Crowdfunding, Part 4: The Okee Dokee Brothers Join In (with Chipin)

First Jim Cosgrove, then Matt Clark, and now the Twin Cities' Okee Dokee Brothers are hopping on the crowdfunding bandwagon. Unlike the other two, the Brothers have gone ahead and recorded their new album Take It Outside (and paid for it) ahead of requesting folks to help them out. So it's really not "crowdfunding" as much as it is a massive pre-order campaign with "rewards" ($150 gets you a CD, book, t-shirt, and a liner-note shout-out). Still, with Tor Hyams producing and Adam Levy from Bunny Clogs helping out, the August release is one to be anticipated. Details here or donate straight away below...

Interview: Kenny Loggins

KennyLoggins_lowres.jpg Zooglobble: What did you listen to as a kid? Kenny Loggins: Well, my parents tried "What's Up, Doc?" But I had big brothers, and so I listened to Bob Dylan, Buddy Holley, the Rolling Stones. I listened to Dick Huggins, who had a rockabilly show. I'd listen with the covers over my head at midnight. He played early R&B -- "forbidden music." There's was a joy sharing that with my big brothers. Eventually I came around to James Brown, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino... Tell me about how you got into the kids music genre... I remember that after Leap of Faith, Danny, my executive at Sony called me and I said I wanted my next album to be Return to Pooh Corner. He said no, but I insisted. I had a real clear picture in my mind of what I wanted to do. The secret to calming the child is calming the mother. Is it possible a parent could love something as much as my kid? The album became the biggest-selling kids' album of all time -- I hit the adult audience, too. I got thank you notes from Quincy Jones, Don Henley. Right now the kids music genre is still defining itself, figuring it out through trial and error. It's so unclearly defined that I don't completely trust the definition. What was the inspiration for the new album?

Video: "The Great Outdoors" - Ralph's World (Toot & Puddle)

I got pitched this video for "The Great Outdoors" in part as an "Earth Day"-related video. Considering I'm posting this after Earth Day has already passed on the East Coast, perhaps it would've been better if they'd pitched it to me (not to mention posted it), say, yesterday. So let's call this an early celebration for Friday -- the weekend, a time to travel. Also, this is one of the better songs from Ralph's World's new album All Around Ralph's World and features some nifty animation from the Nick Jr. show Toot and Puddle. I particularly dig the butterflies. Ralph's World - "The Great Outdoors" [YouTube]

Radio Playlist: New Music April 2010

Time to add some new music to the Zooglobble Radio Station. This playlist airs in the mid-afternoons (West Coast time) and includes tracks from some of the disks that have crossed my desk over the past couple months (mostly, anyway -- I wanted to include Daisy Mayhem and Haley Bonar -- so sue me). There are some tracks from forthcoming albums -- Recess Monkey, StarFish, Sugar Free Allstars. Even if you can't listen in the afternoon, the tracks are scattered throughout the day, too. The Cat Came Back - Alex Sanders (And The Meowtones) - Eats Paste Cinderella - Andrew Queen - Too Tall The Crawdad Man - Austin Collins And The Rainbirds - Eats Paste Sleep the Whole Day Through - Bill Harley - Rock & Roll Playground Ranky Tanky - Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem - Ranky Tanky Willy Won't - Debbie And Friends - More Story Songs & Sing Alongs Half Rock Angel - The Dirty Sock Funtime Band - Sock-A-Delic In The Morning - Flannery Brothers - Move Over Lullabies... It's Time For Wake Up Songs! Sing! - Funky Mama - Sing! Sing With Me - Haley Bonar - Sing With Me Buckeye Jim - Heidi Swedberg and the Sukey Jump Band - Play! We Love, We Learn, We Grow - Lennon's Song - We Love, We Learn, We Grow Circles - Mista Cookie Jar - The Love Bubble I Wanna Stand Up - Opus Ditty And The Hoedown Gang - Let's Go Fishing Tiny Cool - Princess Katie & Racer Steve - Tiny Cool Ralph & Ralph's Song - Ralph And Ralph - Opposites Worms - Ratboy Jr. - Smorgasbord Constellation Conga - Recess Monkey - The Final Funktier Playground!!! - Roy Handy & the Moonshot - (I'm Gonna Be) Your Best Friend Rhymes - StarFish - Enter Sandbox Little Red Wagon - Sugar Free Allstars - Funky Fresh And Sugar Free Willie and the Hand Jive - Taj Mahal & Linda Tillery - Rock & Roll Playground New Game - Tim And The Space Cadets - The Greatest Party Ever Shake It Off! - Uncle Rock - The Big Picture Due to internet radio restrictions, the playlist is in shuffle mode on the station -- songs are listed here in alphabetical order (according to iTunes, which doesn't like last names so much).

When Will We Hear the Pied Piper Pledge Drive?

PiedPiperRadio.jpgMove on over, Click and Clack -- here comes Pied Piper Radio. Amberly Warnke from Ages 3 and Up! has gone big time, developing a biweekly radio show for the Public Radio Exchange. The goal? Distribution to public radio stations across the country. And why should you care?