Get Up and Enter

Just as a reminder, the deadline to enter the contest to win the latest album from Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang, Get Up & Dance!, is tonight, Tuesday night. You and your farm animal friends will thank you.

But Do They Have Deedle Deedle Deetention?

Did you fall in love with "Major Deegan" by the Deedle Deedle Dees off the Park Slope Parents Album?

Are you a teacher?

Well, then, the band's new blog is for you. It will be "a resource for teachers who would like to use the music of the Deedle Deedle Dees in their classrooms. Lesson plans, background notes, activity and coloring sheets, and reading lists will all be here for you to use."

And regardless whether you're a teacher or just a payer of property taxes to your local school district, you can hear four songs from their upcoming March 3 release Freedom in a Box at their Myspace page. The mixture of their history songs with their toddler movement songs seems a bit awkward over the space of just four songs, but they're definitely interesting. "Henry Box Brown" has got the banjo thing down pat, and "Nellie Bly" would be what you'd get if The Band ever decided to write a song about, well, Nellie Bly...

We Have Ourselves A Ralph's World Winner!

I've randomly selected a winner from all our fine applicants in the Ralph's World contest, and that winner is Lynn, who in her entry said:

My dream would be to see Ralph in San Francisco at the Fillmore because, well, just because it would be almost historic. But since we are actually lucky enough to be here in Ralph's home town of Chicago our real pick is the House of Blues in Chicago. It's impossible to choose just 3 songs, but here goes: 1. Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum because the kids have such a blast dancing to it; 2. Riding With No Hands because it captures both childhood and parenthood so well; and 3. Honey for the Bears because it is just fun.

I hope Ralph is taking notes for his March 3rd show in Chicago...

Many, many thanks to all the entrants. Even if you didn't win (heck, even if you did win, Lynn), you can order tickets for the tour by clicking on the link below.

Thanks again to Ralph for the tickets!

Review: Elephants Over the Fence - Johnny Keener

The Portland-based artist Johnny Keener released Elephants Over the Fence, but there are strong echoes of South Carolina, Seattle, and Brooklyn in the CD.

The South Carolina echo has to do with the musicians on the CD. Backed by Emily Vidal on bass and Jason Greene (their alter ego is Yoyodyne, an adult pop group), Keener generally plays guitar reminiscent of Buddy Holly or Johnny Cash records. Hmmm... a trio reconfiguring itself to play kids music? Where have I heard that before? But there's no complaint as the trio gets a lot of mileage out of the mixture of traditional kids, originals, and offbeat covers here.

The Seattle echo is from the leadoff track, "Miss Mary Mack," which, just as on Johnny Bregar's Hootenanny! CD, starts with the voice of a young girl singing the song, though here young Zella sings for a full 30 seconds before the band and a chorus of preschool kids join in.

And the Brooklyn echo? None other than Dan Zanes, an obvious inspiration for Keener. While Keener clearly doesn't have the star power of Zanes (there's no Sheryl Crow on this version of "Polly Wolly Doodle"), Keener likes singing with kids and integrates them nicely on a few tracks.

The best cut here is the cover of Woody Guthrie's "Bling Blang," which features guitar work by Keener accompanying a swinging piano by Yascha Noonberg. The two originals aren't too bad (I liked "It's Too Hot!," all about going to the local swimming pool), but the two songs that are most intriguing are the covers of Jonathan Richman ("Here Come the Martian Martians") and They Might Be Giants ("Robot Parade"). The Richman cover is pretty good and just goes to show that a compilation of kids artists doing Jonathan Richman songs is long overdue. Keener also acquits himself nicely on the TMBG track, slowing the tempo a bit to a more stately parade-like pace, and adding some robot-like spoken-word interludes.

The 25-minute album is most appropriate for kids ages 2 through 7. Tracks may be available soon at Keener's website, but here, with Keener's permission, are two tracks for your immediate enjoyment:

Johnny Keener - Polly Wolly Doodle

Johnny Keener - It's Too Hot!

There is no wheel-reinventing going on here, but Elephants Over the Fence is an enjoyable listen, a smart-sounding CD with a loose energy appealing to kids and parents alike. Recommended.

Camping With Recess Monkey

I really liked Recess Monkey's album Aminal House, but was curious what role the kids in the Seattle UCDS summer music camp played in the album.

So I asked singer and guitarist Drew Holloway for more details.

"It was a week-long camp but the three of us did a fair share of tracking in the weeks before and after camp. Jack [Forman, bass & piano] did the massive job of mixing the cd which we then had professionally mastered.

The camp was made up of over 80 kids. 30 of the kids were 3-6 years old and spent the bulk of the day in a separate camp on site. In the morning, however, those children joined the other group, 6-11 years old, for a "gig" [group sing-along] and some big group recording [like in "Aquarium" and "Fred"].

Each afternoon consisted of three sessions [songwriting, recording, and artwork]. We divided the 50 kids into three groups [land, water, and air] and they rotated through each activity.

I worked with the songwriting group. For the most part I was the Elton John and they were the Bernie Taupins. Sometimes small musical snippets made their ways into songs ["Squirrels" was based on a camper-generated bass line]. The kids worked mostly in pairs and small groups to draw and write stories. When it worked we combined ideas like in "Chicken" and other times we voted for favorites "Pet Shark."

Daron [Henry, drums] led the art contigent. Kids created animal-letter typography and foot-high self-portraits. The portraits were used in an installation that later, through the magic of photoshop, became the cover.

Jack was the captain of the recording booth. He taught the kids about basic engineering and multi-track recording [We used protools]. In the studio, campers laid down vocal and percussion tracks. Their favorite part was always listening back.

We ended the day by singing some songs and doing a guitar solo overdub in front of the whole group. What a blast."

Holloway also reports that they'll be doing two weeks of the camp this year, maybe with a video/DVD component.

Others have wondered in the comments, and I agree -- why don't more artists try this? You'd certainly have to have a certain patience to deal with dozens of elementary school students, but a lot of kids' musicians have at least some familiarity with teaching kids.

A (summer) school of rock (or folk or pop or whatever) would be pretty awesome for a lot of kids.