I Like Justin Roberts Concerts. But Especially This One.

It doesn't take a lot to get me excited about a Justin Roberts concert. He plays an awful lot of them, though, so I rarely make mention of them here.

However.

Katy Lloyd, one of the first loyal Zooglobble readers, and for a number of years, actual real-life friend to my family, has made good on her promise years-ago to bring Justin to her hometown of Seattle for a Why Not Sea Monsters? concert. What is "Why Not Sea Monsters?" Well, it's a pair of albums Roberts recorded a number of years ago with Liam Davis -- they tell stories in song from the Old and New Testament. Lest you think that it was some idle, quick cash-in recording, Roberts' graduate degree is in theology, so he knows of which he speaks. Or sings, whatever.

In any case, Roberts is going to be performing a Why Not Sea Monsters? concert on Friday, August 19 at Fauntleroy UCC Church in West Seattle at 6:30 PM. He doesn't do a lot of these shows -- I'd guess he averages maybe one a year -- so if you're in the area, it's a chance to hear him do songs you don't normally hear. (If you wonder what they're like, here's a review of the disks.)

Even better than seeing a reader coordinate a show in her community is seeing the other good work the concert will create -- it's a fundraiser for Family Promise of Seattle. The organization works with area congregations to provide shelter, food, and transitional assistance to homeless families, a segment of the homeless population that is often underserved. Good friends here in Phoenix helped start the group here, and our family has supported the Phoenix operation with both money and as well as helping whenever own congregation hosts families.

So. Great artist, great cause. If you're in the Seattle area, it's a wonderful (and rare) opportunity. Go!

So I Like This Symphony Space Lineup

I don't often talk about a kids music series in a particular city, if only because, by definition, most of my readers don't live there. But New York City's Symphony Space has just announced its 2011-2012 Just Kidding lineup, and while it's worth mentioning just because of the quality of its performers, I think that other entities looking to produce kids music could draw some valuable lessons from the list:

1) Bring in the big names: Elizabeth Mitchell, Recess Monkey, and Justin Roberts are just 3 popular artists playing the series. There is value in having "name" artists who will draw sizable crowds to whom you can promote your other shows.
2) Bring in the up-and-coming names: Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke, Joanie Leeds, Gustafer Yellowgold -- names that have no small amount of popularity, whose audiences may not necessarily be aware of the broader "kindie" world (or who are very aware and are your bread-and-butter 3-or-4-concert attendees.
3) Bring in the new names: Shine and the Moonbeams, Cat and a Bird, Tim and the Space Cadets.
4) Take a chance on the out-of-towners: OK, I realize that Caspar Babypants (Chris Ballew), is probably a pretty safe bet. But, still, it's good to mix up the artists.
5) Don't have it all just be music: The "Just Kidding" series is really a "performing arts"-type lineup, not necessarily a music lineup, with folks like the Story Pirates, the Trachtenburg Family Slide Show Players, and Galumpha (who appear to be sort of a Pilobolus for kids) making appearances. (That's not even mentioning the Thalia Kids' Book Club series.) Nobody's going to be able to see everything, but the diversity of performances help cover your bets.
6) Announce everything in advance: Seriously, being able to look eight or ten months out and see a full list of concerts and performances is incredibly reassuring to a parent (and helps for planning purposes).
7) And have a bunch of performances: So you know that, pretty much every Saturday, there's gonna a performance there, and it's probably gonna be pretty good.

So, anyway, it's a good lineup. Details after the jump.
October 1: The Story Pirates
October 8: Women of the Calabash
October 15: Galumpha
October 22: Cat and a Bird
October 29: Ben Rudnick and Friends
November 5: National Dance Institute: The Celebration Team
November 12: Joanie Leeds & the Nightlights
November 19: Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players
December 17: Elizabeth Mitchell and You Are My Flower
December 31: Tim and the Space Cadets
January 7: AGA-BOOM
January 8: Stam-Pede
January 14: Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke
January 21: Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem
February 4: Shine & the Moonbeams
February 11/12: The Gustafer Yellowgold Show
February 18: The Okee Dokee Brothers
February 25: Recess Monkey
March 3: Linda Russell
March 17: The Ugly Duckling and The Tortoise & the Hare
March 24: Nimbaya!
April 14: Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players
April 21: The Billy Jonas Band
April 28: Caspar Babypants. [Hm. That's Kindiefest 2012 weekend.]

Concert Recap: The Thinkers (July 2011, Children's Museum of Phoenix)

Hoo boy, that was a fun show put on by The Thinkers on Sunday. We set up most of the Children's Museum of Phoenix shows many months in advance, so it's not often we can fit in a last-minute addition like the Thinkers as the Boston/NY-based band moved westward on a massive country-wide tour, but I'm glad we did, because we all had fun.

Little Boy Blue, Miss Mary Mack, and I caught their second set of the day, and with the help of a generous supply of egg shakers and rhythm sticks, it was one of the most chaotic sets I've seen in the sunlit room where we host the shows.

But chaotic in a good, not totally chaotic way. Just lots of kids banging around, jumping, maybe dancing. (I was told that the first set earlier was even more packed and chaotic.) Nobody really knew the songs, of course (present company excepted), but the kids were more than game.

Twenty-five minutes later, they were done, the kids were toast, and I had a grin on my face.

The band continues to tour for at least next three weeks up the west coast. Definitely track 'em down and check 'em out.

Here's "Froggy Hop," with more live video after the jump.

The Thinkers - "Froggy Hop" [YouTube]

The Thinkers - "Walk Your Dogs" [YouTube]

The Thinkers - "Mushy Berry Pie" [YouTube]

The Thinkers - "Island Breeze" [YouTube]

The Thinkers Seek Your Help

I think we've established that I like The Thinkers. The duo from Boston and NYC released their first album and I used words and phrases like "utterly imaginative" and "smitten" and "sea chanty" to describe it. Those are usually good signs that I liked the album, right?

Anyway, I wrote those words as the band was about to head out across the country -- I mean, Recess Monkey-style, playing dozens of gigs.

But there's still time for you to a) catch them on tour, or b) help further overburden their schedule. (The latter is what I did, getting them into an impromptu gig at the Children's Museum of Phoenix in a week and a half.) The rest of the schedule, after the jump, and, really, folks, lots of opportunities here...
7/6/11 Raleigh, NC - Marbles Kids Museum
7/7/11 Charlotte, NC - Levine Children's Hospital 2pm
7/8/11 Knoxville, TN – East Tennessee Children's Hospital
7/9/11 Memphis, TN - LeBonheur Hospital
7/13/11 Albuquerque, NM - University of NM Children's Hospital 12pm
7/13/11 Albuquerque, NM - Albuquerque Children's Art Studio 6pm
7/14/11 Flagstaff, AZ - Bookman's
7/17/11 Phoenix, AZ - Children's Museum of Phoenix
7/18/11 San Diego, CA - Rady Children's Hospital
7/19/11 Los Angeles, CA - UCLA Children’s Hospital 3pm
7/21/11 Los Angeles, CA – Venice Beach
7/22/11 Santa Barbara, CA - Cottage Children’s Hospital
7/23/11 Santa Barbara, CA - Summer For Kids
7/25/11 San Luis Obispo, CA – San Luis Obispo Children’s Museum 1pm
7/27/11 Santa Cruz, CA – Santa Cruz Boardwalk
7/28/11 Oakland, CA - Oakland Children's Hospital
7/29/11 San Francisco, CA - SF Family House 3PM
7/30/11 Sausalito, CA - Bay Area Discovery Museum 11am
8/1/11 Sacramento, CA - UC Davis Children's Hospital 10am
8/1/11 Sacramento, CA - Shriners Children's Hospital 1pm
8/5/11 Redding, CA - Shasta Libraries Craft Event 3pm
8/6/11 Redding, CA - Shasta Farmer's Market TBD
8/7/11 Medford, OR - Kid-Time Children's Museum
8/9/11 Portland, OR - Doernbecher Children's Hospital 11am
8/14/11 Seattle, WA - Lincoln Park University of Washington & Bright Horizons Family Picnic

The Ketchup Report, Vol. 10

The Ketchup Report hits double digits!

It's summer, time for festival season, and I think it's safe to say that until a kindie act rocks the Pitchfork Festival (and maybe even after then), DidiPop has the coolest festival gig, playing a set for families at the Wilco-curated Solid Sound Festival at the MASS MoCA museum (yes, I know that's redundant) this upcoming weekend.

Attention, good people of Chattanooga, Tennessee and environs, Dave Loftin and the Saturday Morning Cereal Bowl radio are sponsoring a show with Lunch Money on Sunday, July 10. I'm a fan of radio folks putting on concert series, so I hope this does well. Plus, the show will be ten tons of fun. More details here.

I know, I'm a big fan of Kindiefest, but the Children's Music Network has been around for a long time, and if you attended Kindiefest, you might also get quite a bit out of attending their annual conference, which is in Cape Cod this year from September 16 through 18. Barry Louis Polisar, who has a lot of opinions about the current state of the genre and isn't afraid to share them, delivers the keynote. More details here.
Finally, in the category of videos -- I always have at least one of these in each Ketchup Report, here's a new one from Jamie Broza. It's for "Turn That Phone Off" from his latest album I Want a Dog! and while its eventual popularity will probably come in some future public safety announcement about texting and driving, that was never the primary theme I heard when I first heard the song a while back -- I responded much more to the idea of stopping and paying attention.

Jamie Broza - "Turn That Phone Off" [YouTube]