Hooooz Howwsss?

Mike's House! Man, you gotta admire the tenacity of a four year old who braves a snowstorm just to make it to his weekly Public Library Picture Book Hour.

Julia Sauer (1891-1983) was a Children's Librarian at the Rochester, NY, Public Library from 1921 to 1958. She wrote this little tribute to the power of books and stories back in 1954, with illustrations by our man Don Freeman, he of Corduroy fame.

Now, you might think Mike is the kid trudging through the snow ... no, this little dude loves Virginia Lee Burton's Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel so much that he refers to the library as "Mike's House". This leads to confusion later in the story when Robert, during his snowy trek to the library, gets a little sidetracked and has to ask a cop for directions. After the policeman unsuccessfully tries to find a "Mike Mulligan" in the phone book, a waitress at the diner realizes Robert's talking about the Public Library. Hey, Robert may have missed this week's Picture Book Hour, but he's thrilled to the gills that he'll get to introduce Officer Jensen to Mike Mulligan!

Libraries rock, Preschoolers rock, and Preschoolers who love their library this much really rock!

Kidmusic @ Jalopy

Two things I took away from tonight's kidstock at Jalopy in Brooklyn:

One - I really, really, really, really hate going anywhere without my wife and baby.

Two - David Weinstone said (I'm paraphrasing here), "If yer in this business (children's music) to make money, write mediocre songs. If you write great kids' songs, yer not gonna do so well."

'Nuff said.

***Randy Kaplan***

Straight outta Park Slope, Brooklyn, Randy Kaplan presents an eclectic collection of covers and originals on his newest CD, Five Cent Piece. Released on his own Yellow Thing Records & Books label, Five Cent Piece runs the musical gamut from Judy Garland to the Stones, from Woody Guthrie to Jonathan Richman. Now, remember, kids' albums aren't meant to be the only source of musical history, so the fact that Kaplan includes a song made famous by the Rev. Gary Davis, two songs by legendary lyricist Yip Harburg, and another from the Bye Bye Birdie soundtrack doesn't mean he meant for you to ONLY listen to his version. It's an invitation to explore, to find out more about music and it's history and sources.

Kaplan's performance and style could most easily be compared to Arlo Guthrie; and, coincidentally or no, he covers songs by Woody and by Arlo, plus his 10-minute "You Can't Always Get What You Want" resembles Arlo's album side-long "Alice's Restaurant". The bohemian bluegrass/dixieland played by Kaplan and his extremely cohesive and talented band tie together the varying song sources into a unified package, so that Jonathan Richman's "I'm a Little Dinosaur", Elizabeth Cotton's "Freight Train", and "We're In the Same Boat, Brother" (made popular by Leadbelly), all sound like they were performed at the same sitting. Plus, his rendition of "Over the Rainbow" has to be THE sweetest you'll ever hear.

His originals are wildly original, showcasing Kaplan's love of the narrated song: a shark interrupts bathtime with a request to "Shampoo Me", the "Mosquito Song" details a conversation with a certain bloodsucker, and the "Roaches" that occupy Kaplan's apartment are into Kafka's "The Metamorphosis". And kids'll get a big laff out of his original lyrics to "Donut Song".

Dig the packaging and layout: Kaplan's profile graces the giant nickel design on the CD itself, while several street signs and storefronts in the foldout will be recognizable to Brooklynites. Lots of time and effort by Kaplan and fellow musician Tom Johnson went into the cover, which almost always means great music waits inside.

A sort of East Coast companion piece to Mr. David's The Great Adventures of Mr. David, Kaplan's first kids' CD (hopefully not his last) after releasing five for grownups will no doubt be equally loved by tots and their adults. Take the F Train over to the Perch Cafe in Brooklyn and check out a performance by this unique artist. And tell him to keep up the good work.

***Daniel Schorr***

What do you get when you cross Bob Dylan's vocals from Nashville Skyline with Ballad of Easy Rider-era Byrds music, and illustrate the whole thing with funky fresh Doug Allen drawings? Daniel Schorr's latest album, Every Word I Say is True, of course!

Brooklyn-based educator Schorr's second kids' CD on his Tee-Tot Records label is chock full of words, a veritable feast of lyrics, backed with one of the best rootsy country-rock soundtracks you'll ever hear on a children's album. Songs about a kid who never forgets anything, about the twelfth dimension, about dog-devoured homework, about brain appreciation; unbelieving adults, nagging parents (those durn grownups!), and snowball fights; tear-jerkers about bad luck and anthemic rockers detailing Santa's stab at musical superstardom.

This Owens/Haggard/Yoakum-influenced album brings the Bakersfield Sound hardcore, especially on "Elephant's Memory", "The Homework-Eating Dog Named Rover", and "If I Didn't Have a Teddy Bear", but two songs that break from the guitar twang are "I Was Lost, But Now I'm Found" and "The Emperor's Castle". The former, sung by Brian Dewan, is one of the best "oughta be on Broadway" tunes ever, and the latter, a synthesizer-driven socio-political statement, is reminiscent of The Monkees' "Zor and Zam".

So if'n yer littl'uns dig a weeping pedal steel and thick-string Strat solos, pick up Every Word I Say is True. Heck, go see Schorr play live if you're near Brooklyn and give him a big "yeehaw"!

***Hungry March Band***

One of the reasons I love living and working up here in the NYC metro area is the fact that you literally never know what's just around the corner. Now, imagine you're jivin' down Union Street in Brooklyn and suddenly you're face to face with a 25-or-so member marching band blasting out a Duke Ellington ditty, a swirling gypsy tune, or "Paranoid". Think Polyphonic Spree but with band instruments, and with a million times more punk rock spirit. That's right, people, the Hungry March Band want your attention, and they're gonna get it!

This Brooklyn-based ensemble of nebulous membership is all about the neighborhood, baby. They're intensely committed to social concerns and have many, many causes in which they're deeply involved. Musically, they seem to have massive amounts of fun but, believe me, they don't take their playing lightly. Their first two CDs, Official Bootleg in 2000, and On the Waterfront in '03 (with illustrations by Lower East Side legend Fly), were just warmups for this blast of reed & brass-fueled musical fury. Critical Brass, released in 2005, contains a dizzying array of covers and originals played with a possessed fervor unlike anything this side of Norfolk State University's band, songs that grab yer attention by the ears and force you to groove along. Pop in album-opener "Jupanese Ju Ju" and crank it up!

Check out their performance schedule, and see them live!!

DO NOT PLAY THIS CD QUIETLY!!!

***Asylum Street Spankers***

Finally! After months of "it's fixin' ta come out soon" updates and myspace soundbite leaks, what may be the album to beat in the kids' "CD of the year" category has finally been released. And believe me, folks, it was well worth the wait! If you're a fan of down-'n'-dirty, sweet-'n'-sassy acoustic ensemble music, yer gonna love the Asylum Street Spankers' first album for kids, Mommy Says No!

Between group releases and solo projects, this band from Austin has released a crapload of awesomely rowdy and raunchy music that, I promise, NEVER fails to get you on your feet a-dancin'. But don't worry, grownups, you can play Mommy Says No! for the tots without losing any of the Spankers' trademark feistiness, intelligence, and inventiveness. Lots of punky roadhouse blues, 20s & 30s jazz, rolling cajun rhythms, and western swing, all totally acoustic, all totally rockin', providing the soundtrack to childhood, you know, songs about the power of an awesome lunchbox, the joy and pride of getting rid of your training wheels, sweet tunes about admiration and friendship, the endless possibilities of the future, fear of the dark, and a frog with super powers named ... Super Frog!

This album of mostly originals also includes a jacked up cover of Nirvana's 1990 single "Sliver", a pretty straight reading of Harry Nilsson's "Think About Your Troubles" from his wonderful kids'/adult album The Point!, and Jack Palmer and Spencer Williams' "Everybody Loves My Baby", first recorded by brother Clarence Williams' Blue Five in 1924, then made popular by Ruth Etting and later by Doris Day, the Spankers' version of which will cause absolute mayhem on the Toddler dance floor.

Their funny songs are dirty, their dirty songs rock, and their rockin' songs are hilariously witty, so make sure to check out their entire catalog. They've recorded whole albums and EPs dedicated to weed and sex, but for Mommy Says No! the Spankers toned down the subject matter and continued full bore with the music. This shows a great faith in kids' music tastes on the part of the band, and the kids will appreciate the gesture. A hugely talented band with a great sense of humor givin' it up fer the kids. Their parents should be proud.

***ComputeHer***

Hey, kids, micromusic ROCKS!!! With an almost fanatical loyalty to computer systems of yore, ComputeHer, aka Michelle, has created an album of hyperdanceable tunes using an old Game Boy, a Game Boy Camera, a Commodore 64, an Apple IIe, an Atari 2600, an old Nintendo, a couple of Texas Instruments educational games, and a keyboard here and there. She goes all out and issues her CD, Data Bass, in a 5 1/4 in. floppy sleeve to the delight of us oldsters.

Of course, this genre has been alive for a while, and involves a mind-blowingly deep pool of devoted talent, but it seems to be getting really big in Europe, and I'm always up for new music formats. Besides, can you imagine the crazyass post-Toddler Time dance revolution this CD would cause? Interpretive moves like you wouldn't believe!

Check out ComputeHer's myspace page, including a few YouTube clips of live performances. Kids' music is supposed to be fun, and this is nothing but! Oh, and here's a pic featuring fellow music gamers at a show.