Welcome to those of you finding your way here due to my interview with Melissa Block on Wednesday's All Things Considered, her post on her family's favorite recent kids music, my post on my favorite recent kids music, or because you accidentally typed "Zooglobble" instead of, say, "Aniston and Vaughn break up" into your favorite search engine.
Whatever the reason, I'm glad you're here. There's lots of great music for kids and families being released these days, and it's easier than ever to find out about it. I'd like to think this site's played a small role in that -- this site's been active since 2004, and since that time I've reviewed more than 140 CDs, conducted several interviews, and generally spread the word about kids music and musicians.
You can find reviews under the artist links on the right-hand side sidebar. If you're looking for the cream of the (recent) crop, here's my list of the year's 20 best albums, with links. For an even more broad-based approach, check out the 2006 Fids & Kamily Poll, a collection of Top 10 lists from a whole bunch of people who've spent a fair amount of time listening to kids and family music. (My reviews of the winning albums are here, but you should definitely check out the F&K site.)
You might also be interested in the following links:
-- Reviews of the Wee Hairy Beasties' Animal Crackers, Johnny Bregar's Hootenanny, the Jellydots' Hey You Kids!, and Sam Hinton's Whoever Shall Have Some Good Peanuts, all mentioned in the interview. Also, another fall album worth checking out is the Sippy Cups' Electric Storyland.
-- Links to my reviews of albums mentioned by Melissa Block in her listing of her family's favorite kids CDs.
-- Interviews with Dan Zanes, Justin Roberts, and others.
-- My beliefs as they relate to kids music, both for a slightly younger and slightly older crowd.
-- Some Frequently Asked Questions
I have a Myspace page, too. No, I'm still not quite sure why, but if you want to be my "friend," drop me a line.
If you're an artist and are interested in submitting an album for review, I'd love to hear it. Find more details on how to go about this here.
Finally, there are some dedicated writers on kids and family music included in the sidebar there to the right, and I encourage you to check 'em out, but I want to highlight sites run by my fellow Fids & Kamily organizers Amy Davis and Bill Childs, The Lovely Mrs. Davis Tells You What To Think and Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child. Amy reviews a lot of the same music I do here, but also pays attention to other kid-pop cultural stuff with a breezy writing style. And Bill and his 7-year-old daughter Ella have a great kids radio show that's available via podcast every Saturday (with fun updates during the week).
If you've made it this far, I'm amazed. Have fun exploring and thanks for stopping by.
Local Man Talks About Kids Music on NPR
Tries not to say anything really silly.
If you glance today at the rundown for Tuesday's NPR afternoon/evening newsprogram All Things Considered, you'll see a note that the Wednesday Dec. 6 show will include a piece with some guy talking about kids' music... hey, wait, that's me!
Yes, I did really say "on their own time and their own dime." My wife said, "But that's so cliched!" I pointed out that I actually combined two cliched phrases. Which makes it not cliched.
You can go to the rundown page above after 4 PM EST today for a link to my interview, which will also include an audio link after 7:30 PM EST. If, you know, you don't actually listen to National Public Radio on the radio.
Melissa Block's CD Changer and Ours Look Similar
To those of you visiting here from Melissa Block's post on CDs her family's been enjoying, welcome. You'll find over 140 reviews of CDs here (all accessible from the artist links on the right-hand side of the page), plus news and interviews squeezed in whenever I can find the time.
For what it's worth, you can follow the links below to my reviews of the albums Melissa lists...
-- Catch That Train! - Dan Zanes and Friends (review / interview)
-- You Are My Little Bird - Elizabeth Mitchell (review)
-- New Orleans Playground - Various Artists / Putumayo (review)
-- Alphabet Songs - Steve Weeks (Vol. 2 review, Vol. 3 review)
-- The Johnny Cash Children's Album - Johnny Cash (review)
-- Whoever Shall Have Some Good Peanuts - Sam Hinton (review)
And thanks for stopping by!
Busy Week Ahead...
Time to Rebrand
I had low expectations when I started this website.
I wanted to share some music that was recorded with kids in mind that both kids and adults could find enjoyment in. But my bar for parental enjoyment was pretty low -- I was looking for music that wouldn't drive parents to rip the CD out of the minivan's player and drive over it repeatedly. My tagline -- "Music for kids that the parents won't hate" -- was a reflection of those low expectations.
Even though the tagline is still not a bad reflection of my concerns, I've never been particularly enamored of it. I don't like the word "hate," and there's something distinctly negative about it (something implicitly acknowledged in the headline for the NPR piece I was in -- "Music For Kids That Even Parents Might Love").
It's time to try out a new tagline.
Snakes on a plane!
OK, you're right, not good. So we're going with this:
Kids music worth sharing.
I Spent, Like, Five Minutes On a New Logo...
... and if you want to see it, you'll have to head over to Zooglobble's new Myspace page.
I think you'll agree that I have no future as a graphic designer.
I'd been thinking for a while about setting up a page (because, hey, I think this social networking trend might have staying power), so last month I created the account and have been slowly adding "friends," or, as I like to call them, "kids' musicians and associates I am or am not familiar with". I really don't know what I'll use the page for -- I still expect to post all the good stuff here -- but maybe I'll put that mp3 player there to good use. (And by the way, I can also host mp3s here, too.)
The number of kids' musicians on Myspace has really grown over the past year, even though, as Scribble Monster puts it, "MySpace IS NO PLACE FOR A KID! RUN TO A SAFE PLACE LIKE ScribbleTown!" Just another sign of how parents are taking a greater interest in kids' music. (Or maybe how 6-year-olds are way ahead of me when it comes to social networking.)
