Video: "Sail Away Ladies" - Dan Zanes, Elizabeth Mitchell & You Are My Flower

There isn't a lot to this video, which is a strength, really, when you consider the organic and unadorned nature of Dan Zanes' and Elizabeth Mitchell's music for families.   It's the two of them, plus the rest of You Are My Flower (Daniel Littleton and Daniel and Elizabeth's daughter Storey) playing the classic "Sail Away Ladies," which'll be on Turn Turn Turn , the new album featuring all of them (out on August 27.)

But the reason to watch (besides the music, which is lots of fun) is the Littletons' dog Yuki going absolutely crazy during the recording of the video.  He needs to come on tour, right? 

Dan Zanes and Elizabeth Mitchell with You Are My Flower - "Sail Away Ladies" [YouTube] 

Video: "(I Woke Up) In a Firetruck" - Karen K and the Jitterbugs

This video from the East Coast artist Karen K and the Jitterbugs starts out a bit slowly -- my first thought was, "well, that's nicely produced, but..." so when I say that you should give it a couple minutes before rendering a verdict, I speak from experience.  It's a simple kids' song designed for interaction with preschoolers, but it takes a while for the interactive nature to become clear.  It also gets funnier as it goes on.

Also: ask your kids if they get the pop culture reference the video's organizing structure is based on. 

Karen K and the Jitterbugs - "(I Woke Up) In a Firetruck" [YouTube]

Video: "Midnight Sun in the Arctic" - Elska

You'll forgive me if I don't get too excited about the onset of summer.  Just as those of you in colder climes don't tend to celebrate the start of winter (very much, anyway), I'm pretty muted about the summer solstice (this year on Friday the 21st), as we've already had some 110-degree days, and we'll have plenty more where that came from.

Having said that, I suppose I could be a little more charitable were I living in, say, Iceland, in which the land of the midnight sun is a bit cooler than here in the desert Southwest. 

So I'll just take the latest video from Elska as an opportunity to relax and imagine  myself cooling off.  It's for "Midnight Sun in the Arctic" from Middle of Nowhere  and, yes, it was filmed in the midnight hour(s) in Iceland.

Elska - "Midnight Sun in the Arctic" [YouTube] 

Video: "Spicy Kid" - Lunch Money

Is there any doubt I wouldn't  have featured the first video from Lunch Money?  I mean, after world-premiering the video as part of my review of great kindie music videos at Kindiefest?

Of course not.

So, yay, a video for "Spicy Kid"!  There are a whole bunch of influences here in this video directed by Jerry Stevenson (Mentos and The Blues Brothers  among them), but it's also totally Lunch Money.  Which is a very good thing.

Lunch Money - "Spicy Kid" [YouTube] 

Video: "The Stump Hotel" - Caspar Babypants

I wish I could say that I bugged Caspar Babypants for a video for the song "The Stump Hotel" from his album I Found You! , but I'm not that prescient (although I'm willing to make a bad pun).  This new video from Mukpuddy, though, puts to good use Chris Ballew's buggy narrative.  Love the very happy banana slug pie.

Caspar Babypants - "The Stump Hotel" [YouTube] 

Video: "Bandwagon" - Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights

When I was at Kindiefest this spring, specifically to do a presentation on great kindie music videos, I found out that Joanie Leeds had invested some money to do a music video.

Well, not a music video.  Fourteen music videos, to be more accurate.​

That's right -- thanks to the magic of Craigslist, every song except one from her forthcoming album Bandwagon​ (out June 25) will have a video.  The first one, "I Love New York," debuted Sunday, and I'm pleased as punch to offer up the world premiere of the second video, for the album's title track, "Bandwagon."  It's one of my favorite tracks from the album, and the foam-based stop-motion animation captures the good feelings from the group sing-along well.  [And, no, I'm not just mentioning it because the animator is some guy named Stefan (Fernandez). ;-) ]  Good stuff, no doubt.

Joanie Leeds - "Bandwagon" [YouTube]​