***Secret Agent 23 Skidoo***

Asheville, North Carolina's thriving indiehop scene has given birth to what may be the finest example of "Kid Hop" to date. Hey, this isn't some joker reciting poetry over a Casio keyboard beat, nor is it a soulless cut-and-paste project by an intern at a corporate megaconglomeration kiddie entertainment entity. Joel Sullivan, aka Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, aka 23 Skidoo, aka Cactus, aka Agent 23, has been at the hip hop game for a decade now, and after creating several projects under the Granola Funk umbrella, he's written and produced a brilliant collection of hip hop songs for kids and their grownups. Easy is easily in the top ten kids' albums of 2008!

Tunes about imagination, curiosity, friends and family, and self-confidence, interspersed with tales of dragons, mermaids, and a musical grasshopper, are set to organic grooves and truly head bobbin' beats. These are great songs that celebrate the joy of life while addressing the importance of determination, creativity, and exploration. Three of the tunes on Easy, "Gotta Be Me", "Luck", and "Family Tree", are of chart-topping quality (hey, "Luck" already hit #1 on XMKids!), but the whole family will dig repeated listenings of the entire CD. Oh, and pair the song "The Bluegrasshopper" with Leo Lionni's picture book Frederick, a similar tale of initially misunderstood and underappreciated talent.

One of the coolest things about Easy is that so many Asheville musicians and bands lend a helping hand: Listen for appearances by Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band, Granola Funk Express, Caroline Pond, Jason Krekel of the Mad Tea Party, and Strut; and admire the playfully spacy album artwork by Athens, GA-based David Hale. This is a community project, and 23 Skidoo is steering the vehicle. He also gets assistance from his daughter Saki on "Family Tree", where she trades rhymes like a pro. In fact, check out the video below for a live performance of the song. Secret Agent 23 Skidoo's Easy is yet another example of a dad being inspired to be as creative in the arena of children's music as he is in the grownup world.

"Family Tree"

***Medeski Martin & Wood***

From the organic organ/bass/drum grooves to Jim Stoten's Yellow Submarine-inspired cover illustrations, Let's Go Everywhere is as playful as it is artistic, as fun as it is flawless. The jam band fan base that religiously follow Medeski Martin & Wood on tour will dig this trio's debut kids' album as much as any of the "grownup" CDs they've released, primarily because the band haven't compromised their style or sound or level of musicianship.

If you step back and look at the album as a whole, Let's Go Everywhere is at its core a dance record, and there ain't nothin' wrong with that. Almost half of the 15 tunes are instrumentals, most of which could set the Toddler Time Boogie floor on fire. The mysterious groove of "Cat Creeps", the bound-to-be-a-cake-walk-classic "Where's the Music", the joyful "Let's Go" ... c'mon, man, how could you listen to those songs and sit still?

Then there's the awesome half-time funk of the title tune, MM&W's interpretation of Geoffrey Mack's classic "I've Been Everywhere"; the transformation of "Pat a Cake" from a nursery rhyme into a badass rap (using an editing style explored by the Sursiks); and the rhythmic workout of "Hickory Dickory Dock".

Brooklyn-based MM&W have let their instruments do the talking for them over their 17-year career, so it's interesting to hear on Let's Go Everywhere a couple of tunes with vocal accompaniment. The baritone voice on the title track and the humorously swashbuckling "Pirates Don't Take Baths" belongs to Tim Ingham (rumored to be an alias for Col. Bruce Hampton), and John Lurie of the Lounge Lizards narrates the psychedelic spoken word fairy tale "The Squalb". The band themselves sing on "On an Airplane" and sure-to-be-a-hit-single "The Train Song".

The album is rounded off with what could be the theme from a Japanese western, "Far East Sweets"; the beautiful Americana waltz "Old Paint"; "All Around the Kitchen", a playful celebration of food; and the truly wonderful "We're All Connected", a tune that belongs on a Charlie Brown soundtrack.

A great album for the whole family from another in a growing number of bands crossing over into kiddierock land. "Let's Go Everywhere!", say MM&W. C'mon, what're you waitin' for?

Friday Free-for-All # 10

The Dino 5, Baby Loves Hip Hop

Prince Paul and members of Digable Planets, the Roots, Jurassic 5, and eMC are the featured artists on this installment of the Baby Loves Music series. Fans of Prince Paul's playful production (Stetsasonic, De La Soul) will dig this tale within a tale: Mom tells daughter a bedtime story involving the day-to-day ups and downs of five dinosaurs, backed with ridiculously catchy beats and believeably down-to-earth lyrics. Honestly, I can't see how this project can help but be a big hit, and it's no surprise Spike Lee has already optioned the Dino 5 for an animated series.



Yonah & Friends, This is the Day!

Yonah Gershator, daughter of children's book authors Phillis and David Gershator, presents musical versions of a dozen of her parents' picture books, along with six more tunes penned by mom and dad. Yonah's style, with vocal and musical assistance from Dave Hall, is more Broadway than pop, so this CD would be heard more likely in the classroom or library than on XM Radio. Teachers and Librarians could totally use this album in tandem with books like Greetings, Sun or Summer is Summer as a vocabulary exercise.



The Bummkinn Band, Rockin' the Yeehaw

Here's the thing about this CD: The music's great, no doubt about it (it's no coincidence Astrograss' Jordan Shapiro makes a big contribution to the album), but the lyrics tend to be a little self-consciously "kid music"-focused, to the point where they're on the outskirts of hokeyville. For instance, the songs "I Wanna Be a Tree" and "I Wanna Wagon Full of Roses" are standouts because they're just songs, not attempts to appeal to Hee Haw fans. Now, I'm pretty damn picky, so make sure to give this album a listen and form your own opinion. This is LA-based Bummkinn Band's second CD, and I have a feeling number three is going to be a great one.

Words To Grow On

Flipping through the LPs at Donnell I came across a 1968 Folkways reissue of Woody Guthrie's Songs to Grow On. Guthrie's liner notes were (and still are) so relevant to Children's Services in the library and to raisin' up a young'un in general, I just had to share them with you. Dig:

Now, I don’t want to see you use my songs to divide nor split your family all apart. I mean, don’t just buy these records and take them home so your kids can play around with them while you go off and do something else. I want to see you join right in, do what your kids do. Let your kids teach you how to play and how to act these songs out. (These and a thousand other songs.) Get your whole family into the fun. Get papa. Get mama. Get brother. Get sister. Get aunty. Get uncle. Get grandma. Grampa. The friends. The neighbors. Everybody. But mostly get your own self into it.

Please, please, please, don’t read nor sing my songs like no lesson book, like no text for today. But, let them be a little key to sort of unlock and let down all of your old bars.

Watch the kids. Do like they do. Act like they act. Yell like they yell. Dance the way you see them dance. Sing like they sing. Work and rest the way the kids do.

You’ll be healthier. You’ll feel wealthier. You’ll talk wiser. You’ll go higher, do better and live longer here amongst us, if you’ll just only jump in here and swim around in these songs and do like the kids do.

I don’t want the kids to be grownup. I want to see the grown folks be kids.

AMEN!!

Sign -N- Stride

Fitness for Mom, Fun and Education for Baby!
Join us for this unique fitness experience that combines walking/running with body strengthening intervals using exercise resistance bands and the stroller. During the intervals babies will be entertained by Kindermusik instructor Aimee Carter who will be introducing your infant to baby sign language and music. Research shows that early integration of music into your child's daily routine means improving their ability to think, reason, create, and express. It's about developing cognitive, physical, social, emotional, language and musical skills in your infant - ages newborn and up.

DATE: May 12 and May 16, 2008
TIME: 9 - 10 a.m.
LOCATION: May 12 at FishHawk Ranch Community (Meeting in Park Square)
May 16 at Westfield Brandon Mall (Meeting by the carousel in center court)

Newcomers receive a FREE Kindermusik Class

Also enjoy the FREE regular Stroller Strides classes held May 13 at Westfield Brandon, May 14 at FishHawk Ranch Community, and May 15 at Westfield Brandon. All classes begin promptly at 9 a.m.

RSVP FOR YOUR SPOT IN CLASS BY CALLING Ginger at (813) 394-7754!

Madison Square Summer Fun !

If you and your kids are in the Manhattan area this summer, drop by Madison Square Park to see and hear some of the biggest names in children's music. The schedule for "Madison Square Kids 2008" has just been released, featuring veterans and rookies, big stars and shining indies:

Tuesday, June 3: Danna Banana
Thursday, June 5: Father Goose
Tuesday, June 10: David Grover & the Big Bear Band
Thursday, June 12: Erin Lee & Marci
Tuesday, June 17: The Deedle Deedle Dees
Thursday, June 19: Bubble does Beatles
Tuesday, June 24: The Dirty Sock Funtime Band
Thursday, June 26: Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater
Tuesday, July 1: The Suzi Shelton Band
Thursday, July 3: Hot Peas 'N' Butter
Tuesday, July 8: Paper Bag Players
Thursday, July 10: Trout Fishing in America
Tuesday, July 15: Audra Rox
Thursday, July 17: Tada! Youth Theater
Tuesday, July 22: Funky Monkeys
Thursday, July 24: Robbi K.
Tuesday, July 29: Ernie & Neal
Thursday, July 31: Astrograss
Tuesday, August 5: Opus Ditty
Thursday, August 7: Jazz-a-ma-tazz featuring Hayes Greenfield
Tuesday, August 12: Ellen & Matt
Thursday, August 14: LuAnn Adams
Tuesday, August 19: Sweetbeatz featuring Meredith Wright
Thursday, August 21: John Flynn

Come on by this beautiful green oasis between 23rd and 26th Streets and Madison and Fifth Avenues every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 10:30am during the summer. Fun for the whole family!

Friday Free-for-All # 9

Medeski Martin & Wood, Let's Go Everywhere

If you dig MM&W's grownup albums, you'll equally like their "kids'" CD, a collection of originals, instrumentals, and covers that stays true to the MM&W sound. From Jim Stoten's Yellow Submarine-inspired cover art to the tunes laid down by the bass-drums-keyboard trio, this is a very groovy and funky affair. Especially awesome are the title track's remake of Geoffrey Mack's "I've Been Everywhere", and Chris Wood's original "The Train Song".



Ira Marlowe, Dream Time
(sorry, Ira, no time to scan the cover!)

Marlowe's third CD for kids continues his string of lyrically and musically adventurous songs. Ira paints his unique style with touches of '70's radio pop (Rupert Holmes, Steely Dan, Andrew Gold, etc.), and some of the tunes and production are little reminiscent of fellow kidrockers Mr. Laurence and Gunnar Madsen. "Rise and Shine", "Continents", "Mermaid", and "Lullaby" are great songs, but make sure to check out the epic "Soap Opera", a James Taylor-like surf rock waltz that details the battle of soap vs germs. Really!





Adam and the Couch Potatoes, One Size Fits All...!

Thick with harmonies and heavy on pop hooks, Adam Selzer's songs are fun, silly, and reeeeeeeeeally catchy! He and his fellow Nashvillians draw inspiration from superpop sources like The Beach Boys, Sesame Street, The Hudson Brothers, The Beatles, The Archies ... you get the drift ... to create a great set of giddy rock and roll tunes for kids.

Wizard Rock !

We Are Wizards, the documentary about the phenomenon of Harry Potter-associated rock bands, recently had its world premiere at the SXSW Documentary Competition. The film was directed by Josh Koury, produced by Gerald Lewis and edited by Myles Kane.

Now, to outsiders this all might seem a little eeevangelical and cult-y, but it's not like that at all: Kids have found a group of heroes (and villains) in this series of books, and bands like Harry and the Potters, Draco and the Malfoys, The Whomping Willows, The Hungarian Horntails, Remus and the Lupins, The Slythendors, The Parselmouths ... hey, there are currently 471 Wizard Rock bands listed on the Wizrocklopedia website! ... have merely brought them even more to life through their music. To quote Harry and the Potters from their myspace page, "We play songs about books!"

I like books and music, so, cool!


"We Are Wizards"