Live Video: "27" - Brian Vogan and his Good Buddies

The newest video from Brian Vogan isn't the masterpiece of "That's How a Pumpkin Grows" but rather a live video from Seattle's Labor Day weekend Bumbershoot festival. Here he is with his new band, the Good Buddies, doing the pensive counting song "27" from his new album Sing a Little Song. Brian Vogan and his Good Buddies - "27" (Live at Bumbershoot) [YouTube] Bonus video (just in time for fall and flu season) after the jump...

Itty-Bitty Review: Do Fun Stuff - Various Artists

DoFunStuff.jpgDo Fun Stuff is hardly a new idea -- there's a long lineage of compilation albums featuring adult artists recording songs for the swing set, er, set, arguably starting with Free To Be You and Me more than 35 years ago. Even the indie rock genre has been part of the act (see: Yo Gabba Gabba!, See You On The Moon, Colours Are Brighter, Play, and three For The Kids albums, just for starters). This album, the brainchild of music blogger Ryan Marshall (Pacing the Panic Room), is a worthy new addition to the tradition, the equal of many of those collections. Marshall used to work in the music industry and still has friends there, such as the indie-pop band Rabbit!, who contribute 5 of the album's 13 songs. They're some of the best tracks, such as the uptempo leadoff "Pass It On," the rock ballad "Always a Blue Sky," and the lullabye closer ("Sleep," and natch). But the other artists pitch in nicely in a similar indie-pop vein. A few of the songs tell a story or have some greater moral (hate to spoil it for you, but in Davey Rocker's "Morton the Caterpillar," Morton ends up becoming a butterfly), but it mostly has a gentle springtime bouncy feel. The songs here are most appropriate for kids ages 2 through 7. (Spin the tunes in the widget below.) This digital-only release is also noteworthy in 2 other ways: 1) it managed, albeit briefly, to hit the #1 spot in the iTunes Children's Music store, which is pretty amazing for an indie release, and 2) more importantly, it's a benefit album for which 100% of the proceeds will go towards funding graduate students who will do additional research into the Smith Magenis Syndrome, a developmental disability (Marshall's stepson is diagnosed with SMS). Little of that would matter if the album wasn't good. But it is good, worth your time and money. Fans of those indie-rock-for-kids albums above will definitely enjoy Do Fun Stuff as well and even if you don't know your Frightened Rabbit from your Rabbit! methinks your family can still rock (and mellow) out to the songs here. Recommended.

Above The Fold

Well, it's not every day you pick up your local newspaper and find your mug staring back at you (unless, of course, you're a particularly talented movie star or athlete), but that's what happened to me this morning. The Arizona Republic wrote an article on me and Zooglobble that was on the front of the "Phoenix Republic" insert -- and maybe others. Oddly enough, the article (and smiling mug) doesn't appear online (edit: it does now, here), but my list of recommended CDs (four recent favorites, six family favorites) that appeared alongside the interview in print does. You can read that here. (By the way, if you've stumbled across this website thanks to the article, welcome. If you're local and want to be kept up to date on local family music events, drop me a line -- see the e-mail address off to the right -- and I'll add you to my local events e-mail list.)

The Coloring Book is the New App

fun_book.gifThere are the high tech family music accoutrements (iPhone apps, videos) and then there are the low tech ones. Coloring books -- clearly the latter. Justin Roberts isn't the first to put together a coloring book -- I'm partial to John Upchurch and Mark Greenberg's coloring pages -- but he's released some fun pages. My tendency would be to ask a child to use yellow for the Yellow Bus, but I know that's not right. Download the coloring book here.

Announcing PlayMapped

JG_(CS07)-1.jpgBecause it gets so hot here in the Phoenix area during the summer when the kids are out of school, one of our major decision points in deciding where to go on vacation (if we take one), is, are there playgrounds there? Well, there are playgrounds lots of places. But really good ones -- with interesting play structures for the kids and shade and seating for the adults -- those are harder to find. Even on the internet, where the reviews and rankings can be brief (or with little detail for visitors). Even, dare I say it, for where I live. So I decided to start PlayMapped, a website devoted (mostly) to reviews of playgrounds from all around the country. That's right -- not only are there Phoenix playground reviews, but you can find reviews of, say, Seattle playgrounds or San Diego playgrounds. The website is young, so there aren't many reviews, though I'm working on adding some more. But as I have no intentions on giving up on Zooglobble (more music reviews this week!), and I haven't figured out how to get by on 3 hours of sleep, I need your help. I know there are lots of readers here scattered all across the country (and world) who like, value, and have opinions on playgrounds just like I do. If you're able to write even one review on a local (or distant) playground, I -- and other parents -- would be very grateful. Details on what I'm looking for are here -- it shouldn't take up much of your time, and you'll get a couple links back on PlayMapped for your time. So there it is. Hope you enjoy PlayMapped, hope you'll come back, and hope you'll add to the discussion. (And if you need more inspiration, just check out my list of songs for playgrounds.)

Yo Gabba Gabba Goes Back To School

Yo Gabba Gabba posted a couple sweet videos from their upcoming "School"-themed episode. (Note to YGG-wise -- we started school a month ago 'round here, but anyway...) My favorite of the two is definitely the retro-sounding "What Story Do You Want To Hear?" from Dr. Dog (of course), featuring a total Schoolhouse Rock video tribute. It's a great song and video. Dr. Dog - "What Story Do You Want To Hear?" [YouTube] One more from The Faint after the jump