Well, it's been more than a week since I arrived in Austin for this year's Austin City Limits Festival, so it's probably time I wrap up all my writing on the topic and move on to something else. (Is there some other festival this weekend?) For those of you looking for the week's notes, look no further than my archives. To conclude, a few big-picture thoughts on the festival as it was, along with some on how it could be.
ACL Fest is an exceedingly well-run festival.
I mean, when the worst things you can say about the weekend is that the sounds from sets occasionally bled into one another (Alejandro Escovedo had his amps turned up, making the Swell Season set not quite as hushed as it might have been) and that there could probably be a few more water fountains, well, then, you done good. Sets started on time, shuttle buses were plentiful, there were lots of things to do, and the grounds were about as immaculate as you could expect. (Seriously, they decided to give t-shirts and other swag away to people who brought recyclables back in big plastic bags. What a genius idea -- I'm not sure I saw a single stray can or plastic bottle the entire weekend.)
Cybils Nominations Are Open!
As I noted a couple weeks ago, I'm proud to be serving as a judge for this year's Cybils Awards, helping to choose the year's best in children's and young adult books, in particular, fiction picture books. I do, after all, read, sometimes even with the stereo off.
Starting yesterday, people were able to nominate books in a whole range of children's book categories, and already people have left more than 50 comments on just the Fiction Picture Books category. I expect a lot more to be nominated by October 15 when nominations close. (My work starts on January 1 when the finalists are announced.)
So if you've got a great book for kids -- fiction picture books or otherwise -- go to the website and nominate 'em!
ACL Fest (Austin Kiddie Limits) 2008: The View from Miss Mary Mack

New Music from Johnny Bregar

New Wee Hairy Beasties For The Holidays
Word from Sally Timms (AKA Monkey Double-Dippey) that the Wee Hairy Beasties will have not one but two albums coming out in the next 2-3 months. The first is Creepy Lullabies, a double 7" single which will be released Oct. 14 on their own, new Wee Beatz Records and credited to -- get this -- the "Wee Scary Beasties." Ha!
Timms promises "songs about lonely vampires, monsters busting a move, and a... veggie-patch dweller named Pumpkinhead." It's on vinyl, but there will be digital downloads available for those of us who aren't hip enough to have kept their record player. (You know what, they totally need to start releasing kids' songs on this kind of vinyl.)
The second album is a Christmas/holidays-themed album, which I believe will bypass the vinyl stage.
Because I love you guys, I'm gonna give you some recently-recorded Wee Hairy Beastie YouTubage...
And one more "Wild Thing"...
Celebrate Inauguration Day With Robbert Bobbert
I don't know the political leanings of Robert Schneider of The Apples in Stereo, but Little Monster Records will be releasing his debut children's music album as Robbert Bobbert -- Robbert Bobbert & The Bubble Machine on January 20th, 2009. That's right, Inauguration Day.
No word if Barack Obama or John McCain (or, for those of you a little more third-party-ish, Bob Barr or Ralph Nader) will ask Schneider to play the inauguration balls, though perhaps "We R Super Heroes" (track 2) might be appropriate.
The album will also be available for the holidays via digital distribution on November 28, 2008, thereby making the "Fall 2008" claim reported earlier this year reasonably accurate.
Here's the tracklisting...