Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

This weekend, Bill Childs from Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child posted the unedited version of his daughter Ella's interview with They Might Be Giants. You should definitely check it out if you are a fan of They Might Be Giants, Benjamin Franklin, or Nikola Tesla.

When I was in high school, my grandpa and my dad didn't always like my music. But there was one song we could all agree on.

I liked this version (They Might Be Giants, 1990):



Papa liked this version (The Four Lads, 1953):



I think my dad kinda liked both. :)

Save the Music: For the Kids Three

Fids & Kamily: First off, the 2007 Fids & Kamily Winners were announced this week! Last year, the rock stars of the kids' music blogosphere (Stefan from Zooglobble, Bill from Spare the Rock Spoil the Child, and Amy from The Lovely Mrs. Davis Tells You What to Think) joined forces to set up a panel of judges and choose the best kids' music of the year.

• You can check out the Best Music of 2007 for Kids and Families just in time for holiday gift lists.
• Be sure to read Stefan's wise article Share Your Music and Let Them Share Theirs while you're there.
• You can also hear selections from all the winning albums on Spare the Rock Spoil the Child.

For the Kids: For the Kids Three ranked #12 on the 2007 Fids & Kamily Awards list. I recently received a review copy of this CD in the mail from Nettwerk Music Group. Now, I was interested because Nettwerk is the uber-hip record label/music management firm out of Canada that has consistently gone against "traditional" methods of operation in favor of a more grassroots approach. They were one of the first to embrace DRM-free (digital rights management) music, believing that if you buy a song, you should be able to play it on whatever device you want. They joined in the fight when the recording industry sued a Texas teenager for filesharing...Nettwerk offered to pay all the teen's legal fees during the fight. CEO Terry McBride's famous quote was, "Suing music fans is not the solution, it's the problem." They were way ahead of the game even before waves of musicians began to drop their major labels like hot potatoes. I remember reading this article in Wired when Barenaked Ladies decided to ditch their label and go with Nettwerk for their management.

So with that history in mind, it's not too surprising that Nettwerk has been targeting bloggers as part of their marketing campaign for For the Kids Three. If Zooglobble gives it a "definitely recommended" and The Lovely Mrs. Davis has it in her Minivan Rotation, that's a pretty big buzz already (at least in the land of cyber-savvy moms and dads who pride themselves on music cred). And here I am writing about it, too...and that's, well, something.

The album, by the way, is quite cool. Definitely worthy of a #12 on the Fids & Kamily Awards. There are a couple misses on the album, but in general Nettwerk has gathered a bunch of hip, unexpected artists (like Moby and Hem and Over the Rhine) who generally perform adult indie-pop music and created an album for kids (apparently, the third in a very hip series). The music is a mix of traditional kids' songs (done very non-traditionally) and originals that will probably make you smile and dance around a bit. Highlights for me?

• My Little Bird by Rogue Wave (who I will *definitely* be checking out now)
• I Want to Have Fun by Of Montreal (fun is the operative word here)
• My Darling Clementine by The Submarines and Wheels on the Bus by Kyle Andrews (just because I didn't think these two songs could *ever* sound hip, and these do)
• Does Your Cat Have a Moustache by The Format (because this rocks)
• See You On the Moon by Great Lake Swimmers (sweet, sweet lyrics)

Bottom line: Even if you don't like kids' music, this album is worth looking at just to get a whole list of cool new artists to listen to!

Bonus: A portion of the proceeds of the album go to VH1 Save the Music Foundation, which is dedicated to restoring and sustaining music programs in public schools.

Grab Bag Friday: Good People Doing Good Things

My mother and I had a long conversation the other night about the under-rated importance of two things:

1. Being thankful
2. Laughter

It's true. Without those two things, I honestly think my life would be drastically different. I decided I'm going to try to dedicate a couple Grab Bag Friday posts every month to those themes.

So. In the spirit of being thankful for good people in the world (see Monkey Woman from last week if you're more in the spirit of laughter mood...ah, that *still* cracks me up), I thought I'd draw your attention to these two stories that really made me smile this week (and I promise, they're not super sappy...just good stories about good people doing good things):

Bill Childs from Spare the Rock Spoil the Child wrote a post about some teeny tiny mittens and an unexpected act of generosity and kindness from a stranger.

Amy Schimler (one of the illustrators who is contributing artwork to this year's Robert's Snow auction) wrote a very sweet tribute to her friend Vi that shows how a kind word can really make a difference in someone's day.

If you have a good people/good things story, feel free to post a comment & share it with the rest of us!

Have a great weekend!

Jumping Monkeys!

Thanks so much to Bill Childs (from the must-hear family music show Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child) for the mention in his interview on Jumping Monkeys this weekend. So cool to find myself on the same list as They Might Be Giants, Elizabeth Mitchell, Frances England, and Dan Zanes!