Baby Loves Disco = Kindergartner Loves Hula Hoop

Dennis Miller had a riff many years ago about dancers who take up too much room on the dance floor by acting out song lyrics to, for example, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." The riff ended with the great (though profane) punchline, "Hey, lady, ain't no [------] dance floor wide enough!" I think our daughter may grow up to be that dancer. We went to the latest Baby Loves Disco party in Scottsdale this weekend, my daughter and I. Despite the catchy name, we left our younger one -- the one who is actually in diapers -- at home. When we got there, we saw they weren't kidding about bringing the nightclub experience to a whole new crowd -- yes, folks, there was a line at the door and a bouncer. Never too early to teach exclusion! Thankfully it was only because the ticket counter was just inside the door and they could only let a couple families in at a time to pay or get their names checked off the pre-paid list. Once inside, we were greeted with quite possibly the most fabulous sight possible for my daughter -- huge bowls of pretzels and chips ready for the snacking. She was so overwhelmed that she completely missed the large pile of juice boxes, which probably would have pushed her over the edge had she seen them just then. As we moved to the dancefloor, it was interesting to note the, well, relative lack of dancing going on. I mean, there were a number of people, old and young, on the floor, but my expectations of high levels of groove-thang-shaking were not met. I guess I just figured the kids would be dancing all over the place, but they weren't, really. They were, however, amusing themselves with egg shakers, scarves, a few feather boas, and, joy of joys, hula hoops. My daughter spent most of her time on the dancefloor hula-hooping, usually on the hips, sometimes on the neck. She is very good at this. But no matter how good you are, hula-hooping requires a... wide berth on the part of others. And let me tell you, the dancefloor wasn't some Billy Bob's mega-floor. It's amazing that some kid didn't get donked in the head with a spinning hoop. (Or, at least, didn't whine about it if he did.) But she had a blast -- heck, she won a prize for best dancer ages 3 and up for her seriously devoted hula-hooping. In the end, I think BLD's advertising ("Saturday afternoon is the new Saturday night") implies that parents can retain a level of sophistication that they probably can't. (I'd guess that 90% of the adult attendees' attire would be unacceptable at the club later that night.) Having said that, the whole experience was sorta like one of the best playdates ever. Chillout areas with books and toys, cookies and snacks wherever you turn, and a funky house. The music? The icing, not the cake.

Next Up: The Vogue Children's Music Review

My first review in a print magazine, and it's for the venerable Conde Nast empire. You can see my brief review of Wee Hairy Beasties' Animal Crackers in the December issue of Wired magazine here. Now where's David Remnick's e-mail address? I've got a story idea for him...

The Science Behind "John Lee Supertaster"

And you thought "John Lee Supertaster" was just a song. No, They Might Be Giants were on to something -- according to this article, 1 in 4 people are supertasters -- with many things either too bitter or too sweet. How can you tell? According to the print version of the paper, drop a couple drops of blue food coloring on the tip of your tongue -- if it stays blue, no dice, but if it retains a significant pink hue, congratulations, They Might Be Giants can now write a song about you. (In case you need to hear the song... try the links here.)

When I'm Not Listening to Kids' Music

I was rereading the "My Approach to Kids' Music" post and besides the amusing out-of-date comments regarding our kids' music collection -- nearly two dozen kids' records, can you believe it, folks? -- I also noticed the listing of my "adult" music preferences:
"I particularly enjoy the following artists, among others: Wilco, the Jayhawks, Spoon, REM, They Might Be Giants, Matthew Sweet, U2, Lyle Lovett, Kelly Willis, Patty Griffin, Miles Davis and most classical chamber music."
I'm one of those people who, when visiting someone else's house for the first time, is particularly drawn to CD collections, hoping to glean some piece of critical information that might help me understand the person just a little more. It's as if I was the "guess-your-age" guy at the carnival, except instead of asking questions about the person's marital status, I'm asking, so, uh, "which albums do you have on which Sting is a musician?" In looking at that list from two years ago (and, frankly, with the exception of Spoon, it's really almost 5 years old), I'm thinking I need to update the list slightly, splitting it into two components -- artists I have 4 or more CDs of and bands with less than 4 CDs that I really adore, which basically gives you the list of bands that have been part of my life for a long time (even if they're not really any more), and newer bands I'm looking forward to hearing for many years to come. Artists with 4+ CDs in my collection, in rough order of # of CDs: They Might Be Giants, Ludwig van Beethoven (yeah, I know he's not a band in the traditional sense), R.E.M., Matthew Sweet, U2, Wilco, The Jayhawks, Talking Heads, Bruce Springsteen, Spoon, Fountains of Wayne, The Dixie Chicks, Lyle Lovett, Kelly Willis, W.A. Mozart With the exception of R.E.M., I really haven't "abandoned" any of these artists. (I'll still listen to R.E.M., but only the old stuff. Yes, in this regard I'm the snob like everyone else.) Artists with less than 4 CDs that I quite adore: The New Pornographers, The Shins, The Futureheads, Golden Smog (OK, I'm ignoring the On Golden Smog EP), My Morning Jacket (OK, I'm ignoring their earlier stuff), Kathleen Edwards I'm sure I'm omitting artists with, like, one CD that's just fabulous (see Patty Griffin, whose 1000 Kisses is incredible and whose other albums are mostly "eh" to me). If I had to make this list a year from now I'm sure it'd be different. But now you know where I stand. (And you can guess how old I am.)

Where Is Montana?

Miley Cyrus, via her Disney Channel alter-ego, Hannah Montana, hit #1 on the Billboard charts this week, beating debuts from My Chemical Romance and John Legend. My kids are almost as far away from the MCR and John Legend demographics as they are from the Hannah Montana-demographic. The eldest has a ways to go before reaching her tween-age years and -- much more importantly -- we don't have cable. But what was the normally-on-the-ball Idolator doing being surprised by Cyrus grabbing the top spot? I'm only an indie-hipster-pretender (I haven't even attempted to download the leaked Shins CD, that's how far out of the loop I am), but I coulda told you that Disney Channel + tweens + a $10 CD/DVD = lots of allowance money changing hands. C'mon, Idolator, you said it yourself later in the story -- "The soundtrack is the fourth Disney-produced record this year to debut in the top 10." That should've been your first clue.