First it was Ralph's World, then it was the Imagination Movers. Let's wrap up this look at Disney's current set of YouTube videos from some of their artists by looking at the best video artist of the bunch, They Might Be Giants. The band's got a new CD/DVD set, Here Comes Science, coming out next month. There aren't any videos from the new set up yet, except for the briefest of snippets from new songs and the previously-released video for "Ballad of Davy Crockett (in Outer Space)." So, let's console ourselves with some fine work from the past...
This song is awesome - the "please clean your room" aside slays me every time. (From Here Come The 123s)
They Might Be Giants - "One Everything"
Video: "Farm" / "Can You Do It" - Imagination Movers
So, as I mentioned before, Disney's started posting videos of their musical acts on YouTube, and I'm going to post a few of them here. This time around, it's the Imagination Movers, who've just released a new album, For Those About To Hop. There aren't any videos from that album (yet), but here are a couple of videos from the first season of their Disney TV show, embedded for your (or your kids') instant gratification.
Imagination Movers - "Farm"
(I'm sorry, even after hearing this maybe 50 times or more, the line "The roosters! / The roosters! / The roosters are tired!" puts a smile on my face. I'm a dork.)
Video: "Gotta Be Good" / "Dance Around" - Ralph's World
The fine folks at Disney have decided that if they can't beat 'em, join 'em, which means, yay, YouTube! They've started to post individual videos from their artists on YouTube, and today I'm going to feature them, just because I feel like it.
This one is from Ralph's World's latest album with Disney, The Rhyming Circus, a driving number featuring his band wearing t-shirts spelling out "RALPH." It was either this or a video featuring Ralph Covert in a Sgt. Pepper's-like outfit. I'm guessing Covert didn't have final wardrobe say on these. But I really like this song.
Ralph's World - "Gotta Be Good"
Just When I Thought I Was Out...
Not too long ago, I quietly removed my "Offsprung" link from my sidebar. The site, which was started by Neal Pollack in the heady go-go months of 2006-2007, quietly died as a site for content due to "technical difficulties."
But now Offsprung lives! I'm back on it! Best of all, it's a Ning site, so the stuff actually works again!
For the most part, I'll be cross-posting stuff from this site over to my page there, but I'll be sure to let you know if there's something cool going on there.
And, really, folks, there's a lot of cool parenting discussion going on over there, it's not like every other parenting website. Not for everyone, perhaps, but if it is, I think you'll dig it.
You Know, Mindy, Peter Himmelman Has Some Theme-Writing Experience...
Sirius-XM's Kids Place Live has been busy as of late, what with a whole bunch of folks filling as Robbie Schaefer heads for Uganda on a KPL-related mission. And you've got people like Peter Himmelman stopping by in advance of the release of My Trampoline later this month. As previously noted, the album is the first from Minivan Productions, whose head Dan Perloff is there in the photo along with Mindy Thomas, whose Absolutely Mindy show is looking for a theme song.
Specifically from you, the kids music community. (Or I'm sure she'd be happy to have Spoon write something, too. But I think she wants you.)
The song should be about 30 seconds to one minute long, recorded to CD, and snail mailed and postmarked by August 14th. Mindy will (try to) air all entries received throughout the week of August 17 to the 20, and a final song will be chosen on Friday, August 21. The winner themester will be interviewed live on Mindy's show and have their winning song played every afternoon "UNTIL WE GET TIRED OF IT," as Mindy puts it. (The fine print entry details can be found here.) I think artists should enter just for the chance to be interviewed live by Mindy.
And who knows, maybe Himmelman was there in DC he was cooking up some ideas for a post-Land of Nod-related theme. (And, er, he's scored a bunch of TV shows.)
Photo courtesy Sirius-XM Satellite RadioLicensing Kids Music, Italian Division
We occasionally cover the use of kids music for commercial purposes, from Dan Zanes' dalliance with Wal-Mart and Coke to Kira Willey's "Colors" being used in an ad for Dell Computers. Plenty of other folks have had their kids music licensed for other purposes -- Justin Roberts, the Jellydots, for example.
Here is the most unlikely use I've seen this year. Didi Pop recently had "Feed the Pet" from her self-titled debut used for... a line of kids wear from an Italian fashion house. That's right... Laura Biagiotti licensed the use of the tune for their line of dolls. (To hear it, just go to the website, and after clicking on English -- or "Italian" if you're bilingual -- click on Laura Biagiotti DOLLS.) I wouldn't exactly put "get music licensed by an Italian fashion house" on your kids' music to-do list, but, hey, it happens...
