Let's finish this week off in style, with a birthday salute to brilliant singer-songwriter "Weird Al" Yankovic, who turns 50 today, but has an attitude younger than kids a quarter his age. Actually, I never got around to it, so let Idolator send him off in style with this birthday salute.
But may as well link to one clip, the Devo-tastic "Dare To Be Stupid".
In Memoriam: Soupy Sales
I am too young to seriously appreciate Soupy Sales, so in lieu of words of my own, how about a few from Kathy O'Connell, host of the long-running Kids Corner radio show, who had this to say about her friend Soupy in an interview earlier this year:
You know Soupy Sales -- how did that come about and how's he doing? Basically, my friends and I stalked him when we were kids. If you’ve ever seen the movies The World of Henry Orient and The King of Comedy, my teenage years were a combination of those two movies. A community of 50 or so regulars grew among the kids who came to see Soupy’s show on Channel 5 in the ‘60’s. In that simpler time, my mother let me take the train from Long Island to his shows in NYC regularly. After Soupy’s show ended, some of his “gang” continued to go to his appearances, hang out in front of his house, even go to the airport when he went out of town. A friend and I even went to Atlanta to see Soupy in the play “Finian’s Rainbow” in 1968! I spent my college money on that, which didn’t go over very well in my house. Given what I wound up doing for a living, I say to him all the time: “Thank God I’ve wasted my life on you.” I have two Peabody awards because I followed that man!Condolences to Soupy's family, both immediate, close, and around the world...
Video: "Dinosaur in My Backyard" - Hullabaloo
San Diego's Hullabaloo have always done a good job making minimal, but effective, videos for their folk-pop songs. This video, for "Dinosaur in My Backyard" off their new album High Roller, owes a debt to the Toy Story movies, but that's not a bad debt to have, no?
Hullabaloo - "Dinosuar in My Backyard" [YouTube]
Shel Silverstein's "Underwater Land," uh, Resurfaces
With all the talk right now about another certain kids book writer who first drew national attention more than 40 years ago, it seems like good a time as any for Underwater Land to make a big splash. (If you're gonna groan at a simple joke like that, you should probably just stop reading right now because the album's definitely not for you.)
It's the brainchild of Shel Silverstein, well-known poet and author (Where the Sidewalk Ends, anyone?, The Missing Piece, lots of other stuff you probably read growing up and still have floating around your household), not to mention songwriter (hello, "A Boy Named Sue"). Underwater Land is a whole nautically-themed group(er) of poems (oh, c'mon, I'm tellin' you, the whole album's got 'em) set to music, sung mostly by Pat Dailey (that's Shel and Pat in a picture below) with Silverstein making a few vocal appearances. The album first appeared posthumously in 2002, but it's getting a new lease on life. Freed from Davy Jones' locker, so to speak.
Anyway, Shel Silverstein fans may want to give the samples at the site a good listen. After the jump, the tracklisting (finally, a second kids song about cuttlefish!), that picture of Shel and Pat, and Shel reading one of his earlier works...Stream Sarah Lee Guthrie / Johnny Irion's "Go Waggaloo" For Free
You know the deal. I really like Go Waggaloo, the first kids' music album from Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion, but, then again, I'm biased.
Anyway, the Smithsonian Folkways album is officially released next week, but for the next two weeks (through Nov. 3rd) you can stream the album in its entirety here. Just click on the pop-up player. But hurry, it'll be gone on Nov. 3rd.
(Also, for you Facebook folks, comment here and get a free song download code from Folkways.)Listen To This: "Wake Up" - The Verve Pipe
I could have named two, three dozen bands who rose to national prominence in the early-to-mid-90s before mentioning The Verve Pipe as a band who I'd expect to do kids music, to come out with a family album.
But they have. Literally.
The band's just released A Family Album, and it's about as far from "The Freshmen" as you could possibly get. Just get on over here, listen to "Wake Up" -- the album opener, a happy bit of power-pop with the kitchen sink thrown in -- and tell me you don't have a bit of a grin on your face when its two minutes are up. (And if that doesn't do it, "Cereal" is a song for which the phrase "over the top" was invented.)
Seriously, folks, I really think it's worth your time to check out; the whole album's available for streaming. Here's the tracklist...
