KidVid 2008 Champion: "Cheese" - Mr. Richard

For a variety of non-music-related reasons, I've been slack in formally noting this on the front page of the site, but I wanted to extend my congratulations to Florida's Mr. Richard, who took on all comers in KidVid Tournament 2008, and took the title of KidVid Tournament 2008 with the help of a most remarkable fanbase. (I always knew he had an active fanbase -- I had no idea just how active until the Tournament.)

Congratulations to him and all the other performers (especially New York's The Jimmies, who took on Mr. Richard with their video for "Cheese" and together broke all commenting records to smithereens in their epic semifinal matchup, extended.) I don't quite know what form KidVid Tournament 2009 will take, but it'll be here...

Anyway, for one last time, here is Mr. Richard and "Cheese."

KidVid Tournament 2008: Final - Mr. Richard vs. They Might Be Giants

Here we go, everyone, the final of KidVid Tournament 2008. This contest pits "Cheese" from Mr. Richard's Polka Dot Puzzle (video directed by Banks Helfrich) against "The Seven Days of the Week (Never Go To Work)," from They Might Be Giants' Here Come the 123s CD/DVD (video directed by David Cowles and Sean McBride).

As always, vote once per family only, please, in the comments below. Votes are due by 9 PM West Coast (midnight East Coast) tonight (Tuesday). And, remember, vote nicely.

Mr. Richard - "Cheese"

They Might Be Giants - "Seven Days of the Week (Never Go To Work)"

KidVid Tournament: Overtime!

Yes, there was a KidVid Tournament 2008 semi-final between the Jimmies and Mr. Richard. Which ended in a tie.

But just like that other March Madness permits its 40-minute games to go into 5-minute overtime, so will I. Given that the voting window has generally been about 12 hours long, I'm going to open voting IN THIS THREAD for about 90 minutes (that's 1/8th the length of regulation), 'til 1:50 PM as time-stamped below.

The rules: One vote per family/household in the comments below. I will be checking IP addresses, so don't even think about voting twice, 'cause I'll delete both votes. I'm not going to delete votes for trash talk, but c'mon, folks, be nice. (Besides, I don't think you're going to convince someone to change their vote.)

KidVid Tournament 2008: Renee & Jeremy vs. They Might Be Giants

While yesterday's matchup was a live-action affair, the 2nd semifinal in KidVid 2008 is an all-animation competition. Renee & Jeremy offer "It's A Big World," a soft lullaby from their It's A Big World disk (review). They Might Be Giants counter with "The Seven Days of the Week (Never Go To Work)," a zippy anti-work/pro-trumpet practice tune from Here Come the 123s (review).

You know the rules by now. One vote per family -- one per family, folks! -- in the comments below, due by 9 PM tonight (Thursday). As always, vote nice, y'all.

Renee & Jeremy - "It's A Big World"

They Might Be Giants - "Seven Days of the Week (Never Go To Work)"

Aw, Crap.

And if I wasn't running a blog for kids' music, I'd use an even stronger term.

TheJimmies-Mr. Richard KidVid 2008 Semifinal ended with, I'm not kidding, a virtual tie. I mean, there might have been a slight voting edge to one artist, but we're talking 1 or 2 votes in nearly 700 cast.

We're talking Florida 2000-close. And given that I eliminated some votes (on both sides) because they appeared to have come from the same family (one IP address voted 8 times in, like 5 minutes -- I didn't eliminate all those) and some other votes (on both sides) because they crossed a line I set for rudeness, I could purposefully exclude or include votes based on my personal preference and create my own winner.

Which I don't want to do.

(Heck, 5 people voted without making clear who it was they were voting for. My own hanging chad. Sigh.)

So I'm calling this round a draw. I don't know what I'm going to do yet, but I'm trying to be fair to both artists.

Stay tuned.

(And thanks, by the way, to everyone who voted and kept the tone pretty light.)