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    Entries in Lucky Diaz & the Family Jam Band (13)

    Tuesday
    Aug282012

    Concert Recap: Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band (Phoenix, August 2012)

    On an August weekend in Phoenix, there's generally only one requirement for any activity:

    Air conditioning.

    But it also helps if you can play and listen to music.

    Los Angeles' Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band made the trek out from the coast to play a couple sets at the Children's Museum of Phoenix on August 20, and since I help book the series, I was definitely eager to see 'em play.

    One thing CMOP has started to do is put a few of the shows in their large atrium.  What it does is let a lot more people see a show at any particular point in time (that picture there doesn't quite capture the dozens more outside of the frame), or just let the people playing in the 3-story-tall Schuff-Perini Climber (which you can see just a very small portion of at the top left) hear music while they scamper around.  It would be a bad setting for a solo artist playing an acoustic set, but for the more active rock and pop shows, the kinetic and vocal energy helps encourage the kids who are there in front to move around and dance.  I think if artists are willing to accept the less-than-distraction-free environment it can be a fun show.

    I'm a big fan of Lucky, of course, and he and wife/co-band member Alisha Gaddis made a fair amount of noise considering it was just a duo.  I was particularly impressed by the kick-suitcase Diaz had fashioned to give his songs a little bit of extra "oomph."

    Anyways, here's a clip of the band playing "Lemonade Stand" off their latest album A Potluck.

    Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band - "Lemonade Stand" (Live at the Children's Museum of Phoenix) [YouTube]


     

    Sunday
    Aug122012

    Concert Recap: Justin Roberts (Getty Center, Los Angeles, August 2012)

    I can get so wrapped up in the constant thinking about kids music -- the planning of shows locally here in Phoenix, among other things -- that sometimes it's hard to simply relax and enjoy music. (I do see "adult" artists every now and then, but not as often as I might otherwise if I didn't have, you know, a family.)

    So it was oh-so-pleasant to be able to go to Los Angeles' Getty Center last weekend to see a performance from Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players. It was the first of three weekends of concerts in the Getty's annual "Garden Concerts for Kids" series.

    I can't think of too many nicer places to see a kids music show, and evidently many Angelos agreed.

    There were many -- many -- families wandering around the expansive Getty grounds.  They were in the exhibits, the courtyards, and they were on the lawn that overlooks the Getty garden.  (That picture at the bottom of the page shows the crowd after a number of them had left following Roberts' first set.  Really, the place was packed.)

    Before getting into the show itself, a word about the Getty Center as a concert venue for family shows.

    The weather was about 75 degrees, the lawn is huge, and they gave out lawn blankets to sit on.  Let me repeat: they gave out lawn blankets to sit on.  What drawbacks were there to the venue?  Hm. Let's see... I suppose that if the sun were blazing, the unshaded portion of the lawn might be a tad uncomfortable.  And, um, the nearby snack cart stopped selling ice cream at 5 PM, before Roberts and the band had even finished the concert.

    And that's it.

    Seriously, if this were a series that went on through the year (it's only 3 acts over the span of 16 days, primarily to preserve the lawn's health), it would be hard to think of a nicer free concert series anywhere in the country.

     

     

     

    But you're probably reading to hear a little bit more about the show itself.  After finding a blanket with Lucky Diaz, wife Alisha Gaddis, and daughter Ella near the stage, we settled down through a long set featuring Roberts' many hits, not to mention a couple new songs from Roberts, one about being a robot, the other about being an alien.  They were fun songs (one had a particularly '80s-synthesizer sound associated with it), and I look forward to hearing them on disk.  (Roberts said after the show he's still recording a few songs for the next "rock" album; the lullaby album should be out this fall.)

    The five-piece band is a finely-tuned piece of entertainment machinery at this point, with an excellent sound, interactive hand movements for many songs, and wildly digressive puppet interplay from Tim (drummer Gerald Dowd), Little Dave (multi-instrumentalist Dave Winer), and Willy the Whale (guitarist Liam Davis), who has a fallback career as a Billy Joel cover artist should Justin call it quits.

     

     

    Aside from getting a kick out of watching Diaz and Gaddis enjoying the show with handclaps and accompanying hand motions (Gaddis and I bemoaned the loss of the "trick-or-trick-or-trick-or-trick-or" hand motions on "Trick or Treat"), a couple of personal memories:

    1) Miss Mary Mack singing along with a fair number of the songs.  Just goes to show that even if your kids reach double digits and are out of the target range of kids music, if they've listened to it enough (and it's memorable enough), good kids music can appeal even to the tween set.

    2) Little Boy Blue lost a tooth -- that's how hard Justin rocks.  OK, he doesn't really rock that hard, but I'm going to remember for a long time the look on Little Boy Blue's face when finishing up his ice cream bar (one that required a long walk back to the main courtyard) and losing a long-wiggling tooth.

    So, your takeaways:

    1) Justin Roberts, fun as always in concert.

    2) Justin Roberts' new songs -- good stuff based on one listen.

    3) The Getty Center Garden Concerts for Kids: don't miss.

    Lovely all around.

    [Disclosure: Thanks to Sarah W. McCarthy at the Getty Center for extending us a welcome to the Getty.]

    Wednesday
    Jun062012

    Radio Playlist: New Music June 2012

    Time again to update the Zooglobble radio station, covering assorted tracks collected this spring.  You can see my April 2012 playlist here.

    This playlist airs in the mid-afternoons (West Coast time), but if you can't listen in the afternoon, the tracks are scattered throughout the day, too. The listing below is in alphabetical order; the on-air play order is totally random (due to Internet music restrictions).

    "Handbone" - Big Don (Big Don's Brand New Beat)
    "Oh My Dog" - Billy Kelly (Oh My Dog)
    "Come With Me" - Dan Dan Doodlebug (Dan Dan Doodlebug)
    "May The Trail Rise Up To Greet You" - Dave Stamey (Putumayo Kids Presents - Cowboy Playground)
    "Fortunate Mistake" - Dog On Fleas (Invisible Friends)
    "I Used To Think" - Duke Otherwise (Creepy Crawly Love)
    "Your Body Is A Zoo" - Ellen And Matt (It's Love)
    "Ice Cream Sunday" - Groovy David (Kiddie Lounge)
    "Swingin' Little Duck (Alexander Calder)" - Hope Harris (Picasso, That's Who! and so can you!)
    "My Neighborhood" - Johnny Bregar (My Neighborhood)
    "I Like Summer" - KBC (Milk Money)
    "Raised By Trolls" - Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke (Here Comes Chuckers)
    "Alphabet City" - KinderAngst (KinderAngst)
    "Itsy Bitsy Spider" - Kori Pop (Songs For Little Bean)
    "Lines And Dots" - Lucky Diaz And The Family Jam Band (A Potluck)
    "Elephant Shrew" - Michael Hearst (Songs For Unusual Creatures)
    "Happy Place" - Mista Cookie Jar & The Chocolate Chips (Ultramagnetic Universal Love Revolution)
    "Rad" - Play Date (Fun Fun Records Sampler)
    "I Could See (Magically)" - Recess Monkey (In Tents)
    "give it away" - renee & jeremy (a little love)
    "Evening Star" - Steven Elci & Friends (Crayons In A Box)
    "Put 'Em Away (Featuring Marty Beller)" - Sugar Free Allstars (All On A Sunday Afternoon)
    "Benjamin Franklin" - Yosi (Benjamin Franklin)
    "Oh My!" - Your Imaginary Friend Your (Imaginary Friend)
    Tuesday
    May152012

    Review: A Potluck - Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band

    Bright and sugary like a treat from a Parisian patisserie, here is A Potluck, the third (and second full-length) recording from Los Angeles-based Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band.

    Diaz' songwriting strength has always been his knack for a catchy melody, the good pop hook reeling the listeners in.  The opening songs -- the Postal Service-aping "Lines and Dots," "On My Bike," and what sounds like a vocoder-assisted "Lemonade Stand" -- seem like they should be packaged with a diabetic warnings if listened too often on repeat, so sweet are the combination of the hooks, handclaps, and kindergarten-focused lyrics.  The rest of the pop-rock tracks from Diaz and his bandmate-now-wife Alisha Gaddis offer a little more sonic diversity ("Squirrelly the Squirrel," ska; "Monkey Jones," brass band; "Tres Ratones," a little Tex-Mex).

    I wish some of the songs would be pared down (The run times for "Lil' Red Rooster" and "Lemonade Stand" of about three minutes could have been cut in half, creating quick, tart lemonade espressos of a song, for example).  And Diaz' lyrics have never been too multi-layered -- here they are as shiny as the music and with the exception of "Invisible Friend" don't really address kids' interior lives.  Which is fine, but if that's what you're looking for, you should move on.  Of course, if you or your kids want to dance or jump around the room -- something I'm all in favor of -- you are bound to find something here. (The songs on the 29-minute album are most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 7.)

    As I hope I've made clear, A Potluck won't change the world.  But it's a neat collection of some very nifty songs that should end up in your kids' rooms (or iPods) and Diaz's best family album to date.  Definitely recommended.

    Wednesday
    Apr042012

    KidVid Tournament 2012 Champion: Princess Katie & Racer Steve

    After a close, hard-fought, and fair battle, New York City's Princess Katie & Racer Steve and their video "Sand in My Sandwich" defeated Los Angeles' Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band and their video "Blue Bear" in a KidVid Tournament 2012 championship match.  This year we ended up having a real Cinderella champion. (OK, that's the last time I'm going to make that reference.)

    So, huzzah to all the participants and all the fans who voted over these past three weeks.  Huzzah to all my fellow kindie website operators who hosted matchups over these past three weeks.  And huzzah to Princess Katie and Racer Steve, Champions of KidVid Tournament 2012!

    Princess Katie & Racer Steve - "Sand in My Sandwich" [YouTube]