If I Were At Lollapalooza

I've already given you a brief guide to the Kidzapalooza festivities which kick off tomorrow with the rest of the Lollapalooza. I won't be attending (actually, I'll be handling both kids by myself as my wife heads out of town for a girls' weekend away), but if I did, I'd be getting sunburned, feeling dehydrated, and running my very own Chicago Marathon as I dashed between sets as follows... (Note: If I were there with, say, my two kids and not my wife, my actual schedule would be a lot different. Maybe I'd catch the Wee Hairy Beasties and play the rest by ear.) Click on the dates to see the master schedule for each day. Friday, August 3rd 11:30 - Rock for Kids Youth Jam Band 12:00 - Illinois (caught 'em with the Hold Steady. Good set.) 12:30 - last 15 minutes of the Hipwaders set (don't worry, I'm catching their full set on Saturday. Or, er, if I were actually attending, I would.) 1:00 - G Love 1:30 - Son Volt or Ted Leo, can't decide (The Sippy Cups are playing, too, but I'll catch their set on Saturday). 2:30 - last 15 minutes of Peter Himmelman (catching his full set on Sunday). 2:45 - last 45 minutes of the Polyphonic Spree 3:30 - Sparklehorse (I'll catch the School of Rock Allstars on Sunday) 5:00 - The Rapture 6:30 - The Black Keys 7:30 - LCD Soundsystem (though Femi Kuti would be hard to miss) 8:30 - Daft Punk (I mean, c'mon, coming from an LCD Soundsystem set, you have no other choice but to go hear Daft Punk) Saturday, August 4th 11:30 - Wee Hairy Beasties 12:15 - The Blisters 1:15 - The Sippy Cups 1:45 - Tapes 'n' Tapes (catching the middle 30 minutes of their set) 2:15 - The Hipwaders 2:45 - Alvin Ailey Theatre 3:15 - "Very Special Guest" on the Kidzapalooza stage 4:30 - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah 5:30 - The Hold Steady. Do not miss the Hold Steady, even if it means missing Roky Erikson, whose return is a pretty big deal, considering his medical/mental health issues. 6:30 - Yeah Yeah Yeahs 7:30 - Spoon 8:30 - Interpol Sunday, August 5th 11:30 - Peter Himmelman 12:15 - Q Brothers 1:15 - Candy Band 1:45 - Smoosh 2:30 - tail-end of Peter DiStefano & Perry Farrell 2:45 - tail-end of Amy Winehouse. Assuming, of course, she even shows up. 3:15 - School of Rock Allstars featuring "very special guest" 4:15 - Hmmm... Iggy and the Stooges or Kings of Leon. Iggy, just to say I did... 5:15 - Yo La Tengo 6:15 - My Morning Jacket 7:15 - Cafe' Tacuba 8:00 - Pearl Jam Anybody going, even if they don't plan on attending any of the Kidz acts? Anything I missed?

New Music from the Jellydots: "San Diego"

The Jellydots traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina about a month ago to perform at the Tricycle Music Fest. In addition to performing a special version of their hit "Bicycle" (take a wild guess at how they modified it and watch here to see if you guessed correctly), they debuted a song from their upcoming album. Musically, it's got a sunny, late-California afternoon sort-of vibe. It's sort of hard to make out the lyrics in the muddy audio mix, but the chorus is pretty clear: "Why don't we go to San Diego? / We can sign up this year / Why don't we go to San Diego? / I'm gonna pack up my gear." The song seems pretty relatable to kids, but considering the line midway through - "It gets so hot in Texas" - it seems like this is a case of real (adult) life inspiring the song, as Jellydots main man Doug Snyder recently moved from Austin to here in Phoenix. Now, ordinarily I might cry foul ("Hey, where's the song about Phoenix?"), but I gotta tell you, "Phoenix" is not nearly as easy to stick in a chorus as "San Diego." "Why don't we fix transportation in Phoenix?" "Why do I get neck cricks looking at houses in Phoenix?" So Doug gets a pass. Anyway, enjoy.

Review: Music Makes Me Happy - Robbi K

For those of you wondering, yes, this album is better than its cover. Usually. New York-based Robbi K has pretty impressive musical credentials -- backup singer for Mary K. Blige, Aretha Franklin, and Harry Belafonte, among others. And for her third kids' CD, the recently-released Music Makes Me Happy, Robbi is joined by a great group of musicians, include Brady Rymer, Hayes Greenfield, Guy Davis, and her husband Bakithi Kumalo (who played with Paul Simon) on bass and as executive producer. The result is an album that, for the most part, effectively blends solid jazz, world-beat, and bluesy tunes and kid-focused lyrics to strong effect. As I listened to the 44-minute album, I ended up thinking of it in three parts. The first three songs don't break any kids' music molds, but they're well done, such as the fun "Eating Some Pizza," featuring a saxophone solo from Hayes Greenfield. The next five tracks are the album's strongest, I think. There's a funky version of "John Henry" that's top-notch, and her jazzy cover of "My Favorite Things" would sound great on any CD, kids' or otherwise. That stretch also includes the album's best original track, "Music Makes Me Happy," a strutting blues number that features Brady Rymer and blues musician Guy Davis. It's hear that the band lays its best grooves and Robbi K's powerful voice is used to its best effect. If you're gonna move to the beat, it's here you'll do so. And then there's the last three tracks, which I tried to listen to and enjoy, but just couldn't. The song "Happy! Happy! Happy! Happy! Happy!" made me anything but, and it's followed by a song called "I Love My Teacher." While I enjoy the comparative lack of irony and cynicism in kids' music, sincerity can be taken too far, and lyrics like "I love my teacher, I'll tell you why / She knows everything clear under the sky" just don't ring true to me about how kids think about teachers, even ones they love. I think kids ages 3 through 7 will most appreciate the lyrics here (the melodies and beats are definitely friendly to kids of all ages). You can hear selections of Robbi's music at her homepage, her Myspace page, or samples of all the tracks here at the album's CDBaby page. Many families will enjoy Music Makes Me Happy, though like many kids' albums it does land squarely in the "everything is wonderful and, yes, happy" camp. If you (or your kids) are on the other side of the divide, you'll probably want to stay away. Still, it's a solidly performed album that really grooves at points. I'll recommend the CD, but only if I get to hit "eject" after track 8.

Yet Another List of Favorite CDs...

Some people get writing (or quoting) gigs they think are cool and let a lot of people know. (I would, uh, fall into that category. Just want to make sure you guys know about this stuff.) Then there's Warren Truitt, who writes Kids Music That Rocks. I enjoy Warren's reviews for the sheer passion that shines through. He doesn't review a huge number of CDs, but those he does get some lavish praise. (I'd say that even if his tastes weren't reasonably similar to mine.) What Warren does not do, apparently, is self-promote. Not a smidgen of his glowing language was used to note that his list of "12 Kids' Albums You Can't Live Without" was the cover story in the July School Library Journal. (Seeing as he's a children's librarian for the New York City Public Library's Donnell Central Children's Room, that's, well, appropriate. Not to mention cool.) Check it out for some familiar names and some less-familiar ones, too.

Not Lullabies, But Close Enough

When I originally talked about my latest piece for Education.com, "Albums To Tame the Savage Beast," with my editor there, she made it clear that she wasn't looking for a list of lullaby albums, because the site focuses on kids aged preschool on up. So these are five albums designed for quiet time for slightly older kids. Raffi's Quiet Time makes the list, natch, but rest assured that all five CDs will work well for times when everybody needs to take it down a notch. If you fall asleep on the couch while listening some afternoon and your kids pull all the pots and pans out of the cabinets while you're sleeping, I can't be held responsible.

Contest Winner: The Top 50 Kids Songs of All Time

I know, I know, it took me way too long to figure out the winner of my "Top 50 Kids Songs of All Time Contest." Just waay too much to do... In any case, the rules specified that the winner had to identify my #1 song, which was... "Twinkle Twinkle/ABC/Baa Baa Black Sheep." Four people correctly pegged that song at #1, which meant I had to go to the next tiebreaker, which was correctly guessing other songs in my Top 5. Seeing as Ellen listed the same melody twice, I didn't think that counted, so the winner is... Clark, who also included "Miss Mary Mack" in his list. Congratulations to Clark, who is at the moment selecting his CD prize, and thanks to everyone for participating and reading!