There is no such thing as working out the kinks on your new music anymore, even in the kids music genre. Thanks to YouTube, we can hear artists try out their latest stuff.
Such as this tune from the DC-area band Rocknoceros. You'll have to get past 30 seconds of announcement-type stuff, but after that, a new tune from their upcoming Pink CD. "Gonna Get A Haircut" features sweet harmony, guitar solos, and the phrase "flattop." I think.
Rocknoceros - "Gonna Get A Haircut" (Live)
But wait, there's more!
Dan Zanes in Seattle ("Shining Star")
Well, the contest to win tickets to Dan Zanes' Holiday House Party has come and gone, but someone's finally gone ahead and posted a clip from his performance at Seattle's Moore Theatre. Even with the MST3K-like heads obscuring part of the action, you can see that there must be, like, a dozen people up there on stage. The Zooglobble winner for the Seattle show reports that there was tap dancing and shadow puppets.
And, by the sound of this clip, yodeling. Lots of yodeling.
Dan Zanes and Friends - "Shining Star"
Tickets for the NYC run, which starts next weekend, are here.
Videos, Videos, Videos
I post my fair share (or perhaps more than my fair share) of videos around here -- heck, I even have my own irregulalrly updated YouTube video list -- but I'd be remiss if I didn't point out a couple other sites that deal in the world of video.
First off, I've been really slack in mentioning this, but Jitterbug is a kid-safe site for kids music videos. So if you like the types of videos I link to here, but your kids could do without all the other blah blah blah, I recommend heading over there for their growing collection of stuff to watch.
Second, Rock Tots is a newly-started collection of videos of kids playing music. It's as if "From the Top" ditched the classical focus and went straight to YouTube. OK, it's not really like "From the Top" at all.
So there you have it -- videos of adults making songs for kids, and videos of kids making songs for adults.
Listen To This: "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" - Charity and the JAMband
San Francisco's Charity and the JAMband has always been good about offering mp3s on their website, and now word comes from Charity that she's going to be offering these on a monthly basis.
The first one, for December, is a sweet little acoustic expansion of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Definitely worth the time to listen (and download). Sign up at the top of the page to be notified of future downloads.
Christmas With The Muppets
We've well-established that I'm usually a bit behind the pop-culture curve, so I'm not entirely surprised that I mostly missed the Muppet renaissance from the past six months.
I'm a little sad, however, that I didn't know about the existence of the "Habanera" as performed by some Muppets with less than, say, a fully-formed English linguistic set until now. (You can watch that particular video at the end of this post.)
Yes, in true viral video fashion, there are new, apparently authorized videos being created in Muppets' names. The "Ode to Joy" feautring Gonzo and his chickens, an amusing "Stars & Stripes Forever," and others. And now a video for a much more modern-sounding song, "Glad All Over," from next week's new Muppet special, Letters To Santa, has surfaced. It's not like it's anything special, but it's good to see the Muppets back on the air.
Letters To Santa airs Wed., Dec. 17 on NBC.
Itty-Bitty Review: Sesame Street Playground - Various Artists (Putumayo)
Sesame Street Playground, the latest globetrotting collection of kids music from cultural omnivores Putumayo, solves the problem of "what region do we tackle next?" by moving on to children's television. Sesame Street is broadcast all around the world, of course, and this collection culls a sample set of songs from some of those local versions.
The downside of the collection is that unlike a lot of the Putumayo compilations, the overall quality of the songs isn't as compelling. Sesame Street has such a rich musical history here in the U.S. that it almost seems unfair to limit it to just Elmo's Song, "Sing," and a Chinese-language rendition of "Rubber Duckie." It's not that the songs are bad (I like the India show opening "Galli Galli Sim Sim" and "Ricas Frutas" from Mexico), just that it casts such a wide net that there isn't the cohesion your hear on the other, more sonically focused collections. On the other hand, the disk also includes a DVD with videos for five of the songs on the album. It's the visual that gives a lot of context to the songs. On video, the point of the songs is clear, even without the captions that are provided. (And Putumayo's liner notes are, as usual, very strong.)
The album will be of most interest to kids ages 3 through 6; you can listen to clips and watch all the videos here. I don't think Sesame Street Playground has quite the repeat playability a lot of their albums has. But a lot of the songs are enjoyable and the videos serve as an easy introduction to cultures (or, at least, muppets) from around the world. If your kids enjoy Sesame Street, they may find this album an interesting side trip.
