The Ketchup Report, Vol. 3

Another Ketchup Report, slathering kids music news all across the internet with all-natural ingredients. -- Bill Harley channels a little Dylan and Guthrie on his song "Enough Is a Feast," which he's now offering as a free download here through Thanksgiving. (If you want to contribute to or volunteer at a food bank at this time of year when food is maybe even more important than it usually is, Harley suggests finding one here.) -- I'm a longtime fan of the Tricycle Music Fest, even after its cross-country move to San Francisco. Check out the videos from last month's edition here, including "Tricycle," of course, from Frances England and other videos from Charity Kahn and the Time Outs. -- Twin Cities folks, heads up, Clementown, the Okee Dokee Brothers, and Adam Levy are playing a benefit show on Saturday, December 4 for friends of Clementown's, Krista and Terry, who've both been diagnosed with cancer. Great lineup, good cause. More details here. -- I'm also a fan of the "Listen To Your Buds" campaign encouraging kids not to turn up their speakers (or headphones) to 11. This fall's performers? Oran Etkin, who's performing in Philadelphia public schools this week and Brady Rymer. -- Gustafer Yellowgold, back on (off-)Broadway! Gustafer Yellowgold’s Infinity Sock will have a run of Saturday performances (11 AM and 1 PM) at the DR2 Theatre, 103 E. 15th St. New York City, from February 26 through April 2. It apparently will include the song "Wisconsin Poncho," which is "set in an all-cheese clothing store." This, friends, is why I love kids music. -- The Kindiependent concert at the Seattle Public Library some of you may have heard about? 1,500 people, folks. Strength in numbers, that's what it's about. The group's got a couple new concert series coming up in the Seattle area starting this fall, too...

Share: "Row Row Row Your Boat" - Charity and the JAMband

The Bay Area's Charity and the JAMband have been pretty good about sharing tracks with the general public, and the latest is one of the coolest tracks from their latest album, the 2-CD set Party Like a Twinkle Star. This month (ignore that whole "January 2010" thing - it's new) it's their funky take on "Row Row Row Your Boat," and as lead singer/songwriter Charity Kahn suggests, it's a pretty great music-and-movement song. But you'll probably like it even stuck in carpool traffic. More details (and coloring pages) here, or just stream or download it below. <a href="http://charityandthejamband.bandcamp.com/track/row-row-row-your-boat">Row Row Row Your Boat by Charity and the JAMband</a>

Listen To This: "Party Like a Twinkle Star" - Charity and the JAMband

New music from San Francisco's Charity and the JAMband and the best part is you can listen to the whole thing. Following in the steps of the Nields' Rock All Day, Rock All Night, Party Like a Twinkle Star features one up-tempo CD, one down-tempo CD. Or, as Charity puts it, "10 songs for rocking out... 10 songs for tucking in." You can download the (rocking out, sort of) song "We Are Stardust" for free here. Or just listen to the whole darn thing below. (Click on "Download" to purchase it for $20 from the band.) <a href="http://charityandthejamband.bandcamp.com/album/party-like-a-twinkle-star">Get Your Booty Out of Bed by Charity and the JAMband</a>

Lots of Free Music from Charity and the JAMband

I've mentioned how the Bay Area's Charity and the JAMband has given away mp3s for the past few months. Well, for a little less than a day, you can download a copy of their 2006 album Rock Your Socks Off for free. That's right -- in honor of Charity's son Silas' 7th birthday, she's offering a free download of the album. I liked it 3 years ago, and still like it today. Just go here and enter the code "SiSiJAMS" at checkout by 10 AM SF time on the 7th. You can even download free songbooks for that and the rest of her JAMband CDs. No word on whether or not you need to give Silas a present in exchange for the sweet goodie bag schwag.

New Music from Charity and the JAMband: "Pancakes"

A few months back, I let you know about San Francisco's Charity and the JAMband decision to start offering monthly free downloads at their website. Well, they're still going, and in case the past few slower-tempo songs were, well, not quite jam-my enough, the April Song of the Month might be up your alley. "Pancakes" is as close as the band gets to a rave-up, telling the story of how pancakes are made from the very beginning. A fun song to listen to while making pancakes, even you're assembling them from Bisquick. (And if you've missed the other songs, go back and get 'em here.)

Listen To This: "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" - Charity and the JAMband

San Francisco's Charity and the JAMband has always been good about offering mp3s on their website, and now word comes from Charity that she's going to be offering these on a monthly basis. The first one, for December, is a sweet little acoustic expansion of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Definitely worth the time to listen (and download). Sign up at the top of the page to be notified of future downloads.