Zooglobble

I'm not saying that there's a cause-and-effect thing going on here, but long-time Zooglobble reader Deb makes an appearance on the latest Land of Nod Nodcast Podcast, this time featuring her fellow San Franciscan Enzo Garcia. If you haven't given Enzo's music a spin, the 19-minute podcast features 5 live renditions of songs from his Orange and Pink CDs, plus Enzo's shot at a Nodcast Podcast theme song. It's a good listen.

And Deb chimes in a couple times, too, so now you know what she sounds like.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I love what Enzo Garcia does, kids-musically. There are lots of kids' musicians who make great music for listening to, for dancing with, but it warms my heart knowing that flame of participatory kids music -- music that encourages singing along and interacting with the music and others -- still burns bright. Enzo Garcia is one of the best at keeping that fire going.

With his latest release, Field Trip with Enzo, his tenth album of original songs, the San Francisco-based Garcia combines his all-hands-clapping approach with an abiding interest in the natural world. Songs about raccoons, squirrels, monkeys, and frogs -- two times -- are found on the disk, blended with other concepts. "Raccoon" is a Garcia original that's a bluesy counting song, while "Monkey Motions" is, as you might guess, a movement song encouraging the mimicking of different animals. "Side of a Mountain Top" is a rollicking movement song.

This sounds a lot like prior Enzo disks -- folky, with an array of rustic instruments including banjo, accordion, jaw harp, slide flute, and, yes, the "enzotar." While almost all of the songs have some interactive component to them, there are a few tracks that sound sweet all by themselves -- Garcia's hypnotizing "Hand Over Hand" and the concluding lullaby "When the Sun Goes Down", and his duet with Erin "Mimi" Lucas on the traditional "The Green Grass Grows."

The album will appeal most to kids ages 3 to 7. For the moment, it's just available at the Pokey Pup (hear samples here), though I believe that will change soon. You can also hear "Monkey Motions" at Garcia's Myspace page. I should also mention that longtime Zooglobble reader Deb in SF gets a nice shout-out from Garcia in the liner notes.

As with all of Garcia's previous kids' CDs, Field Trip with Enzo will work best if you and your kids stand up and actually play along with the music. If you're not willing to do that, then this CD might not be for you (though I think it holds up OK even in that case). But if you're willing to follow Enzo on his trips, then I think you'll be pleased where you end up. Recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Y'know, now that kids' music is the bee's knees, the cat's pajamas, and the kangaroo's Underoos, you can't take three steps without running into some new kids' music program. Except now they're moving into even older or less traditional locations. Such examples (and suggested alternative locations) include:

Enzo Garcia -- playing at Golden Gate National Park's Crissy Field. If your kids don't like the show, you can always tell them that Alcatraz is but a short ferry ride away. (Uh, wait. They'd probably like that. Never mind.)

SteveSongs -- playing at the Life is Good Festival in Fenway Park. No word on whether he'll do "Sweet Caroline" for the kiddos. Please take this opportunity to tell your kids how inferior Fever Pitch the movie is compared to Fever Pitch the book.

Hot Peas 'n Butter, Little Nashville, and Babaloo -- playing at the On the Waterfront festival in Rockford, Illinois. If your oldest kid keeps complaining about his brother and how he coulda been a contender over and over and over, just explain to him that you'd be glad to Leave. This. Stage. Right. Now. and take him to see "The New Cars" (playing Saturday night) and explain to him ad nauseam how there's no way that can be better than the original lineup. Also, you had to listen to music at home on something called a stereo when you were his age and so can he please take off the headphones right now.

Posted by SAShepherd at 05:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Over the course of just a few years, San Francisco-based Enzo Garcia has released nine albums of original and occasionally quirky folk reworkings of traditional and original kids' songs.

The recently re-released Green is a good example of Garcia's work. One of the primary things I find so appealing about the series is the fact that electronic keyboards, which in many artists' hands is the great bane of children's music, are long absent. Instead, on tracks such as "What Do You Do?," Garcia employs a toy piano. I'm not necessarily a huge toy piano fan, but Garcia's fondness for using instruments you don't typically hear (on albums of any kind) means getting to hear familiar songs in unfamiliar ways. And so on "This Old Man," Garcia is joined by Tom Waits' occasional side man (and budding kids' musician in his own right) Ralph Carney on slide clarinet. Garcia and Carney also team up on a rousing "Drunken Sailor," which spares no lyrics in the tale of the punishments for the inebriated crewmate, Garcia's rolling of the "r's" on "rusty razor" echoing Carney's tenor sax.

There's no track on here that's quite as engrossing as "Hold My Hand" on his Pink CD, but the round on the traditional "My Paddle's Keen and Bright" comes close. (I also liked Garcia's "Dee Dee.") Even more than Pink, Green will be most enjoyed if you participate along with the music. The disks were created to accompany Garcia's weekly music classes, and so if you move around (or accompany with shakers and tambourines) the music here, you'll get the most out of the album.

The songs here are most appropriate for kids ages 1 through 6. You can hear samples at the album's CD Baby page.

Enzo Garcia is right in the middle of the great folk music tradition that encourages music-makers to take traditional tunes and make them their own. On Green, Garcia continues to help families hear old tunes in new ways (and maybe even start to make them their own). It's as good as any Garcia album to introduce you to his music. Recommended.

[Note: Bryan at The Pokey Pup notes that they're currently running a special offer where if you buy Green you can get LMNO (Red) for free. Easy-peasy. Click here for more...]

Posted by SAShepherd at 04:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A couple months ago, I mentioned that Doug Snyder of The Jellydots would be sitting in with Enzo Garcia at one of Enzo's Saturday morning "Breakfast With Enzo" shows in January.

Well, loyal reader Deb in SF sent in this photo from this past weekend's confab. That's Enzo on the left playing saw on Doug's "My Blanket."

Sounds like a grand time was had by all...

(Photo courtesy Deb Evans Braun)

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Denizens of the fair city of San Francisco, what might be the most interesting live show of 2007 awaits you. On Saturday, January 20, Doug Snyder of the Jellydots will be joining Enzo Garcia for his Breakfast With Enzo show.

It's as if Matthew Sweet decided to join Tom Waits for a show. I don't know what it'll sound like, but I'd imagine that even the stuff that doesn't quite work will at least be interesting. Should be a hoot and a half.

Posted by SAShepherd at 06:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

If Smithsonian Folkways is looking for another kids' musician to join Elizabeth Mitchell on the label, I've got a suggestion: how about Enzo Garcia? His latest album, LMNO Music (Pink) (2006), has echoes of Folkways standbys Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Ella Jenkins, but makes the mostly traditional songs sound his own.

The San Francisco-based Garcia runs a music program, LMNO Music, for pre-elementary-aged kids and the album gives the listener some indication of what the classes might be like -- Garcia encouraging the crowd in a round of "Row Your Boat," or the hand-play of his original "Let's Make Pizza." In this sense, it's a very Ella-like record. On the other hand, Garcia's distinct voice and his banjo playing will remind the listener of Pete Seeger. And on the, er, other hand, his willingness to sing a cappella will remind others of Woody Guthrie. And for those of you with four hands, Garcia isn't content just to record traditional folk and kids' songs -- the album's standout song is the hypnotic "Hold My Hand," for which it took me several listens absorbing the layers of sound before I fully comprehended that it's another listener participation song.

The album is about as ambitious instrumentally as it is possible for a single artist to get -- the tinkling toy piano on "Oh, Oh the Sunshine," is about par for the course. While dependent on guitars and banjos to ground the songs, Garcia is a sound collagist, picking a choosing instruments to fill out the sound. If there's an oddness (in a good sense) to the music on the album, it's helped along by musical guest Ralph Carney, who's also recorded with another stellar sound collagist, Tom Waits.

The songs here are best for kids ages 2 through 6, though the creative approaches to familiar tunes throughout the album make it accessible to kids older than 6. You can sample tracks at the album's CDBaby page.

Garcia's willingness to extend the boundaries of what traditional music and new folk and kids music might sound like differentiates him from many solo artists. It's time for a new generation of kids' musicians willing to claim these folk songs as there own. Are you listening, Folkways? Recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In honor of the release of Dan Zanes and Friends' Catch That Train! (review here), I thought I'd list a few songs about trains for kids.

(Note: references to the Island of Sodor will be summarily deleted.)

(Last updated May 23, 2006)

"Catch That Train!" - off of Dan Zanes and Friends' (DZ&F) Catch That Train!, of course
"Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" - also try DZ&F's Catch That Train!
"Wabash Cannonball" - many, try DZ&F's House Party
"Guysborough Railway" - try DZ&F's Night Time
"Rock Island Line" - try DZ&F's Family Dance
A whole bunch of songs on DZ&F's Parades and Panoramas
"Freight Train" - try Elizabeth Mitchell's You Are My Flower, also (reader-recommended) on Enzo Garcia's Breakfast with Enzo
"Little Red Caboose" - many, try Elizabeth Mitchell and Lisa Loeb's Catch The Moon
"I've Been Working on the Railroad - many, try Laurie Berkner's version on Buzz Buzz
"New River Train" - try Raffi's New River Train
"Choo Choo Train" - try Ralph's World's debut Ralph's World
"The Little Engine That Could" - try the Hollow Trees' self-titled debut (sorry, Greg!)
-- Yosi also has a "Train Medley" on Under A Big Bright Yellow Umbrella that includes some (if not all) of the songs listed above.
-- Reader BethBC also notes that James Coffey has an entire CD of train-related songs called My Mama Was a Train.

I'm sure there are more, but this is a decent start -- if you post 'em in the comments, I'll add them above.

Posted by SAShepherd at 10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)