KidVid Tournament 2012: The Official Pool!

In the past, when talking about the KidVid Tournament, I would inevitably make a joke about not to bet on the results as doing so could potentially be in violation of state and/or federal law.

Well, I'm proud to say that I've found a way around that problem and eliminated one particular punchline. I'm announcing the Official KidVid Tournament 2012 Pool. That's right, no longer will you have to scour the Internet for unofficial pools related to the tourney or visit shady offshore gambling facilities. For KidVid Tournament 2012, you can enter the Zooglobble-sanctioned pool.

Look at the brackets (attached at the bottom of this post), figure out who think will win each round, and e-mail that to me (zooglobble AT earthlink DOT net) by midnight West Coast time Sunday night/Monday morning.

OK, sure, you're saying, but why should I do this? Well, there will be two winners, who will each receive a prize pack of 3 great family music CDs (I promise they'll be good). The first winner will be the person who correctly guesses the most total matchups (with 5 points given to correctly picking the winner of the whole tournament), with any ties broken randomly. The second winner will be picked randomly from all entries.

You can get multiple additional entries for the random drawing by doing one or more of four things:
1) Tweeting about the tournament with a link to the KidVid Tournament 2012 bracket listing and using the hashtag #kidvid2012
2) Being a "fan" of the Zooglobble Facebook page and at least one other tournament hosting site (see the bracket listing for complete list).
3) Signing up for the Zooglobble newsletter (off to the side or at the very bottom of this post).
4) Tweeting about the tournament with a link to one of the first-round matchups next week and using the hashtag #KidVid2012.

When you send me your pool entry, just let me know if you're submitting extra entries through items 1-3 below (either because you're already a "fan" or a newsletter subscriber or because you've newly become so). I'll look for anything you do on #4 once the tournament starts, obviously.

If you have any questions, just shoot me an e-mail. Thanks, and have fun! [Brackets and newsletter signup after the jump.]
Woody Guthrie Region
#1 Elizabeth Mitchell - "Ong Tal Sam" vs. #8 Joe's Backyard Band - "Crow"
... the winner will meet...
#4 Princess Katie & Racer Steve - "Sand in My Sandwich" vs. #5 Mike Park - "Animal Park"
#2 Dog on Fleas - "Do You Wanna Know My New Dance Step?" vs. #7 The Baby Grands - "Dinosaur"
... the winner will meet...
#3 Billy Kelly - That Old American Flag vs. #6 Imagination Movers - "Everybody Sing"

The winner of the Woody Guthrie Region will take on the winner of the Ella Jenkins Region in the Final Four.

Ella Jenkins Region
#1 Caspar Babypants - "Mister Rabbit" vs.#8 Egg - "Green Eyes"
... the winner will meet...
#4 The Mighty Buzzniks - "To the Moon" vs. #5 Gustafer Yellowgold - "Pancake Smackdown"
#2 Renee & Jeremy - "Share" vs. #7 The Laurie Berkner Band - "Party Day"
... the winner will meet...
#3 Steve Weeks - "Bartleby Finkleton Will Not Take a Bath" vs. #6 Todd McHatton - "I Think I'm a Bunny"

Leadbelly Region
#1 Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band - "Blue Bear" vs. #8 Groove Kid Nation - "Humpty Dumpty"
... the winner will meet...
#4 Doctor Noize - "Noun Town" vs. #5 Beethoven's Wig - "My Little Chicken"
#2 The Not-Its! - "First Kid in Outer Space" vs. #7 The Que Pastas - "Mr. Butterfly"
... the winner will meet...
#3 Rocknoceros - "Early Worm" vs. #6 Jim Gill - "Living Inside of a Jar"

The winner of the Leadbelly Region will take on the winner of the Pete Seeger Region in the Final Four.

Pete Seeger Region
#1 The Bazillions - "Career Day" vs. #8 Suzi Shelton - "Tomboy in a Princess Dress"
... the winner will meet...
#4 Brady Rymer - "Love Me For Who I Am" vs. #5 The Okee Dokee Brothers / Readeez - "Antidisestablishmentarianism"
#2 The Pop Ups - "Balloon" vs. #7 Frances England - "That's What Friends Are For" (fan video)
... the winner will meet...
#3 Rabbit! - "Magic" vs. #6 Recess Monkey - "Flying"

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Announcing KidVid Tournament 2012

The KidVid Tournament 2012 is (almost) here! That's right, folks, the web's most popular fan-based tournament for the arbitrary qualitative ranking of kids music videos is back! For the sixth straight year, the best kids music videos of the previous twelve months will compete against each other in a frenzied two-to-three week period as if the determination of quality is based on fan interest on the Internet.

I think it's kinda awesome.

LeftKidVid Tournament 2011 featured an exciting final showdown between Keller Williams and Sugar Free Allstars. Who'll make it to the final round this year? Well, that is up to you.

So last week I announced my favorite kids music videos of 2011. In the past I've had to whittle down my list of favorite kids music videos down to just 16 to fit them into the tournament.

But not this year.

That's right, we're expanding to 32 videos! That's one more round and 16 more videos to jump into the action. This, friends, is the true March Madness (which is probably a trademarked phrase, so it's not the true March Madness at all).

And, if you're going to add 16 more games, you're gonna need more help hosting these matchups. So I'm happy to announce that there will be eight great kids music writers and radio folks helping out to host this tournament:

Ages 3 and Up!
Dadnabbit
Gooney Bird Kids
Hilltown Families
Out With the Kids
Saturday Morning Cereal Bowl
Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
Zooglobble (of course I'm hosting, too!)

As for the matchups themselves, the first-round matchups and all the brackets are listed after the jump...
Woody Guthrie Region
#1 Elizabeth Mitchell - "Ong Tal Sam" vs. #8 Joe's Backyard Band - "Crow"
... the winner will meet...
#4 Princess Katie & Racer Steve - "Sand in My Sandwich" vs. #5 Mike Park - "Animal Park"
#2 Dog on Fleas - "Do You Wanna Know My New Dance Step?" vs. #7 The Baby Grands - "Dinosaur"
... the winner will meet...
#3 Billy Kelly - That Old American Flag vs. #6 Imagination Movers - "Everybody Sing"

The winner of the Woody Guthrie Region will take on the winner of the Ella Jenkins Region in the Final Four.

Ella Jenkins Region
#1 Caspar Babypants - "Mister Rabbit" vs.#8 Egg - "Green Eyes"
... the winner will meet...
#4 The Mighty Buzzniks - "To the Moon" vs. #5 Gustafer Yellowgold - "Pancake Smackdown"
#2 Renee & Jeremy - "Share" vs. #7 The Laurie Berkner Band - "Party Day"
... the winner will meet...
#3 Steve Weeks - "Bartleby Finkleton Will Not Take a Bath" vs. #6 Todd McHatton - "I Think I'm a Bunny"

Leadbelly Region
#1 Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band - "Blue Bear" vs. #8 Groove Kid Nation - "Humpty Dumpty"
... the winner will meet...
#4 Doctor Noize - "Noun Town" vs. #5 Beethoven's Wig - "My Little Chicken"
#2 The Not-Its! - "First Kid in Outer Space" vs. #7 The Que Pastas - "Mr. Butterfly"
... the winner will meet...
#3 Rocknoceros - "Early Worm" vs. #6 Jim Gill - "Living Inside of a Jar"

The winner of the Leadbelly Region will take on the winner of the Pete Seeger Region in the Final Four.

Pete Seeger Region
#1 The Bazillions - "Career Day" vs. #8 Suzi Shelton - "Tomboy in a Princess Dress"
... the winner will meet...
#4 Brady Rymer - "Love Me For Who I Am" vs. #5 The Okee Dokee Brothers / Readeez - "Antidisestablishmentarianism"
#2 The Pop Ups - "Balloon" vs. #7 Frances England - "That's What Friends Are For" (fan video)
... the winner will meet...
#3 Rabbit! - "Magic" vs. #6 Recess Monkey - "Flying"

Now, when will these fine matchups take place? Well, the tournament starts Monday, March 12, and will continue all the way through Monday, April 2, the day of the championship matchup. What happens in the meantime? Well, the eight sites above will be hosting matchups between now and then, and no, I'm not going to tell you specifically when and where. If you want to make sure you don't miss a single matchup (which starts and ends on the same day), make sure you have those eight sites in your bookmarks bar, your RSS reader, or Facebook or Twitter feeds.

Please Release Me: March 2012 Edition

It's time again for the latest list of new and upcoming releases, (here is last month's list). Additions to the list are noted with a "++"; changes to previously-mentioned items are indicated with italics.

As always, if I've listed you on here and gotten something wrong (or something not ready for primetime), let me know and I'll edit or delete it. And if you're not on here and think you should be, drop me a line, too, and I'll get you added for the next iteration.

++ The Battersby Duo: Old Side of Young (March 16)
The Good Ms. Padgett: ... Tells The Little Red Hen and Other Stories (March 20)
++Ellen & Matt: It's Love (March 23)
Recess Music: La Bella Stella (March 27)
Princess Katie and Racer Steve: Love, Cake & Monsters (March?)
Central Services Board of Education: Binary [tentative] (March?)
RhymeZwell: Robots on the Dance Floor (March?)
Tim and the Space Cadets: Anthems for Adventure (March?)
Alison Faith Levy: World of Wonder (April 1)
Gustafer Yellowgold: Gustafer Yellowgold’s Year in The Day (April 3)
The Pop Ups: Radio Jungle (April 3)
Bobby Susser: Wo! (April 3)
Mo Phillips: Monster Suit (April 10)
Caspar Babypants: HOT DOG! (April 17)
Sukey Molloy: I Am Happy! (April 24)
Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band: A Bit A Luck! (May 8)
Orange Sherbet: Delicious (May 15)
Hope Harris: Picasso, That's Who! (May 22)
Okee Dokee Brothers: Can You Canoe? CD/DVD (May)
Secret Agent 23 Skidoo: Make Believers (May)
++ The Alphabeticians: Title TBD (May 2012)
The Funky Mamas and Friends: Pickin’ In The Garden (spring)
Elena Moon Park: Rabbit Days and Dumplings (spring)
++ Sugar Free Allstars: All On A Sunday Afternoon (June 1)
Ratboy Jr: Title TBA (late spring/early summer)
Recess Monkey: In Tents (June 19)
The Dirty Sock Funtime Band: Dirty Socks Come Clean (June 26)
++ Elizabeth Mitchell: Blue Clouds (early summer?)
Melissa Green: Sing Loud (July 31)
Lori Henriques: The World Is A Curious Place To Live (July)
Hey Dango: Blast Off (summer)
Charity and the JAMband: Title TBA (Aug. 7)
Randy Kaplan: Mr. Diddie Wah Diddie (summer)
++ Lunch Money: Spicy Kid (summer) (plus live album?)
Hullabaloo: Title TBA (Sept. 4)
The Diggity Dudes: Title TBA (Sept. 18)
Recess Music: Someone Else’s Shoes (September 25)
++ Caspar Babypants: I FOUND YOU [?] (September)
Andy Z: The Grand Scream of Things (Oct. 9)
++ Rolie Polie Guacamole: Triathlon (late 2012)

Other expected 2012 albums: Ah-Choo, Peter Apel, Renee & Jeremy, The Bramble Jam, Eric Herman (2 albums: one music, one comedy skits), Keith Munslow (2 albums: one solo, one with Bill Harley), Wayne Potash, Alex and the Kaleidoscope Band, Shine and the Moonbeams, Yumza!, Rockabye Baby albums for Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers, Elska, Ozomatli, Justin Roberts (2 CDs)

Review: Musical iPad Apps for Kids

I know. I know.

I agree with you: instead of playing music on the iPad, kids should be using honest-to-goodness instruments, including those instruments known as their own voices.

But sometimes kids want to play on the iPad and if some of those games and books are primarily musical in nature, who am I to force them to play Angry Birds instead?

So here are a handful of musical apps that have found their way to my iPad.

Let's start off with the Puff, the Magic Dragon app, based on the classic song and popular picture book from Peter Yarrow and Lenny Lipton and featuring Eric Puybaret's illustrations. Like most iPad books, it features the ability for the reader to read the text themselves or to have it read to them. And as one would suspect, you can also have Yarrow and his daughter sing the song to you as the animation proceeds. But at $5.99, some people will find the app a bit pricy for the level of interaction (comparatively minimal) and animation (a little "chunky" compared to the level of Puybaret's original illustrations).

The Secret Mountain's A Duck in New York City app is, just like Puff, the Magic Dragon, a song (by Connie Kaldor) and a book (illustrated by Fil & Julie) that is now an app. On the positive side, the conversion of the illustrations in a collage-like format into moving pictures is well-done. On the negative side, the song isn't as classic as "Puff," though that's probably an unfair standard for comparison. Again, you have the option of reading it yourself, having it read to you, and listening to the song, with a karaoke option thrown in. For $3.99, the app is a little more affordable than the Puff app, but I'd definitely listen to the song before committing the money (and the memory space) for the app.

With both these apps, I felt like something was missing, like the interactive nature of the iPad begs for more control and interaction (and, frankly, in the case of the "Puff" app, finish) than what they offered. Perhaps we haven't yet found a good music-book-to-app app yet. (It seems like a Gustafer Yellowgold app, done well, would be truly game-changing for the kindie world.) But there are other apps with musical DNA to consider...
Dr. Seuss Band is basically a piano version of Rock Band or Guitar Hero, except that in lieu of slightly scary looking computer-animated rock stars (Lego-based or otherwise) it features plain goofy strips of color. And instead of a wide variety of rock songs you get goofy songs with Seuss book titles as song titles and which sound like they should be playing a local merry-go-round. But, it's a game, which may be enough to keep your kids occupied for a while. The game is free, but you (or your kids) will need to unlock higher levels (or purchase the unlocking via an in-app purchase) or you'll have a relatively small selection of songs to try. Of course, free play (not associated with a game) is also an option. Get the app here.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the LEGO DUPLO JAMS app I highlighted a few months back. It's probably the app whose musicality is least necessary of those mentioned here. It features LEGO-themed songs and some fairly random (and simple) touch screen games for the preschool set. The app is not necessarily the most challenging, but the songs are decent and the price is right (free). I don't necessarily see this as a long-term app for any family's iPad, but it's definitely work checking out.

Boy, oh boy is Apple's Garageband a big program. Weighing it at more than half a gig, it's one of those apps you actually have to think about wanting to download, especially if you have a 16 GB version and the iPad gets many different types of uses, from music to video to games and pictures. But the $4.99 app is incredibly powerful and lots of fun, even if you have no intention of ever recording a song.

To do a full review of the app is beyond my scope here, but suffice it to say that this is a very popular app with my kids. We don't have a drum set (yet), so getting to tap fingers on the several different types of complete drum sets to make a reasonable facsimile of drum sounds is an OK substitute. The program also includes keyboards, drum machines, bass, guitar, even a sampler and an amp for your guitar. Perhaps one of the coolest features for people of all levels of musical abilities are the "smart" instruments, where you can, literally with the touch of the screen create a track that sounds pretty competent. (Yes, Little Boy Blue and I mess around with the Hip Hop Drum Machine, quite a bit, thankyouverymuch.) And who knows, maybe one day, Little Boy Blue or Miss Mary Mack or I will finally polish up those doodles of songs into the real thing.

Finally, an app that's actually for the iPhone, though it works just fine for the iPad, if a tiny bit fuzzy. It's called Dropophone, and it's from the kid-friendly band Lullatone, known for its appropriation of unique instruments to create songs that sound like they're simultaneously 50 years from the future and the past. It's pretty simple -- the user can select from 30 tone/instrument combinations that loop continuously (unless changed) and, if desired, turn on a simple metronome to help guide their selections. It's a lot like Brian Eno's "Bloom" app (and the like), but more structured, which may be helpful for kids who are trying to come up with an actual song. I wish you could record the results, but oh well -- music can be fleeting, and the app is free. It's not Garageband, but sometimes (often) Garageband is way too much.

[Disclosure: I received free copies of the Puff and Duck apps for possible review.]

Video: "States and Capitals" - Musical Stew

I really enjoyed Musical Stew's song "States and Capitals" -- see, it's there on my radio station playlist from earlier this week. It's from their self-titled 2007 debut.

But this new video for the song takes it up to a whole 'nother level. The original video for the song is probably more useful from a rote learning perspective, but for sheer inventiveness, this new video has it beat. It's too late to sneak it into my list of the best videos of 2011, but I've got a good feeling about it and the 2012 list.

And all of a sudden, I appreciate much more fully the puppetry backgrounds of the members of musical stew, "Macho Nacho" and "Mouth Trumpet."

Musical Stew - "States and Capitals" [YouTube]

(Hat tip: The Saturday Morning Cereal Bowl)

After the jump, a bonus video from the band featuring the cutest electrical socket ever. I appreciate much more than I
Musical Stew - "When the Lights Go Out" [YouTube]