Happy Birthday to Me

Well, not me personally.  This site.

That's right, exactly ten years ago today I burst forth onto the kids music scene with these words (actually, these words, but whatevs):

Welcome to Zooglobble! It's my hope that this blog/website will become a reference site for great kids' music that parents can enjoy as well. If you like Ralph's World, Laurie Berkner, Elizabeth Mitchell, and Justin Roberts, among others, stop by on a regular basis for news, reviews, and goodness knows what else. It might take some time, but we'll build this up to something worth your time.

Thanks in advance for your time and patience.

Those 75 words launched a million more -- probably two million more.  Over the past ten years I've reviewed well over 600 albums, listened to probably close to 3,000 albums, featured hundreds if not thousands of videos, interviewed dozens of artists, and done lots of other things I can't count.

My life is different now than it was in 2004, and one such way is that I'm busier to the extent that I'm not going to try to count those things, my math-nerd tendencies notwithstanding.

Of course, the most important things that have happened over the past ten years as a direct (and indirect) result of my work on this site are difficult if not impossible to quantify -- bonds shared with family, friends made across the country, communities supported, joy felt.  Through luck and hard work I've had the opportunity to meet some great people, learn new skills, and have some amazing experiences.

Thanks to everyone who's made their way here over the past decade -- there are far too many of them to pick any one of them out except for my wife and kids who have indulged me in this hobby.  Thanks to musicians, readers, and all of you in this world who are supporting the creation of art for kids and families.  To paraphrase Richard Scarry, there are all kinds of musicians.  The best musicians record kids' albums.

Thanks, y'all, for coming to the party, don't be stranger 'round these parts, and don't forget your goodie bag on the way out.

Lishy Lou and Lucky Too's Radio Show Hits NPR

If you tuned into NPR's All Things Considered today, you may have heard a review of Lishy Lou and Lucky Too, the latest album from Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band.  It's an album done in the style of an old radio show with some some sparkly modern songs to fill the spaces in between.

If you found your way here due to the review, welcome!  Plenty of great music (and videos, mp3s, interviews) to be found here from Diaz and many more artists, many of whom I've previously reviewed on NPR.

You can also find podcasts on kids music and kid-friendly Kickstarters, iOS app reviews, and much, much more (just look at the sidebar on the right).

Anyway, thanks for stopping by.

Reminder: I Podcast. Quite A Bit, Actually

Do you know I spend some time talking into a microphone?

No, not just an NPR microphone -- a much cheaper one.  It's the microphone I use to record 3 different podcasts, and if you haven't checked them out, now is the perfect time as new episodes of each have gone up in the past 48 hours.

For My Other Other Gig, I just posted an interview with Molly Ledford from the band Lunch Money about the space puppet musical Planet Hopping she's helped create with the South Carolina puppet duo Belle et Bête.  The 33-minute conversation is lots of fun and, as always, gets into issues of stretching yourself creatively.  (Subscribe to the feed here: iTunes / http://zooglobble.com/my-other-other-gig?format=rss)

For Bake Sale, I posted an interview I conducted last week with Brady Rymer.  He was prepping his Kickstarter campaign to produce his seventh album for families, Just Say Hi!.  That project went live this week, and so did the interview. It's an 18-minute conversation about Kickstarter and community.  (Subscribe to the feed here: iTunes / http://zooglobble.com/bakesale?format=rss)

Finally, just about every week I give you the Kindie Week in Review -- "all that's news in the world of kids music and beyond," and do it in less than 10 minutes -- maybe 5 if you're listen on double speed.  Tons of news in this week's review -- album releases, Kickstarters, and chart news, plus more.  (Subscribe to the feed here: iTunes / http://zooglobble.com/kindie-week-in-review?format=rss).

If you're interested in kids music, I think you'll find at least one of these podcasts worth your time.  Thanks for listening.

A Brand New Feature: iOS App Reviews

I've reviewed a handful of iOS apps over the years here, but I've received and played with enough of them, especially over the past year, that I think it's time I pulled them out into a separate page and dedicated some (occasional) time to them. 

So I've set up a brand new page (accessible through the "Discover Kids Music" drop-down menu on the right-hand side of the page) called iOS Apps (Music & More).  As the name suggests, it'll be a lot about music-based apps, but won't be totally limited to that.  They'll all be kid-friendly, though.

Right now, there's just one review -- of the new app from the Pop Ups and Mibblio called Miss Elephant's Gerald -- but I'm aiming for a weekly review.  Read the introduction to find out more, and if you've got an app you'd like to share, you know where to find me.

Hey, Podcasts!

Apologies for a moment of self-promotion where I remind you that if you want to hear my radio-ready voice on NPR more than once every three or four months, you are welcome to sign up for any of the three Zooglobble-related podcasts as noted below.  Listen to them here on the site, put them into your RSS feed, or download 'em via iTunes.

Kindie Week in Review - The original Zooglobble podcast, and the fastest six (to ten) minutes in kindie music (faster if you listen at double speed!).  Listen to me give you some highlights from the week's kindie news and other news from kid-friendly media, along with a discussion of chart news.  Airs weekly (usually).

Subscribe to podcast: iTunes / http://zooglobble.com/kindie-week-in-review?format=rss 

My Other Other Gig  - This podcast features conversations with kids musicians and others in the kindie world about non-kindie topics.  Inspired by conversations I've had with kindie musicians about stuff that had nothing to do with kids music, MOOG lets you know what (else) makes kids musicians tick.  Or ticked off.  Airs a couple times a month (I hope).

Subscribe to podcast: iTunes / http://zooglobble.com/my-other-other-gig?format=rss 

Bake Sale  - Finally, the newest podcast features Kickstarter and other crowdfunding projects while  they're in the process of seeking funding.  Not just for kids music, but for any project seeking to serve kids.

I'd also note that because Kickstarter and crowdfunding projects sometimes operate on a limited timeframe I'm not always able to interview everyone I'd like for the podcast, so I've started highlighting other projects exclusively on the website.  (I'm calling them "Non-Casts.")  Airs a couple times a month (with Non-Casts more frequent). 

Subscribe: iTunes / http://zooglobble.com/bakesale?format=rss  

Hey, There, NPR Listeners Who Like Paul Spring

If you happened to listen to NPR's All Things Considered this afternoon, you might have heard a review of Paul Spring's Home of Song , a wonderful debut kids music album from the Minnesota singer-songwriter and wondered who this Zooglobble guy was who reviewed it.

Well, you found me. 

Welcome, thanks for stopping by.  Tons more great music for families here -- just check out this main blog as well as the bar to the right.  For you podcast listeners out there, feel free to check out my podcasts Kindie Week in Review (weekly -- usually -- updates of kids music developments), My Other Other Gig (interviews with kids music folks about non-kids-music things), and Bake Sale (family-friendly Kickstarter and crowdfunding projects), all available on iTunes and elsewhere.

Enjoy, and thanks again for listening (and reading).