Dan Zanes' list of guest artists would make just about anybody envious -- Suzanne Vega, the Blind Boys of Alabama, the Kronos Quartet, just to name a diverse few.
Well, the Broadway album Zanes previously mentioned now has a name (76 Trombones), a release date (November 17), and a guest list that just adds diversity -- Carol Channing, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Matthew Broderick, Broadway stars all.
The album reflects songs from MPL Communications' extensive library of Broadway songs and will include “Hello Dolly” (featuring Carol Channing, of course), “I Like Everybody” (from The Most Happy Fella with Mitchell), “I Don’t Need Anything But You” (from Annie), “I Can Do That” (from A Chorus Line), “Before the Parade Passes By” (from Hello Dolly with Broderick), and “Tomorrow, Mañana” (from Annie). Plus a bunch of other guest artists. No word on which Meredith Willson track Zanes is playing...
Given that Zanes hasn't even formally released his next album (the Fine Friends Are Here DVD) before finalizing this release, I'm kinda thinking he needs a nice vacation.
Kids Music Fights H1N1 Flu
That's right, folks, nothing like the onset of the cold and flu season as an excuse to watch two excellent kids music videos.
The first is "Nice 'N' Clean," and it's from Chromeo, a band that you will not typically listen to with your kids. But Yo Gabba Gabba has a way of getting folks to do all sorts of songs you wouldn't expect. This song is all about washing your hands, and has a funky synthesized video to go along with the funky synthesizers. There's no embedding, but it's worth going here and watching it with the kiddos.
And then, yeah, you have to do the elephant.
The Jimmies - "Do The Elephant" [YouTube, also on the forthcoming Trying Funny Stuff DVD]
Concert Recap: Chuck Cheesman (Phoenix, September 2009)
Another fun set of shows at the Children's Museum of Phoenix this past weekend, this time featuring Flagstaff's Chuck Cheesman. The set we saw was a nice mix of originals, familiar tunes (Woody Guthrie, the Beatles, Joel Frankel), and movement stuff appropriate for preschoolers. To avoid copyright concerns, Chuck and I decided not to post covers. Unfortunately, that's usually when I happened to push "record" on my Flip. Little Boy Blue deleted another video, leaving me with this. It's not that I don't like this particular song (the last time we saw Chuck, we said "Ahoooooooy, mateys. Arrrrrgh!" for, like, a month). It's just that it doesn't quite show off his wonderful voice to best effect. Anyway, those of you in preschool (OK, and those that mind them) will appreciate this.
For Arizona-area folks, Chuck's playing (as is Laura Freeman) at the Pickin' in the Pines festival up in Flagstaff this weekend. Weather should be awesome.
Chuck Cheesman - "The Pirate Song" [YouTube]
Video: "Big Truck" - Rebecca Frezza and Big Truck
It's pretty simple, really. There's a big yellow truck goin' down the road. It's a long road. Rebecca Frezza drives the truck, the band piles in the back. (They're standing and playing instruments, which seems like not the safest method of travel, but the truck is animated and smiling, so I guess it's OK.) Lots of colors, cute animation, and a flute solo. Not complicated, but it works. The video's also on the band's new EP, Rockin', Ridin' and Rollin', out later this fall and which features Sesame Street's Gordon, Roscoe Orman, on the cool, instruction-following "Hey-O."
Rebecca Frezza and Big Truck - "Big Truck" [YouTube]
In Memoriam: Sam Hinton
When I first heard of the death of singer/folklorist/cartoonist/marine biologist Sam Hinton today, the first person I thought of was NPR's Melissa Block, who in one of my chats with her showed her enthusiasm for an album from her own childhood, Whoever Shall Have Good Peanuts. The album was re-released in 2006 on Smithsonian Folkways (review) and was a fine example just how far a good voice, a guitar, and a sense of humor could get you. In Hinton's case, really far.
I shouldn't have been surprised, then, when later today I heard Block chat on the air with Leanne Hinton, one of Sam Hinton's daughters, on Hinton's passing at age 92 last Thursday. By any measure, Sam Hinton led a full and wonderful life, managing to raise a family, give concerts, and help run the Scripps Oceanographic Institute. But of course, as is so often (sadly) the case, it takes someone's passing to truly appreciate a life, and that's the case here...
Video: "Put It To the Test" - They Might Be Giants
All things considered, "Meet The Elements" is my favorite video off They Might Be Giants' Here Comes Science DVD/CD. (I'll post that one some day when it gets stripped of all the Boing Boing folderol.)
But "Put It To the Test" is -- hands down (whatever that means) -- the funniest.
They Might Be Giants - "Put It To the Test" [YouTube]
