Musician and folklorist Mike Seeger died from cancer Friday night at the age of 75. His importance to the kids music world is relatively minor compared to his half-brother Pete, but not without significance. He will be remembered much more for his musical output as a solo artist and with the New Lost City Ramblers, his collecting of traditional music, and his discovery of forgotten traditional musicians. But his mother was Ruth Crawford Seeger, who wrote one of the first important books of children's music, and he recorded a couple kids' albums, including American Folk Songs for Children with his sister Peggy.
Here's a clip of him playing "John Henry" a couple years ago. One of these days I'm going to learn myself some banjo...
Video: "One Everything" / "QU" - They Might Be Giants
First it was Ralph's World, then it was the Imagination Movers. Let's wrap up this look at Disney's current set of YouTube videos from some of their artists by looking at the best video artist of the bunch, They Might Be Giants. The band's got a new CD/DVD set, Here Comes Science, coming out next month. There aren't any videos from the new set up yet, except for the briefest of snippets from new songs and the previously-released video for "Ballad of Davy Crockett (in Outer Space)." So, let's console ourselves with some fine work from the past...
This song is awesome - the "please clean your room" aside slays me every time. (From Here Come The 123s)
They Might Be Giants - "One Everything"
Video: "Farm" / "Can You Do It" - Imagination Movers
So, as I mentioned before, Disney's started posting videos of their musical acts on YouTube, and I'm going to post a few of them here. This time around, it's the Imagination Movers, who've just released a new album, For Those About To Hop. There aren't any videos from that album (yet), but here are a couple of videos from the first season of their Disney TV show, embedded for your (or your kids') instant gratification.
Imagination Movers - "Farm"
(I'm sorry, even after hearing this maybe 50 times or more, the line "The roosters! / The roosters! / The roosters are tired!" puts a smile on my face. I'm a dork.)
Video: "Gotta Be Good" / "Dance Around" - Ralph's World
The fine folks at Disney have decided that if they can't beat 'em, join 'em, which means, yay, YouTube! They've started to post individual videos from their artists on YouTube, and today I'm going to feature them, just because I feel like it.
This one is from Ralph's World's latest album with Disney, The Rhyming Circus, a driving number featuring his band wearing t-shirts spelling out "RALPH." It was either this or a video featuring Ralph Covert in a Sgt. Pepper's-like outfit. I'm guessing Covert didn't have final wardrobe say on these. But I really like this song.
Ralph's World - "Gotta Be Good"
Video: "Bubble" (Live) - Mommie
If that last live video was thrashy, this live video is not. Not every song on Mommie's debut album Mommie's Dearest (review) is about vehicles. On the album, "Bubble" takes a very dreamy cast, but in this live video from the past weekend, it has more of an alt-country sound. I like the rapt look of attention from the boy on lead Mommie (so to speak) Doug MacMillan's left. (I also like how MacMillan steps to the side during a portion of the instrumental break to let the videographer capture the rest of the band). Not every band could keep a crowd during a North Carolina rainstorm...
Mommie - "Bubble" (Live)
Mommie - "Bubble" from Mann's World on Vimeo.
Video: "I Don't Need To Be Worried" (Live) - The Boogers
If you'd asked me a year ago for the hardest rocking band in kids music, I'd probably have given the nod to Detroit's CandyBand. But now, I'm not so sure... the Ramones-inspired Chicago-area band The Boogers have been playing a number of live shows. Take a listen to "I Don't Need To Be Worried" from Road To Rock, played live in Texas, and tell me that it wouldn't get some kids pogoing (and maybe even feel a little more confident).
The Boogers - "I Don't Need To Be Worried" (Live)