Zooglobble

... so why wouldn't you host a kids' music concert there?

OK, that probably wasn't the thinking of XMKids when they set up a concert for Saturday, May 24, but, hey, why not? The XMKids' Traveling Roadshow will broadcast from 11 Children's Miracle Network hospitals across the country starting May 12 as part of an effort to raise $10 million for the non-profit group.

And at the end of the trip they'll host a live, free show from noon to 4 PM at the Sylvan Theatre on the National Mall. Musicians playing at the show include Lisa Loeb, Meredith Brooks, and the ubiquitous Jimmies, who are well on their way to becoming the Jack Johnson of this year's summer concert circuit, appearing seemingly everywhere.

Nice lineup for a good cause.

Posted by SAShepherd at 02:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After going over-the-top for their first two videos ("Do The Elephant" and "Spanimals"), New York's Jimmies do what all artists do for their third release -- go power-ballad.

OK, it's not really a power ballad (there is no poofed hair), but "Taddy" is one of the few sweet and tender songs off Make Your Own Someday, and now it has a video to match, one in which the band members sit around and don't even lip-synch a word.

But it's awesome in its own way.

The Jimmies - "Taddy"

By the way, is there a word for tweaking your video to make the YouTube "pull-clip" (such as the "Taddy" above) be particularly enticing (or relevant)?

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Well, they've announced the Austin City Limits Festival lineup for the 2008 edition, and it's a doozy. Foo Fighters, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, and Beck appear to be the 3 headliners based on the fact they're listed first, and there are a lot of bands on the undercard worth seeing (David Byrne, Neko Case, Gillian Welch, Mates of State are just some of the intriguing names on the list).

But this is Zooglobble, and so here I am with the Austin Kiddie Limits lineup:

Jambo
Q Brothers
Buck Howdy with BB
Uncle Rock
Big Don
Mr. Ray
The Jimmies
School of Rock

With the exception of Jambo, Q Brothers and School of Rock, all are new to the AKL stage. The lineup is a little more country (Buck Howdy), a little more hip-hop (Big Don, who was there last year passing out CDs, so that seemed to work out well for him), with perhaps the Jimmies trying to fit the large showmanship shoes of the Sippy Cups.

Austin City Limits Festival this year is Sept. 26 - 28.

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yes, there was a KidVid Tournament 2008 semi-final between the Jimmies and Mr. Richard. Which ended in a tie.

But just like that other March Madness permits its 40-minute games to go into 5-minute overtime, so will I. Given that the voting window has generally been about 12 hours long, I'm going to open voting IN THIS THREAD for about 90 minutes (that's 1/8th the length of regulation), 'til 1:50 PM as time-stamped below.

The rules: One vote per family/household in the comments below. I will be checking IP addresses, so don't even think about voting twice, 'cause I'll delete both votes. I'm not going to delete votes for trash talk, but c'mon, folks, be nice. (Besides, I don't think you're going to convince someone to change their vote.)

Posted by SAShepherd at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (150)

Moving on into the semifinals of KidVid Tournament 2008, we have a matchup between two popular videos thus far in the competition. The first video, The Jimmies' Latin-tinged (of course) "Spanimals," is off the Jimmies' 2007 debut CD, Make Your Own Someday (review). Its competition will Mr. Richard's Italian-tinged "Cheese," which is from his late-2007 release Polka Dot Puzzle (review).

Please read these voting rules carefully...
1. Vote in the comments below.
2. One vote per family.
3. Vote by 9 PM West Coast time tonight (Wednesday).
4. Please vote nicely. Anything that smacks too much of, well, talking smack won't be counted as a vote. It's OK to say how wonderful your favorite is. It's not OK to say how awful the other is.
5. Just as a reminder, comments aren't posted immediately -- for spam-prevention purposes they need my OK before being posted. So if your vote doesn't show up immediately, don't worry -- it will get posted eventually.

OK, so on to the videos (which you should watch both of, even if you already know who you're voting for.)

The Jimmies - "Spanimals"

Mr. Richard - "Cheese"

Posted by SAShepherd at 07:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (759)

Some days just get away from you, so there's no KidVid Tournament 2008 matchup here... but....

Go here and vote on the Jimmies' "Spanimals" vs. Orange Sherbet's "Campfire Song" for supremacy in the Woody Guthrie Region bracket.

Go, go now! Voting 'til 9 PM tonight.

If you are having problems voting over there, please post here and let me know! (I won't post the comments, but I do read them.)

Update #2: I've been told that people are not verifying themselves as being real. I know you're all real, but I think there's a follow-up step that you need to do after you've registered -- I think that's an e-mail, but I forget. In any case, check your e-mail for verification e-mails from Offsprung.

Posted by SAShepherd at 01:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

While some other "March Madness" starts today, we're already on Day Thre of KidVid Tournament 2008, in which we have a matchup from the Woody Guthrie Region -- the #1 seed "Spanimals" from The Jimmies from their debut Make Your Own Someday versus the #4 seed "You Can Be Anything" from Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang (off their self-titled debut).

Vote in the comments below. One per family, please. Play nice. Votes due by 9 PM West Coast time today (Thursday).

The Jimmies - "Spanimals"

Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang - "You Can Be Anything"

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (46)

I've hear rumors of particular bands being booked for C3's twin titans of summer kid-friendly music festivals, Kidzapalooza and Austin Kiddie Limits, and some of those rumors would appear to be inching toward the realm of reality.

Austin Kiddie Limits has posted some new tracks on its Myspace page. New to the page are The Jimmies, Buck Howdy, Uncle Rock, and Mr. RAY. These artists would all appear to be on the bill for AKL, set for September 26 through 28. (Buck Howdy already has AKL dates on his live calendar.) And The Jimmies have a Kidzapalooza date set on their calendar. (Kidzapalooza is set for August 1 through 3.)

These aren't all the bands I've heard rumors of, so more will be announced at some point, to be sure. But, hey, it's only February -- ACL is 7 months away, after all. Now you can plan your summer 2008 road trips accordingly.

Posted by SAShepherd at 03:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's time once again for me to list my favorite kids and family albums from the past year or so.

As I noted in last year's list, I don't put tremendous stock in individual "best of" lists, because taste is idiosyncratic. (Please note the title here is "favorite," not "best," a deliberate choice of words.) The idiosyncracies of taste are one reason why I came up with the idea for the Fids and Kamily Awards. The fact that I think Recess Monkey's Wonderstuff is one of the year's best CDs might be more easily dismissed if it weren't for the fact that a good number of 19 judges happened to agree with me.

As for my list, the top 10 below reflects my Fids and Kamily ballot. But as with last year, limiting a list of favorites to just 10 albums would leave off a number of very, very good albums. In fact, as a whole, 2007 was even stronger than 2006, making this year's decisions even more difficult. Although I lost count some time ago, I'd guess that I probably heard 250 to 300 new albums this past year -- even at 20 albums, I've left off some great music from this list.

So without further ado...

Continue reading "My Favorite Kids and Family Albums of 2007" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 06:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Man (or this man) at least cannot live on live music (and bottled water) alone. He must also have amusing videos featuring frisbie-throwing human-sized dogs and deers grilling at the barbecue.

Oh, yeah, a Carmen Miranda-style headpiece never hurts.

Here you go, the latest video from New York's The Jimmies -- "Spanimals."

Posted by SAShepherd at 05:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

There are singers, and there are entertainers. In the former camp, I'd put artists like Elizabeth Mitchell, whose interpreter of songs is rivaled by few in the kids music genre and who have glorious voices.

In the latter camp, I'd like to introduce Ashley Albert, lead singer, songwriter, and mastermind behind the New York-based The Jimmies.

Don't get me wrong, Albert has a nice voice and could be a very adept interpreter of standards, kids-oriented or not. But on her band's recently-released debut album Make Your Own Someday (Silly Songs for the Shorter Set), Albert's strengths are in thinking like a goofy 7-year-old and performing for said kid. (It's not for nothing that Albert's done voice work for cartoons and commercials.)

Watch this completely infectious (pun mostly unintended) for "Do the Elephant," one of the catchiest songs on the album, and tell me that the Nickolodeon/Nick Jr. corporate behemoth shouldn't find some show to feature Albert and the whole band on a regular basis. It did wonders for Laurie Berkner -- it could do the same here.

Kinda like a cross between Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang and AudraRox, except skewed at a slightly higher age bracket.

The songs themselves sound bright and tackle common kid-themes like clothes (the swinging "What's On Your Shirt" or the rocking "Cool To Be Uncool") and pets (the unusually-sweet-for-the-album "Taddy") with a variety of musical styles. Albert gets the double-word-score for combining a foreign-language song with a song about pets (in "Spanimals," on which I kept expecting Rob Thomas to make an appearance on the Santana-lite melody). And the album's opener, "What's That Sound?," isn't quite a classic name-the-instrument musical piece like "Mama Don't Allow" and "Peter and the Wolf," but it's pretty darn close. The rest of the band -- who, like Albert, have day jobs that indicate serious musical talent -- backs Albert with aplomb. (Whatever "aplomb" is.)

The album's not perfect -- Albert sometimes has a tendency to cram too many words into the lyrics (making them hard to understand) and some songs are just sort of "eh" -- but it's not for lack of talent or imagination. The silliness here will be most appreciated by kids ages 5 through 10, particularly if they have a "Weird Al" Yankovic album in their collection. You can listen to 4 full tracks at the band's Myspace page or samples from the whole album at the album's CD Baby page.

You may as well get Make Your Own Someday now, because eventually these songs are going to end up on some TV show somewhere. Then your kids are going to beg to you play The Jimmies over and over again in the care and rather than investing in some dubious technology that rips audio from a DVD video, you may as well just get the CD and save yourself the hassle. Recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 06:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)