World Premiere Video: "No School Today" - Danny Weinkauf (plus free download!)

Setting aside the fact that Danny Weinkauf has not, up to this point, released a kids music album, he's got a pretty good resume -- for many years he's played bass with a little band known as They Might Be Giants and has written kids' songs for them, including "I Am a Paleontologist."

But on April 29 all that changes with the release of No School Today, his first solo collection of family-friend pop-rock, powered in part by Kickstarter.  And while you'll have to wait another 3 weeks or so to hear the whole thing, today I'm proud to world-premiere the first video from the album.

The video for "No School Today" (directed by Ryan Hanrahan) matches the good humor of the power-pop song with a little bit of lyric video and a WHOLE BUNCH OF SOCK PUPPET.  The sock puppets -- including a Weinkauf lookalike -- I can almost guarantee will bring a smile to your face (especially if you're a TMBG fan).

As a bonus, you can download the track free for the price of an e-mail address in the widget at the bottom of this post.

But really, check out the video.

Danny Weinkauf - "No School Today" [YouTube]

KidVid 2014 Tournament Champion: Karen K and the Jitterbugs - "(I Woke Up in a) Firetruck"

It went from my list of favorite kids music videos of 2013 to voting for the initial stage of the 2014 edition of the KidVid Tournament to voting in Semifinal #1 and Semifinal #2 to a championship match, but during the entire week, the eventual winner seemed to be pretty clear: Karen K and the Jitterbugs' "(I Woke Up in a) Firetruck."

The Boston-based band had the loudest (or click-iest) fans in this year's contest, supporting this sitcom-esque (in more ways than one) video featuring a firefighter-themed cumulative song.

So, congratulations, Karen K and the Jitterbugs!  Don't let your KidVid 2014 title go to your heads!

Karen K and the Jitterbugs - "(I Woke Up in a) Firetruck" [YouTube]

Listen To This: Follow Me - Little Miss Ann

Oh, look, it's a new album from Chicago's Little Miss Ann.  It's Follow Me, and although it's officially released May 1, she's put it up for the world to stream.  The album, pushed out into the world courtesy of a Kickstarter campaign, features some sprightly originals like the title track and "Can You Make a Circle?," not to mention the classic "Bushel and a Peck" from Guys and Dolls.  Worth some time to check out.

Little Miss Ann - Follow Me [Bandcamp]

KidVid 2014 Tournament Final: Karen K and the Jitterbugs vs. Frances England

It went from my list of favorite kids music videos of 2013 to voting for the initial stage of the 2014 edition of the KidVid Tournament to voting in Semifinal #1 and Semifinal #2, and now we're at the final two: Karen K and the Jitterbugs and Frances England.

Karen K and the Jitterbugs' '70s-sitcom-aping video for "(I Woke Up in a) Firetruck " from Big Ol' Truck crushed (in a kindly, kindie way) Duke Otherwise on Friday.  That video faces off against Frances England's stop-motion collage video (from Antonina Clarke) for "Day You Were Born" from Blink of an Eye, which had to go to overtime to defeat Alison Krauss (singing a Sandra Boynton tune).

Well, why wait any longer to vote?  As always, the rules are brief and simple:

1) One vote per family.

2) Deadline to vote is 8 PM Monday night West Coast time.

3) Be nice, play fair, have fun, don't get obsessed with it.

With that, watch both videos and vote!

Frances England - "Day You Were Born" [YouTube]

Karen K and the Jitterbugs - "(I Woke Up in a) Firetruck" [YouTube]

Weekly Summary (3/31/14 - 4/6/14)

KidVid 2014 Tournament Semifinal #2: Karen K and the Jitterbugs vs. Duke Otherwise

As noted yesterday, the voting for the initial stage of the 2014 edition of the KidVid Tournament from my list of favorite kids music videos of 2013 has ended and the top vote-getters are (alphabetically)...

Duke Otherwise - "Brussels Sprout Shout!"

Frances England - "Day You Were Born"

Karen K and the Jitterbugs - "(I Woke Up in a) Firetruck"

Alison Krauss (via Sandra Boynton) - "End of a Summer Storm"

Yesterday featured England v. Krauss.  Today's Semifinal #2 features Karen K and the Jitterbugs' '70s-sitcom-aping video for "(I Woke Up in a) Firetruck " from Big Ol' Truck facing off against a dinner party dressed as if they might do some jitterbugging later in Duke Otherwise's video for "Brussels Sprout Shout!" from Creepy Crawly Love.

As always, the rules are brief and simple:

1) One vote per family.

2) Deadline to vote is 8 PM Friday night West Coast time.

3) Be nice, play fair, have fun, don't get obsessed with it.

With that, watch both videos and vote!

Duke Otherwise - "Brussels Sprout Shout!" [YouTube]

Karen K and the Jitterbugs - "(I Woke Up in a) Firetruck" [YouTube]