Stupid Big Continent

MeltdownLogo.jpgThat's all I can say. Because, really, if the 2nd annual Meltdown, the show put together by Bill Childs of Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child were less than, you know, a 72-hour-drive, I'd seriously consider going. And since I'm already going to Austin for SXSW in March and Brooklyn for Kindiefest in April/May, springing for a cheap airfare is out of the question. (Not to mention I like spending time with my family, too.) But if your distance (or budgetary) constraints are looser than mine, I highly recommend a trip out to Northampton on Saturday, March 27. Bill's put together a heckuva lineup -- Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem, Elizabeth Mitchell, Uncle Rock, Dog on Fleas, Keith Munslow, and lots, lots more. The lineup's even more impressive when you consider it's free free FREE! (Say that in a booming voice. I do.) So, yeah, those of you residing in the population-dense East Coast should definitely consider a trip out to Massachusetts later this month. With lots of video cameras and a YouTube account to make the rest of us jealous.

Concert Recap: Randy Kaplan (Phoenix, Nov. 2009)

Randy_picking.jpgWhen I was putting together my recap of Doug Snyder's performance here in Phoenix a week or so ago, I realized that I'd totally skipped providing a recap of Randy Kaplan's show here back in November -- heck, I hadn't even uploaded the videos from the show. So there's little I can say about the show three months after the fact other than: 1) Kaplan's a really good live act, and 2) he played some new songs. That's right, Kaplan's got a new album coming out this spring, but even last fall he treated the Phoenix crowd to some new songs, including the one below, which, appropriately enough for the desert, featured cacti. Randy Kaplan - "I Like Cacti" (Live) [YouTube]

Yo Gabba Gabba! Live... in Fort Wayne, Indiana?

AmareYGG.jpgReally. Sure, the Yo Gabba Gabba! folks went and hit NYC and LA, but now Yo Gabba Gabba Live is hitting the nation's breadbasket, with March shows lined up for Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Toronto (listening to live music is awesome, eh?), Cincinnati, St. Louis, and, yes, Fort Wayne, Indiana, population, just over a quarter million (with an MSA total of almost 400,000). For those of us in Phoenix (5th largest city in America, 4.3 million in the MSA), seeing shows like this go to Fort Wayne and not Phoenix (I know, this isn't a southwest tour, but you get my point) is just another reminder of how messed up the live music market here is. Maybe if they came here, Amare Stoudamire would join them on stage. Assuming he doesn't get traded soon. Anyway, the NYC and LA shows had some pretty cool live guests (Dinosaur Jr., Snoop Dogg, the Roots), so I'll be curious to see who -- if anyone -- joins the fun in these slightly less major media markets. Tickets go on sale this week -- tour dates after the jump.

Concert Review: Imagination Movers (Mesa, December 2009)

IM_Concert tour.jpgWe are no longer the Imagination Movers' target audience, if indeed we ever were. Back before they were a Disney sensation, they were known to us only via CDs, CDs that I was just sort of "meh" about. And their good fortune (based on a lot of work) of securing a Disney TV show didn't help us, a non-cable-TV household. (We've only seen the show maybe a couple times.) So while I was definitely interested in seeing the band in concert on their West Coast swing, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, either from my own perspective or that of Miss Mary Mack and Little Boy Blue. IM_Tour_Davy.jpgFirst off, I expected, and found, a sizable audience for the band. The lovely new Mesa Arts Center was hopping Friday with attendees for various events, but the Movers had the biggest theatre and given that the Ikeda Theatre seats nearly 1,600, I'd guess that at least 1,000 of those were filled, which, well, beat out Dan Zanes when he last came through on a Friday night. It helps to have Disney's muscle backing the band, I suppose, so I got this shot of labelmates' TMBG's cover/reworking of "Davy Crockett (In Outer Space)" playing on the video screen before the show. (I have chosen to omit photos of my kids' slackjawed appreciation of the familiar video.) But 7:08 rolled around, the scrim went up, the band came out, and we were off.

Randy Kaplan in Concert! (Or Why I Won't Be in Hollywood Sunday)

RandyKaplan-COB1.jpgI probably would have made a bigger deal about the whole Kids' Day at Amoeba Records in Hollywood tomorrow (Sunday). Peter Himmelman in concert at 1 PM, assorted Yo Gabba Gabba! giveaways, et cetera, later in the day. (Hey, any place that features TMBG and Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang in-stores is OK by me.) But Randy Kaplan is in concert tomorrow here in Phoenix at almost exactly the same time, and so he gets my time. The concert is at 2 PM at the Church of the Beatitudes and is part of the Not Just For Kids concert series. Tickets are just $3 per person, $10 per family. If you're in Phoenix, you've probably already heard about it, but if you haven't, do join us. It will rock, not in the strictly rock sense, but it'll be fun, just like it was last time. Randy Kaplan - "Mosquito Song"