Well, the contest to win tickets to Dan Zanes' Holiday House Party has come and gone, but someone's finally gone ahead and posted a clip from his performance at Seattle's Moore Theatre. Even with the MST3K-like heads obscuring part of the action, you can see that there must be, like, a dozen people up there on stage. The Zooglobble winner for the Seattle show reports that there was tap dancing and shadow puppets.
And, by the sound of this clip, yodeling. Lots of yodeling.
Dan Zanes and Friends - "Shining Star"
Tickets for the NYC run, which starts next weekend, are here.
Live in Phoenix: Doug Snyder (January 11, 2009)
A while ago, main Jellydot Doug Snyder lived in Phoenix, even playing a Sing-Along Saturday at Stinkweeds Records. Well, Doug moved on to New Mexico, but he's returning to the Valley of the Sun to kick off a great 2009 kids music-wise when he plays a couple of sets at the Children's Museum of Phoenix on Sunday, January 11. Come at 2 PM, or come at 3 PM (or maybe even stay for both). The show is free with CMOP admission and if you haven't yet visited the museum and you've got kids who are still in the single-digit age range, you really should stop by -- it's a really cool museum.
I've helped CMOP put together a whole concert series for 2009 -- more details on the rest of the series coming soon!Contest: Win Tickets to Dan Zanes' Holiday House Party!
If you've been reading your Dan Zanes newsletters (and, really, why aren't you?), you know that Dan Zanes has announced his Holiday House Party set of concerts. He's going to San Francisco Nov. 29/30; Davis, CA Dec. 2; and Seattle Dec. 6/7 before heading back to New York City for a long run at the New Victory Theatre Dec. 19 through Jan. 4.
For those of you who haven't been reading the e-mails, let's let the folks at Festival Five describe it...Take a seat in the theatrical living room of Grammy winners Dan Zanes and Friends, America’s premier family music band, for a 21st century all-ages holiday celebration. If you feel that the festivities of the season are incomplete without disco Hanukkah rave-ups, raucous Arabic worship songs, a Korean new years anthem, high octane Mexican fiddling, tap dancing, shadow puppetry, snow, laughter, and the occasional Christmas carol, than this is your party. Everyone is invited and now that includes you. The New York Times says “concerts by Dan Zanes are always a cause for celebration” and the Holiday House Party may just be the wildest concert of them all.Now, I know what you're saying, you're saying, Stefan, how am I supposed to believe the hype? (I'm personally most interested in the Korean new years anthem. I'm totally serious.) Well, thanks to Festival Five, we here at Zooglobble are happy to give away a set of 4 tickets to one show in each of San Francisco (Sunday Nov. 30th @ 5 pm), Seattle (Sunday Dec. 7th @ 4 pm), and Nueva York City (Wednesday Dec. 31st @ noon) for you, loyal readers. How, you might ask?
It's Not A Performance On Grammy Night, But Still...
If they get nominated, I don't think that Justin Roberts or Laurie Berkner are going to be performing at the big Grammy ceremony on Sunday, February 8, but at the very least a nomination will get them a Grammy weekend performance. Word from Muddy Girl Productions' Karen Rappaport McHugh that all 2008 Grammy Award nominees in the children's music category will be invited to perform at Los Angeles' new Grammy Museum. (The museum is so new, it isn't even open yet -- it opens December 6.) Anyway, the nominees will perform on Friday, February 6 (for school-children) and Saturday, February 7 (for families) from 10 to 11 AM. Spoken word nominees will also be included in the event.
Even potentially more interesting (if you're in the LA area, at least), the Grammy Children's Music Showcase is just the first in a new concert series at the Museum. Rappaport McHugh's been planng a monthly children’s music series which will take place in their 200 seat theatre. The series will focus on a different genre of music each month. They've already compiled a list of bands that the museum is interested in inviting to perform, but artists who believe they fit into a particular month's genre are still welcome to contact Karen at "muddygirlproductions AT verizon.net."
The schedule by genre is as follows:
Randy Kaplan In Concert: Dec. 27th (Phoenix)
Over the next few days I'm going to be announcing a number of kids music shows taking place here in Phoenix in 2009, but let's kick off the list with a show squeaking in 2008 -- Randy Kaplan, who'll be officially releasing his second album Loquat Rooftop (review) this fall.
Randy will be making his way east from LA to play a record release show at Symphony Space in New York City in November, then eventually heading back west. On Saturday, Dec. 27th, Randy will be playing a show at central Phoenix's Church of the Beatitudes (555 W. Glendale Ave., the corner of 7th Ave and Glendale). It'll be a 2 PM show, with tickets just $3 a person. Come get the kids (and yourself) out of the house and enjoy a great show.
This isn't a "Zooglobble" show -- it's being put on by the Church (its first kids show, but definitely not the last) -- but I've helped coordinate it, so consider it Zooglobble-approved.New Music from TMBG: The Sun Is A Miasma of Incandescant Plasma
Details come trickling out about They Might Be Giants' forthcoming kids music album Here Comes Science (which, as I've said before, is not the most scintillating of titles to my ears, but hey, they're the creative folks).
This time, the source is Bill and Ella from Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child. Ella (with help from her friend Sam) interviewed John and John Friday and, among other things, found out a lot about Nikola Tesla while telling John and John even more about Benjamin Franklin. All about the Benjamins, indeed. (And Sam's question about "Dr. Worm" produces quite a nugget, too.) In all, well worth the 12 minutes.
Bill also noted that their adult show Friday night included a new song from the upcoming Here Comes Science CD -- "The Sun Is A Miasma of Incandescent Plasma," a response song to their own cover of "Why Does the Sun Shine?"
In rooting around YouTube, it appears they've been playing this song for a little while now, but here's TMBG doing the song in Northampton...
They Might Be Giants - "Why Does the Sun Really Shine? (The Sun Is a Miasma of Incadescent Plasma)"
