Skip to content

The Band Kids

Overview

“The Band Kids” is the informal name for the next generation of children born to CRATB members, their partners, and the close staff who form the band’s extended chosen family. They grow up in a multi-generational ecosystem where biological family, chosen family, and professional bonds blur into a single, deeply interconnected community. The homes, rehearsal spaces, and family gatherings they share create a second generation of relationships built on the foundation their parents established.

These children inherit not just a musical legacy but a model of family that prioritizes loyalty, presence, and mutual care over convention. Many of them call the CRATB members “Tío” or “Uncle” regardless of blood relation, a reflection of the multicultural chosen-family structure that defines the band’s world. They grow up understanding that family means showing up, that music is a language as valid as any spoken one, and that the adults in their lives chose each other as fiercely as any biological bond.

The cohort spans more than fifteen years in age—from Raffie, Ellie, Clara, and Emily (born ~2035) to the Landry twins (born ~2051)—meaning the older kids serve as big cousins and protectors for the younger ones, replicating the caregiving patterns their parents modeled.

Members

Older Cohort (born ~2035)

Rafael “Raffie” Cruz (b. 2035) Ezra Cruz’s son with Nadia Beckford. Pursuing vocal jazz at Berklee College of Music. Raffie grew up on tour buses, in recording studios, and backstage at jazz festivals, absorbing music as naturally as breathing. He is the emotional anchor of the older cohort—direct, protective, and unafraid to advocate for his own grief and fear when the adults around him are in crisis. He calls Logan and Charlie his tíos and credits them openly: “My Tío Charlie taught me to rest. My Dad taught me to roar.” His friendship with Ellie Liu goes back to birth.

Ellie Liu (b. mid-2035) Peter Liu and Sophie Ji-hyun Liu’s daughter, raised in the sound. Ellie grew up with a bassist father and a sound engineer mother, giving her an intuitive understanding of music from both performance and production angles; she later worked professionally as a musician, composer, and ambient sound artist. Quiet, observant, and protective under pressure, her friendship with Raffie dates to birth, and she is Lia Cruz’s closest confidante, serving as a bridge between the older and younger halves of the cohort. She and Lia create soundscapes and experiment with music together, have sleepovers constantly, and function as partners in crime at rehearsals and concerts.

Clara Keller (b. ~2035) Clara was Jacob Keller’s daughter with Camille DuPont and Ava Keller’s stepdaughter. She played cello in youth orchestra and was the protective big cousin of the group, with Jacob’s fierce loyalty and Ava’s steady warmth. She grew up in a household shaped by Jacob’s complex trauma history and his deep capacity for love, learning early that strength and vulnerability coexisted.

Emily Harlow-Keller (b. ~2035) Jacob Keller’s stepdaughter, Ava’s biological daughter. Emily joins the band kids cohort when Ava and Jacob’s relationship brings her into the family fold. She and Clara are the same age, becoming stepsisters and co-navigating the unique experience of growing up in the Keller household.

Middle Cohort (born 2034-2035)

Amber Makani (b. February 16, 2034) Mo Makani’s stepdaughter (hānai keiki), Elise Makani’s eldest child. Strong-willed and fiercely protective, especially of her younger brother Jace. Amber survived her biological father Mike Watson’s abuse and emerged with a survivor’s determination and a big sister’s vigilance. She grew up in the Logan-Charlie household where Mo serves as primary care coordinator, making the band’s world her daily reality.

Jace Makani (b. May 20, 2035) Mo Makani’s adopted son (hānai keiki), Elise Makani’s middle child. Jace sustained a traumatic brain injury from abuse by his biological father, and his journey of recovery and adaptation unfolds within the care infrastructure of the Logan-Charlie household. Mo became his primary father figure and adopted him after Mike was imprisoned for the attack. The band family’s understanding of disability and accommodation—shaped by Charlie’s and Logan’s own experiences—provides a uniquely supportive environment for his healing.

Younger Cohort (born 2043-2051)

Lia Cruz (b. July 6, 2043) Ezra Cruz’s daughter, the youngest Cruz child. Born at sunrise, Lia is the baby of the band kids’ core group—growing up attending concerts in glitter headphones and absorbing the CRATB world as her birthright. Her closest confidante is Ellie Liu despite their age gap, and together they create soundscapes and experiment with music. She calls the band members her tíos and understands from an early age that her family extends far beyond biology.

Alika Makani (b. ~2046) Mo and Elise Makani’s biological son and Amber and Jace’s younger maternal half-brother. Alika grew up in Baltimore with English, Hawaiian, and Pidgin in family life and with Mo’s Oʻahu relatives present through calls and visits. Curious, affectionate, energetic, and quick to help, he shared snacks, played inclusively, and checked on other children when they were hurt. He and Lia maintained a close FaceTime friendship despite their approximately three-year age difference, speaking in rapid Pidgin and Spanglish while gaming, drawing, and keeping one another company. Amber and Jace doted on him without assigning him responsibility for healing the trauma that preceded his birth.

Adrian Landry (b. ~2051) Elliot Landry and Dr. Ayana Brooks’ son, twin to Ariana. Born premature and requiring NICU time. Adrian was the first baby Jacob Keller held in the NICU—Jake cried into his shoulder, overwhelmed by the miracle of his best friend’s child. Adrian grows up calling Jacob “Uncle Jake” and Ava “Aunt Ava,” understanding instinctively that his family includes four primary adults: his parents plus Jake and Ava. He is the youngest of the band kids alongside his sister.

Ariana Landry (b. ~2051) Elliot Landry and Dr. Ayana Brooks’ daughter, twin to Adrian. Born premature and requiring NICU time. The first baby Elliot held—her tiny fingers wrapped around his massive hand, and he sobbed, overwhelmed by the miracle of her existence and the bittersweet knowledge of his shortened life expectancy. Like her brother, she grows up in the unconventional four-adult family structure where love and presence define belonging.

Group Dynamics

The band kids share a common experience that few outsiders understand: growing up in the public-adjacent world of a Grammy-winning jazz band, navigating media scrutiny, inheriting both the gifts and the weight of their parents’ legacies, and learning to define themselves within—and sometimes against—the family mythology. Raffie articulates this tension in interviews: “Yeah, they’re family. But I’m writing my own charts now.”

Several of the band kids also share the experience of growing up around disability and chronic illness as ordinary facts of life. Charlie’s progressive health conditions, Logan’s wheelchair use and chronic pain, Jace’s TBI, Elliot’s gigantism and shortened life expectancy, and Minjae’s complex medical needs are not tragic footnotes in these children’s lives but simply part of how their world works. They grow up knowing that accessibility is non-negotiable, that rest is not weakness, and that a person’s worth has nothing to do with their body’s cooperation.

At the Bay Lights outing, twelve-year-old Clara, Emily, Raffie, and Ellie put that familiarity into practice. When Charlie fell asleep from fatigue, they photographed and recorded the remaining displays so that sleep did not end his participation in the evening.

The children’s family titles varied by relationship. Emily called Charlie “Tío Charlie,” while Clara used “Uncle Charlie.” The Cruz and Rivera children used “Tío,” and the Makani children could use Hawaiian kinship terms alongside English. Adrian and Ariana Landry used “Uncle Jake” and “Aunt Ava.” Sharing a household did not require the children to use identical forms of address.

The Tío/Uncle Convention

The band kids use familial titles for the CRATB members and inner circle adults who aren’t their biological parents:

  • Tío Charlie / Tío Logan—Used by Raffie, Lia, and the Cruz-adjacent kids; Emily also called Charlie “Tío Charlie”
  • Tío Ezra—Used by the non-Cruz band kids
  • Tío Jacob / Tio Jacob—Used by Raffie, Lia, Ellie, and the broader cohort
  • Tío Logan—Used by the band kids generally
  • Uncle Jake / Aunt Ava—Used by Adrian and Ariana Landry
  • Mama Weston—Used for Julia Weston by the older band kids (Charlie, Ezra, Peter, Riley’s generation), which the band kids hear and sometimes adopt

Legacy

The band kids represent the question that haunts every creative family: will the next generation continue the legacy, or create something entirely their own? Raffie’s pursuit of vocal jazz at Berklee, Ellie’s professional ambient work, Clara’s cello playing, and Lia’s musical experimentation all suggest the musical gene runs deep. But the band kids are also more than their parents’ echoes—they carry forward not just music but a philosophy of family, care, and chosen kinship that may prove to be CRATB’s most enduring legacy.

Collectives Chosen Family Next Generation