“Do Fun Stuff” is a new album full of various kids’ music artists doing what they do best: entertaining kids. The album was grown from an idea by kids’ music blogger Ryan Marshall, who heads the blog Pacing the Panic Room.
Artists featured on the album include Rabbit!, Cracker Jackson, Scampi, Davey Rocker, and more. Not only does this great new kids’ CD feature great bands, but the album’s proceeds benefit children suffering from Smith Magenis Syndrome, a disease that causes mild to moderate mental retardation in children.
Do Fun Stuff is available now on iTunes, and is currently one of the top 10 kids music albums.
If you’re curious as to the songs on the album, you can go www.dofunstuff.net to stream Do Fun Stuff in its entirety. You can also make a donation straight to Marshall’s cause here.
Calling all NYC parents looking for an engaging way to entertain the kiddies…. hop on board The Bossy Frog Band tour! Jeffrey Friedberg and The Bossy Frog Band are appearing in the REALLY BIG SHOW, an hour of non-stop fun featuring award-winning music, juggling, jokes and the silly antics of The Bossy Frog. Join Friedberg on banjo and guitar, Alice on hula hoop and fiddle (at the same time), Joe on bass and backup vocals, the big green silly Bossy Frog and comedic juggler Will Shaw for a memorable family event. This totally interactive show will keep kids, ages 2 – 8 years old, dancing in the aisles.
The show will be performed in three different locations throughout New York State:
Monday October 11th – 11am at Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Peter Norton Symphony
Space 2537 Broadway at 95th Street
$15-$18
Tickets at Symphonyspace.org
Sunday October 31st – 11am at the Playgroup Theater
One North Broadway, White Plains.
$15
Tickets at www.BossyFrog.com
Thursday December 30th – 11am at BOCES in Nyack.
Tickets at www.artsrock.org
By now even YOUR parents have heard of the Jonas Brothers. Those three young boys have become as big and as mainstream as it gets. But where do you go if you want to know about tween music before it becomes a national phenomenon? That’s easy, the answer is Radio Disney. Responsible for introducing the world to great kids artists such as Miley Cyrus, Hilary Duff and Raven Symone, this channel plays a lot of music that you would find on the Disney Channel along with safe top 40 hits. Taking a cue from the 1940’s, Radio Disney launched their first scripted serial in July of this year title My Dream” about a fourteen year old girl trying to make it in the music industry.
In addition to the great kids’ music, they also offer lots of chances to win fun prizes. Listen to RadioDisney.com or XM/ Sirius on channel 115 as well as on many AM stations across the country including AM 1560 WQEW in New York.
So you’ve probably heard about Selena Gomez, but tune in to Radio Disney so when Mitchel Musso and Daphne Blunt become household names, you’ll be able to say you knew them before they were stars.
After the Pacific Northwest children’s music collective Kindiependent emerged many months ago to create a tunes for kids, another group has now gathered in LA. Artists Making Family Music (or AMFM), was cofounded by Deborah Poppink (of DidiPop) and Birdie Mendoza (of Birdie’s Playhouse).
Their goal is to put on shows for children and families in need of assistance, as well as creating an active sharing community for children’s musicians the world over. The group is said to be, according to the founders, “a group of family musicians that gather to support each other in the business and art of making children’s and all-ages music. Meetings consist of brainstorming, sharing successes and challenges and creative work, such as songwriting.”
There are also rumors of a SF-based group emerging in the coming months, involving a Sippy Cups member, and someone from the Recording Academy. So it seems to be a new trend out on the West Coast. When will the East coast jump on?
The group is making news, appearing on the cover of the LA Times and on various children’s music blogs. There are a lot of plans in the mix, so keep an eye on their sites to find out more info from them. Visit their Facebook page, or check out the founder’s sites http://www.didipop.com & http://www.birdiesplayhouse.com.
Thinking that your child may have the gift of rock? Well maybe you should look into sending them to school to be trained by real rock musicians. Rock Stars in Training is a school based in Los Angeles that gives children a chance to learn music from recording artists and performers. Songs from all decades are covered and your kids get to play along with talented artists.
The classes are for children 0-4 and the kids will learn the basics of tone and pitch by singing along. Instruments such as guitar, banjo, keyboards, percussion and more are introduced to the class. Kids will have a chance play along with the lessons.
Twin sisters Lauren and Dana, who are in the band Malibu Storm, started the school. Lauren’s husband Dr. Marc Milstein, along with the twins, created and developed the educational enrichment program. Check out a video of their band here.
There is even the option to pull together a group of kids and have the classes come to you. Online enrollment is available at here. They’re available for birthday parties, which can be tailored to 6-11 year olds as well.
Chris Ballew is a name that most wouldn’t be able to identify immediately, unless you saw this video. Yes, it’s the singer/bassist from the Presidents of the United States of America, and yes that song will be in your head all day now. For some time now, Ballew has been recording and performing kids music under the moniker Caspar Babypants. His third album in 24 months, This Is Fun!, will be released this November and will feature vocals by Ballew’s son and a plethora of other guests, including Charlie Hope and Elizabeth Mitchell. Former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic also joined the group for one track on the album, a cover of the classic grunge track “Sliver.”
To hear a new track title “Happy Heart” and for more information on shows and older material, check out www.babypantsmusic.com.
Kick off your sandals and jump right in; this is one “sandbox” we don’t mind our kids playing in. This rockin’ CD, whose title is a poignant nod to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” is steeped in 70s rock-influenced bands, from Cream to Yes. While the guitar, keyboards and drums behind this Jersey-based band may hail from another generation, the messages of these songs are timeless: from having a time-out to the ever-popular parental response “no.” One of our favorite tracks is just plain fun to listen to: the signature “StarFish Stomp,” a fun shout-out to kids rocking around the world (see if they mention your hometown). Check out StarFish’s east coast summer tour schedule for a concert coming to a city near you:
Saturday, June 19, 11 am – Scholastic Store, NYC
Sunday, July 11, 1 pm – Staten Island JCC www.sijcc.org (private)
The internet is full of music, lots good and lots bad, but kids music seems to be overlooked online. Gooney Bird Kids means to change this by streaming kids’ tunes 24 hours a day to children around the world.
In August 2006, Gwyneth and her two kids were sitting around on a rainy day in Atlanta when she thought up the idea for Gooney Bird Kids. Now four years later, they’re going strong. There are themed days of music, as well as the latest in kids tunes. GBK also post a lot of music videos and concert reviews of kid bands. There’s even a huge list of kids’ bands and musicians on the site that links to each groups’ tunes.
Recently GBK posted a link to Zoogobble’s radio station, another great kids music resource, so check that out as well! Overall, lots of great info and, of course, great music. Visit today!
As the story goes, Stephan Shepherd’s wife was asked to edit the newsletter for her parenting group. At one point, she asked her hubby to add some reviews of kids’ music. Months later, ZooGlobble emerged from the “internets” as one of the best kids’ music blogs out there.
Taking a quick jump over to ZooGlobble yields a plethora of kids bands and some great snippets of their tunes. The blog is very well set up, even breaking down each post by age-appropriateness, from 0-double digits. There’s a lot of great polls, even tour reports (SXSW has a kids band stage?), and some great industry news overall.
Word also has it that Shepherd does a bit of promoting and gets some good bands to come to his hometown of Phoenix. Grab your kid and log on to ZooGlobble now for the latest and greatest in the world of kids’ tunes.
In honor of the release of Here Comes Science, the new kid’s album and animated DVD from They Might Be Giants which comes out September 1, here is a classic video from one of our favorites, the Grammy-winner Here Come the 123s.
John and John present the days of the week, with Never Go To Work:
