Magic Cardboard Ride - Available for download

Well, folks, my third kids album (“Magic Cardboard Ride”) is hot off the press, and ready for digital download.    Click here to download from bandcamp.     The physical CDs will be ready in a couple of weeks so stayed tuned as to where to get your very own copy.

P.s. As far as I can tell, Zooglobble coined the term, “kindie punk“.   I love it.

Kris Kindie

I’m very pleased to have been included in Kris Kindie (my Beach Boys-esque track, Snow Day), along with two of the brightest stars in PDX Kindie’s celestial firmament, The Alphabeticians and Lori Henriques.    What is Kris Kindie?   It’s a holiday compilation album with 27 tracks from 27 different kids musicians.    Kindie blogger extraordinaire Zooglobble coordinated the effort after getting the idea from a friend’s facebook post.    Kindie blogger extraordinaire Jeff Bogle (OWTK) designed the album cover.   And in less than a week since the idea was hatched, the album was done and available on bandcamp.    (Do Zooglobble and OWTK ever sleep?)

So if you’re looking for a digital stocking stuffer, this is your album.   Download it here.   From pirates to robots, it runs the gamut of holiday-themed tunes.    And the best part, the net proceeds (which are all purchases minus Bandcamp and PayPal processing fees) will go to KaBOOM!, a national non-profit dedicated to creating a place to play within walking distance of every child in America.    Which is a pretty cool goal.

Jeanie B! and the Jelly Beans' new album, "Sugar Buzz"

The album’s title track “Sugar Buzz” is downright infectious.  What I like most about it are the changes in dynamics.  Jeanie’s throaty growl (soft growl) is, well, kind of what a sugar buzz feels like, and when she softens to a slightly mournful  croon at the end, she evokes the sugar buzz aftermath.

I’m a sucker for the creative and unpredictable rhyme (a la The Alphabeticians), and “Sugar Buzz” has some great ones.   Turbinado / tornado & sucralose / overdose are my faves.   (Nota bene: My own suggestion for Jeanie’s rhyming extravaganza: “The come-down from a sugar buzz can kinda make you lachrymose”).

Topically, the album doesn’t take many chances, and sometimes is a bit too earnest for my taste (e.g. the importance of exercise, the joy of reading).   I would have liked more off-beat songs like “Please Don’t Pick Your Nose” and “Five Pieces of Bubble Gum” (which my son, Rowan absolutely loves).    But those are small quibbles with what is a very enjoyable and joyful album.    Nice work, Jeanie B!

Each Oodle Vision episode will include a video of one of his own songs as well as an artist shout-out, introducing another children’s songwriter or songwriters, as  the case may be.       Episode 2, released on August 10th, features ”The Veggie Burger Dance”.    Nota bene:  The video was filmed at Che Cafe on N. Williams Ave in PDX,  which is right near my house and has the best (and hugest) black bean burger that I’ve ever sunk my fangs into.

The Veggie Burger Dance video has a host of googly-eyed condiments sitting on a piano keyboard and two Barbie dolls wearing veggie burger skirts.  Veggie burger skirts look vaguely like hula skirts but are less grassy and more grainy.   They look good on Barbie.   At several points, the Barbie dolls appear with black eyebrows ala Groucho Marx, and near the end of the song, they start moshing.   It’s a goofy video.

Episode 2′s artist shout-out is The Alphabeticians, Portland’s coolest ABC guys (probably even the world’s coolest ABC guys).   I love watching these guys (Mr. E and Mr. Hoo) perform.  They’ve been best friends for twenty five years and it shows.   Watching them together actually makes me a bit envious.  I rarely have the chance to play music with my own two best friends who live in Albany, NY and Charleston, SC, respectively.    Boo hoo.

Anyway, I’d encourage you to tune into Oodle Vision.   I dig it.   It’s a fun, off-the-wall ten minutes, which doesn’t take itself too seriously.

After I wrote “Everybody’s Got A Name”, it was pointed out that, in fact, not everyone does have a name.   In his early Spaghetti Westerns, Clint Eastwood was nameless.    There was a horse with no name, made famous in the 1970s by the supergroup, America.   And for a period of time, Prince was known only by his symbol.   So I guess “Almost Everybody’s Got A Name” would be more accurate.

Enjoy!

Kindie Songwriting Club Vol. 1 -- Just Released

Last month, readers of the kids music blog, Zooglobble (aka Stefan Shepherd) submitted song titles for consideration for the first round of the Kindie Songwriting Club.    Stefan then selected three  of the submitted titles, and asked his readers to vote for their favorite.    The three finalists were:

1) “There’s Dirt in My Bed”
2) “Crunchy Munchy”
3) “Green Beans Everywhere”

“Green Beans Everywhere” won the vote, which meant that five West Coast songwriters — Johnny  Bregar (Seattle), Matt Clark (Portland),  Charity Kahn from Charity and the JAMband (San Francisco), Greg Hollow Tree from The Hollow Trees (Los Angeles), and Steve Denyes from Hullabaloo (San Diego) — had one month to write and record a song called “Green Beans Everywhere”.  

Click here to listen to the fruits of our labors.    Kindie Songwriting Club, Vol. 1.     Five great songs about . . . well, about green beans everywhere.