They Might Be Giants for Here Come the 123s (Best Musical Album for Children) and Bill Harley for Yes To Running! (Best Spoken Word Album for Children). Congratulations to them both.
Now I'm on pins and needles waiting to see if my friends in the Phoenix Chorale won a Grammy for one of their four nominations... And they did! Best Small Ensemble! w00t!
Oh, pictures of TMBG and Bill picking up their awards after the jump, courtesy of Beth Blenz-Clucas
Children's Grammy Nominations: A Nation Reacts!
OK, a nation isn't really reacting, but the nominees are. Some thoughts from some of the nominees... (Ed: Now with bonus Brady Rymer thoughts!)
The prize for wittiest reaction goes Richard Perlmutter, the guy behind the oft-nominated Beethoven's Wig series:
The greatest composers on high Looked down from their perch in the sky "Who's Perlmutter?" Bach said Mozart just shook his head Then Beethoven said, "One lucky guy!
51st Grammy Nominations Announced
So the nominations for the 51st Grammy Awards have been announced, and for those of you who remember the push for membership, I think you'll be pretty pleased. I mean, your favorite CD of the year might not have been nominated, but there aren't any stinkers in there...
Best Musical Album For Children
(For albums consisting of predominantly music or song vs. spoken word.)
Beethoven's Wig 4: Dance Along Symphonies - Beethoven's Wig [Rounder Records]
Big Round World - Trout Fishing In America [Trout Records]
Here Come The 123s - They Might Be Giants [Disney Sound]
Here Comes Brady Rymer And The Little Band That Could - Brady Rymer And The Little Band That Could [Bumblin' Bee Records]
The Shoe Bird - Gerard Schwarz Conducting The Seattle Symphony [Brilliance Audio]
Best Spoken Word Album For Children
(For albums consisting of predominantly spoken word vs. music or song.)
Around The Campfire - Buck Howdy With BB [Prairie Dog Entertainment]
The Big One-Oh - Dean Pitchford [Random House Audio/Listening Library]
Brown Bear And Friends - Gwyneth Paltrow [Macmillan Audio]
The Cricket In Times Square - Tony Shalhoub [Macmillan Audio]
Yes To Running! Bill Harley Live - Bill Harley [Round River Records]
It's Not A Performance On Grammy Night, But Still...
If they get nominated, I don't think that Justin Roberts or Laurie Berkner are going to be performing at the big Grammy ceremony on Sunday, February 8, but at the very least a nomination will get them a Grammy weekend performance. Word from Muddy Girl Productions' Karen Rappaport McHugh that all 2008 Grammy Award nominees in the children's music category will be invited to perform at Los Angeles' new Grammy Museum. (The museum is so new, it isn't even open yet -- it opens December 6.) Anyway, the nominees will perform on Friday, February 6 (for school-children) and Saturday, February 7 (for families) from 10 to 11 AM. Spoken word nominees will also be included in the event.
Even potentially more interesting (if you're in the LA area, at least), the Grammy Children's Music Showcase is just the first in a new concert series at the Museum. Rappaport McHugh's been planng a monthly children’s music series which will take place in their 200 seat theatre. The series will focus on a different genre of music each month. They've already compiled a list of bands that the museum is interested in inviting to perform, but artists who believe they fit into a particular month's genre are still welcome to contact Karen at "muddygirlproductions AT verizon.net."
The schedule by genre is as follows:
So Who Might Those 2008 Grammys Go To?
This is where my investigatory nature conflicts with my respect for intellectual property rights.
I have a number of the 51st Grammy Entry List ballot forms listing Grammy-eligible albums for the awards coming up in February 2009. But those ballot forms also have that tiny little copyright "C" at the bottom of the page, which makes me think that just printing the whole thing would probably not be a good idea. (Hey, I never said that this conflict would be a particularly exciting one that would make for a gripping and occasionally humorous movie starring George Clooney.)
So, after the jump I'm going to tell you about a few kids music albums that definitely won't be winning a Grammy next year.
Grammy Update: Hey, Musicians! (And Producers!)
I mentioned a while back that for those musicians who wanted to have a bigger say in the Grammy Awards now was the time to join the Academy.
Well, with the big election less than a month away, I just thought I'd update you on the status of the Awards. According to Karen Rappaport McHugh, the deadline for registering to select the Grammy finalists in each category has passed -- it was October 1. But the deadline for selecting the winner among the finalists/nominees is December 1. (Nominees are announced Dec. 4.)
Even if you don't have an album in the running (it's too late to submit yours this year), you musicians and producers and art directors should sign up now... The 51st Annual Grammy Awards are set for Feb. 9, 2009.
