How Many Minutes of Fame Do I Have Left?

Welcome to those of you finding your way here due to my interview with Melissa Block on Wednesday's All Things Considered, her post on her family's favorite recent kids music, my post on my favorite recent kids music, or because you accidentally typed "Zooglobble" instead of, say, "Aniston and Vaughn break up" into your favorite search engine.

Whatever the reason, I'm glad you're here. There's lots of great music for kids and families being released these days, and it's easier than ever to find out about it. I'd like to think this site's played a small role in that -- this site's been active since 2004, and since that time I've reviewed more than 140 CDs, conducted several interviews, and generally spread the word about kids music and musicians.

You can find reviews under the artist links on the right-hand side sidebar. If you're looking for the cream of the (recent) crop, here's my list of the year's 20 best albums, with links. For an even more broad-based approach, check out the 2006 Fids & Kamily Poll, a collection of Top 10 lists from a whole bunch of people who've spent a fair amount of time listening to kids and family music. (My reviews of the winning albums are here, but you should definitely check out the F&K site.)

You might also be interested in the following links:
-- Reviews of the Wee Hairy Beasties' Animal Crackers, Johnny Bregar's Hootenanny, the Jellydots' Hey You Kids!, and Sam Hinton's Whoever Shall Have Some Good Peanuts, all mentioned in the interview. Also, another fall album worth checking out is the Sippy Cups' Electric Storyland.
-- Links to my reviews of albums mentioned by Melissa Block in her listing of her family's favorite kids CDs.
-- Interviews with Dan Zanes, Justin Roberts, and others.
-- My beliefs as they relate to kids music, both for a slightly younger and slightly older crowd.
-- Some Frequently Asked Questions

I have a Myspace page, too. No, I'm still not quite sure why, but if you want to be my "friend," drop me a line.

If you're an artist and are interested in submitting an album for review, I'd love to hear it. Find more details on how to go about this here.

Finally, there are some dedicated writers on kids and family music included in the sidebar there to the right, and I encourage you to check 'em out, but I want to highlight sites run by my fellow Fids & Kamily organizers Amy Davis and Bill Childs, The Lovely Mrs. Davis Tells You What To Think and Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child. Amy reviews a lot of the same music I do here, but also pays attention to other kid-pop cultural stuff with a breezy writing style. And Bill and his 7-year-old daughter Ella have a great kids radio show that's available via podcast every Saturday (with fun updates during the week).

If you've made it this far, I'm amazed. Have fun exploring and thanks for stopping by.

Contest: The Top 50 Kids Songs of All Time

It's time for the first-ever Zooglobble contest.

Later this week, I'll start counting down my (highly subjective) list of the top 50 kids songs of all time.

And I have a bright, shiny new CD for the person who can most closely guess my Top 5.
I'm talking about classics here, not an idiosyncratic list of songs. I'll be listing songs that kids and artists have sung over and over, mostly songs that many American kids have heard at least a few times in their lives. In other words, I might think the Jellydots' "Bicycle" is an awesome song (because it is), but it's fairly new and hasn't had a chance to make its way into the kids music culture. Having said that, my list won't solely be composed of public-domain classics -- look for some newer songs to be on the list, too.

The rules:
1. List your guesses in order from 1 to 5 in the comments of this post.
2. You get one guess -- your first one and that's all.
3. You will need to include your e-mail in your guess.
4. The winner will be the person who guesses the #1 song.
5. Assuming there's a tie in #4, the winner will be the person who guesses the most songs in my top 5.
6. Assuming there's a tie in #5, the winner will be the person who guesses the right placement in #2, then #3, etc.
7. If there's still a tie, well, we'll see what we can do.
8. All entries are due before I post songs #20 and above. (I expect to post roughly 10 per week.)

No, I don't know yet what CD the winner will receive, but it'll be a CD of high-quality kids' music, of that I can guarantee.

If you have questions, post 'em here, too. Have fun!

Local Man Talks About Kids Music on NPR

Tries not to say anything really silly.

If you glance today at the rundown for Tuesday's NPR afternoon/evening newsprogram All Things Considered, you'll see a note that the Wednesday Dec. 6 show will include a piece with some guy talking about kids' music... hey, wait, that's me!

Yes, I did really say "on their own time and their own dime." My wife said, "But that's so cliched!" I pointed out that I actually combined two cliched phrases. Which makes it not cliched.

You can go to the rundown page above after 4 PM EST today for a link to my interview, which will also include an audio link after 7:30 PM EST. If, you know, you don't actually listen to National Public Radio on the radio.

How Do They Celebrate the New Year on the Sun?

Perhaps patrons of the Bowery Club on Dec. 31 will find out, as Gustafer Yellowgold will be opening up for the jazz musician Hayes Greenfield for an early New Year's Eve show, complete with noon ball drop. Two of New York's finer kids'-related artists teaming up -- should be awesome.

Does Mr. Richard Read Paste Magazine?

I should note that I'm not posting this because fans of Mr. Richard are without a doubt the most devoted kids' music fans I know of. (Don't believe me? Check out this Fids & Kamily post for a taste.)

OK, maybe just a little bit.
But it does show one way kids and family music is gradually seeping into mainstream music culture.

Flipping through my November issue of Paste magazine, I was struck by a full-page ad for Redeye Distribution/Borders, which included writeups for albums from several rootsy (roots-ish, roots-like) artists, including Marah, Billy Bragg, and the Pernice Brothers. One of the eight artists mentioned? Mr. Richard.

Of course, the ad notes that the item is "not available in all Borders location" -- distribution is still the final frontier for most kids' musicians.