Weekly Summary (9/2/13 - 9/8/13)

Chris Ballew, Dan Zanes, Elizabeth Mitchell, Sandra Boynton... and more! All on this week's Muppet Show! I mean, Zooglobble.

Blog: Monday Morning Smile: "Chairman Meow" - Sarah Lee and Johnny, How I Got Here: Chris Ballew (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band), Interview: Dan Zanes and Elizabeth Mitchell, Share: Free Tracks from Sandra Boynton's "Frog Trouble"

Videos: "Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers" - Trout Fishing in America, "In the Group" - Tom Chapin, "Symmetry" - The Digits

Listen to Music: None

Free Music: Kick Out the Jammies Sampler

Kids Music Reviews: Sunglasses - The Que Pastas

Upcoming Releases: Constantly updating...

Podcasts

Kindie Week in Review: Episode 29: No Longer Being Investiaged by the FTC for Monopolistic Practices

My Other Other Gig: None

Bake Sale: Robot Turtles: Board Game Designed to Teach Programming

Monday Morning Smile: "Chairman Meow" - Sarah Lee and Johnny

I have a history with Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion -- AKA Sarah Lee and Johnny -- I wrote some liner notes to Sarah Lee Guthrie & Family's Go Waggaloo album for Smithsonian Folkways. So: soft spot, heart.

In any case, they have a new album out, Wassaic Way , produced by Jeff Tweedy, and the video for the first single "Chairman Meow" is so goofy and all over the map (puppets! animation! garishly bright colors!) that your kids will probably dig it (and the groovy safe-for-kids melody). Not quite a LOLcat, but some sort of funny feline. (Via DidiPop.)

Sarah Lee and Johnny - "Chairman Meow" [YouTube]

So, the New Sarah Lee Guthrie / Johnny Irion Kids' CD Is Pretty Good...

Aside from a few scattered mentions, there's been relatively little news regarding Go Waggaloo!, the upcoming kids' album from Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion. Well, now that the album's got an official cover (there to the left in near thumbnail sizing), a press release, and a release date (October 27), you're probably going to hear quite a bit more about it. Still not impressed (many albums, after all, are released with, you know, an album cover, press release, and on an official date)? Well, it's being released on Smithsonian Folkways (perhaps you've heard her labelmates such as Ella Jenkins, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, or Elizabeth Mitchell?). Oh, did I mention Sarah Lee Guthrie is Woody Guthrie's granddaughter, and she records new music for three of her grandfather's lyrics, a la Mermaid Avenue. Did I mention that Pete Seeger plays on the album? Well, there's another reason I'm particularly excited...