something
[18:29]we can all relate to, even as parents as you're reading it, you know, it's kind of like,
[18:32]yeah, I've been there before, whether it's a presentation at work, whether it's, you
[18:36]know, literally being on stage, like myself.
[18:39]Yeah.
[18:40]Well, now you have this book to get you through, so hopefully that's really good.
[18:43]Power.
[18:44]Well, thank you so much.
[18:46]It was lovely meeting you guys.
[18:47]Sorry for the interruption with my kids.
[18:48]Oh, I love that.
[18:49]It makes it, it makes us feel like it's our house.
[18:51]We totally get it.
[18:52]Okay.
[18:53]All right.
[18:54]Well, best of luck with the book.
[18:55]Thank you.
[18:56]Congratulations on yours.
[18:57]Thank you.
[18:58]Bye-bye.
[18:59]Bye-bye.
[19:00]Thanks for listening to this episode of Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.
[19:04]Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, at Zibi Owens, and at Moms Don't Have Time to Read
[19:08]Books.
[19:09]Also sign up for my newsletter at Zibi Owens.com and sign up for my virtual book club and
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[19:16]Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan Beck, Texture Sound for the Sound Editing, and thank
[19:20]you to Morning Moon Productions for providing this fantastic intro and out trim music.