When Enzo Met Doug

A couple months ago, I mentioned that Doug Snyder of The Jellydots would be sitting in with Enzo Garcia at one of Enzo's Saturday morning "Breakfast With Enzo" shows in January.

Well, loyal reader Deb in SF sent in this photo from this past weekend's confab. That's Enzo on the left playing saw on Doug's "My Blanket."

Sounds like a grand time was had by all...

(Photo courtesy Deb Evans Braun)

Contest: Win Ralph's World / House of Blues Tour Tickets

Sure, you've had your chance to win tickets for the upcoming Ralph's World tour of House of Blues venues across the United States.

But you haven't had a chance to provide Ralph suggestions as to what he should play during this, the first tour of a kids music artist in House of Blues venues (including San Francisco's Fillmore and Portland's Aladdin Theatre). Kinda cool, no?

So, here are the rules. By 8 PM MST Thursday, January 25, in the comments below list which city you'd like to see Ralph's World in and the three songs your family would like to see the band play. (If you want to explain why, go ahead!)

The winner will be picked at random and notified at the e-mail address you provide when you make the comment. The winner will receive 4 tickets to the concert of his or her choice on the tour below. Four tickets! Sweet!

If you don't win (or even if you do), you can get more info on the tour and order tickets by clicking on the link below.

2/3/2007 House of Blues Anaheim, CA
2/4/2007 Fillmore San Francisco,CA
2/10/2007 House of Blues San Diego, CA
2/11/2007 Aladdin Theatre Portland,OR
2/17/2007 House of Blues West Hollywood,CA
2/18/2007 Moore Theatre Seattle,WA
2/24/2007 House of Blues Las Vegas,NV
2/25/2007 Boulder Theater Boulder, CO
3/3/2007 House of Blues Chicago, IL
3/4/2007 Somerville Theatre Somerville,MA
3/10/2007 House of Blues Cleveland,OH
3/11/2007 Theatre of Living Arts Philadelphia,PA
3/17/2007 House of Blues - Orlando Lake Buena Vista, FL
3/18/2007 Variety Playhouse Atlanta, GA
3/24/2007 House of Blues - Music Hall New Orleans,LA
3/25/2007 The Pageant St. Louis, MO

Concert Review: Chuck Cheesman (Phoenix, January 2007)

There are many reasons why the Phoenix area is not a hotbed for children's and family music and to delineate them all would require a long essay filled with suppositions, sarcasm, and half-truths. And while I am no stranger to any of those, it seems a fairly negative topic for so early in the year.

So let us turn our attention to Chuck Cheesman, an honest-to-goodness Arizona kids and family musician. In a time-honored Arizona tradition, we can claim Chuck as an Arizona musician because we got him to move here from someplace else. Chuck lived in Chicago, taught at the Old Town School of Folk Music and even sang on three tracks on their Wiggleworms Love You CD until the call of the beautiful pines of Northern Arizona drew him and his family to Flagstaff.

This weekend, Chuck made his first foray to Phoenix for some kids' shows (he'd been here before, I believe, for his more adult-oriented folk shows), and my daughter and I caught him at a local bookstore. Cheesman played mostly traditional kids songs, accompanying himself on guitar. He clearly had many years of practice entertaining the small fry, memorizing the kids' names and trying to draw them into the performance. (I liked the hand motions Cheesman's family, who was in attendance, had for "Bling Blang.")

My daughter, who can be shy in new situations, spent most of the performance sitting behind one of the bookshelves. But she listened, sometimes singing to herself, and I enjoyed watching her peer between the shelves trying to catch a glimpse of something new Cheesman was doing.

Cheesman has a voice slightly reminiscent of James Taylor, clear and sweet. His first family release, A Family Songbook (2003), has a nice mix of Wiggleworms standards with newer songs (a fun "Rubber Duckie," a very bluesy "Big Blue Dog"). He's by no means reinventing any family music wheel on the CD, but it's a very well-done CD with the occasional track filled out with additional instruments. (You can find out more about the CD here.)

Of course, in a bookstore, you can't bring more than a guitar, but Cheesman has an engaging performing personality. There weren't many kids in attendance, but he's blazing a trail down here. When he comes through again (hopefully with a new CD, still in the works), I'll spread the word here -- he should definitely have a lot more people listening and singing along.

Are Jellydots Greasy? Are You?

Austin's Jellydots have posted a new tour date on their Myspace page -- the mysteriously-named and possibly-incorrectly-spelled "Greasypaloosa" in Portland, Oregon on March 11, 2007.

Hmmmm.... could our friends Belinda and Hova have anything to do with this?

(And I think "Palooza" has now officially entered the lexicon as the arts' world's "-Gate.")

By the way, for those of you wanting to strum along at home to the fabulous songs on Hey You Kids!, song charts are now available here. Kinda appropriate, seeing how the songs were originally created to, uh, help teach kids how to play guitar. (Hey, how would they sound on ukelele?...)

How Do They Celebrate the New Year on the Sun?

Perhaps patrons of the Bowery Club on Dec. 31 will find out, as Gustafer Yellowgold will be opening up for the jazz musician Hayes Greenfield for an early New Year's Eve show, complete with noon ball drop. Two of New York's finer kids'-related artists teaming up -- should be awesome.