My Little Corner of the World Is Still Here

Hey there... a post with no new news other than to say sometimes life outside the kids music world takes precedence. OK, that's, like, all the time with me, but I'm clearly able to find some time for this little corner of the world. Usually. "Real life" has gone all squirrely and to say I'm busy is a massive understatement. The family's healthy, everyone's doing fine, no problems at all, but my ability to post stuff and even reply to the most basic of e-mails has been dramatically reduced on a temporary basis. Rest assured, all will return to normal -- such as it is -- soon. And I guess this is appropriate here:

Not That I'm Against RSS Or Anything...

But if you're just relying on your RSS reader to follow this site, you'll miss some great stuff in the comments. For example, the biggest kids music blogger fite! since the great Berkner-palooza-gate of January 2007 is a discussion on XM Kids between Bill and myself. The comments in both are worth reading, and I've updated my post with some more thoughts. I'll add one more thought here, and that's that expanding the universe of kids music has been one of my biggest interests from the very beginning of this site. The more voices interested in the genre -- be it radio stations or websites -- the stronger the genre will become. In addition to thoughts about the state of the genre, you might have missed the numerous comments on kids songs as-yet-unrecorded and kids songs not-recorded-for-a-long-time. Do you have any suggestions? Join in. We're also giving away a copy of Dan Zanes' new album Nueva York!. Entering that contest is one thing your RSS reader can't do for you... Even if you just read by RSS, I do want thank all of you for continuing to stop by on a regular basis.

We Just Flew Back From the Pacific Northwest...

... and, boy, are our arms tired. So, yeah, we were gone for almost a week. I'll have a little to report from the trip (the bit is actually kids-music-related), but let me get through the e-mail and mail and stuff that was dropped off at the doorstep first. (And, if you haven't read it, there's a nice YAKMA about Dan Zanes that mentions Bill and Amy.) (Note: My wife has many good ideas. The "take a day off after a long-ish vacation" idea is near the top of the list.)

A Brief Note to Readers, Listeners, and Hangers-On

To those of you who've e-mailed or commented this week, either first-timers or long-timers, thanks a bunch. I'm trying to get to the e-mails, listen to the CDs constantly appearing in our mailbox, and, you know, post stuff here. I've also got more interesting things in the works, which you will learn about in hopefully the not-too-distant future.

Kids Music? NPR? Yeah, That's Me.

Hey there to all of you visiting thanks to my discussion on kids music with NPR's Melissa Block on All Things Considered this afternoon. I really didn't expect you over here today, just look, the place is a mess. Dusty and everything. Oh, well, always glad to have friends over. Just in case you're new 'round these parts, in addition to writing here (I've got interviews, news, and well over 200 reviews here), my writing can also be found at Offsprung, the Land of Nod music store, and assorted other places on the web and print. I'm also proud to be a co-creator of the Fids and Kamily awards, which determines the best of the year's music for kids and families by polling a number of critics and others involved with the kids' music business. My co-creators, Bill Childs of Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child and Amy Davis of the Lovely Mrs. Davis Tells You What to Think, are good resources if you're interested in this stuff -- Bill and his daughter Ella have got a great radio show and Amy covers not only music but other kids' pop cultural stuff. Don't ignore the other links in the sidebar to the right -- more radio shows, websites, and links to my posts here organized by artist or category, or even by age-appropriateness of the CD. Thanks for stopping by. More great stuff appears weekly from places that continue to surprise me. For links to my reviews of the CDs discussed on the program, click below...