It's All About May

Even with a broadband connection, the internet can actually be painfully slow. There have been a number of (mostly Internet-related) projects I've looked forward to talking about here for quite some time, but haven't been able to because the progress of those projects has been, well, 2-AM-get-the-baby-back-to-sleep-lullaby-like slow.

A flurry of e-mails over the past week or two, however, leads me to believe that I'll be able to talk about many of those projects here in the next month.

And, yes, I'll get back to posting reviews and the long-awaited Top 5 Kids Songs of All Time very shortly.

Review: Alphabet Parade / Rainbow Lemonade - Melanie Dill

Sometimes you hear about older CDs, and you think, "Huh. That sounds kinda cool, but, you know, there's so much good stuff coming out now that I'll just have to let it slide."

That was me with Alphabet Parade and Rainbow Lemonade, from Kansas-based Melanie Dill. The CDs sounded interesting, but swamped as I was (and am) with newer music, I never got around to getting copies. Until recently, when I happened to receive a set.

So my task here, then, is try to convince you to not make the same mistake I did.

Melanie Dill released her first record, Alphabet Parade in 1998. As you might expect from the title, there are a number of alphabet-related songs on the CD, most notably the parade itself, which over three tracks introduces all 26 letters and gives them each a little bit of character. (My favorite is "Big P, little p, rapping down the street / Going puh-puh-puh-p-p-puh-puh to everyone he meets," in a rapped style, of course.) But the alphabet thing isn't overdone, and there are lots of other topics of interest to preschoolers, such as discovery ("Look out the Window"), money (a barbershopped "Pennies, Nickles, Dimes and Quarters"), and colors ("Unripe Tomato"). The songs are a combination of traditional melodies and original songs.

Musically, most of the tracks are done in a simple folk style, though there are enough variations to keep things interesting, such as "Emily's Song," which deserves to be heard on your child's favorite merry-go-round. There are also a number of spoken-word tracks with musical accompaniment. Dill has an appealing, clear voice, but plenty of others share the vocal and instrumental duties (29 others, by my count, including Randy Kaplan). The kids' voices here (including that of Dill's daughter, Siel) are integral to the music. They're smartly incorporated into the music and sound like real kids who've had just a little bit of vocal training, enough to make the vocals pleasant but by no means too much to become grating. Let's put it this way, if you don't like the way the kids' voices sound here, you will never like kids' voices on record.

Flash-forward to 2002, when Dill releases Rainbow Lemonade, a worthy follow-up to Parade. The basic approach is the same as before, but the musical palette is broader. 60 musicians (many of whom, judging by last name, are related to Dill) plus an entire kindergarten class show up here with Dill, and the result is a fun blending of musical genres, from the hoppy and folky original "Baiba's Bungalow" to "Left and Right," which sounds like it was pulled straight out of a 1950s educational movie. "The Skeeter Song" is a bluesy number, while "Seaside" and "I-L-O-V-E-Y-O-U" have gentle beach melodies.

Sometimes the genres are mixed in the same song -- "After the Rain," interrupts a slow, lush song about the end of a rainstorm with a punky interlude about mud. The kids' voices return, as do the spoken-word pieces. One of my favorites of these is "Explore," which underscores the kids' talk about exploration with a jazzy musical number.

Given the topics here, these CDs will be of most interest to kids ages 2 through 6. You can hear some of the tracks from the nearly-identical-in-length-36-minute albums at Dill's website.

These CDs are nothing less than Sesame Street episodes from back in their free-form days before everything got all scheduled on that show. They hop genres and subjects seemingly at a whim, but their overall structure and execution is very well thought-out. I like both of them equally, and would be hard-pressed to recommend one over the other. If you have young kids in your household, I think they (and you) would really like these CDs. Definitely recommended.

Concert Review: Dan Zanes - Rialto Theatre, Tucson

I've been to a lot of great concerts in my life -- Bruce Springsteen, Buddy Guy, U2. One of the key factors is the feeling that the crowd is having a shared experience -- amazement at Bruce's endurance, Guy's prowess, or U2's yearning. But that communal experience is one that ends up being focused on the performer(s) on stage (or not, as Guy ended up his concert jamming on the sidewalk in front of the Cats Cradle in Chapel Hill (back when it was in Chapel Hill) while his band played on inside).

The wonder of a Dan Zanes concert, then, is that he produces a very communal experience that isn't so focused on him. Instead, the community itself is the communal experience...
It started in the long line to get into downtown Tucson's Rialto Theatre (whose Frequently Asked Questions is a hoot-and-a-half, even if you never plan to see a show there). Lots of families saying "hi" to one another. That wasn't really the case for us, seeing as we drove two hours from Phoenix to see the show, but I'm guessing that a Dan Zanes concert -- especially one in a new area for him -- has that effect on people. "Hey," they're saying, "there are other Dan Zanes nuts just like us. And we're at a theatre 4 days after an Ice Cube show. Cool. I think."

The communal vibe continued indoors. We brought our DZ Flea ukelele, and so I talked with a guy ahead who also brought his. A guy next to me talked about how it looked like a Chilean stringed instrument made out of a turtle shell. Somebody passed out flyers for a preschool fundraiser.

And then the band entered, walking from the back through the front, playing "Sidewalks of New York." They disappeared stage left, Dan Zanes came on stage alone, and the party truly started.

I use the word "party" deliberately, because Zanes must've used it two dozen times during the set. He pleaded several times with the lighting person to increase the lights on the audience -- he wanted to see the audience, not play at them. But party it was -- it took two or three songs for the kids to start congregating up front, but eventually the area between the stage and the folding chairs was decently filled with pogoing kids.

More reserved kids (like, say, our daughter) took their time, but eventually couldn't control themselves and dashed for the side aisles and danced there. I spent a good part of the concert's last half dancing with my daughter on the side of the theatre. That's what I mean about the focus not being on Zanes and the band (who, I might add, were all excellent) -- we had a great time, but it wasn't because we were focused on Zanes.

The set list? Ah, the newshound in me wanted to write everything down, but the enjoy-er in me said, "Relax." So I relaxed. The set list did cover every single Zanes family album (including Parades and Panoramas and Sea Music). Zanes is lucky in that he doesn't have one or two huge hits he feels like he needs to play every time. As a result, whatever he plays will satisfy almost all his audience.

He brought a couple special guests. "Salvador" sang and danced a folk dance a bit, but I loved the mariachi band he brought in. Mariachis make almost everything sound better. That's one thing I really dig about Zanes -- he can bring in a mariachi band and it doesn't sound out of place. And when Father Goose came out (I'd forgotten him), that did add an extra jolt to the show -- he's a great ace in the hole to have.

And then, like that, the show ended with Zanes and company striding out the way they came in. The crew signed autographs in the lobby, with Zanes standing, mobbed, outside in Tucson's heat. Yes, his suit was that green. And he was very gracious with each concertgoer holding a t-shirt or ukelele case to sign.

It was a great concert, but I didn't expect anything less. Dan Zanes has made community a cornerstone of his all-ages musical philosophy -- his concerts are simply an extension of that vision. It's enough to make you dance.

Listen To This: You Might Be Tired of Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke...

... but I'm not. The latest song from Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke tells the gently bouncy story of Sylvester the Pig. It's a fun enough song, but it's the shouted questions and comments in counterpoint that make me want to listen to the 2-minute tale over and over. Track #5, "Big Pet Pig".

By the way, it sounds like they're posting a new song every week or so, so I'll see you here next week.

Listen To This: New (Really New) Music from Mr. David

I know that Mr. David has had a new tune -- "Hey It's Lunchtime" -- available for listening or downloading on his Myspace page for awhile. It's kind of an angular post-punk tune delivered in his loose style.

That tune is growing on me, but his new single -- the title track from his upcoming Jump in the Jumpy House album (tentatively scheduled for an August release) -- is an immediately accessible and fun track.

And, courtesy of Mr. David, I'm proud to offer it to you for your own enjoyment.

Mr. David - Jump in the Jumpy House

That nifty, insistent guitar lead comes courtesy of Greg Lisher from Camper Van Beethoven. If you, or someone you know, is getting one of those bouncy houses (sorry, I call 'em "bouncy houses") for a kids' birthday party, you need to have this as the soundtrack -- nails the pogoing aspect of those things to a T.