Time once again for the Official Band of Zooglobble's Monday Morning Smile, OK Go! Over the Thanksgiving holiday, the band released their latest video off their album, Hungry Ghosts, for the song "Obsession." This one stars the band and 567 printers. I don't think it quite reaches the giddy, hit-the-repeat-button-immediately heights of, say, "The One Moment," or "This Too Shall Pass," but it's a lot of fun regardless.
OK Go - "Obsession" [YouTube]
Mista Cookie Jar on bed
It's a new video for Black Friday from Mista Cookie Jar! Now, I can hear you thinking, "Why would a song about a missing sock be the basis for a Black Friday-themed video?" Well, that's because the song got its first life as a premiere on K. Bell Socks. And not that I'm going to shill for socks, but socks are both stocking stuffers and stockings, so there is a certain seasonal appropriateness to the subject.
More importantly, like most of MCJ's work, it's great fun to listen to and dance to. And, in the case of this World Premiere, watch... to. Or something like that. Enjoy!
Mista Cookie Jar - "The Quest for the Missing Polka-Dotted Pink Sock" [YouTube]
Squished between the end of the Grammy eligibility period, Halloween, and Christmas, I sometimes feel like a November new-music playlist is a bit of an afterthought. But there are actually some pretty good songs that have crossed my desk in the last few weeks, not to mention some that for time considerations are just going to have to wait until January. A total of 24 minutes of music, great for a short little errand or pecan pie prep. (Feel free to check out the October list here if you missed it.)
As always, these Spotify playlists are limited in that if an artist hasn't chosen to post a song on Spotify, I can't put it on the list, nor can I feature songs from as-yet-unreleased albums. But I'm always keeping stuff in reserve for the next Spotify playlist.
Check out the list here (or right here in you're in Spotify).
**** New Music November 2017 (November 2017 Kindie Playlist) ****
"I Play Music" - Johnny Bregar
"Mama (Live from Austin)" - SaulPaul
"Don't Put Me Down, Or My Dog" - Kid Pan Alley
"One of Those Days" - Kim Schneiderman
"Little Friends" - Smilin' Rylan
"Jane Goodall" - Michael Hearst, Tanya Donnelly
"My Creature" - Micah and Me
"Despacito" - Lullapop Lullabies
Story Pirates logo from Gimlet
Let's get it out of the way: I think the Story Pirates are great. Just as we all have our kids' music artists we listen to without the kids around -- don't front, you know you do it -- there are some podcasts whose primary audience is kids but adults can (and do) listen to it unreservedly, regardless of whether their kids are in earshot.
The Story Pirates podcast, for me, is definitely in that camp. The concept of the podcast is fairly simple -- kids write stories and send them into the group. The group creates a play/musical out of the story, filled with a lot enthusiasm, no small amount of heart, and a good week's worth of humor. I reviewed the show about 18 months ago, and my appreciation of the weekly podcast has only grown since then.
And I'm not the only one whose appreciation of the Story Pirates has grown, because Season 2 of the podcast started yesterday, and it's being presented by Gimlet Media, the podcasting powerhouse home to a variety of shows for adults including one of my faves, Reply All, another one of my faves, Heavyweight, along with The Nod, the late great Mystery Show (pours one out), and many more. The fact that Story Pirates, the show, which got its recorded audio start on Sirius-XM's Kids Place Live, is now the first kids show on a major podcasting network, says a lot about both the Story Pirates and Gimlet. (Though, yo, Gimlet, get the Story Pirates up on your Shows drop-down menu!)
Anyway, I encourage you to subscribe to Story Pirates on your favorite podcatcher and head over to their podcast page, where you can also sign up to receive cool stuff (like coloring pages tied to the episodes).
The Story Pirates in studio
We've been fans of Loog Guitars here at Zooglobble HQ from the beginning. I interviewed Rafael Atijas, the founder of the company, in 2011 as he was in the midst of his first (eventually successful) Kickstarter to manufacture his very first set of acoustic 3-string guitars. I dug that first guitar, and so in 2013 when Atijas had his second Kickstarter to manufacture his first set of electric (again, 3-string) guitars, I interviewed him once more. That project succeeded, too -- raising $70,000, just a bit more than his first go-round.
And really, if you can do an acoustic and an electric guitar well, why bother creating something new? Which is why you shouldn't listen to me for business advice, because something happened with his third Kickstarter. As successful as his first two were, that didn't come close to this one, as he raised almost $360,000 to manufacture 3 new guitars: the Loog Pro Acoustic and Loog Pro Electric, along with a new Loog Mini.
While the Loog Pro models looked nice, I basically already had those two guitars, albeit earlier versions of them. (Also, I'm not really a guitar player, so the Loog Pro would be wasted on me.) But the Loog Mini -- a 3-string guitar the basic size of a soprano ukulele -- that was definitely the most intriguing one to me. So I plunked down my $59 (they're $79 post-Kickstarter) and earlier this year it arrived at the home.
While I can't agree with Disneyland and Target, who start decorating for Christmas, Hanukkah, and the rest of the December holidays while Halloween is barely in the rear view mirror (if at all), I'm willing to occasionally make an exception here to my "no celebrating Christmas 'til after Thanksgiving" rule if the song or video is fun enough.
Consider this an exception. It's the world-premiere of a brand new song from Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could. The song's called "New Accordions," and it's from Revvin' Up the Reindeer, Rymer's first holiday album, and in particular the song features a whole bunch of accordion work from not one but two of the Little Band That Could, Claudia Mussen and Seth Farber.
The video is every bit as energetic as the song, bright colors, fast movement, and the briefest of holiday medleys. (Side note: accordions are guaranteed party generators. I still remember an Oktoberfest party many years ago where a coworker brought her accordion and played, much to the delight of the youngsters and oldsters in attendance.) It's a holiday song that won't make you tired of holiday songs, and I'm happy to be world-premiering it.
AAAAANNNDDDD make sure to scroll past the video itself for some comments about life with an accordion from Claudia Mussen herself!
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