Friday, February 16, 2007 at 1:16AM 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.
Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 12:07AM Glenn Whipp, one of the few reviewers granted the privilege of running occasional kids' music reviews in a major daily newspaper, has a nice story on Ralph Covert this morning which also contains some praise for Covert's Ralph's World music from yours truly. (And, no, I did not ask for the adjective "excellent" to be appended to a description of this site.)
I like Glenn's reviews, if only because he's just as big a fan of "Cavemen!" as I am.
He also got a nice list from Covert of "adult" songs for kids, which include selections from Fountains of Wayne, Tally Hall, Kasey Chambers, and the Who.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007 at 10:47AM In time for Valentine's Day (mostly), San Francisco-based Charity and the JAMband have posted a new mp3 on their website, the lullaby "Juggle the Stars." It's a good song, but different stylistically from the funky jams Charity's best known for. (Makes me wonder what their upcoming album will sound like.)
If you're looking for a more uptempo Valentine's Day song, try their song "No Doubt About It."
Both songs are available at the band's Songs page.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007 at 4:07AM ... are doing for kids literature.
The Cybils (The Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literature Awards) announced their 2006 winners today. If you and/or your kids like to read (and I imagine that covers a fairly high percentage of readers here), you should check out the list of winners and finalists.
As a coordinator of the Fids and Kamily Awards, I can only imagine how much work coordinating those awards must have been.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 12:15PM 
The New Jersey band Ernie & Neal have been playing kids rock for nearly 10 years now. On their recently-released fifth album Rock the House, the band plays a brand of rock that, really, can only be called "classic rock." Though their promo materials suggest Aerosmith as a reference point, the album brings to mind not so much Mr. Tyler and company so much as Bachman-Turner Overdrive and their song "Takin' Care of Business."
There are some strong songs here, most notably the leadoff track "This Whole Band," a tasty number which deftly melds "This Old Man" with nifty guitar riffs and a great horn section. "Monkey Dance" has a sinewy trumpet line. The ska sounds of "Hooligan" and the funky lament for the de-planeted "Pluto" are also highlights.
But the album at times feels like less than the sum of its parts as too many of the tracks begin to sound the same over the 44-minute runtime of the album. While Ernie & Neal have a good live reputation, and I can really see how these songs would be fun to hear in concert, stacked together on the CD it got a little repetitive, with some lyrics ("Every day a new day begins / every day a new day begins") bordering on classic-rock generic-ness. But I think the good songs (see above) break out of that mold -- they're also the more sprightly, fun songs on the album.
I think kids ages 4 through 9 are most likely to appreciate the songs here. You can hear samples at the album's CD Baby page or listen to Ernie & Neal's "radio" at their website.
Like I said, there are some really good songs on Rock the House. It's possible that the songs I didn't like were a matter of personal taste, so you may find the gaps between the really good songs easier to navigate than I did. As for me, I'm hoping Ernie & Neal are considering "Ska the House" as the title for their next CD.
