Wow, that was a lot of voting. So many great videos, but only one can be called KidVid Tournament 2010 champion. That would be Brian Vogan's gorgeously animated video for "That's How a Pumpkin Grows" from his Little Songs album.

Vogan's new as-yet-untitled album is tentatively set for release in mid-July and will feature songs about such topics as "dinosaurs, hungry frogs, shuttle rides to outer space, and cardboard box time machines." (It would make me very happy to discover that's a Calvin & Hobbes reference.) Also: guest vocalist Rachel Flotard from Visqueen (among others), so, woot!

Thanks, everyone, for watching, voting and spreading the word. Not to mention, thanks to all the artists for participating and making such excellent videos. So here, for the last time, is the championship-winning video. After four rounds of voting, hopefully you'll be ready to watch it again by Halloween...

Brian Vogan - "That's How A Pumpkin Grows" [YouTube]

Posted by SAShepherd at 04:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The time is at hand for the KidVid Tournament 2010 Championship. From the beginning, this has been a very Seattle-focused tournament, like those years when the Big East or ACC gets a bajillion teams into the tournament and 3 teams into the Final Four for the NCAA basketball championships (or the WCHA in the Frozen Four). Except those teams generally don't cheer for or even assist their conference mates, as many of the Seattle bands did when they weren't actually competing against one another. As they are today.

This matchup pits a couple Seattle artists against each other for the right to be called KidVid Tournament 2010 Champion -- Caspar Babypants and his "Itsy Bitsy Spider" video from More Please! against Brian Vogan and "That's How a Pumpkin Grows" from his Little Songs album. That title and $3.75 will get you coffee at Starbucks, I suppose.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below, but the official results are based on the poll at the bottom of the page. One vote per person, please. One vote per person! (Please note, however, that I've got the IP monitoring cranked up on high so if you vote at a company and someone else there votes first, your IP may be blocked. Sorry for the inconvenience.) Votes due by noon tomorrow (Tuesday) East Coast time (or 9 AM Seattle time).

Finally, I'm happy that so many fans of both artists are voting, but please remember to keep your comments respectful, and, heck, watch both videos. They're both entirely different (simplicity, style, song type), but each quite effective. You might just find a new artist worth following.

Caspar Babypants - "Itsy Bitsy Spider" [YouTube]

Brian Vogan - "That's How A Pumpkin Grows" [YouTube]

Posted by SAShepherd at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The other semi-final matchup of KidVid Tournament 2010 is an all-Seattle affair. (We've had a number of those this year.) It features the Leadbelly Regional winner Recess Monkey and their "Marshmallow Farm" video from Field Trip -- the video defeated the Not-Its in an epic Round 2 Seattle-based matchup. That video's going up against the Woody Guthrie Regional winner Brian Vogan and "That's How a Pumpkin Grows" from his Little Songs album -- it defeated a Readeez video in Round 2.

Continue reading "KidVid Tournament 2010 Semifinal #2: Recess Monkey vs. Brian Vogan" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 05:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

The first semi-final matchup of KidVid Tournament 2010 features the Pete Seeger Regional winner Caspar Babypants and his "Itsy Bitsy Spider" video from More Please! -- the video vanquished Dan Zanes in an epic Round 2 matchup. That video's going up against the Ella Jenkins Regional winner Debbie and Friends and "Willy Won't" from the upcoming More Story Songs and Sing-Alongs, who defeated a feisty Johnny Bregar in Round 2.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below, but the official results are based on the poll at the bottom of the page. One vote per person, please. One vote per person! Votes due by 5 pm tomorrow (Friday) East Coast time. And, as I continue to say, play nice -- that means encouraging folks to watch both videos and avoiding trash-talking. Really, folks, it's just a silly internet contest.

Caspar Babypants - "Itsy Bitsy Spider" [YouTube]

Debbie and Friends: Willy Won't [YouTube]

Posted by SAShepherd at 01:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

The other second round matchup of KidVid Tournament 2010 today is the Woody Guthrie Regional final featuring Brian Vogan's "That's How a Pumpkin Grows" from his Little Songs CD against "Counting for Pleasure" from Readeez' Volume 2 DVD (and Songeez CD).

Continue reading "KidVid Tournament 2010: Brian Vogan vs. Readeez" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The first round is for weeding out the pretenders -- the second round of KidVid Tournament 2010 features nothing but heavy-hitters -- or, to mix sports metaphors, it's the Slam Dunk Tournament of kids music. The first matchup today is the Leadbelly Regional final featuring Recess Monkey's "Marshmallow Farm" from their Field Trip CD against "Come Play at Our House" from The Not-Its' We Are the Not-Its! album.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below, but the official results are based on the poll at the bottom of the page. One vote per person, please. One vote per person! Votes due by noon tomorrow (Thursday) East Coast time. And, as always, play nice -- that means encouraging folks to watch both videos and avoiding trash-talking. Don't make me come back there.

Recess Monkey - "Marshmallow Farm" [YouTube]

The Not-Its - "Come Play at Our House" [YouTube]

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

It's the second matchup of the second round of KidVid Tournament 2010 -- a titanic Pete Seeger Regional final featuring Caspar Babypants' "Itsy Bitsy Spider" from his More Please! album going up against "Pollito Chicken" from Dan Zanes and Friends featuring La Bruja, from Zanes' Nueva York! album. Who will administer the smackdown (in a very, non-competitive, child-friendly way, of course)?

Continue reading "KidVid Tournament 2010: Caspar Babypants vs. Dan Zanes" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Well, the first round is over, and it's time for the second round of KidVid Tournament 2010. The first matchup today is the Ella Jenkins Regional final featuring Debbie and Friends' "Willy Won't" from the forthcoming More Story Songs and Sing-Alongs CD against... "Shoo Fly Pie" from Johnny Bregar's Dragonfly album.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below, but the official results are based on the poll at the bottom of the page. One vote per person, please. One vote per person! Votes due by noon tomorrow (Wednesday) East Coast time. And, as always, play nice!

Debbie and Friends: Willy Won't [YouTube]

Johnny Bregar - "Shoo Fly Pie" [YouTube]

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yeah, Week 1 of KidVid Tournament 2010 is in the books, and just like certain other sets of tournaments taking place in March, there are busted brackets strewn everywhere. If, you know, people were actually filling out brackets for your office KidVid Tournament 2010 pool. (If you actually work in an office with a KidVid Tournament 2010 pool, please let me and your mental health specialist know ASAP.)

They Might Be Giants -- the Georgetown or Pac-10 of the tournament, constantly underperforming. Robbert Bobbert, gone. Rocknoceros, adios. (That one really surprised me.) The only #1 seed to survive is Recess Monkey, who will now face fellow Seattle band The Not-Its, who narrowly won an epic first-round tilt against Billy Kelly. Kelly proposed settling the matter by going on a world tour with the Not-Its. Works for me.

Anyway, starting tomorrow, the 8 winners of the first round go head-to-head for an opporunity to, erm, go head-to-head against each other. For those of you just joining in, the second round matchups will be as follows:

Ella Jenkins Region: Debbie and Friends - "Willy Won't (2) vs. Johnny Bregar - "Shoo Fly Pie" (4)
Pete Seeger Region: Caspar Babypants - "Itsy Bitsy Spider" (2) vs. Dan Zanes - "Pollito Chicken" (4)
Leadbelly Region: Recess Monkey - "Marshmallow Farm" (1) vs. The Not-Its - "Come Play At Our House" (3)
Woody Guthrie Region: Brian Vogan - "That's How a Pumpkin Grows" (2) vs. Readeez - "Counting For Pleasure" (4)

And remember, no gambling!

Posted by SAShepherd at 05:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The other Day Four KidVid Tournament 2010 Woody Guthrie Region matchup. Brian Vogan's "That's How a Pumpkin Grows" from Little Songs, against "Superhero" from Tim and the Space Cadets and their The Greatest Party Ever EP.

Continue reading "KidVid Tournament 2010: Brian Vogan vs. Tim and the Space Cadets" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 07:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's the final first-round day of KidVid Tournament 2010, featuring the Woody Guthrie Region. The first matchup pits the top seed, Robbert Bobbert and the Bubble Machine's "We R Super Heroes" from the self-titled debut disk, against "Counting for Pleasure" from Readeez and the Readeez Volume 2 DVD (and Songeez disk).

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below, but the official results are based on the poll at the bottom of the page. One vote per person, please. Votes due by midnight tonight (Thursday) East Coast time. And, as always, play nice!

Robbert Bobbert and the Bubble Machine - "We R Super Heroes" [YouTube]

Readeez - "Counting for Pleasure" [YouTube]

Posted by SAShepherd at 07:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The other Day Three KidVid Tournament 2010 Leadbelly Region matchup. Billy Kelly's "People Really Like Milk" from Thank You for Joining the Happy Club, against "Come Play at Our House" from The Not-Its! and their We Are the Not-Its! album.

Continue reading "KidVid Tournament 2010: Billy Kelly vs. The Not-Its" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 07:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

If it's Day Three of KidVid Tournament 2010, it must be the Leadbelly Region. The first matchup pits the top seed, Recess Monkey's "Marshmallow Farm" from Field Trip, against (ironically enough) "Field Trip" from The Hipwaders from their Marshmallow Farm album. (Just kidding -- it's from their Goodie Bag EP.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below, but the official results are based on the poll at the bottom of the page. One vote per person, please. Votes due by midnight tonight (Thursday) East Coast time. And, as always, play nice!

Recess Monkey - "Marshmallow Farm" [YouTube]

The Hipwaders - "Field Trip" [YouTube]

Posted by SAShepherd at 07:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The other Day Two KidVid Tournament 2010 matchup in the Pete Seeger Region features Caspar Babypants' "Itsy Bitsy Spider" from his More Please! album going up against "Ants in your Pants #99" from Eric Herman's What A Ride! album. It's a very Washington bug-oriented matchup.

Continue reading "KidVid Tournament 2010: Caspar Babypants vs. Eric Herman" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 07:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Day Two of KidVid Tournament 2010 features the Pete Seeger Region. The first matchups pits the top seed, the title track from Rocknoceros' Pink album, against "Pollito Chicken" from Dan Zanes and Friends featuring La Bruja, from Zanes' Nueva York! album.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below, but the official results are based on the poll at the bottom of the page. One vote per person, please. Votes due by midnight tonight (Wednesday) East Coast time. And, as always, play nice!

Rocknoceros - "Pink" [YouTube]

Dan Zanes and Friends featuring La Bruja - "Pollito Chicken" [YouTube]

Posted by SAShepherd at 07:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The other first-day KidVid Tournament 2010 matchup from the Ella Jenkins Region features Debbie and Friends' "Willy Won't" from the forthcoming More Story Songs and Sing-Alongs CD up against "The Ladybug Without Spots" from the Randy Kaplan's Loquat Rooftop album.

Continue reading "KidVid Tournament 2010: Debbie and Friends vs. Randy Kaplan" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 06:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's the first day of KidVid Tournament 2010 matchups, and it features matchups from the Ella Jenkins Region . In this contest we have the top seed, They Might Be Giants' "Meet The Elements" from their Here Comes Science CD/DVD set matched up against "Shoo Fly Pie" from the Johnny Bregar's Dragonfly album.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below, but the official results are based on the poll at the bottom of the page. One vote per person, please. Votes due by midnight tonight (Tuesday) East Coast time. And, as always, play nice!

They Might Be Giants - "Meet the Elements" [YouTube]

Johnny Bregar - "Shoo Fly Pie" [YouTube]

Posted by SAShepherd at 06:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

First, I told you about my favorite kids music videos of the year. Then I asked you to vote for some of your favorites.

Now I have the results of the readers' poll to influence my own seedings (note: it was Tim and the Space Cadets' "Superhero" which I gave my tourney director's exemption). With that, it's time to announce the brackets for KidVid Tournament 2010. Mano a mano (except when it's a female artist, or an entire band), it pits 16 of the year's best kids music videos against each other in a single-elimination tournament, with readers picking the winners in each round. The tournament starts tomorrow, but here's the entire bracket. Come back tomorrow for the first 2 matchups...

Ella Jenkins Region
They Might Be Giants - "Meet the Elements" (1) vs. Johnny Bregar - "Shoo Fly Pie" (4)
Debbie and Friends - "Willy Won't (2) vs. Randy Kaplan - "The Ladybug Without Spots" (3)

Pete Seeger Region
Rocknoceros - "Pink" (1) vs. Dan Zanes - "Pollito Chicken" (4)
Caspar Babypants - "Itsy Bitsy Spider" (2) vs. Eric Herman - "Ants in Your Pants #99" (3)

Leadbelly Region
Recess Monkey - "Marshmallow Farm" (1) vs. The Hipwaders - "Field Trip" (4)
Billy Kelly - "People Really Like Milk" (2) vs. The Not-Its - "Come Play At Our House" (3)

Woody Guthrie Region
Robbert Bobbert and the Bubble Machine - "We R Super Heroes" (1) vs. Readeez - "Counting For Pleasure" (4)
Brian Vogan - "That's How a Pumpkin Grows" (2) vs. Tim and the Space Cadets - "Superhero" (3)

Posted by SAShepherd at 05:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yes, folks, it's KidVid Tournament time. And I need your help.

You may remember that I picked out my 20 favorite kids music videos of 2009 last week. I hope you were paying attention, because now I need your help setting up the brackets for KidVid Tournament 2010.

In the poll below, I'm asking you to vote for up to 15 of your favorite videos. The 15 that get the most votes will be placed in the KidVid Tournament 2010 bracket and I'll pay attention to the vote counts in determining the all important seeding.

A couple additional notes:
1) Why 15? Well, I've got to make sure that if you, my loyal public, completely miss the boat on a video (or if a video misses out by, say, 1 vote), I have a just a little bit of control.
2) The eagle-eyed among you will notice that Secret Agent 23 Skidoo's video for "Family Tree" is missing from the poll. That's because I have a rule that prior winners have to take at least one year off. Skidoo got more than 500 votes in last year's epic KidVid Tournament 2009 final against the The Jimmies. If he were in again this year, he'd probably win, and what's the fun in that? I'm sure he'll be back.

Anyway, voting ends Wednesday night, and one vote per household please. The poll is below, and in case you need to be reminded, all the videos follow the poll in a handy playlist format. Thanks!

Zooglobble's 20 Favorite Kids Music Videos of 2009 [YouTube]

Posted by SAShepherd at 06:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)