Y'know, now that kids' music is the bee's knees, the cat's pajamas, and the kangaroo's Underoos, you can't take three steps without running into some new kids' music program. Except now they're moving into even older or less traditional locations. Such examples (and suggested alternative locations) include:
Enzo Garcia -- playing at Golden Gate National Park's Crissy Field. If your kids don't like the show, you can always tell them that Alcatraz is but a short ferry ride away. (Uh, wait. They'd probably like that. Never mind.)
SteveSongs -- playing at the Life is Good Festival in Fenway Park. No word on whether he'll do "Sweet Caroline" for the kiddos. Please take this opportunity to tell your kids how inferior Fever Pitch the movie is compared to Fever Pitch the book.
Hot Peas 'n Butter, Little Nashville, and Babaloo -- playing at the On the Waterfront festival in Rockford, Illinois. If your oldest kid keeps complaining about his brother and how he coulda been a contender over and over and over, just explain to him that you'd be glad to Leave. This. Stage. Right. Now. and take him to see "The New Cars" (playing Saturday night) and explain to him ad nauseam how there's no way that can be better than the original lineup. Also, you had to listen to music at home on something called a stereo when you were his age and so can he please take off the headphones right now.
Just Go Crazy
Our family celebrates an inordinate number of holidays in June. We have no less than 5 birthdays, plus (at the moment) a couple Father's Days. There are entire countries with fewer holidays than our family. Most celebrations in June overlap partially, if not completely, with somebody else's celebration. I've pretty much reconciled myself to the fact that Father's Day will always play second fiddle to our daughter's birthday. Give me a hand-drawn card (or picture) and an excuse not to do yardwork, and that's enough for me.
Our daughter, of course, had other ideas. She wanted a -- and you parents know that I'm not kidding one iota here -- "Love Heart Pony Hello Kitty Care Bear" party. You can't really get a cake like that at Safeway, but that's neither here nor there. For reasons not worth delving into here, said party was very small. Four guests. I gotta tell you, while attending gargantuan parties with more kids than the Polyphonic Spree has band members can be fun, hosting such a party is Not For Us. But we (and by "we," I mean "my wife") put a lot of thought into planning the party, which revolved around a few games. The String Game (follow a string throughout the house) -- hilarity ensued. The Treasure Hunt (The Amazing Race on a much smaller footprint) -- hilarity ensued. And the Freeze Game, which is infinitely better if you can find a song that's actually about the game, such as on "Freeze," by Babaloo, off his "Room For Everyone" disk, rather than having to hit pause on the CD player every few seconds. It's a lot easier to "just go crazy" when the song asks you to.
For what it's worth, the CDs in the CD player for the party? They Might Be Giants' Here Come the ABCs, The Terrible Twos' If You Ever See An Owl, the Putumayo Caribbean Playground collection, Jack Johnson's Curious George soundtrack, and, for adult amusement, Paul Simon's Graceland.
Remarkably, at the end of the day, we weren't crazy. We'll continue our refusal of Polyphonic Spree parties. It's Spoon parties for us.
