The Ketchup Report, Vol. 11

It's time for another roundup of all things ketchup related... OK, not really, it's just a variety of stuff that caught my eye (and ear) since, well, the last Ketchup Report. This one is an all-video edition. Except for these words right here. And the ones below.

First off, this is how you do a promo for a kindie album. A very effective teaser for Alastair Moock's forthcoming album These Are My Friends featuring Moock and Annad Nyack. If there was a tagline for the teaser, it might be "It's just crazy enough to work!"

The Green River Festival has come and gone, and all we have to remember it by are tons of YouTube videos. (And maybe a t-shirt.) By "remember" I mean, "experience it vicariously from, like, 3,000 miles away." Here's Barbara Brousal playing "Rockabout My Saro Jane" at the Meltdown stage -- I'm highlighting it because a) it's good to see Brousal performing live again, b) she's heard on Dan Zanes' version of the song on his new album Little Nut Tree, and c) I like it. (That's sufficient, right?)

Barbara Brousal - "Rockabout My Saro Jane" [YouTube]

Speaking of Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child, it seems there may be another compilation album in the works, a follow-up to Many Hands: Family Music for Haiti. I have no idea if this new Deedle Deedle Dees song performed by the Dees' Lloyd Miller will be on it, but it's worth a spin:

Lloyd Miller - "Marie Curie" [YouTube]

This one's just for the aspiring uke newbies. Left-hand fingering isn't my problem -- strumming is. Marcy Marxer, half of Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, comes to the rescue. (Seriously, teaching chords in a book is easy, but how to strum? Difficult.)

And finally, here's are a couple videos that are actually, like, videos. First one is about a year old, but it's a catchy (and self-promotional) tune from the Raytones. (Not that there's anything wrong with that -- have you ever heard "They Might Be Giants" from They Might Be Giants? That one's good, too.) The animation si from the Planet Sunday folks that do videos for Debbie and Friends and the Hipwaders.

The Raytones - "Little Ray" [YouTube]

And here's Mister G with the most globe-trotting kids music video outside of (and probably including) a Putumayo video. It's for the mellow, funky tune "Gonna Take My Hat" off his new album Bugs. Maybe the video makes all those vacations tax deductible.

Mister G - "Gonna Take My Hat" [YouTube]

Now Hear This: "Kansas City Rag" - Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer (w/ Adam Hurt)

Swam this morning, but didn't feel that excited about it. If only I'd seen this simple back-porch video of Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, joined by Adam Hurt on fiddle, playing "Kansas City Rag," before my workout, I'd probably have lasted a few more laps.

Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer with Adam Hurt - "Kansas City Rag" [YouTube]

Interview: Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer

Do family musicians have long careers because they have lots of ideas, or do they have lots of ideas because they've had long careers? While you're pondering the chicken-and-egg nature of the question, you can read this interview with Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, who might be exhibit A for consideration of the question. Over the course of more than 25 years of making music together full-time, they've got a lot of different plates spinning - albums, concerts, ukulele orchestras, creating musical curricula, and much more.

Their latest endeavor is called Sing to Your Baby, a book/CD set designed to encourage parents, grandparents, and other caregiver to, er, sing to their babies. The idea that everyone should sing to and with their kids from the get-go is an important one to me, so I wanted to spend a few minutes chatting with Fink and Marxer about the project. And, as if to emphasize the duo's reach across the broad spectrum of family music, we started out chatting about one of kindie music's hot new groups, the Pop Ups, and ended by talking about living legend Ella Jenkins.

Zooglobble: Good morning!
Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer: Good morning... so are you looking forward to going to Kindiefest?

I am. You?
We don't think we're going, but if plans change, we'll try... We're excited that the Pop Ups will be playing there.

As am I... It was interesting to me the first time I listened to this random CD and found out that y'all were on one of the songs.
Yes, and now one of the two, Jacob Stein, his father, Michael Stein, is the male vocalist on our album.

Really? [Checks his copy of the book.] Wow. Hadn't made the connection.
Cathy: Yes, he was in Country Current, the Navy's country band, when I first met him in the '70s. Later he performed and wrote songs for the Dinosaur Rock series. More recently, he became a cantor out in California.

OK, so I usually start out interviews by asking people what their earliest musical memories are. In this particular case, I'm wondering what memories you have of music-making and singing by your parents.
Marcy: I grew up in Detroit and my mom sang in a jazz trio. My grandmother was a barrelhouse blues player -- she knew everybody. There were a lot of black string bands made up of people who came up from places like Louisiana and St. Louis to work in the factories. People were expected to play, and if they didn't plan, they'd sing. We'd go to my grandma's house, or to parties and dances at the Henry Ford compound.

I remember having a tremendous bond with family members. When you're playing music, opinions don't get in the way. There's an equality between people. Now, at kids' concerts, we want parents and kids to sit, and sing, together. The new book is an early extension of that philosophy.

Cathy: I had a lot less music, but my mom was a good piano player, good at sight-reading music at the piano. So I remember her accompanying me as a four-year-old on my two favorite songs, "Beautiful Dreamer" and "Little Brown Jug."

Marcy: There's a big difference in how we grew up. I followed, but Cathy is an instigator of fun and music.

That doesn't surprise me. So moving on the CD itself -- what was the specific inspiration for it?
Cathy: There were two specific things. The first is that over the past 25 years, we heard repeatedly from parents that wanted to sing to their kids but didn't know how to or were told that they were no good at it. Then about four years ago, I was asked to serve on a local committee looking at how to engage families in the arts. The committee never went anywhere, but I was ready to go.

We wanted to start from birth, from the very beginning. We wanted to empower parents -- songs written in keys anybody can sing in, to create access... We had this vision of people listening with an earbud in one ear, the other ear listening to the baby, with the baby only hearing the parent's voice. In reality, though, we know people will use it how it's the most convenient for them.

The other inspiration was the opportunity to lead a singalong for a friend of ours who recently became a grandparent. We all gathered at someone's house and passed Chloe [the grandmother] around the group and each of us had a chance to sing songs to her.

How did we get to this point where so many people say they can't sing? Why do people feel that way?
Cathy: Well, some people are just told they can't sing. But our culture lets people push a button and be entertained. We try to do more -- we teach, sing with others, teach ukulele. Dan Zanes does a lot to encourage this, too. But we're all so busy... I realize the irony in that Sing to Your Baby uses electronics, but only as an aid. We heard a story about a 4-year-old whose family had an advance copy of the album who brought in her baby doll and sang to her.

We live in a fast-paced society. It used to be that parents were the entertainment center... [With the album,] anybody could feel that they could do this.

What is the source of the songs -- are they new, or have you had them sitting around for awhile?
Marcy: One song was re-purposed.
Cathy: It was a song of Marcy's called "Wherever You Go"
Marcy: I wrote it a long time ago for a godchild whose parents suddenly died.
Cathy: It was from our album Air Guitar. It was a beautiful song to end this album. It's about unconditional love -- a baby needs to understand that they're loved unconditionally.

What's next for you?
Cathy: We're doing workshops for new parents and caregivers to empower them, using the book as a textbook, sort of, plus giving tips.

As for the future, we have lots of thoughts and plans -- ten pages of things we want to do. We always have, like, 5 things going on. We're working a lot with the ukulele, doing music therapy practice. There are recordings on the horizon, but we have a lot of recordings out. I never run out of ideas...

By the way, I liked the review you did of the new Ella Jenkins CD...

Thanks... she seems to engender these feelings of adoration and total respect wherever she goes, as you would know.
Cathy: And she does the same thing everywhere she did at the Grammys. We were at an awards presentation for her recently that was held in a big church and she had all the men handclapping to "Miss Mary Mack." We can make the world a better place if we all sang.
Photo credit: Sara R. Coats. Illustrations by James Nocito.

The Ketchup Report, Vol. 1

Lots of interesting stuff crosses my (virtual) desk. Sometimes it grabs my attention and feels worthy of a full post all by itself and I have time and I write a post. Boom.

But sometimes it's just interesting, or I don't get to it immediately, or I don't have time to write something long and witty. (Or at least long.)

So I'm going to start what I'm calling "The Ketchup Report." Why ketchup? It's because it's for things you (or I) should catch up on. Get it? (I could have also called it, all apologies to Justin Roberts, the Mustard Report for things that must be heard. Ach, I'm having a meltdown.) Expect it semi-regularly.

-- Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer are celebrating more than 25 years in the family music business with a new 3-song EP, Triple Play -- preview and buy it here. They also have their 25th Annual Family Music Party -- when Ella Jenkins chooses to show up for a party, you know you've got it made.

-- Jamie Broza has a new album out soon -- I Want a Dog! -- and he's also got a Halloween-themed single "Trick or Treat" which, until Halloween 2010 can be downloaded here for free.

-- Matt Clark joined the illustrious group of musicians who've submitted their music to Click and Clack's "Dean of Auto-Music and heard their tune on Car Talk. A snippet from "Car Seat Blues," a song from his first album, was included on last weekend's show.

-- Finally, this video (and song) from DidiPop is the best bagel-related video since, well, this one.

Review: DVDs for Road Trips

I saw "for road trips" not because these are travel-themed but because there are seven of them. Seven seems like enough to get through at least a day or two of your drive across or through the country. Let's get to it, then.

I don't think the guys in Seattle's Recess Monkey actually sleep. They already release more CDs than just about anybody else, and now they're cranking out a DVD a year, too. Like their first volume, Field Trips with Recess Monkey Episodes 5-8 features a combination of band "field trips" (Sirius-XM studios, Ella Childs at Spare the Rock, illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka), live shows, and their stellar videos. The videos are the highlight of the DVD ("The Teens" and "Sack Lunch" in particular) -- should episodes 9 through 12 be in the works (knowing the trio, they probably are), the band should consider creating a menu that'll allow viewers to just access the videos. Recommended.

The Nields' Organic Farm DVD is, as you'd expect, an appealingly low-fi (dare I say "organic") affair. It's mostly a collection of tunes recorded in front of a live audience, and features the Nields singing a number of hits from their two family albums. As they were on record, the Nields sisters are joined by their father on a few songs. Among the non-live tracks are a couple songs showing how a parent or teacher might use a song as a simple teaching tool. It's a nice little bonus treat. Recommended.
If this strikes you as a potential TV show, it's because it is. Snacks, the concept, is the creation of Pennsyvania-based singer-songwriter Kevin Wiggins and New Jersey-based John Hulme. The concept of Snacks The DVD (2009) is... well, I'm not really sure what it is except that it involves sock puppets stealing cookies (I think they're called "The Munchies"), some fun pop-rock, and a mysterious creature called the "Norgle." It's all very low-budget, but not without charm and imagination. If you like the music (and I think a fair number of you will), many of the tunes are on the Feed Your Mind CD (though some predate it). Recommended.

Sara Hickman's Big Bird, Little Bird is basically her Newborn CD in DVD form. From a purely production standpoint, this is probably the highest quality disk reviewed here. Simply (and stylishly) animated in form, the videos are a good match for Hickman's warm and loving songs. The DVD also features parenting tips from Hickman, a certified parenting instructor. The tips will have a short shelf life, but the videos themselves may get views into preschool. Recommended, especially so for new parents.

Meet the Instruments: Clap and Tap is, as you may have guessed, one of a series from Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer. This particular DVD focuses on rhythm instruments from the simple (hand clapping and marching feet) to the more obscure (washboard, the limber jack). It's a pretty simple presentation -- Fink and Marxer sit on chairs in front of a plain background as they go through the various percussion explorations. It's geared pretty directly at toddlers and preschoolers and has the most pedagogical approach, so this isn't something you'd probably enjoy watching with your kids. But it's recommended for teachers and others who might want to share some early musical education concepts.

Finally, if you've read this site for any length of time, you know how much we adore Texas' Biscuit Brothers, whose PBS show is the best show about music for kids on TV. The Brothers' 2009 Live in Concert disk is, as you might guess, a live show. Our family actually prefers the TV episodes to the live shows, so I'd probably recommend starting with one of the Go Make Music! collections for newcomers to the show. Still, longtime fans of the show will probably appreciate this collection of folk songs. (And for those Tiny Scarecrow fans out there [raises hand], there's a couple of bonus clip episodes, including "Tiny Scarecrow, This Is Your Life," featuring some of his greatest hits.)

And, hey, here's the latest episode-based DVD! This late-2008 collection (Go Make Music Volume 3) includes 3 full episodes. At this point, they've had to move away from narrow concepts (tempo, dynamics) to broader ones on this disk (folk songs, music from around the world). Longtime listeners might think they've heard some of these songs before (and they have), but both newcomers current fans will appreciate the continued thoughtfulness and care put into the music and episodes themselves (e.g., stealing the "Daytripper" guitar riff for a Beatlesesque take on "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain"). And any show that gives Sarah Jarosz five minutes to go through various musical styles on the mandolin is worth more than just five minutes. Recommended.

(Disclosure: I was provided with copies of all DVDs here for possible review, with the exception of Go Make Music Volume 3.)