I know, I know, I've told you many times before, but in case you need to be reminded, Recess Monkey continues its national tour on Sunday right here in Phoenix at Modified Arts downtown (407 E. Roosevelt). Doors open at 2:30, show starts at 3:00, with tickets $6 for adults, $3 for kids, and free for infants. Don't miss the fun at Modified's first kids' show. Just think, when they're hosting shows for kids weekly, you'll be able to say you were there.
Unlike Me, Recess Monkey On Tour Blogs Up A Storm
OK, I leave town, and the tumbleweeds blow across the website like a movie cliche.
Recess Monkey leaves town, and they're like Paul Theroux, writing up a storm. (Clearly, I should have asked them to be my guest blogger in my absence.) If you have not been reading their tour blog, you must stop what you are doing, and start reading. Pronto. It'll make slightly more sense if you start from the bottom and work your way up, but if you're thinking you don't have quite that much time, the most recent entry (from DC) will suffice.
More importantly for you Phoenix/Arizona folks -- the Recess Monkey show this Sunday will start at 3 PM, with doors at 2:30 PM, at Modified Arts in Phoenix. $6 adults/$3 kids/infants and monkeys free.
Recess Monkey On Tour, In Phoenix, Presented by...
Zooglobble!
That's right, the great Seattle trio Recess Monkey is making their way around this great country of ours this summer promoting their upcoming album Tabby Road. (Despite $4/gallon gas, they will not be riding the tricycle as in the picture above to get around the country.) Chicago, Northampton, DC, Austin, and, hey, what's this, PHOENIX!
Yep, on Sunday, August 3rd, 3 pm, you can see Recess Monkey at downtown Phoenix's Modified Arts, $6 for adults, $3 for kids, and infants free. And despite the fact that the phrase "presented by Zooglobble" makes me giggle, it's true. We're thinking of something special for the kids (in addition to seeing the band).
So come join us next month -- it will be a blast. (And I'm working on some other shows -- this may be the first Zooglobble-only presentation, but it won't be the last.)
Band photo by Kevin Fry.Another Kids' Concert I Can't Go To
Attention Phoenix-area peeps: Eric Herman continues his worldwide tour (OK, perhaps not worldwide, but it's been going on for more than a month, so that's impressive enough). This Saturday Herman will be playing at Sunset Library in Chandler (location), starting at 11 AM. Herman's been honing his show for a long time now (more than just a month), and it should be lots of fun.
We'd try to go, but we have two kids with two separate parties to go to at the same time. You do the math.
Interview: Dan Zanes
With Dan Zanes visiting Phoenix for the first time on tour with Dan Zanes and Friends less than two weeks from now, I thought it'd be a good time to catch up with the singer. I've done both these things before (seeing him perform in Tucson in April 2007 and interviewing him back in summer 2006), but nothing ever stands still in Dan Zanes' world these days. So I called him up in Puerto Rico and chatted a bit.
Read on for his views on what makes a good Dan Zanes and Friends concert and what he does the first time he visits a city. (Phoenix-area readers, feel free to chime in with suggestions for what he should do here.) Find out about the upcoming album, ¡Nueva York!
And even if you've never even been to Phoenix, you'll want to read the end of the interview where I find out exactly what he was doing in Puerto Rico and what Paul McCartney has to do with it. Trust me, it's worth the time. (And thanks to Dan for making the time.)
Zooglobble: How would you describe a Dan Zanes and Friends concert?
Dan Zanes: As much like a little Grateful Dead show as possible. I try to make the theatre feel like your living room. There's lots of people singing along, lots of people on stage, and as much roaming around, laughing, and crying as possible. And then the whole dissolves into a whole dance party. I want everybody who comes to feel like we're all in this together.
What's your favorite part of the show?
Two things: first, how much people throw themselves into singing. Are they singing their heads off? Second, what's the level of the dancing? Are the aisles filled? How many people are upfront? How much chaos? How intense does it get?
I can't even remember the last show where people didn't dance. In the world of young people, it's so much how they relate... in a physical way.Dan Zanes Takes Over Arizona
I try not to get too provincial here at Zooglobble HQ. Physically we're in Arizona, but, hey, I've got readers all over this wonderful country of ours, the world even -- no need to spend so many electrons on my own little corner of the world.
But I noticed that Dan Zanes had announced some new tour dates including... three whole concerts in Arizona. That's right, on Friday, Feb. 8, Zanes and friends will hit Phoenix's Orpheum Theatre, then will head two hours south for a concert at Tucson's Rialto Theatre on Saturday the 9th, then back four hours north to Flagstaff's Orpheum Theatre for a concert on Sunday the 10th. (Yeah, I can't figure out that order, either.)
Needless to say, I'm excited about this, for a couple reasons, actually. First, obviously, is because it means another chance to see Zanes in concert without having to travel down to Tucson. If we go, I guess the question is whether our son, less than two years old back in April, would join us at a 7 PM Friday night show... Hmmm....
The other reason I'm excited is that it's really the first time that a major kids' musician (excluding the Wiggles, who are in their own category) is making multiple Arizona stops. Heck, it's really the first time that a major kids' musician is coming to Phoenix. (For those of you who want to list their own musician who has, in fact, played the Phoenix area, I'm sorry, "major" includes maybe five or six artists.)
So, if you live anywhere near Phoenix, please, please, please make it to this show. If you can't, tell your friends to make it to this show. I think Phoenix is on the verge of no longer being stupidly ignored by kids' music bookers (I hear rumors of other artists looking into the area), but the reluctance of artists to book shows here won't appear so stupid if Zanes plays to a half-full house.
