Kansas City kids musician Funky Mama (aka Krista Eyler) pointed out yesterday that Kansas City, Missouri will host its host its own kids music festival, the first Kansas City Jiggle Jam Family Fest, Memorial Day weekend (Saturday and Sunday, May 24 and 25).
"Don't forget the Midwest family music," asks Eyler, and with a lineup including They Might Be Giants, Justin Roberts, Trout Fishing in America, Tom Chapin, John McCutcheon, not to mention KC-area favorites Jim Cosgrove and Funky Mama, it would be hard to. Especially when the cost per day is $10/kid ($8 in advance, kids under 2 free) and $5/adult. Heck, at those ticket prices, you're losing money if you don't pack those kids of yours into the car/minivan/refurbished school bus and head out.
(Hey, I spent a number of years in the Midwest -- can't ever forget the Midwest family music.)
Anybody else have some sweet tours or multi-multi-artist festivals they know of? Let me know...
Austin Kid's Day, A Recap
Ah, Austin, a city I've called home (or home-away-from-home, or home-away-from-home-away-from-home) for well over twenty years.
Which means that I'm entitled to feelings of "when-the-hey-did-they-build-this-thing?," even if I was just there a couple months ago. Driving from the airport to the Glenn at the Backyard, site of the first Austin Kid's Day, held this past Labor Day weekend, I was constantly amazed at the width of the freeways and the number of power centers I passed. (Of course, this being Austin, many of those power centers are tastefully tucked in behind some trees so they're not nearly so noticeable from the road.)
I take that brief detour (metaphorically) to suggest that Austin, while it might have been able to put together a music festival 20 years ago, it certainly wasn't at the point where it might have supported a long afternoon of quality kids' music.
I'm the Ted Williams of Live, Kid-Friendly Music
Ted Williams was the last person to hit .400 for a baseball season, and now I'm duplicating the feat (using my own, very narrow, self-selected definition). 5 shows, 2 with our family's attendance...
-- Trout Fishing in America: They played here the weekend before last. I know that Trout's music appeals to all ages, but the fact that they played at the auditorium smack-dab in the community of Sun City -- which prohibits kids from living there -- amused me slightly. In any case, it's a long drive out there from our house, and since we were co-hosting a Chinese New Year's party that night, we took a pass. Hopefully next time...
-- Baby Loves Disco: All four of us attended the soiree in Scottsdale this weekend and had a fun time (again). I'll have more on this maybe next week.
-- The Terrible Twos: Argh. This show was schedule at the very last minute, so late that there was zero confirmation of the show except on the band's myspace page. We had guests visiting that afternoon, and shooing them out the door a little early so we could see a show that no human had actually confirmed seemed, well, my wife drew the line at that. And, yeah, that would have been bush-league. (So needless to say, I was a little disappointed when the venue's owner called up later that night and said that, yes, the show did indeed go on.) Hopefully next time...
-- Dan Zanes: Sunday, April 22nd, Tucson. We are there. I can't wait. I'm bringin' the uke.
-- Finally, some radio show's hootenanny in Brooklyn on March 24: Either that or the Park Slope Parents CD-release party on March 25th would be a lot of fun. It would also be terribly inconvenient, geographically (not to mention I'm already out of town that weekend).
So are you listening, West Coast? San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland -- I'm talking to you -- each of you have enough kids' artists that you could put together a pretty good hootenanny yourself. (Or if you all want to come out to Phoenix, let me know...) Don't let the East Coast Bias win!
Multimedia Notes From All Over
I know that bar on the right side of the main homepage is a bit on the long side, but it's time for some updates...
Planet KidVid is a new enterprise from longtime Friend of Zooglobble Monty Harper and kids' musician Mr. Billy. If they keep up with the posts, this could be a website that causes lots of families to go over their allocated "screen time."
The Harper family is evidently trying to take over the web as Monty's wife Lisa and her daughter Evalyn have established the Kids Music Planet podcast. What is slightly different about this podcast from many other kids' music radio shows is that they play multiple selections from a few albums. So if for some reason my review of an album isn't clear enough you can decide for yourself. ;-)
Belinda and Hova finally seem to have settled on a new internet location for their Greasy Kid Stuff playlists. If you go to their website, you can also find out all about their Mar. 18th "Grease Ball" with Captain Bogg & Salty, The Jellydots, and The Sprockettes. You can also hear They Might Be Giants' penned-just-for-Belinda-and-Hova "Greasy Kid Stuff."
I've also added Fred Koch's new children's music-related blog to the sidebar. Fred is another longtime listener and reviewer of kids music and I'm glad to see him start up a blog.
Regular readers will certainly be aware of Amy's appearance on WNYC's Soundcheck on Tuesday. Amy made a lot of excellent points (and ones I mostly agree with) and is to be commended for always sounding coherent, a not at all easy thing to do live on the air. Listen to the 20-minute segment here.
Finally, children's media publicist (and, well, fan) Beth Blenz-Clucas talked about a couple of her clients and other kids' musicians and topics on Vicky and Jen's Grammy-related podcast. The podcast also includes discussions with Richard Perlmutter (he's working on Beethoven's Wig 4, apparently), Dan Zanes, and Ezra Idlet from Trout Fishing in America. (Beth was also kind enough to mention this website as a good resource...)
The Top 50 Kids Songs of All Time: Songs 36-40
For those tuning in late...
Songs 41 through 45
Songs 46 through 50
Contest
On to the songs...
40. "The More We Get Together" - traditional: "Traditional," but when the single most influential kids music artist of all time starts his very first album off with this song, it's forever owned by Raffi. (Listen to a cheesy government-funded instrumental version here. Shudder. Or another version here. I'm not even gonna try it. Clear out your brains with a 30-second sample of the classic version here.)
39. "Mr. Rabbit" - traditional: "Mr. Rabbit, Mr. Rabbit / You've been in my cabbage patch / Yes, my friend / And I ain't never comin' back / Every little soul must / Shine shine shine." Excuse me? What? That's, like, 3 non-sequiturs of a lyric. And somehow it's still catch and popular. (Sorry, no links. Johnny Keener's got a nice version on Elephants Over The Fence.)
38. "Rainbow Connection" - Kenny Ascher and Paul Williams: This would be a lot higher on the list, but I tell ya, that key change halfway through is just a difficult one to handle. Kermit's version is classic, of course, but almost too banjo-y, if such a thing can be said to exist. I think I actually prefer the Dixie Chicks' version on Mary Had A Little Amp. (Watch Kermit on YouTube.)
37. "My Hair Had a Party Last Night" - Trout Fishing in America: They've had a bunch of good songs ("Alien in my Nose" came close to making this list), but this is the one that's been covered a number of times already. "It started out friendly but there must've been a fight." (Listen to a sample of a live version here.)
36. "Pig on Her Head" - Laurie Berkner: One great thing about Laurie Berkner is that she writes kids songs that parents can actually sing. Admittedly, she's writing for toddlers, so that's on purpose, but we still sing this song with our youngest and occasionally oldest kids. Great imagery. (Imagery illustrated by the Noggin video, which can be accessed on this page.)
One Food Yosi Forgot: Trout
On his latest album What's Eatin' Yosi?, Yosi sings about all sorts of food.
But not trout.
To atone for the oversight, Yosi has posted an interview with Ezra and Keith of Trout Fishing in America. Oh, and there's a contest to win a new TFA CD or DVD, too. Hurry up, entries are due Sunday the 31st.
(I should note that based on Yosi's recent set of interviews, I'm officially adding him to the sidebar...)
