Hopefully This Contest Will Cause You No Frustration

For those of you heading back to school with your elementary school young'uns, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer have a contest to get their (and your) rhyming skills back into shape. They've got a contest to write new lyrics for their song "Jubiliation" from the Banjo to Beatbox EP with Christylez Bacon. If you read the lyrics to the song, I think it's pretty obvious what they're looking for. Details are at the link above, but the top 5 winners get a free Cathy & Marcy CD of their choice plus a washboard. Entries due Sept. 30th.

Now... is Zooglobblation a word? Anyway, to get you in the mood, here's a mood for the song featuring lots of puppetation.

Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer with Christylez Bacon - "Jubilation"

Mike Seeger: Further Thoughts

This weekend I wrote a few words in memory of Mike Seeger, who died on Friday at the age of 75. I wrote it -- quickly, probably too quickly -- from the perspective of a listener, not a musician, with an attempt to place him in the broad context on children's music. Elizabeth Mitchell took issue with my description of his influence on children's music:

"I have to disagree with you though about his contribution to children's music. For me, personally, his work is enormously significant. The two collections that he made along with his family are definitive and essential. They bring Ruth Crawford Seeger's [his mother's] exquisite arrangements to life in extraordinary ways."

And what I've noticed since then is that the strongest, most moving words from folks in the wake of his passing have come from musicians. Witness Bob Dylan's comments -- written in 2004:

"Sometimes you know things have to change... Somebody holds the mirror up, unlocks the door, and your head has to go into a different place. Mike Seeger had that effect on me. He played on all the various planes, the full index of the old-time styles, [and] he played these songs as good as it was possible to play them. What I had to work at, Mike already had in his genes."

And now Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer have weighed in with their own thoughts:

"In the past ten or so years, our casual friendship through folk festivals and jam sessions became a deeper one. Longer visits, longer talks, more music. Mike introduced Marcy to the cello banjo of the 1910’s and it was a life-changer. He enjoyed hearing her take the old instrument to new places that honor tradition and stretch it as far as it will go. He gave credibility to our Old Time Banjo Festival with brilliant performances, all the while, listening to and appreciating every note and song played by the other musicians."

What's clear is that while casual fans might have appreciated him, it's the musicians who revered him the most, regardless of whether they play for 2-year-olds or 82-year-olds (or occasionally both simultaneously).

Once again, my condolences to his family and wide circle of friends...

Mike Seeger, Cathy Fink, Marcy Marxer & Adam Hurt - "Aint Gonna Work Tomorrow" [YouTube]

Video: Ella Jenkins and Christylez Bacon at Smithsonian Folklife Festival

I've been on a bit of a Smithsonian Folkways kick this week, working through some of their older stuff. In part that's because I know the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival is being held this week. I went to the Festival one summer about 15 years ago, and I thought it was one of the cooler events I had the chance to attend in DC. They always pick 2 or 3 folk traditions to focus on and one of the foci of the 2009 edition is called "Giving Voice: The Power of Words in African American Culture." As part of a family concert today, Ella Jenkins and Christylez Bacon performed and there's video.

Non-embeddable video, but oh well... Go here to see video (right now it's at the top but I'm sure you'll have to scroll down as the Festival goes on). There's nothing particularly amazing about Jenkins' video except the fact that every single person is participating. Seriously, I've been to enough kids' shows to see how a lot of adults don't typically do all the interacting their kids do -- not here, which I think says volumes about Jenkins' command of an audience. (Look at all those adults up in front with her.) And Christylez does some pretty cool beatboxing mixed with go-go in his video.

You can also watch Jenkins perform with Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer (and, I think Bacon) perform live in concert on Saturday starting at 5:30 East Coast time. Watch the webcast here.

Video: "Hip-Hop Humpty Dumpty" - Cathy Fink & Marcy Marcer with Christylez Bacon

I already mentioned in my review of Banjo to Beatbox, the recently-released EP from Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer that features hip-hop artist Christylez Bacon, that one of my favorite tracks was "Hip-Hop Humpty Dumpty." So why not watch a live version on YouTube?

Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer with Christylez Bacon - "Hip-Hop Humpty Dumpty"

Itty-Bitty Review: Banjo To Beatbox - Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer (with Christylez Bacon)

I hesitate to call the DC-area-based duo Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer elder statesmen of the kids music genre because they're neither, you know, elderly nor male. But they've been doing the family music thing for about 25 years now. Which is why it's pretty great that their collaborator on their latest album Banjo to Beatbox is, well, not even 25 years old. Christylez Bacon is a DC-area hip hop artist; here, he adds his beatboxing and rhyming skills to Cathy & Marcy's banjo and folk stylings. On the album's best tracks, like the resetting of the traditional "Soup, Soup," the combination thrills, pointing the way to a 21st century folk music sound. That song, along with with "Hip Hop Humpty Dumpty," takes full advantage of the collaborators' strengths. The other songs here are enjoyable (I also quite like their take on "New River Train"), but those two are the standouts.

You can listen to clips of the album (best probably for kids ages 4 through 9) here. (They're calling it an EP, but at 30 minutes, who knows what "EP" means any more.)

I've always liked Fink and Marxer's wilingness to collaborate outside what somebody else might perceive to be their genre -- their collaboration with Texas polka group Brave Combo All Wound Up! is an excellent album. I don't think Banjo to Beatbox reaches those heights -- it seems a little more stylistically limited to me -- but I hope that Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer continue to make music every now and then with Christylez Bacon because there are parts of this album that are pretty exhilerating. Recommended.