Multimedia Notes From All Over

I know that bar on the right side of the main homepage is a bit on the long side, but it's time for some updates...

Planet KidVid is a new enterprise from longtime Friend of Zooglobble Monty Harper and kids' musician Mr. Billy. If they keep up with the posts, this could be a website that causes lots of families to go over their allocated "screen time."

The Harper family is evidently trying to take over the web as Monty's wife Lisa and her daughter Evalyn have established the Kids Music Planet podcast. What is slightly different about this podcast from many other kids' music radio shows is that they play multiple selections from a few albums. So if for some reason my review of an album isn't clear enough you can decide for yourself. ;-)

Belinda and Hova finally seem to have settled on a new internet location for their Greasy Kid Stuff playlists. If you go to their website, you can also find out all about their Mar. 18th "Grease Ball" with Captain Bogg & Salty, The Jellydots, and The Sprockettes. You can also hear They Might Be Giants' penned-just-for-Belinda-and-Hova "Greasy Kid Stuff."

I've also added Fred Koch's new children's music-related blog to the sidebar. Fred is another longtime listener and reviewer of kids music and I'm glad to see him start up a blog.

Regular readers will certainly be aware of Amy's appearance on WNYC's Soundcheck on Tuesday. Amy made a lot of excellent points (and ones I mostly agree with) and is to be commended for always sounding coherent, a not at all easy thing to do live on the air. Listen to the 20-minute segment here.

Finally, children's media publicist (and, well, fan) Beth Blenz-Clucas talked about a couple of her clients and other kids' musicians and topics on Vicky and Jen's Grammy-related podcast. The podcast also includes discussions with Richard Perlmutter (he's working on Beethoven's Wig 4, apparently), Dan Zanes, and Ezra Idlet from Trout Fishing in America. (Beth was also kind enough to mention this website as a good resource...)

Shows Possibly Worth Driving Through Ten-Foot Snowdrifts For

By the end of March those of us in Phoenix are typically slathering on sunscreen and complaining that summer and 110-degree weather can't be far away. The fading days of spring would be made considerably more tolerable if we had a few Elizabeth Mitchell concerts to attend.

Unfortunately for us, Mitchell lives in New York state and as a result those folks get some sweet music to go along with their March (and April) snowstorms.

To wit: Mitchell and Uncle Rock will be playing at Levon Helm's awesome Midnight Ramble series on March 31st. The good news for the kids is that it's not at midnight, but rather at 2 PM. The bad news is that it's already sold out. (Unless you have tickets, in which case I ask you not to lord it over us.)

But fear not, Mitchell fans, for she's also helping to organize a Family Concert Series at the High Meadow School. Besides the wonderful Hayes Greenfield doing his Jazz-A-Ma-Tazz program, the series also features Peter Schickele, creator of PDQ Bach. (Classical geek note: I once owned the PDQ Bach "autobiography." Hi-larious.)

Oh, and Mitchell's playing a show with Dog on Fleas on April 15th. That would be worth driving through a snowdrift of some sort, to be sure.

Because SXSW Needed More Bands...

Heard from certain sources this morning that Austin-raised band The Jellydots will also have a showcase at South By Southwest next month, joining at least 3 kids' bands and roughly a bajillion other bands. That's a pretty darn good mini-festival right there.

Assuming, of course, you can get a hotel room.

Which you can't.

See How Great the Terrible Twos Can Be

I live in Maricopa County, Arizona, which is about 9,200 square miles large, bigger than the states of New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island. Well, I may live in a larger county, but the residents of those fine states (and a few others) have the opportunity with just an hour or two's drive to see a pretty cool kids band. (OK, Delaware's probably three hours, but still.)

Bill over at Spare the Rock has some free tickets to give away for this Saturday's Terrible Twos NYC debut at The Livingroom. Go here to enter.

(And if you're wondering, why should I care?, read this review. The album's getting re-released in April.)

Please Pass the Yellow(gold) Sippy Cups, Daddy(-A-Go-Go)

The tentative showcase list for the 2007 South by Southwest Music Festival has been posted, and a brief perusal of the 1,300 (yes, you read that right) bands indicates at least 3 artists whose primary medium is kids' music: Daddy-A-Go-Go, Gustafer Yellowgold, and The Sippy Cups. The Sippy Cups' newsletter from Tuesday night indicated that they'd be headlining a free family concert at Auditorium Shores, so I wonder if the three bands are on a (pretty cool) triple bill...

Oh, and there might be a couple other bands in that list worth seeing.