This video for "A Song About Ferrets" from Karen Potje's 2008 jazz-folk disk (with a hint of country) Can't Help But Love You, Baby is a mix of Eric Herman's "The Elephant Song" and Rocknoceros' "Trying To Write a Song." That's not a bad pair of songs to be reminded of. Perhaps not quite in either song's league, but definitely amusing enough.
Karen Potje - "A Song About Ferrets" [YouTube]
Check Out That New Logo!
Hopefully you're seeing a fancy new logo up there at the top of the page and down a bit along the right-hand side of the link bar. Isn't it pretty? I think so (though I probably need to increase the resolution a bit).
When I first started thinking about getting a professionally done logo to replace my own poorly-crafted one, for a variety of reasons the first name that came to mind was that of Brandon Reese. I knew there was a lot of talent in the kids music field -- Billy Kelly, for example, or Kevin Kameraad, not to mention musicians with a nice eye for design, such as Frances England. But Brandon was definitely my first choice.
You're probably familiar with Reese's work -- he's designed album covers for Lunch Money and The Jellydots, not to mention a bunch of games and other stuff for eeBoo. (And I interviewed him a little more than a year ago.)
He has a sense of whimsy and play along with a strong design sense, two things I wanted to convey with this new logo, and I think he nailed it. That logo on the right is what I like to think of as the main logo, the one that if I were to sell all sorts of stuff would be plastered all over it. (Anybody need a men's organic t-shirt?) But it's got a very portrait orientation and sometimes I'm all landscape-y, so Reese designed a second logo that incorporated part of that first logo...
Anyway, I'm very happy with the logo. Thanks to Brandon for taking some pretty vague design concepts and turning them into something with a virtually no fuss. If you want to learn a little bit more about the design process for this logo and Reese's next projects, read on...Crowdfunding, Part 2: Matt Clark Kickstarts His Project
Two or three weeks ago, Jim Cosgrove, AKA Mr. Stinky Feet made a splash in the kids music world by announcing he was "crowdfunding" his next album by asking for supporters to pledge money toward the costs of recording, producing, and distributing the next album. Cosgrove's views on why he went this route are essential reading for kids musicians. He also noted that he hadn't previously heard of Kickstarter, a site which helps musicians (and countless others) do the same thing.
One major difference, though, between Cosgrove's approach and Kickstarter's is that Cosgrove's going through with the project regardless. (In fact, I'm pretty sure he's starting recording this week.) But if a person seeking Kickstarter help doesn't reach the required amount, they receive squat.
So let's hear it for Portland, Oregon's Matt Clark, who's established the first genuine kids music Kickstarter project. That's right, if you go here, you can be part of another crowdfunding experiment. $3 gets you 1 mp3; $5 gets you 2, and so on. My favorite level -- $50 gets you (among other things) 3 chances to name the new disk.
Clark's debut, Funny Little Fella, was a nice little disk -- here's hoping he gets the $3,000 to have round 2 see the light of day.
Video: "All My Friends Are Insects" (from Yo Gabba Gabba!) - Weezer
You know the deal -- if I can't embed a video here, I don't like to post it. Why post something with just a couple lines of text and a link?
But I'm willing to make an exception if the video's pretty awesome, and the Yo Gabba Gabba! video for "All My Friends are Insects" as performed by Weezer, the creation of which we noted here a few months back, is pretty awesome. It was on the Nick YGG site last night, but was gone this morning, apparently because Entertainment Weekly has an exclusive. Oh, well, good for them -- go watch it.
It misses the complete awesomeness of Steve Burns' "I Hog the Ground" video, but by just a hair. Also amusing: the raging discussion of how earthworms are not insects.
I dunno. Doesn't bug me.
Video: "Is It Really Any Wonder?" - Renee and Jeremy
Is there another pair of voices in kids music who blend as sweetly as Renee and Jeremy? I submit to you the answer is no. This is one of the sweetest songs from C'mon, but if they sat around at home and sang the phone book, I'd listen. (Also, note: the last time they did this, Jeremy's hair was much shorter.)
Renee and Jeremy - "Is It Really Any Wonder?" - [YouTube]
My Favorite Kids Songs of 2009
I know, it's March now, and I'm still trying to sum up 2009. I already gave you a list of my 20 favorite kids music albums of 2009, now it's time for my 20 favorite kids music songs of 2009. As with the albums, I tried to limit myself to songs on albums from a general Nov. 1, 2008 - Oct. 31, 2009 timeframe, consistent with the Fids and Kamily Awards. I've tended to think of music in terms of albums and not individual songs, so I know that I've omitted some great songs here, but I'm working on changing that in the year ahead.
Anyway, in alphabetical order, here they are...
