I've featured a number of fine balloon-related songs and videos here on the site (see here, here, and here), and compared to the videos in there, this video from South Florida band The Postmarks is a bit bland. It's from season 1 of Yo Gabba Gabba!, and so a little old. But the song is so, so lovely.
The Postmarks - "Balloons" (from Yo Gabba Gabba!) [YouTube]
Behind the Scenes of a Yo Gabba Gabba! Episode
I got a nice note from Joel Fox last week. Who is Joel Fox, you might ask? Well, he creates visual effects for a little show you may have heard of... called Yo Gabba Gabba!. Yeah, that show.
In any case, he thought I (and by extension, you) might be interested in his recent behind-the-scenes look at the creation of a YGG episode, in particular, the recently-premiered episode "Nature." Fox not only created the visual effects for the episode, he also co-directed it.Yo Gabba Gabba, Fresh Beat Band Get New Episodes
And the world, what? Rejoices? Shrugs? Little of both? I don't know.
Anyway, a little late with this news, but did want to note that a couple weeks ago, Nick and its many affiliated channels announced that it had picked up both The Fresh Beat Band and Yo Gabba Gabba! for new 13-episode seasons. That would be the third season for the four primary-colored human forms and the fourth season for the four primary-colored, er, whatever it is Brobee et al. are. There aren't any details on what sort of craaaaazy adventures each quartet will get themselves into (or what guests the YGG! folk will have). However, as YGG! co-creator Christian Jacobs noted in an interview, they've also been working on a movie script, so perhaps the additional episodes will give the script an added push as well. Anyway, given that it took them basically a year to debut Season 3 YGG! episodes after they approved production, expect DJ Lance and friends to come back for Season 4 in spring of 2012.
Photo Credit: Ben Clark/NickelodeonYo Gabba Gabba Premiere Week. Again. (The Killers, Band of Horses, Jem, Dean & Britta)
I know some Yo Gabba Gabba! fans are frustrated with the pace of the airing of episodes from the show's third season, but 4 more shows are coming their way next month. The musical guests on this go-round? The Killers (though you'd never know that by the clip, as they're introduced by individual first names), Band of Horses, Jem, and Dean & Britta. All shows air at 1:00 p.m. ET/PT. Links to videos, including The Killers' "Spaceship Adventure" and episode summaries via Nick, are below. (Can I say "The Killers" again?)
Monday, Feb. 7 “Adventure”
Muno and friends go on an Indiana Jones style adventure! [Ed.: Hopefully it's one of the first couple adventures, you know, the fun ones.] They travel through a jungle under Gabbaland and find a golden treasure.
The Killers - “Spaceship Adventure” [Fliqz]
(OK, if you want the whole thing, just search it out on YouTube.)Interview: Christian Jacobs (Yo Gabba Gabba!)
When characters you've created for a TV show start making appearances in Super Bowl ads, it's clear that your show has reached some decent level of cultural significance. So it is with Nick's Yo Gabba Gabba!, which is currently in it's third season, with a new episode, "Fairytale," premiering last week (Friday, Nov. 5th).
Crucial to its success, not only with kids and parents, but even amongst folks whose sippy-cup days are both far behind and ahead of them, are the musical guest stars -- the Roots, the Ting Tings, Sugarland, the Shins, and, on "Fairytale," the Flaming Lips. With the episode premiering on Friday and the Yo Gabba Gabba! Live tour making its way around the country, I thought it'd be a good time to talk with one of the show's creators, Christian Jacobs (that's him on the right there). The father of four chatted with me last week about his musical (and TV) childhood memories, Scooby Doo, and the difference between Tom Hanks and Anthony Bourdain.
Zooglobble: What are your earliest musical memories?
Christian Jacobs: Early on, my dad only 45s from the 1950s. Kinda wacky songs like "Alley Oop" or "Yackety Yak." There'd be songs that were like "news report" mixes, where they'd have spoken "news report" mixes interspersed with silly music, sort of like Dr. Demento. Children gravitate to the more silly things.
Then I listened to a lot of radio in the '70s -- DEVO, Blondie, the Clash, stuff that was different from what else was being played. I was drawn to the green hair, the spikes -- the media helped with that interest...The Flaming Lips. Yo Gabba Gabba. Well, Duh.
We've known for awhile now that the Flaming Lips would be appearing on this, the third season, of Yo Gabba Gabba. But one look at a clip from the upcoming episode "Fairytale" shows just how perfect the two are for each other. The Lips re-work "I Can Be a Frog" from their 2009 album Embryonic... and by re-work, I mean, change "I" to "You," and that's about it lyrically, it would appear based on the 1-minute clip Viacom shared. It's also a little sunnier in tone, but the video itself looks like, well, every other Flaming Lips concert clip I've seen. Utter chaos. (But in a good way.) Catch it all when "Fairytale" premieres on Nickelodeon on Friday, Nov. 5th at 11:30 AM.
The Flaming Lips - "I Can Be a Frog" (from Yo Gabba Gabba!) [embedded with permission of Viacom]
Oh, and if you want to hear the original...
