That and Swim Lessons at the City Pool, and We're Set

We've been looking for activities for the kids this summer (we can only come up with so many art projects and trips to non-commercial air-conditioned locales), so I looked at the news of the "JAMbledance Camp" with interest. Art? Music? Yoga? Reading? With the participation of Charity Kahn? Our daughter would love that. We can fit that into the activities budget, right?

But, oh yeah, we live in Phoenix. The commute to and from San Francisco would be a bear, no? Oh, and that's the first week of school for our daughter.

Other than those things, though, we are so there.

Listen To This: "Juggle The Stars" - Charity and the JAMband

In time for Valentine's Day (mostly), San Francisco-based Charity and the JAMband have posted a new mp3 on their website, the lullaby "Juggle the Stars." It's a good song, but different stylistically from the funky jams Charity's best known for. (Makes me wonder what their upcoming album will sound like.)

If you're looking for a more uptempo Valentine's Day song, try their song "No Doubt About It."

Both songs are available at the band's Songs page.

Pre-Thanksgiving Leftovers

Many of you may already be heading to other locales for Thanksgiving, but here are some items worth your time, either before you sit down at the table or while fighting off your desire to take a 3-hour nap after dinner.

Charity and the JAMband have a sweet song, Thank You, available for download here. It's from an upcoming book/CD set, The Birthday Suite, for which the band did the music.

As reported here previously, Laurie Berkner will appear on the Fisher-Price float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Look for her to reach Macy's Herald Square at about 10:11 AM Eastern time. Despite the fact that the occasion clearly demands her song "(I'm Gonna Eat on) Thanksgiving Day," they're apparently going to play "Bumblebee (Buzz Buzz)." That Laurie, tool of the honey industry.

And finally, Dan Zanes has recorded a special song and filmed a video for Heifer International. You can see the YouTube video (which includes a plea for the organization in the middle) here or go to iTunes for purchase. It lacks the star firepower of "Do They Know It's Christmastime," but it's a better song.

Wherever you are this weekend, I hope you are able to count your blessings and celebrate with people important to you. Thanks to you, readers, for reading and commenting, and thanks to all the artists that have helped us to share musical experiences with our families.

Laboring To Finish This Post...

It's late, and thanks to a monsoon thunderstorm wreaking havoc with the internet connection, it's later than I wanted this to be, so I'll be brief...

First, I have two posts coming up early this week that I'm very excited about. One involves virtually no work on my part (no, that's not why I'm excited about it) and is a sequel of sorts to a prior post. The other involves quite a bit of work on my part and, well, I don't want to spoil it. Just don't miss it.

Second, I wanted to make sure I highlighted some stuff around the web I've been meaning to link to...
1. Reader Gwyneth has started a Kids in Atlanta website highlighting kids-related musical events in Atlanta. It's very thorough, and I think it's a great example of what people can do to make it easy for the public to find out about kids' musicians.
2. Reader Suzanne (I thiiiiink) Gwyneth also is now operating a "Live365" radio station entitled "Gooney Bird Radio" , playing some artists familiar to this website, along with the occasional foreign language and poetry.
3. Thanks to The Lovely Mrs. Davis, who mentioned this site to Christopher Noxon, author of Rejuvenile and its associated blog, and thanks to Noxon for noticing. (Go back to the old site, and you can find the reviews for Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang and Captain Bogg and Salty, both of which draw mention in Noxon's book. They'll get posted here soon, too. Really.) You can read Mrs. Davis' review of the book here.

And finally, thanks to both Charity and the JAMband and Joe McDermott, who both linked here recently. McDermott, incidentally, just won the Children's section of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest for "Great Big World" (no, not the Hoodwinked version) and will have a new album coming out soon.

OK, and really finally, Milkshake and Rebecca Frezza videos for PBS Kids here.

There. That oughta hold ya. Come back soon, though, I promise it'll be worth it.

A Tale of Two Cities

Last weekend, New York was, er, deluged with rain, putting Brady Rymer's Jamboree with his band, Elizabeth Mitchell, and Hayes Greenfield at risk. Luckily, it sounds like it was one fabulous time.

Meanwhile, Charity and the JAMband played at the Getty Center in front of about 800 people, Charity reports. Apparently it was sunny, though that's par for the course in L.A....