Perhaps Los Angeles' C.J. Pizarro, AKA Mista Cookie Jar, was a fairly typical 4th grade classroom parent -- you know, donating tissue paper or markers when asked, contributing to the teacher gift. But he also helped create the song and video below, in which the kids look like they're having a blast. They also learned how to round numbers, though I'm kinda thinkin' Mr. Valdez taught them that before they recorded "Room 28 (That's How We Roll)." (Should you care to, you can download the track here.)
Mista Cookie Jar and the Chocolate Chips - "Room 28 (That's How We Roll)" [YouTube]
Dan Zanes Teaches You All the Ukulele You Need
OK, well, you probably need more, but it's enough to get started with. Dan Zanes has continued to release videos on how to make music on a variety of instruments -- guitar, mandolin, spoons, even. I was apparently not the only person who requested ukulele lessons, as Zanes has now released a ten-minute video of (very) basic ukulele technique. (Note: I actually think Dan had this recorded for a while, so I take zero credit for this whatsoever.) He covers the first three chords almost everybody learns when they first pick up the uke -- C major, F major, and G7. You know those three, and you can play a heckuva lot of songs. By the end he throws in C7 and F7, and you've got yourself a party.
You also know a lot of lyrics to "Crawdad."
Video: "That's What Friends Are For" - Frances England
The idea of fan videos are nothing new, obviously. I don't want to think how many hundreds of thousands of them are floating around YouTube. Fan videos for kids music are somewhat rarer -- Mindy over at Kids Place Live is starting to encourage them, and Caspar Babypants has 4 or 5 of them.
But now Frances England can join the crowd. She's got a fan all the way in Norway who's made a minimal but very cute claymation (mostly) video for England's contribution to the Many Hands compilation. This might just be the first fan-made video that makes it to the KidVid Tournament...
That's What Friends Are For from Nora May on Vimeo.
Video: "First Kid in Outer Space" - The Not-Its
Their next album Tag, You're It! comes out later this summer, but Seattle's The Not-Its aren't quite done with their last album. Their new video for the great track "First Kid in Outer Space" is up and it's a swell-looking blend of live-action and animation, directed by Gino Scarpino.
Also, it features a cute kid, so it's got that going for it, too.
And for what it's worth, I understand the band's running a contest related to the video -- go here tomorrow (Friday) morning for all the details.
The Not-Its - "First Kid in Outer Space" [YouTube]
The Ketchup Report, Vol. 9
Ketchup Report, Road Trip Division
A couple artists are currently embarking on pretty remarkable journeys. Heidi Swedberg is currently in Haiti bringing to the Global Family Orphanage in Les Cayes not just a couple dozen ukuleles (offered cheaply by Kala Instruments and purchased by the St. Brendan's Ukulele Club via bake sales) but also ukulele technique. As Swedberg notes the ukes are "compact; a box of 12 can fly at the cost of a suitcase." Swedberg said her first song would be “Ton-ton Buki”, the Haitian version of “Freres Jacques” - I'm sure they're long past that by now...
Second, Minnesota's Okee Dokee Brothers are heading down the Mighty Mississippi as we speak, part of their album-writing/portaging experience. They've received a bunch of publicity for the concept (guess it was more newsworthy than that time I drove down I-35 from the Twin Cities and sang along to a bunch of songs on the radio). You can follow their Mississippi blog here. The link below features an interview and a live cut of "Auctioneer" and an in-development track "Can You Canoe?"
More videos, songs, and concerts after the jump...Kindie Songwriting Club: Round 1: You Pick the Title!
It's time for the next stage in the first go-round of the Kindie Songwriting Club. As noted before, Hullabaloo's Steve Denyes went up and down the West Coast and picked these five fine songwriters (going up the coast from south to north):
Steve Denyes from Hullabaloo (San Diego)
Gregory Hollow Tree from The Hollow Trees (Los Angeles)
Charity Kahn from Charity and the JAMband (San Francisco)
Matt Clark (Portland)
Johnny Bregar (Seattle)
Readers e-mailed/commented/Facebooked their suggestion(s), and now I have three for you, loyal readers, to choose from. Here are the three song titles:
1) "There's Dirt in My Bed"
2) "Crunchy Munchy"
3) "Green Beans Everywhere"
Your task is to pick your favorite via the voting widget below. All votes are due by 9 PM Friday night West Coast time (of course). One vote per day, please. The winning title will then have not one but FIVE songs written using that as inspiration. Such a deal. Go forth and vote!
