KidVid Tournament 2012: The Official Pool!

In the past, when talking about the KidVid Tournament, I would inevitably make a joke about not to bet on the results as doing so could potentially be in violation of state and/or federal law. Well, I'm proud to say that I've found a way around that problem and eliminated one particular punchline. I'm announcing the Official KidVid Tournament 2012 Pool. That's right, no longer will you have to scour the Internet for unofficial pools related to the tourney or visit shady offshore gambling facilities. For KidVid Tournament 2012, you can enter the Zooglobble-sanctioned pool. Look at the brackets (attached at the bottom of this post), figure out who think will win each round, and e-mail that to me (zooglobble AT earthlink DOT net) by midnight West Coast time Sunday night/Monday morning. OK, sure, you're saying, but why should I do this? Well, there will be two winners, who will each receive a prize pack of 3 great family music CDs (I promise they'll be good). The first winner will be the person who correctly guesses the most total matchups (with 5 points given to correctly picking the winner of the whole tournament), with any ties broken randomly. The second winner will be picked randomly from all entries. You can get multiple additional entries for the random drawing by doing one or more of four things: 1) Tweeting about the tournament with a link to the KidVid Tournament 2012 bracket listing and using the hashtag #kidvid2012 2) Being a "fan" of the Zooglobble Facebook page and at least one other tournament hosting site (see the bracket listing for complete list). 3) Signing up for the Zooglobble newsletter (off to the side or at the very bottom of this post). 4) Tweeting about the tournament with a link to one of the first-round matchups next week and using the hashtag #KidVid2012. When you send me your pool entry, just let me know if you're submitting extra entries through items 1-3 below (either because you're already a "fan" or a newsletter subscriber or because you've newly become so). I'll look for anything you do on #4 once the tournament starts, obviously. If you have any questions, just shoot me an e-mail. Thanks, and have fun! [Brackets and newsletter signup after the jump.]

Announcing KidVid Tournament 2012

The KidVid Tournament 2012 is (almost) here! That's right, folks, the web's most popular fan-based tournament for the arbitrary qualitative ranking of kids music videos is back! For the sixth straight year, the best kids music videos of the previous twelve months will compete against each other in a frenzied two-to-three week period as if the determination of quality is based on fan interest on the Internet. I think it's kinda awesome. KidVid Tournament 2011 featured an exciting final showdown between Keller Williams and Sugar Free Allstars. Who'll make it to the final round this year? Well, that is up to you. So last week I announced my favorite kids music videos of 2011. In the past I've had to whittle down my list of favorite kids music videos down to just 16 to fit them into the tournament. But not this year. That's right, we're expanding to 32 videos! That's one more round and 16 more videos to jump into the action. This, friends, is the true March Madness (which is probably a trademarked phrase, so it's not the true March Madness at all). And, if you're going to add 16 more games, you're gonna need more help hosting these matchups. So I'm happy to announce that there will be eight great kids music writers and radio folks helping out to host this tournament:

Ages 3 and Up!

Dadnabbit

Gooney Bird Kids

Hilltown Families Variety Show

Out With the Kids

Saturday Morning Cereal Bowl

Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child

Zooglobble (of course I'm hosting, too!) As for the matchups themselves, the first-round matchups and all the brackets are listed after the jump...

Please Release Me: March 2012 Edition

It's time again for the latest list of new and upcoming releases, (here is last month's list). Additions to the list are noted with a "++"; changes to previously-mentioned items are indicated with italics. As always, if I've listed you on here and gotten something wrong (or something not ready for primetime), let me know and I'll edit or delete it. And if you're not on here and think you should be, drop me a line, too, and I'll get you added for the next iteration. ++ The Battersby Duo: Old Side of Young (March 16) The Good Ms. Padgett: ... Tells The Little Red Hen and Other Stories (March 20) ++Ellen & Matt: It's Love (March 23) Recess Music: La Bella Stella (March 27) Princess Katie and Racer Steve: Love, Cake & Monsters (March?) Central Services Board of Education: Binary [tentative] (March?) RhymeZwell: Robots on the Dance Floor (March?) Tim and the Space Cadets: Anthems for Adventure (March?) Alison Faith Levy: World of Wonder (April 1) Gustafer Yellowgold: Gustafer Yellowgold’s Year in The Day (April 3) The Pop Ups: Radio Jungle (April 3) Bobby Susser: Wo! (April 3) Mo Phillips: Monster Suit (April 10) Caspar Babypants: HOT DOG! (April 17) Sukey Molloy: I Am Happy! (April 24) Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band: A Bit A Luck! (May 8) Orange Sherbet: Delicious (May 15) Hope Harris: Picasso, That's Who! (May 22) Okee Dokee Brothers: Can You Canoe? CD/DVD (May) Secret Agent 23 Skidoo: Make Believers (May) ++ The Alphabeticians: Title TBD (May 2012) The Funky Mamas and Friends: Pickin’ In The Garden (spring) Elena Moon Park: Rabbit Days and Dumplings (spring) ++ Sugar Free Allstars: All On A Sunday Afternoon (June 1) Ratboy Jr: Title TBA (late spring/early summer) Recess Monkey: In Tents (June 19) The Dirty Sock Funtime Band: Dirty Socks Come Clean (June 26) ++ Elizabeth Mitchell: Blue Clouds (early summer?) Melissa Green: Sing Loud (July 31) Lori Henriques: The World Is A Curious Place To Live (July) Hey Dango: Blast Off (summer) Charity and the JAMband: Title TBA (Aug. 7) Randy Kaplan: Mr. Diddie Wah Diddie (summer) ++ Lunch Money: Spicy Kid (summer) (plus live album?) Hullabaloo: Title TBA (Sept. 4) The Diggity Dudes: Title TBA (Sept. 18) Recess Music: Someone Else’s Shoes (September 25) ++ Caspar Babypants: I FOUND YOU [?] (September) Andy Z: The Grand Scream of Things (Oct. 9) ++ Rolie Polie Guacamole: Triathlon (late 2012) Other expected 2012 albums: Ah-Choo, Peter Apel, Renee & Jeremy, The Bramble Jam, Eric Herman (2 albums: one music, one comedy skits), Keith Munslow (2 albums: one solo, one with Bill Harley), Wayne Potash, Alex and the Kaleidoscope Band, Shine and the Moonbeams, Yumza!, Rockabye Baby albums for Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers, Elska, Ozomatli, Justin Roberts (2 CDs)

Review: Musical iPad Apps for Kids

I know. I know. I agree with you: instead of playing music on the iPad, kids should be using honest-to-goodness instruments, including those instruments known as their own voices. But sometimes kids want to play on the iPad and if some of those games and books are primarily musical in nature, who am I to force them to play Angry Birds instead? So here are a handful of musical apps that have found their way to my iPad. Let's start off with the Puff, the Magic Dragon app, based on the classic song and popular picture book from Peter Yarrow and Lenny Lipton and featuring Eric Puybaret's illustrations. Like most iPad books, it features the ability for the reader to read the text themselves or to have it read to them. And as one would suspect, you can also have Yarrow and his daughter sing the song to you as the animation proceeds. But at $5.99, some people will find the app a bit pricy for the level of interaction (comparatively minimal) and animation (a little "chunky" compared to the level of Puybaret's original illustrations).

The Secret Mountain's A Duck in New York City app is, just like Puff, the Magic Dragon, a song (by Connie Kaldor) and a book (illustrated by Fil & Julie) that is now an app. On the positive side, the conversion of the illustrations in a collage-like format into moving pictures is well-done. On the negative side, the song isn't as classic as "Puff," though that's probably an unfair standard for comparison. Again, you have the option of reading it yourself, having it read to you, and listening to the song, with a karaoke option thrown in. For $3.99, the app is a little more affordable than the Puff app, but I'd definitely listen to the song before committing the money (and the memory space) for the app. With both these apps, I felt like something was missing, like the interactive nature of the iPad begs for more control and interaction (and, frankly, in the case of the "Puff" app, finish) than what they offered. Perhaps we haven't yet found a good music-book-to-app app yet. (It seems like a Gustafer Yellowgold app, done well, would be truly game-changing for the kindie world.) But there are other apps with musical DNA to consider...

Video: "States and Capitals" - Musical Stew

I really enjoyed Musical Stew's song "States and Capitals" -- see, it's there on my radio station playlist from earlier this week. It's from their self-titled 2007 debut. But this new video for the song takes it up to a whole 'nother level. The original video for the song is probably more useful from a rote learning perspective, but for sheer inventiveness, this new video has it beat. It's too late to sneak it into my list of the best videos of 2011, but I've got a good feeling about it and the 2012 list. And all of a sudden, I appreciate much more fully the puppetry backgrounds of the members of musical stew, "Macho Nacho" and "Mouth Trumpet." Musical Stew - "States and Capitals" [YouTube] (Hat tip: The Saturday Morning Cereal Bowl) After the jump, a bonus video from the band featuring the cutest electrical socket ever. I appreciate much more than I

Radio Playlist: New Music February 2012

Time again to update the Zooglobble radio station, covering assorted tracks collected in the first couple months or so of 2012. (You can see my January 2012 playlist here.) This playlist airs in the mid-afternoons (West Coast time), but if you can't listen in the afternoon, the tracks are scattered throughout the day, too. The listing below is in alphabetical order; the on-air play order is totally random (due to Internet music restrictions). Whoa Jack! - Andrew Queen (Grow) Gravity - AudraRox (La Bella Stella) Kick Drum Heart - Bari Koral Family Rock Band (Anna And The Cupcakes) Raccoon's Got A Bushy Tail - Ben Bowen (The Bumblebee EP) Why Is Dad So Mad? (Single) - The Board of Education (Why Is Dad So Mad? (Single)) Peanut Butter & Jelly - The Boogers (10 Great Songs About Food) Capybara - Brian Vogan & His Good Buddies (Born To Wiggle) Augustus Jackson - Ellis Paul (The Hero In You) Rocks 'n Sand - Essence (A Dog Named MOO... And His Friend ROO) The Moose Lives Where? - Farmer Jason and Jo Nesbo and Todd Snider (Nature Jams) Everybody Sing - Imagination Movers (Rock-O-Matic) Muscle And Bone - Katherine Dines (Hunk-Ta-Bunk-Ta Hits) States And Capitals - Macho Nacho And Mouth Trumpet (Musical Stew) Syeeda's ABCs (Syeeda's Song Flute) - Matt Wilson (WeBop: A Family Jazz Party) Rollerskate Banana Peel - Mo Phillips (Monster Suit) What Would You Do with a Grumpy Sailor? - Rick Huddle (Arrrr! Pirates Have Feelings Too) Sandbox - Riff Rockit (Riff Rockit) La Familia (The Family) - Sing With Senor (Uno Dos - Songs for Learning Spanish) Nightlight - Spaghetti Eddie! (Spaghetti Eddie! and Other Children's Songs Vol. 2) Se A Alegria Existe - Teresa Cristina (Brazilian Playground) Coconut Trees - Two Of A Kind (Sing Me Your Story)