More new (old) music for the Zooglobble Radio Station. This playlist airs middays (West Coast time) and lets me go through some of the songs recorded before the invention of the mp3 -- heck, before CDs and cassettes, even. My goal here for this playlist concept (and I'll occasionally update it in the future) is to include songs originally recorded before 1990. (Did you know they recorded kids music then, too? Amazing!) I think that Trout Fishing in America song is probably newer than that, but I'd been looking for an excuse to include them. So there. If you can't catch it midday, the tracks are scattered throughout the day, too.
The Beatles - Octopus's Garden (Abbey Road)
Burl Ives - The Little White Duck (Burl Ives Sings Little White Duck)
Carole King - Chicken Soup with Rice (Really Rosie)
The Deighton Family - When You're Smilin' (Bright Spaces 2)
Harry McClintock - Big Rock Candy Mountain (O Brother, Where Are Thou? soundtrack)
John Lennon - O Yoko! (Rushmore soundtrack)
Lily Laskine - The Girl with Flaxen Hair (Bedtime Beats)
Lord Invader with the Calypso Orchestra - Merrily We Roll Along (Smithsonian Children's Music Collection)
Mike, Peggy, Barbara & Penny Seeger - The Old Hen Cackled (Best of Land of Nod Vol. 2)
The New Seekers - Free To Be... You and Me (Free To Be... You and Me)
Paul Simon - You Can Call Me Al (Graceland)
Peggy Seeger - Mister Rabbit (Animal Folk Songs for Children)
Pete Seeger - Liza Jane (American Folk, Game & Activity Songs)
Peter, Paul & Mary - All Through the Night (Peter, Paul and Mommy)
Raffi - You'll Sing a Song (The Corner Grocery Store)
Sam Hinton - Billy Grimes the Drover (Lou Curtiss Collection)
Schoolhouse Rock - Conjunction Junction (Grammar Rock)
Suni Paz - Matarile - (Songs for the Playground)
Talking Heads - Stay Up Late (Little Creatures)
They Might Be Giants - Purple Toupee (Lincoln)
Trout Fishing in America - I Can Dance (Dance Party)
Vince Guaraldi - Linus and Lucy (Charlie Brown Christmas, plus countless others)
Due to internet radio restrictions, the playlist is in shuffle mode on the station -- songs are listed here in alphabetical order by artist (or, er, by their first names...)
Kindiefest 2010: Clementown
The band Clementown came from the Twin Cities to Sunday's Kindiefest public showcase with saxophone and quick-change artist along for the ride.
The saxophone -- well, there are few things that saxophones can't improve (oil changes? no, it'd probably improve oil changes, too), and it definitely added some funk to Kate Lynch and Chris Beaty's pop nuggets. The quick-change artist? Unfortunately, I don't have any good pictures or videos, but the band was accompanied as well by a woman who acted out in costume several of the stories from "Polkabats and Octopus Slacks" (I particularly liked "Eliza's Jacket," which indeed had dozens of numbered pockets from which to pull items). Not to mention Calef Brown's illustrations (the inspiration for the whole business to begin with) projected behind them. In total, it might have been the most theatrical performance of the weekend, and that's saying a lot.
Clementown - "Bathtub Driver" (Live at Kindiefest 2010) [YouTube]
The Best of the Laurie Berkner Band Set To Relieve Jack's Big Music Show Withdrawal Symptoms June 22
She performed with a whole bunch of folks at a Haiti benefit, she's performing with a whole bunch of folks for, er, Nickolodeon's benefit, and what else is Laurie Berkner going to do now? (No, not go to Disneyland. She's a Nick girl.) Well, as previously reported, she's going to release a greatest hits album.
Now we have the full details -- album art there to the side (which does reward the close viewer of the art -- see the moon with the nightlight chain?), release date (June 22), and track listing. It includes a few audio tracks from previously-released videos and "Open Your Heart," newly recorded with the band.
From an industry perspective, I find the release interesting because it's really the first greatest hits release from a kids music star in the digital world. How well will it do if folks can easily just make their own "greatest hits" CDs? Or do people still buy full albums, even for (especially for) kids? Track listing below:Kindiefest 2010: Mr. Leebot
I remember Mr. Leebot was playing a small gig Bill and I set up and now he's playing the big-time Kindiefest conference. Lee turned in a fun, energetic set (especially considering he's, y'know, a robot), but perhaps the liveliest part of the performance was when Tito Uquillas, Chris Wiser, and Tor Hyams came out to join Leebot for some robot dancing on, er, "Robot Dance." "Sensory overload," indeed -- they had some dancing skills heretofore unknown to us...
Mr. Leebot - "Good Bot" (Live at Kindiefest 2010) [YouTube]
Nickolodeon's Mega Music Fest: Biggest Mashup Ever
What do you get when you cross Yo Gabba Gabba! with the Laurie Berkner Band and Colbie Caillat? Synergy!
Or, at least, that's what Nickolodeon believes, as they announced yesterday the first-ever "Mega Music Fest." (Note to self: "Mega" is no longer a prefix, apparently. It's a word unto itself.) On May 22 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the channel will be hosting the concert and taping it for a prime-time special this summer. In addition to the folks above, the concert will feature Wycleaf Jean, the Roots, Dora the Explorer, and the Fresh Beat Band, along with Sherri Shepherd and John Leguziamo. Caillat, Jean, and the Roots will apparently be performing duets with the other folks.
For those of you thinking that this would make for a fun live concert experience, you're going to have to know people -- there's no mention of the concert on the BAM calendar even though it's just ten days before the concert.
I'm 99% sure that Caillat, Jean, and the Roots will be performing with the Nickolodeon folks, but would it be too much to ask for at least a Roots/Berkner performance? (Yes, apparently it would.)
Photo credit: Todd OwyoungKindiefest 2010: Sugar Free Allstars
At some point during the Sugar Free Allstars set at Kindiefest, I turned to the person standing next to me -- at that point in the set we were all standing -- and said, "Hard to believe they generate that much from just two guys." And it's true -- it's not that Chris Wiser and Rob Martin are playing 3 instruments each, it's just that they get the maximum sound out of their organ and drums.
They both also worked hard, Wiser especially, to get the crowd dancing, Wiser exhorting folks to stand up and wringing every last bit of energy out of their funky 17-minute (20-minute?) set. How much energy did they have? They finished the set quickly enough that they had time for an extra song. They also had time to pull Jeni Cosgrove, Mindy Thomas, and Jeff Bogle up to show their disco moves on "SFA Disco Dance Party" (picture below).
Sugar Free Allstars - "Cars and Trucks" [YouTube] (watch Mr. Leebot and the guys from Recess Monkey, among others, follow along to Wiser's instructions)
