Fifty years from now, will historians look back on Saturday, September 15, 2007 as the day that was the best day in the history of kids music?
Well, of course not, silly, that's just hyperbole.
But it's gonna be pretty darn cool.
In addition to the fine artists performing at Austin Kiddie Limits that day, Bill and I are proud to be hosting a fantabulous all-ages show at Austin's Ruta Maya coffeehouse.
Starting at 6 PM, you'll get to hear sets from Laura Freeman, the Telephone Company, Joe McDermott, and -- all the way from Brooklyn -- the Deedle Deedle Dees (with a full band, no less). And we'll end the show by 9 PM. Your kids will be guaranteed to sleep for 10 hours straight after all the dancing they'll do. (Note: Guarantee not valid in all 50 states.)
The cost for this show is a stunning $5 per person, with infants getting in for free. At that price, buy two tickets!
We'll have more details as we approach the day of the event, but if you're anywhere near Austin on the 15th, come on down and join us. The show will be a blast.
Disney, the Carnegie Steel of the Kids' Music World
Amy beat me to this, but there was a great discussion last week on Idolator about Disney's control of the music industry, at least as it pertains to tweens. The thing I took from the article and subsequent was just one more confirmation that Disney's success lies in its vertically-integrated structure, of which Carnegie Steel was one of the first examples more than a century ago. From the grooming of artists on their television shows to the molding of albums by the music side, and back to the TV and Radio Disney side for constant promotion, it's no wonder they dominate this industry. (The only wonder is why nobody else has been able to copy their success.)
In fact, if you read this interview with Radio Disney's Senior Vice President Jill Casagrande, you'll see lots of mentions of artists like the Jonas Brothers, Hillary Duff, or Miley Cyrus. What you won't see is lots of mentions of artists who aren't in the Disney stable.
Disney does a good job of picking talented artists, especially in the sub-tween demographic -- they're distributing They Might Be Giants and Ralph's World, after all. But it is striking exactly how much big business has capitulated to Disney. They've left the field wide open to Disney -- how many more High School Musicals will it take before somebody else steps up?
Dora the Musician-Explorer
For those musically-obsessed families out there who are also Nick Jr.-obsessed, the next four weeks promises to be particularly good (or tunefully repetitive) as the channel will air five music-themed shows, one a day, for four of its shows. Starting tomorrow (Monday, July 23rd) and for the next four weeks, Dora the Explorer, The Wonder Pets!, Blue's Clues, and The Backyardigans will each get their turn in the musical sun with a week apiece of music-themed episodes. The channel will also be premiering Yo Gabba Gabba! videos. Anyway, you get the idea -- lots of music.
Dora the Explorer gets the biggest PR push as it's the one show getting a new episode premiere, "La Maestra de Musica." It debuts on Monday, July 23rd. What's this episode all about? Well, let's go to the press release...
"Boots and Dora walk to school and bump into Boots’ music teacher, La Maestra de Música, who is singing Boots’ favorite song, “Hola, Hola.” When the chain breaks on La Maestra’s bicycle, she needs Dora, Boots and the preschoolers at home to help her figure out the quickest way to get to school..."
Anything more would just spoil the fun, now wouldn't it? (Although I will say, that the episode features the slowest schoolkids I have ever seen. They get to school a good 20 minutes late. Oh, and those snakes are so not scary.)
We've given a screener of the episode of few spins, and it was popular with the younguns. It follows the same template as every other Dora episode, so it's not like this breaks any new ground. In fact, the most fun is Swiper's appearance, in which he doesn't swipe the valuable can't-be-named-here-object, but in which he handles his rejection is with more style and grace than he typically does.
The music itself is perfectly competent, with the "Wheels on the Bus" getting a slight linguistic and contextual makeover. It's not exactly Raffi, though. In fact, what struck me in watching the episode is what nice little songs the hyper theme song and the closing "We Did It!" song are. The opening track in particular is ear-wormy the way few TV theme songs are nowadays. On the other hand, unlike those songs, the songs in this episode actually encourage the kids to sing along. That, by itself, is a good thing.
One final note -- that is not, as I'd first wildly thought (and hoped) upon seeing the image, Laurie Berkner. (Unless she's credited here under a fake name and using an archly stylized singing style.) So I'm just throwing that out there, Viacom, a Dora/Laurie Berkner crossover. It'd be huge.
(Illustration courtesy Nick Jr.)
"Boots and Dora walk to school and bump into Boots’ music teacher, La Maestra de Música, who is singing Boots’ favorite song, “Hola, Hola.” When the chain breaks on La Maestra’s bicycle, she needs Dora, Boots and the preschoolers at home to help her figure out the quickest way to get to school..."
Anything more would just spoil the fun, now wouldn't it? (Although I will say, that the episode features the slowest schoolkids I have ever seen. They get to school a good 20 minutes late. Oh, and those snakes are so not scary.)
We've given a screener of the episode of few spins, and it was popular with the younguns. It follows the same template as every other Dora episode, so it's not like this breaks any new ground. In fact, the most fun is Swiper's appearance, in which he doesn't swipe the valuable can't-be-named-here-object, but in which he handles his rejection is with more style and grace than he typically does.
The music itself is perfectly competent, with the "Wheels on the Bus" getting a slight linguistic and contextual makeover. It's not exactly Raffi, though. In fact, what struck me in watching the episode is what nice little songs the hyper theme song and the closing "We Did It!" song are. The opening track in particular is ear-wormy the way few TV theme songs are nowadays. On the other hand, unlike those songs, the songs in this episode actually encourage the kids to sing along. That, by itself, is a good thing.
One final note -- that is not, as I'd first wildly thought (and hoped) upon seeing the image, Laurie Berkner. (Unless she's credited here under a fake name and using an archly stylized singing style.) So I'm just throwing that out there, Viacom, a Dora/Laurie Berkner crossover. It'd be huge.
(Illustration courtesy Nick Jr.)Here They Come To Save the Day
My wife, daughter, and I went to see Ratatouille this weekend and one of the previews was for a live-action version of the fondly-remembered cartoon Underdog. Based on the preview, the new movie looks -- what's the critical phrase here? -- really crappy. The one and only upside is that a movie about a dog did not use the song "Who Let the Dogs Out?" in the preview. (Really, how did that not happen? The Baha Men must be looking for a new agent right about now.)
Still, the movie's producers are missing a great opportunity here -- the lead single off Austin City Limits Festival band Spoon's awesome awesome awesome album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is entitled "The Underdog." And it rocks. The political subtext will go over the heads of the kids, but it's completely OK for 'em.
In case you haven't heard it, you can hear Spoon play with a horn section of about six dozen on Letterman's show here.
Or watch the original video (with apparently a Daniel Handler -- Lemony Snicket -- cameo at about 2:31) below:
I Love Pots 'n' Pans
... so put another dime in the jukebox, baby.
My latest article for Education.com is up --it's entitled "Make Some Music With Your Family". (Oh, those, oh-so-literal titles. Pesky usefulness.)
Anyway, I don't think any of the tips will be news, especially to music obsessives reading this website, but you can also see my list of 5 great family-music-making songs. Pots and pans have a significant part to play.
The White Stripes Rock It For the Kids
Really. I dig the preschool our kids attend(ed), but it's safe to say the White Stripes never played a secret show for them like they did a couple weeks ago at a Toronto YMCA. The setlist included “Cannon,” “Sugar Never Tasted So Good,” “Apple Blossom,” “We’re Going to be Friends”, “Martyr for My Love for You” and “Hotel Yorba.” Oh, and then kids came up and sang songs -- "Wheels on the Bus" and "I Believe I Can Fly" among the selections.
Y the Y? Well, apparently it came up first when the band's manager searched for "Toronto" and "fun" on the internet.
Oh, and if you haven't seen this, the Stripes' last "secret show" in Canada, this is kinda funny. Make sure you stick around for the crowd chant at the very end.
