Song for Mother's Day: "Mother's Day 1976 (The Worst Smell in the World)" - Baron Von Rumblebuss

Mother's Day cover

It's been awhile since I've put together a list of songs for moms -- the list was long 7 years ago, and I have no doubt that there are dozens if not more I could add.  In lieu of quantity, this year I'm going for quality.  The song is "Mother's Day 1976 (The Worst Smell in the World)," and it's a last-minute entry from North Carolina poptimists Baron Von Rumblebuss.  The Baron himself, Tray Batson, notes that he "aimed for a 70’s pop vibe in the vein of ELO, with a dash of Pure Prairie League, maybe," wrapped around a sweet story about boy making a last-minute Mother's Day gift.  There's a bit of bathroom humor, but I think the song absolutely nails the tone.  Give it a spin below.

Baron Von Rumblebuss - "Mother Day 1976 (The Worst Smell in the World)" [Reverbnation]

Radio Playlist: New Music August 2016

The summer new release doldrums plus some vacation on my part (read: can't listen to much new music) means that this month's list of new music for your family's listening pleasure is a bit shorter than usual.  (If you want to catch July's slightly longer list, you can see that playlist here.)  But just because it's short doesn't mean it's not good -- this is 18 minutes of premium music.  (And just wait 'til the September list!)

As always, it's limited in that if an artist hasn't chosen to post a song on Spotify, I can't put it on the list, nor can I feature songs from as-yet-unreleased albums.  But I'm always keeping stuff in reserve for the next Spotify playlist.

Check out the list here (or right here in you're in Spotify).

**** New Music August 2016 (August 2016 Kindie Playlist) ****

"Botany" - Danny Weinkauf

"1-2-3-4-5-6-7 a Song" - Doctor Noize

"Miss Mary Mack" - Ella Jenkins

"Secret Superhero" - Secret Agent 23 Skidoo

"Willy Was a Whale" - Justin Roberts

"Byke" - Baron Von Rumblebuss

Weekly Summary (12/2/13 - 12/8/13)

Kindie-Chartin': Kids Place Live's Top Songs of 2011

Last year I reviewed the most popular songs of the year on Sirius-XM's Kids Place Live radio show. It was an imprecise attempt to gauge the popularity of artists and songs on a national level. Given that the show has nearly 17,000 fans on its Facebook page, its listenership is not small. Almost every weekend, the channel broadcasts its "13 Under 13" show, a Casey Kasem for the kiddos which counts down the week's top songs. As noted last year, the list is not totally objective -- there is a subjective nature to the list which takes into the station's directors' sense of buzz, for example, associated with each song. There's a practical limit to the number of times the station can play a song in a week without annoying its audience through oversaturation, a limit which may not totally reflect the demand for it via listener requests. Having said that, there does appear to be a rational relationship between the rankings and actual airplay. For example, the most recent "13 Under 13" had the Board of Education's "Why Is Dad So Mad?" at #1, Keller Williams' "Mama Tooted" at #7, and Caspar Babypants' "Sugar Ant" at #14. The total number of airplays (excluding double-counts) for the week that roughly corresponds to KPL's week, according to Dogstar Radio, was 25, 16, and 13, respectively.