There's a headline I never thought I'd write.
Many months ago I asked whether Radiohead's "pay what you want" model for their In Rainbows CD could work in the kids' music genre.
Well, folks, we're about to find out.
Kansas City's Jim Cosgrove -- yes, Mr. Stinky Feet to his fans -- has announced that starting May 20th through June 3rd his new album Upside Down will be available for downloading at his website for the price of $15, $10, $5, or, yes, $0.
No word yet on whether people can pay $80 for a Upside Down discbox with the album on vinyl and with a bonus CD.
Kidzapalooza 2008 Lineup Set. I Think.
It's a little hard to tell because the only place it's available is a less-than-helpfully-formatted Myspace page, but here's the lineup for the Chicago edition, set for August 1-3, 2008.
The Jimmies
Tiny Masters of Today
The Dream Jam Band
Homemade Jamz
The Q Brothers
The Terrible Twos
Perry Farrell
Peter DiStefano & Tor
G Love
Suzy Brack and the New Jack Lords
Paul Green School of Rock All Stars
John Yost's Rhythm Revolution
Considering one of the few bands I'm not familiar with - Suzy Brack and the New Jack Lords - is pegged as "tiki-punk," it's safe to say the stage will bring no small amount of rock.
Songs For Mom (Updated, Again)
It's that time of the year once more, when I pull out my list of songs for Mother's Day so you can burn an iTunes playlist and send it to your mom (because who burns CDs anymore?) I've pulled out last year's list and given it a tweak or two...
Here's a list of songs for mothers or songs about mothers, in no particular order. I've avoided lullabies (songs by moms, typically), as well as songs about general parentual units, or songs about moms and dads. (If you're looking for songs about moms and moms, might I recommend AudraRox's excellent "Moms & Dads," which, song title notwithstanding, is about all sorts of families.)
If a song isn't on the list, it's because of one of the three "O"s: Oversight (I knew about the song and just forgot), Omission (I knew about the song and chose to exclude it), or Obtuseness (I didn't know about the song at all). I expect the third category to be fairly large -- it is every year -- so feel free to add your suggestions in the comments section. List after the jump...
Another Kids' Concert I Can't Go To
Attention Phoenix-area peeps: Eric Herman continues his worldwide tour (OK, perhaps not worldwide, but it's been going on for more than a month, so that's impressive enough). This Saturday Herman will be playing at Sunset Library in Chandler (location), starting at 11 AM. Herman's been honing his show for a long time now (more than just a month), and it should be lots of fun.
We'd try to go, but we have two kids with two separate parties to go to at the same time. You do the math.
Review: Easy - Secret Agent 23 Skidoo
I know that the kids' music genre is flowering when less popular subgenres such as kids' hip-hop or kids' country are starting to bubble up. I especially know that that's the case when those genres start producing albums that aren't just "kids songs done in a [fill-in-genre-name] style," but fully realized albums on their own.
Case in point: Easy, the debut kids' CD from Asheville, North Carolina's Cactus. He spends a lot of time rapping and playing with the music collective GFE as Agent 23, but who adopts the cool-kids name Secret Agent 23 Skidoo.. From start to finish, the album is totally geared at kids in its subject matter but is not dumbed down one bit in the creativity of its beats and melody. On its strongest tracks (and there are a number of them), Cactus blends smooth rapping with occasionally eclectic instrumentation ("Luck" features nice banjo work) and an all-positive message.
Sometimes that message is a little more overt -- "Luck" raps about how we make our own luck by knowing what it is we want; "Gotta Be Me" is about how everyone should have their own style, and that's OK. If the message is a bit direct, it's delivered with precision and flowing words. (Even his 5-year-old daughter Saki gets in on the act, very smoothly trading lines with her dad on "Family Tree.")
Perhaps even better are his songs that take a more imaginary bent. "Hot Lava" so completely nails the 7-year-old feeling of pretending on the fly (don't touch the floor! -- it's hot lava! -- jump from couch to couch!) that I'm not sure there is a better kids' song about the power of imagination. Songs about dragons, mermaids, and robots feature in the mix, too. It's very much story-telling with a compelling musical background.
I'm going to peg the messages and stories here as geared primarily for kids ages 4 through 9. You can hear samples of a number of the songs at the album's CDBaby page.
The list of really good kids' hip-hop albums is very short. Not only does Easy go to the top of that list, it should find a lot of fans among people who don't consider themselves big hip-hop fans. It's a really good CD, period -- lots of fun and certainly worthy of repeated spins. Definitely recommended.Kidzapalooza Branches Out
When I first saw this weekend's press release announcing the announcement of the Kidzapalooza 2008 lineup, I was somewhat confused. Lollapalooza and its Kidzapalooza stage is scheduled for CHICAGO August 1-3. The Paul Frank Store Los Angeles is, uh, located in LOS ANGELES. As the poster announcing the announcement says, "Of course!" What better place to announce a lineup for a Chicago show than in LA? Perhaps they can also tell us what's coming to the Art Institute of Chicago in early 2009.
But then came this announcement (hat tip: Idolator) that Kidzpalooza is getting its own stand-alone concert at the Hollywood Bowl September 28, with pre-show activities starting at 4:30 PM and the show starting at 6:30 PM. The only artist currently announced is chief Lollapalooza poobah Perry Farrell.
While I think this is a great idea, and one producer Tor Hyams had previously suggested would happen, two concerns:
1) Ticket prices are $12 to $70 (!) dollars. I know, I know, a bunch of people can afford that on the upper end. And that's a pittance compared to, say, Hannah Montana tickets. But I gotta tell you, it was hard enough convincing people to plop down $20 for a Dan Zanes ticket. Anything more than that, even for more multiple artists, is going to be hard...
2) 6:30 PM on a Sunday night? Monday morning's going to be a pain getting the kids ready...
I'd also note this is the same weekend as Austin City Limits Festival, which will certainly make Tor a busy man that week.
Anyway, tickets for the Hollywood Bowl show go on sale Saturday morning at 10 AM. And once you've done that (or not), go over for the events at the Paul Frank Store Los Angeles (which also includes a raffle for a trip to the festival in Chicago). Schedule is after the jump.
