Somehow it's not entirely surprising that the youngest kids at the KindieFest 2009 showcase rocked the hardest and played the least "kid-friendly" set. Which isn't to say that the kids from the Paul Green School of Rock were playing stuff you wouldn't want your kids to hear. It's just that Heart's "Barracuda" isn't a song in the typical library set.
But the kids can play, sing, and certainly had no shame taking control of the stage. If it wasn't perfect, it was done with gusto and with a heckuva lot more confidence than I had at their age. That right there might be reason enough...
One more photo...
The toughest barrier Mariana Iranzi had to break at her KindieFest 2009 showcase was probably not so much language as much as it was familiarity. While many of the acts on the showcase were pretty well-known names to the industry crowd, Iranzi was more unfamiliar. She'd only released her album Aventura Collage earlier this year, so many folks might not have heard her before the showcase.
Having said that, Iranzi and her band indisputably rocked. She might have sung most of her songs in Spanish, but her set (just like her album) covered a much broader range of melodies and musical styles. At times it was like Belly was up there on stage, singing for kids (and in Spanish). I look forward to seeing (and hearing) what happens as Iranzi gets more experience playing (and writing) for kids.
Mariana Iranzi - "Bluesando"
Photo used with permission of J.P. Stephens from the band Lunch Money; visit him at Lumos Studio. Woot!
Last year, I was a pretty big fan of the KC Jiggle Jam. When the lineup was announced about a month ago, I became an even bigger fan, saying "it's just a question as to whether the Jiggle Jam is the best family music lineup this year or the best family music lineup ever."
Well, even if you can't make it to the KC Jiggle Jam, held Memorial Day weekend (May 23-24, 2009), you can still take in the show vicariously. The good folks at the Jiggle Jam have offered up a prize pack to a lucky Zooglobble reader that even folks stuck in Antarctica for the next six months can take advantage of. One lucky reader will win a t-shirt, hat, and a compilation CD featuring most of the Jiggle Jam artists. To enter, write a comment below with (may as well help out the Jiggle Jam folks) the one thing besides the music that a kids music festival absolutely must have. All entries due by 11 PM Central Daylight Time Monday night; one entry per family, please. I'll pick the winner randomly. Thanks and good luck.
(PS -- Unfortunately, I can't go -- I'm going camping -- but Jeff from Out With The Kidsis. Lucky guy.)
Will this brand new video from Billy Kelly and his Thank You For Joining The Happy Club disk be your favorite? Maybe, maybe not -- all I know is that I did enjoy the ever-increasingly jolly "SPRINGTIME" and the subtle milk reference at the end of the video. (Oh, and with the white shirts and ties, is the band merely the older brothers of the Jimmies?)
Billy Kelly and the Blah Blah Blahs - "Springtime: It's My Favorite"
Everybody knows who the secret weapon is on The Biscuit Brothers' TV show.
It's Tiny Scarecrow, of course.
But after Tiny, the Brothers' other secret weapon is the somewhat underutilized Buttermilk Biscuit. Well, perhaps underutilized until now, because here's a feature of her very own, "Buttermilk's Dance Party." The concept -- teaching dance moves -- is pretty basic, but the execution is simple and elegant.
Now if they could do some sort of cross-promotion with that Dance Dance Revolution game, they'd be set.
The Biscuit Brothers - "Oh Susanna" (Buttermilk's Dance Party)
If that's too easy or too hard for your kids (or, er, you), a couple more videos after the jump.
An oddity of the KindieFest 2009 showcase was that the headliner, Ralph's World, actually played their set smack-dab in the middle of the showcase (as opposed to the final set). Mr. Ralph's World himself, Ralph Covert, had already played a couple shows earlier in the day, but you wouldn't have known it from the long, energetic set he turned in. More so than probably any other performer, Covert attempted to engage the folks in attendance, from regaling them with a story about dealing with Disney (a story that might not have been of interest to an audience made up primarily of 4-year-olds but was of great interest to the industry-heavy crowd in attendance) to several times encouraging the audience to sing or dance along.
What I'll remember most about the set, I think, is Covert inviting all the musicians in attendance up on stage with him for "Sunny Day Rainy Day Anytime Band." It's a song that the 4-year-olds typically hop up on stage for, but most of the adult musicians there up on stage air-guitar-ed (and air-bass-ed, and air-drummed) with their inner 4-year-old, so it really didn't make much of a difference. It's a song that I've never been that enamored of on record, but totally rocked on stage.
Ralph's World - "The Rhyming Circus"
Another song (an oldie but goodie) and picture after the jump.
Somehow it's not entirely surprising that the youngest kids at the KindieFest 2009 showcase rocked the hardest and played the least "kid-friendly" set. Which isn't to say that the kids from the Paul Green School of Rock were playing stuff you wouldn't want your kids to hear. It's just that Heart's "Barracuda" isn't a song in the typical library set.
But the kids can play, sing, and certainly had no shame taking control of the stage. If it wasn't perfect, it was done with gusto and with a heckuva lot more confidence than I had at their age. That right there might be reason enough...
One more photo...
The toughest barrier 
Last year, I was a 
An oddity of the 
What I'll remember most about the set, I think, is Covert inviting all the musicians in attendance up on stage with him for "Sunny Day Rainy Day Anytime Band." It's a song that the 4-year-olds typically hop up on stage for, but most of the adult musicians there up on stage air-guitar-ed (and air-bass-ed, and air-drummed) with their inner 4-year-old, so it really didn't make much of a difference. It's a song that I've never been that enamored of on record, but totally rocked on stage.
Ralph's World - "The Rhyming Circus"
Another song (an oldie but goodie) and picture after the jump.
