Not That The World Needs Another Year-End Music Poll

But this one is new. In case you hadn't heard, there's a new poll in town -- Fids and Kamily -- the first of its kind for kids and family music. I, the Lovely Mrs. Davis, and Bill "Spare the Rock" Childs are coordinating the effort, which will have people dealing with kids' music on a daily basis picking their favorites from the past year. The name is inspired by the Village Voice's "Pazz & Jop" poll -- maybe this year some brave critic in that poll will put a "kids' music" album in their Top 10 (there are a number I could suggest). If we get that far, perhaps this poll won't be necessary. But until then... stay tuned.

Award Season is Around the Bend...

Those East Coast and Midwestern bloggers beat me to the punch, but congratulations to Frances England for winning a Oppenheim Platinum award for her fabulous debut Fascinating Creatures. (And, on a completely unrelated note, every time I hear about the Oppenheim awards, I keep on wanting to call it the Oppenheimer awards, thanks mostly to the Old 97's, who had a great track by that name off their 1999 CD Fight Songs. Unfortunately, that track's not available at their website, but you can hear samples from that album and others here.

Parents' Choice Fall 2006 Music Awards Announced

The Fall 2006 Parents' Choice Awards have been announced, and many of the winners will look (and sound) familiar to faithful Zooglobble readers. Raffi earns a "Classic" designation for his compilation of lullabies Quiet Time while Dan Zanes and Friends earn a "Gold" designation for Catch That Train!. I was happy to see Owen Duggan earn a "Silver" for An Elephant Never Forgets, along with Trout Fishing in America (for My Best Day). Other winners reviewed here include Campfire Kev, Monty Harper, Hullabaloo, Richard Perlmutter (Beethoven's Wig), Rebecca Frezza, and Asheba. Congratulations to all the winners. See below for links to my reviews of the CDs receiving acclaim. Reviews Quiet Time Catch That Train! An Elephant Never Forgets My Best Day The Pet Project Paws, Claws, Scales & Tales Sing Along With Sam Beethoven's Wig 3 Tall and Small Children are the Sunshine

News: 2005 Grammy Winners Picked, Nobody Notices

Well, in news that I must admit didn't surprise me terribly, Grammy voters picked two relatively well-known names within two relatively unknown categories this week for the 2005 Grammys. For Best Musical Album For Children, the Grammy went to Songs From The Neighborhood - The Music Of Mister Rogers - Various Artists (Dennis Scott, producer) [Memory Lane Syndications, Inc.]. For Best Spoken Word Album For Children, the Grammy went to Marlo Thomas & Friends: Thanks & Giving All Year Long - Various Artists (Christopher Cerf & Marlo Thomas, producers) [Warner Strategic Marketing].

News: 2005 Grammy Nominations -- Children's Field

In the "better late than never" category (the nominations are, what, a month old now?), here are the nominees for the two categories in the Grammy's children's field: Category 75 - Best Musical Album For Children (For albums consisting of predominantly music or song vs. spoken word.) Be Bop Your Best! - Red Grammer [Red Note Records] Green Gorilla, Monster & Me - Ralph's World [Mini Fresh/Minty Fresh] Scat Like That: A Musical Word Odyssey - Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer [Rounder Records Corp.] Some Assembly Required - Tom Chapin [Razor & Tie] Songs From The Neighborhood - The Music Of Mister Rogers - Various Artists (Dennis Scott, producer) [Memory Lane Syndications, Inc.] Category 76 - Best Spoken Word Album For Children (For albums consisting of predominantly spoken word vs. music or song.) Harry Potter And The Half-blood Prince - Jim Dale [Listening Library] Marlo Thomas & Friends: Thanks & Giving All Year Long - Various Artists (Christopher Cerf & Marlo Thomas, producers) [Warner Strategic Marketing] Pooh's Heffalump - Roy Dotrice [Walt Disney Records] Raymie, Dickie, And The Bean: Why I Love And Hate My Brothers - Ray Romano [Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers] A Series Of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning - Various Artists (David Rapkin, producer) [Harper Children's Audio] An appearance by Ralph's World at the Grammy telecast on February 8, 2006 seems highly unlikely. Perhaps Ricky Skaggs (a performer on the Mister Rogers tribute album) will make an appearance, but that will likely be the extent to which nominees in this category will be seen.