I know, I know, I talk about The Jimmies a lot. So even though their videos are awesome, and they've posted incomplete clips of two more videos on their website, I wasn't going to post anything here. "Cool To Be Uncool" is a fun song and will feature a bunch of green-screen and wind machine technology, but it could wait. "Soaper the Scaredy-Bot" is a live video, and features an appearance by the title character, but is, well, just a live video.
And then Soaper started tap-dancing.
Go to the Jimmies' video page now for the next week to see. (And, yeah, Ashley told me about it, but I'd forgotten.)
Did The Banjo Not Fit In The Bathroom?
A couple months ago, the Barenaked Ladies' Ed Robertson posted on YouTube 3 songs recorded in his bathroom from BNL's excellent kids music CD Snacktime!
Well, now he's back.
Ed Robertston (Barenaked Ladies) - "I Can Sing"
Personally, though, I miss the banjo of the original, which just gives it an ever-so-slightly higher level of goofiness.
Interview: Steve Roslonek (SteveSongs AKA Mr. Steve)
Steve Roslonek, better known now as SteveSongs, now has a new role (or a new AKA) as Mr. Steve, one of the morning hosts on PBS KIDS, on which he performs interactive songs music about the day's theme. He also has a new DVD out, The Marvelous Musical Adventures. He's touring behind the DVD. There is no truth to the rumor that he is also playing on the Red Sox, but it does seem like Roslonek's got a busy, busy schedule right now.
Nevertheless, he found a few minutes to chat with me recently. Read on for his musical background, how his Mr. Steve spots have evolved, and how being Mr. Steve is like visiting Canada.
Zooglobble: What music did you listen to growing up?
Steve Roslonek: Oh, Schoolhouse Rock, the Muppets, Sesame Street... My parents listened to everything from James Taylor to Motown, to Men at Work.
What was your musical playing background?Train Songs (Updated)
It's "Transportation Week" at Little Boy Blue's preschool, so I decided to put together a CD of transportation-related kids music to be played in his class.
Man, was that hard work.
I don't have anywhere near all my kids' CDs loaded on my hard drive, and even then, I had waaaay more good music than I could fit on a CD. (And, really, 2 CDs would've been overkill.)
So I've decided to update my list of train songs for kids.
If you've got more (and I know there are, there was only so much I could do), list 'em in the comments.
Add Josephine Cameron To The List of Zooglobble-Approved NPR Artists
Well, I guess technically speaking I had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Josephine Cameron's recording of "Long Track Blues" was heard on NPR last night as part of a discussion with Nikki Giovanni on her new book/CD collection Hip Hop Speaks To Children: A Celebration of Poetry With a Beat.
But, hey, I did give Cameron's album American Songs Vol. 2 (and "Long Track Blues," first recorded for that CD) a good review last May, so that's got to count for something, right?
OK, not really, but still, that's cool.
Interview: Jason Hammel (Mates of State)
The band Mates of State consists of just two members -- the husband-and-wife team of Jason Hammel (drums) and Kori Gardner (keyboards), though the two seem like such equals that I could've just as easily called them the wife-and-husband team of Kori and Jason.
Their excellent fifth album Re-Arrange Us was released this spring; it finds the duo broadening their sonic palette in a bunch of hook-laden songs. Lyrically, the songs cover relationships -- no surprise there -- but more so about the hard work of relationships after the initial attraction fades.
In addition to their rock albums, Gardner is known for writing a blog about her experiences recording and touring with Gardner's and Hammel's two kids, Magnolia and June. They also covered "Jellyman Kelly" for the For The Kids III compilation and are going to be appearing on Yo Gabba Gabba! this season.
All of which is why I talked with Jason Hammel last for this kids music website. He chatted with me for a few minutes by phone last week. Read on to find out his first 7" record, daughter Magnolia's favorite song off the new album, and what prevents them from recording a kids album.
Zooglobble: So what music did you have around the house growing up?
Jason Hammel: We had that holiday Snoopy album, and my Dad had some Monkees albums... My first 7" record was the theme from The Greatest American Hero...
That's a great song!
Yeah, I remember taking it to school in first great and thinking it was so great to have my teacher play it there in class.
You and Kori made the band a full-time thing in 2001, but did the birth of your kids somehow change how you approached your musical career, business-wise or otherwise?
