tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75643722024-03-07T00:24:34.483-08:00ZooglobbleChildren and Family Music Reviews -- Music for the kids that parents won't hate!Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.comBlogger236125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1165447126620834572006-12-06T15:16:00.000-08:002006-12-06T15:18:46.646-08:00Kids Music, NPR? You've (Sort Of) Come To The Right PlaceDid you hear my interview with NPR's Melissa Block on Wednesday? Then head on over to the new website -- Zooglobble.com -- for all the links to the music featured on the interview, plus a whole lot more. Do stop by. Thanks!Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1160191463068803602006-10-06T20:19:00.000-07:002006-10-06T20:25:37.150-07:00Who Is That Elizabeth Mitchell Person and Where Can I Find Out More?Did you get here looking for more info on Elizabeth Mitchell and her music for kids and families? Well, you came to the right place (sort of, at least after you check out Elizabeth's site). If you head to the new Zooglobble site you can read my review of You Are My Little Bird there as well as find out a lot more Elizabeth Mitchell-related stuff. Thanks for stopping by!Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1157576423300319522006-09-06T17:56:00.000-07:002006-09-06T14:05:57.956-07:00Just In Case You're New Here...We've moved to the new website. If you haven't visited, you've missed the interview with Dan Zanes, the review of Elizabeth Mitchell's latest album, You Are My Little Bird, and the review of the Hoodwinked soundtrack. And that's just in the past two weeks. Slowly but surely, the rest of the posts here are being copied over there. Do stop by.Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1156871933110874412006-08-29T10:15:00.000-07:002006-08-29T10:20:27.786-07:00Hey, I'm Over Here!Really, over here. I've had a Blogger-ectomy and now I have a place of my own. Come on over and read the review of the new Elizabeth Mitchell album.Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1156565851093477082006-08-25T21:09:00.000-07:002006-08-25T21:17:31.113-07:00Major Population Centers Have All The Luck...This weekend...New York? Brady Rymer's Family Jamboree on Sunday, with Brady Rymer, Elizabeth Mitchell, and Hayes Greenfield, on Long Island.Los Angeles? Getty Concerts for Kids on Saturday and Sunday, with Charity and the JAMband, at the incredibly lovely Getty Center.Chicago? Jammin' at the Zoo tonight, with Tally Hall, the Bad Examples, and They Might Be Giants at the very nice Lincoln Park Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1156563911744639422006-08-25T20:05:00.000-07:002006-08-25T20:45:18.400-07:00Review: Marvelous Day! - SteveSongsLet me begin by saying that I had heard "Marvelous Day!" the song long before I heard Marvelous Day! the album. And the song... well, it just sounded like one of those pull-out-all-the-stops attempts at a hit that just, well, didn't work. Too forcibly goofy, too many kids in the chorus, too much or too little of something -- whatever the case, I didn't like it. So I approached the SteveSongs'Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1156479589567968082006-08-24T20:48:00.000-07:002006-08-24T21:19:49.733-07:00Review in Brief: The Johnny Cash Children's Album - Johnny CashJohnny Cash's most famous songs are his most tormented -- "I shot a man in Reno / Just to watch him die," sings the prisoner in his "Folsom Prison Blues" -- which means he's not exactly at the top of the list of artists who scream out "children's music" to the public. (We're still waiting for the Metallica and Smashing Pumpkins kids' CDs, too.) But contrary to the legend that surrounded the ManStefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1156391971843252982006-08-23T20:46:00.000-07:002006-09-26T09:12:52.050-07:00Belle and Sebastian's Children's Compilation Gets A Website or TwoI cannot stop Belle and Sebastian's relentless assault on me, I can only hope to contain it.Despite attempting to keep my expectations low for their upcoming children's compilation, entitled Colours Are Brighter, all evidence suggests that it may turn out to be quite good. The latest evidence can be found on the newly-established website for Colours Are Brighter. A decent track from Snow Patrol, Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1156307106285130452006-08-22T20:52:00.000-07:002006-08-22T21:25:06.306-07:00Review: Kid Pan Alley (Nashville) - Various ArtistsI'm not usually one to be swayed by the cause behind an album, but when the first sentence of an album's press release includes a statement that "kids need to know they can be creators and not just consumers," that can exert a strong pull on me. With his Kid Pan Alley program, Musician Paul Reisler has gone into schools around the country to create songs with more than 10,000 schoolchildren. Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1156277343396659212006-08-22T13:05:00.000-07:002006-08-22T13:09:03.450-07:00And I Know That It Might Sound Outrageous...... but today was our daughter's first full day of kindergarten. And it was raining. At 8 AM. This never happens in Phoenix, and as a result traffic was all a-kerfuffle, and I missed Justin Roberts' Today show appearance.Luckily, the magic of this here interweb thingy steps in: Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players perform "Meltdown!"(And, yeah, maybe some other day I'll talk Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1156220148182595522006-08-21T21:04:00.000-07:002006-08-21T21:15:48.203-07:00Just Because You're Paranoid...... don't mean they're not after you.Or, as Nirvana might say, had they turned their attention to a kids' music blog instead, just because information is in a ever-so-slightly-over-hyped press release or newsletter, doesn't mean that it's not actually news.Here, then, some recent PR news. For each artist, you decide which statements are true and which are false.Justin Roberts: With a spiffy new Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1156206589252819392006-08-21T18:20:00.000-07:002006-08-21T17:29:49.253-07:00Things That I Like#453 - Welcome to Ralph's World CD/DVD available for pre-order.Set to be released October 3, Amazon has the track listing as follows...Disc: 11. Fee Fi Fo Fum2. Puppy Dog3. Dance Around4. The Coffee Song5. The Mighty Worm6. Things That I Like7. With A Friend (The Pooh Song)8. Dinosaur Rumble9. Peggy’s Pie Parlor Polka10. All I Want To Do Is Play11. At The Bottom Of The Sea12. Animal Friends13. Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1156206041321898312006-08-21T18:16:00.000-07:002006-08-21T17:20:41.346-07:00Back.Back from family, friends, and fish.Back from lovely sounds: the crash of ocean waves, Raul Malo's voice in concert, my wife's voice uninterrupted by our kids' voices.Back to: school, work, and friends.If you've been away for a while, make sure you scan through the archives -- don't miss the reviews, interviews, and stories.Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1156098206095605962006-08-20T10:57:00.000-07:002006-08-20T11:55:51.226-07:00Interview: Bill Childs (Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child)One of my main purposes in applying for the show was to have it be an adventure with Ella... It's nice that it's taken off as it seems to have, but my goal was, and remains, to have fun with Ella.Bill Childs' first words to me (electronically speaking) were, "I think you may be me." That comment was based on our similar musical tastes (across all ranges of music), but we soon found out that ourStefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1155943537936549582006-08-19T16:24:00.000-07:002006-08-19T15:40:35.583-07:00Review in Brief: Dreamers of Dreams - Erin Flynn with the Co-Op BandIt’s hard work reinterpreting classic kids’ tunes -- it takes imagination and a little bit of brazenness. Originally released in 2004, Erin Flynn’s debut Dreamers of Dreamshas enough of both. Flynn, who now teaches at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago (and appeared on their Wiggleworms Love You album), recorded the album in Philadelphia with a large and talented Co-Op Band, giving Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1155768879669525552006-08-16T15:44:00.000-07:002006-08-16T15:56:23.526-07:00YAKMA (or, Yet Another Kids' Music Article)But a decent one, with substantial comments from Dan Zanes and Ralph Covert of Ralph's World. Paste Magazine (which I've subscribed to for a couple years now -- it's a good read and has reviewed a few kids' music CDs in its pages), has finally posted online their article on the wave of artists entering the kids' music business. (I've had the magazine for about 3 weeks now, and was about to post Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1155011756025648082006-08-07T21:32:00.000-07:002006-08-08T06:11:15.346-07:00Pining For The FjordsIt's a Monty Python reference, having to do an "ex-parrot." (Go ahead and Google it.) The blog's not dead -- I'm off for some (mostly) R&R and (a little) business. Expect more posts later next week. In case you missed it, make sure you read the ScribbleMonster report from Kidzapalooza and the report from Jackie Schimmel (from Justin Roberts' band) below that. I got pictures of the musicians,Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1155011282589487102006-08-07T21:21:00.000-07:002006-09-11T09:09:45.860-07:00When ScribbleMonster Played KidzapaloozaWhen the cold, hard truth that I wouldn't be attending Kidzapalooza/Lollapalooza sunk in, I thought about who could write an interesting summary of their experiences there. And the first person that came to mind was Jim Dague aka ScribbleJim, whose newsletters (and few e-mails to me) have been generous and amusing. Jim's summary below -- covering both Friday and Saturday -- does not disappoint. Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1155010803520930112006-08-07T21:05:00.000-07:002006-08-23T11:38:43.383-07:00At Kidzapalooza with... Jackie Schimmel (Justin Roberts' Band)[Looking for Justin Roberts' Today show appearance? Go here for the link and check out the Justin Roberts links on the right for more Justin reviews.]Since I couldn't actually attend Kidzapalooza/Lollapalooza, I thought I'd do the next best thing -- have somebody else file a report for me. The first of the two reports comes from Jackie Schimmel, who plays bass for Justin Roberts. Jackie's been Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1154969451285818942006-08-07T09:43:00.000-07:002006-08-07T09:50:51.316-07:00A Whole Mess of Kids StuffThanks to Devon, who points out a whole bunch of Washington Post kids' arts-related articles, including an interview with and recommendations from Dan Zanes. I've got a Jose-Luis Orozco CD -- I've listened to it a few times, but I'll have to go back and listen with fresh ears.Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1154736192682381452006-08-05T08:49:00.000-07:002006-08-05T09:43:32.340-07:00Review in Brief: Here We Go - MelissaIf I had a dollar for every time my name was spelled incorrectly, we'd have replaced the flooring in our house long ago. So I understand the decision by Los Angeles-based musician Melissa Szilagyi to drop her surname and perform simply as Melissa. It's also very pop-star-like. Her debut kids' music album Here We Go (2006), to be released next week, is 29 minutes of preschooler-friendly Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1154707889118708602006-08-04T08:01:00.000-07:002006-08-04T09:11:29.173-07:00It's There. I'm Not.Kidzapalooza and Lollapalooza, that is. Weather looks to be a little warm in Chicago, but nothing like last week, luckily.I hope to have a couple artists posting "on-the-scene" reports. No, I did not copy the idea from Bill. (Think of it as a case of "great minds think alike.") I'm not gonna get your hopes too high because I don't know exactly when the reports will get posted. By Labor Day, Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1154665396165007462006-08-03T20:49:00.000-07:002006-08-03T21:24:19.960-07:00Review: The Great Adventures of Mr. David - Mr. DavidSometimes it's easy to review kids' music -- a little of bit of this, sounds like that, there are songs about food. Then an album like The Great Adventures of Mr. David (2006) comes along, making the task much more difficult. Whatever it is (and it's many things, sometimes all at once), this is not a typical kids' album.The second album for kids from San Jose-based musician David Alexandrou, Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1154625261604915782006-08-03T08:06:00.000-07:002006-08-03T13:49:43.703-07:00They Might Be Sparing The RockNo, actually, they will. Bill at Spare the Rock tells the story of They Might Be Giants wanting to record a song for his broadcast. That is beyond cool, that's like, I don't Bill-and-Ella Lee Supertaster-cool, or something.And in other They Might Be Giants news, their Dial-A-Song website has been relaunched with news that they're recording "adults" and "kids" albums back-to-back, with both Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7564372.post-1154578346769534062006-08-02T20:45:00.000-07:002006-08-02T21:12:26.796-07:00Review: Great Big Sun - Justin RobertsThe great risk in going back and listening to an artist's early work is that you won't like it as much as the later work that drew you to the artist in the first place, thereby also diminishing your original enthusiasm. Thankfully, that didn't happen for me when I listened to Justin Roberts' 1997 kids' music debut, Great Big Sun. It is, however, a different animal from Roberts' later Stefanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01380092056977325525noreply@blogger.com1