I've been to a lot of great concerts in my life -- Bruce Springsteen, Buddy Guy, U2. One of the key factors is the feeling that the crowd is having a shared experience -- amazement at Bruce's endurance, Guy's prowess, or U2's yearning. But that communal experience is one that ends up being focused on the performer(s) on stage (or not, as Guy ended up his concert jamming on the sidewalk in front of the Cats Cradle in Chapel Hill (back when it was in Chapel Hill) while his band played on inside).
The wonder of a Dan Zanes concert, then, is that he produces a very communal experience that isn't so focused on him. Instead, the community itself is the communal experience...
Whose Idea Was It To Only Put 24 Hours In a Day, Anyway?
So many things to do (or write about), so little time.
Which is probably good, otherwise I'd be spending too much time thinking about this weekend's Dan Zanes concert in Tucson. We are very excited about going, sad that our son won't be joining us. (We decided that a 2-hour drive and a concert smack dab in the middle of naptime was a perfect storm that might very well ruin the show for the rest of us.) We've been watching Zanes' All Around the Kitchen DVD this week to try to give our daughter some sense of what the show might be like, though we keep saying things like, "Yeah, I like her voice, but she's not going to be at the show."
What does the show look like now? Well, the Old Town School of Folk Music's burgeoning video library has a video of the band from a show last November. (Warning: took me forever to download)
In the meantime, I've got a couple reviews (I hope), maybe some other stuff. And, yes, I will get the contest winners announced very soon. Really.
Dan Zanes' Slow-Moving Plan To Rule The Kids' Music Industry
Remember when I said that I thought there was room for some more small kids' music labels?
Well, Dan Zanes has obviously been thinking along the same lines, because in his latest newsletter he's announced that he's signed up both Barbara Brousal and Father Goose to do albums for his Festival Five label. Now, Zanes has released a couple less-kid-specific albums of his own, and re-released an old album featuring David Jones, but this is the first step toward creating a family music empire and total Zanes-ian domination.
Or maybe it's just a couple CDs from his bandmates. CDs which ought to be cool, to varying degrees.
I'm going with the latter option.
Anyway, it more than made up for hearing that Brousal won't be making the Tucson stop on his upcoming tour. (Oh well, Charlie Faye's voice is pretty good, too.)
KidVid Tournament 2007 Quarterfinals: "Let's Shake" (1) vs. "I Hope My Mama Says YES!" (3)
The last quarterfinal in KidVid Tournament 2007 is here, and duking it out for bragging rights in the Pete Seeger Region are "Let's Shake" from Dan Zanes, the #1 seed, against "I Hope My Mama Says YES!" - AudraRox, the #3 seed.
Vote in the comments below. Rules: Video with most votes wins. One vote per e-mail address, please. Votes due by Wednesday 11 PM-ish East Coast time.
"Let's Shake" - Dan Zanes
Watch the video on Zanes' website by going here and clicking on "Let's Shake."
"I Hope My Mama Says YES!" - AudraRox
To view this video, head to Jack's Big Music Show player. Roll over the picture of a red-hair-streaked Audra on the right, kid on the left.
KidVid Tournament 2007: "Let's Shake" (1) vs. "Wigglin' Blues" (4)
Final day of competition pits "Let's Shake" from Dan Zanes, the #1 seed in the Pete Seeger Region against "Wigglin' Blues" from Pam Blanchard and the Sunny-Side Up Band, the reader-nominated #4 seed.
Vote in the comments below. Rules: Video with most votes wins. One vote per e-mail address, please. Votes due by Wednesday 9 PM-ish East Coast time.
"Let's Shake" from Dan Zanes
Watch the video on Zanes' website by going here and clicking on "Let's Shake."
"Wigglin' Blues" - Pam Blanchard and the Sunny-Side Up Band
Watch the video here (direct YouTube link here).
The Top 50 Kids Songs of All Time: Songs 26-30
We are finally completing the "Others Receiving Votes" section of The Top 50 Kids Songs of All Time. Except, of course, unless Top 25 college rankings, we actually rank items 26 on down. (Somewhere 'round here I actually have an "others receiving votes" listing for song #s 51+.)
A few mid-majors with strong performances, a few songs close to not quite at the top of the major conference standings...
In case you're tuning in late, here are the previous entries:
Songs 31 through 35
Songs 36 through 40
Songs 41 through 45
Songs 46 through 50
There is still time (but not so much) to enter the contest to guess the Top 5. Winner gets one million dollars a free CD.
30. "Buckeye Jim" - traditional: This is just such a delightfully weird song. "Way up yonder in the sky / A blue bird lived in a jaybird's eye" the song starts off, and the meaning gets no clearer. Wonderful imagery, though I'm not sure the original songwriter was in a completely happy place when writing. (Elizabeth Mitchell and Dan Zanes do the song; so do The Hollow Trees -- click on track 17.)
29. "Marvelous Toy" - Tom Paxton: This is one of the few songs on this list that's old but not traditional -- Tom Paxton wrote it but Peter, Paul and Mary made it famous. John Denver recorded it, too. (And apparently it was the Chad Mitchell Trio's biggest hit, but, uh, I've never heard of them.) I like the mystery about the toy -- "It went "Zip" when it moved and "Pop" when it stopped / "Whirrr" when it stood still / I never knew just what it was and I guess I never will." Indeed. (Listen to Amazon's miserly 30-second clip here.)
28. "All the Pretty Little Horses" - traditional: Oooooh. A lullaby that's not in a major key! Despite that the fact that the narrator's basically bribing the baby to go to sleep ("Hushabye, don't you cry / Go to sleep, little baby / When you wake, you'll cake / And all the pretty little horses"), I sing this quite a lot. (Did you know Olivia Netwon-John recorded an album of lullabies? I didn't. Anyone care to tell us how good it is? Even just the "All the Pretty Little Horses" sample?)
27. "Hot Potato" - The Wiggles: Yeah, deal. It's simple enough for kids to master, it's got hand motions, and 4 guys from Australia built a freakin' empire on this song. Sorry that this song will now be in your head today while you have that meeting with Terry from marketing. (Ah, YouTube, what would we ever do without you?)
26. "This Old Man" - traditional: Yeah, you're probably bored of singing it, but in the best folk song tradition, change the lyrics. At least the first line... "Britney Spears / She played one..." "John McCain / He played one..." "Shaquille O'Neal / He played one..." (No, I am not going to find a sample for you. If, however, you can find one of the three people listed above singing it...)
