Unless you're planning on being on the next space shuttle launch or in the middle of a massive migration of whales, you will not see anything cooler this week than the video below. I know that Antonio Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" has basically become aural wallpaper at this point, used for ads, film soundtracks, and snowy afternoons in front of the fire, but this rendition of "Summer" from Aleksandr Hrustevich makes you listen again with new ears. If you look away, you might not believe that all these sounds are coming from just one accordionist. It's a long way from "Mary Had a Little Lamb", that's for sure. (Hat tip: Alex Ross)
Aleksandr Hrustevich - "Summer," from Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" [YouTube]
In Memoriam: Soupy Sales
I am too young to seriously appreciate Soupy Sales, so in lieu of words of my own, how about a few from Kathy O'Connell, host of the long-running Kids Corner radio show, who had this to say about her friend Soupy in an interview earlier this year:
You know Soupy Sales -- how did that come about and how's he doing? Basically, my friends and I stalked him when we were kids. If you’ve ever seen the movies The World of Henry Orient and The King of Comedy, my teenage years were a combination of those two movies. A community of 50 or so regulars grew among the kids who came to see Soupy’s show on Channel 5 in the ‘60’s. In that simpler time, my mother let me take the train from Long Island to his shows in NYC regularly. After Soupy’s show ended, some of his “gang” continued to go to his appearances, hang out in front of his house, even go to the airport when he went out of town. A friend and I even went to Atlanta to see Soupy in the play “Finian’s Rainbow” in 1968! I spent my college money on that, which didn’t go over very well in my house. Given what I wound up doing for a living, I say to him all the time: “Thank God I’ve wasted my life on you.” I have two Peabody awards because I followed that man!Condolences to Soupy's family, both immediate, close, and around the world...
Kids Music Goes Commercial
I was walking somewhere the other day and out of the corner of my eye - or whatever the audio equivalent of that is - I caught a TV ad with a familiar song. The song? Great Lake Swimmers' "See You on the Moon," being used to sell Honda Insights...
Of course, a 30-second clip can't adequately describe how awesome the song is, awesome enough that it became the title track of a decent kids-comp and then got repurposed for an even better kids-comp.
The Jellydots' "Bicycle" got picked up by Shimano for a bike ad last year, and Kira Willey's "Colors" got used for a Dell ad, too. And beyond that?
I'm Sorry, Frank Black, But You Should Totally Do a Kids Album
And for [Frank] Black, has fatherhood changed his music? "No, not at all," he said. "It's not like, now I'm gonna sing about my kids, and I'd be doing my kids a disservice if I get all fluffy and wimpy and dorky ... someday, I'll be dead and gone, but they'll still have my copyrights."OK, as I reread the quote and its accompanying article about Black's new band Grand Duchy, which includes his wife, perhaps he's not talking about kids music but just about "going soft." But, still, if I were the kind of person to start one of those "1,000,000 Strong" Facebook pages (hey, did Bad Brains play Obama's Inauguration?), I would totally start a "1,000,000 Strong for the Pixies and Frank Black To Do a Family Music Album" page. It might be a disaster, but even if it were, it'd be a glorious disaster.
Phoenix Chorale FTW
Every now and then I'll post something just because I can. Friends going up on stage to accept a Grammy Award totally fits that criteria.
Here, then, is video of the Phoenix Chorale and artistic director and conductor Charles Bruffy accepting their Best Small Ensemble award at the 51st Annual Grammys for Spotless Rose: Hymns to the Virgin Mary.
This Post Is Brought To You By The Letter "Z"
It will not come as a great surprise that I am a little protective of the letter "z." It is of no small importance to this site ("Ooglobble" being even weirder than I'm willing to be). And even though there are some pretty decent kids music-related products that use the word "kidz," I feel the time has come to take a stand.
On Facebook, of course.
So, yes, along with new-ish fan pages for folks like Egg, Lunch Money, or Hap Palmer (not to mention longer-running fan pages such as those for, well, this site), I invite all of you similarly concerned with the misappropriation of the letter "z" for pluralization purposes to join Citizens Against Pluralizing with "Z".
(Or "CAPZ" for short, natch.)
