Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child

(Archive of show here.)

To put them in a little easier-to-follow formatting:

Best Local Artist: Jay Mankita

Best All-Around Label: Putumayo

Best Zoologist-Singer (and great nature songs): Lucas Miller

Best Use of Sound Words: Milkshake

Oh, So Kids Music Doesn't Have To Be Terrible? Award Part I: Justin Roberts

Oh, So Kids Music Doesn't Have To Be Terrible? Award, Part II: Dan Zanes & Friends

Best Metal Band for Kids: Thunderlords

Best Band of Escaped Assembly Line Robots (And Most Creative Concept Band): Bzots

Best Monster Voice (And Super Nice Folks) (and runnerup for Bill's favorite band of the year): ScribbleMonster & Pals

Best Kids' Rock Band That Actually Listens To Rock Music: CandyBand

Best Concept Album/Book Combination: Kevin Kammeraad's Tomato Collection

Best Exclusive Performance (and All Around Great Guys) Award: Ben Rudnick & Friends

Best Alphabetical Albums: Steve Weeks

Best Video, Most Hilarious Song: Telephone Company - Mustache

Awesome-But-Not-Quite-Clear-It's-Really-Appropriate-For-Kids-Compilation Award: The Bottle Let Me Down (Bloodshot Records)

Favorite Show Song: They Might Be Giants - Dr. Worm (Severe Tire Damage)

Bill's Favorite Band of the Year: Lunch Money (runner-up was ScribbleMonster & Pals)

Ella's Favorite Band of the Year: CandyBand


What are your favorites? Post a comment or send us an e-mail (show AT sparetherock DOT com)...

Our Best-Of Show! (Hey, at least it's not a clip show like Family Ties did all the time.)

Archive here.

Legal ID
They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse in Your Soul
Vince Guaraldi Trio - Skating (Charlie Brown Christmas)
Wendy Gelsanliter - Cabell and Sally (Dancin' in the Kitchen)
Best Local Artist: Jay Mankita - Wild Thing, Baby
Low - Taking Down the Tree (Christmas)
Best All-Around Label: Toots and the Maytalls - Freedom Train (African Playground)
Best Zoologist-Singer: Lucas Miller - Livin' in a Wetland (The Anaconda La Bamba)
Best Use of Sound Words: Milkshake - Bottle of Sunshine (Bottle of Sunshine)
Billy Jonas - What Kind of Cat Are You?! (What Kind of Cat Are You?!)
Oh, So Kids Music Doesn't Have To Be Terrible? Award: Justin Roberts - Willy Was a Whale (Yellow Bus)
Best Metal Band for Kids: Thunderlords - Old Man Olaf (Noisy Songs for Noisy Kids)
Best Band of Escaped Assembly Line Robots (And Most Creative Concept Band): Bzots - Two Months Security Deposit
AC Newman, Neko Case & Friends - Twin Cinema (Twin Cinema)
Jingle Punx - Auld Lang Syne (Coal)
Spoon - Fitted Shirt (Girls Can Tell)
Best Monster Voice (And Super Nice Folks) (and runnerup for Bill's favorite band of the year): ScribbleMonster & Pals - Chocolate Milk (Chocolate Milk)
Dressy Bessy - Electrified (Electrified)
Legal ID (8:59)
Skankin' Pickle - I Missed The Bus (Skankin' Pickle Fever)
Kids' Rock Band That Actually Listens To Rock Music: Candy Band - Fashion Show (LolliPunk)
Best Concept Album/Book Combination: Kevin Kammeraad - Best Poem Ever (Tomato Collection)
Group H Poetry
Best Exclusive Performance (and All Around Great Guys) Award: Ben Rudnick - Sally Salamander (Live for VFR)
Elizabeth Mitchell - Rock and Roll, then Freight Train (You Are My Flower)
Oh, So Kids Music Doesn't Have To Be Terrible? Award, Part II: Dan Zanes & Friends - Wabash Cannonball (with Bob Weir)
Best Alphabetical Albums: Steve Weeks - Monkeys (Alphabet Songs Vol. II)
Cake - Mahna Mahna (For The Kids)
Best Video, Most Hilarious Song: Telephone Company - Mustache (The King's Surprise?)
Manu Chao - Bongo Bong (World Playground)
Awesome-But-Not-Quite-Clear-It's-Really-Appropriate-For-Kids-Compilation Award: Asylum Street Spankers - I Am My Own Grandpa (The Bottle Let Me Down)
Bill's Favorite Band of the Year: Lunch Money - Rollercoaster and then Tricyle (Silly Reflection)
Ella's Favorite Band of the Year: CandyBand - Get Up Already (Lollipunk)
Favorite Show Song: They Might Be Giants - Dr. Worm (Severe Tire Damage)

...is here. Enjoy, and remember you can also subscribe to our podcast (instructions link is over to the right there).

Hope you all had a nice holiday weekend. Ella got me the three-CD set of Sesame Street songs, which rules. You will be hearing a lot of it. I also finally got The Clash's London Calling on CD. You will be hearing less of it, I suspect.

Did you get any good new music lately? Tell us about it in the comments field!

From today's Gazette.

Here's our mostly-holiday-themed playlist:

They Might Be Giants - Santa Claus
Barenaked Ladies - Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah
Ella Fitzgerald - Joy to the World
Georgia Anne Muldrow - The Kwanzaa Song
Asylum Street Spankers - Red Nosed Reindeer Blues
Telephone Company - I Don't Want to Shop
Sara Hickman - Frosty the Snowman
Los Reyes - White Christmas
Justin Roberts - Dad Caught Stars
Ralph's World - Bedtime Girl
Justin Roberts - All Eyes On You
Leon Redbone - Blue Christmas
Scribblemonster & Pals - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Jingle Punx - Wonderful Christmastime
Jingle Punx - Need A Little Christmas
Candy Band - All I Want For Christmas is a Big Fat Cookie
Fountains of Wayne - I Want An Alien for Christmas
Hoodoo Gurus - Little Drummer Boy (Up the Khyber)
Teacher and the Rockbots - Holidays
Legal ID
Wedding Present - Stepping into Christmas
Jingle Punx - You Gotta Get Up
Sheryl Cormier & Cajun Sounds - St. Nicholas
Shawn Colvin - Christmas Time Is Here
Ella Jenkins - Dredle Dredle Dredle
Zucchini Brothers - I Can't Put This Toy Together
PSA
Frank Black - Jumpin' Beans
Ramon F. Veloz - Paz En La Tierra
They Might Be Giants - Feast of Lights
Dan Zanes (with Lou Reed) - What a Wonderful World
Cuba LA - Deck the Hall
Jackson Five - Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Low - Just Like Christmas
Hippo for Christmas
Squirrel Nut Zippers - Hot Christmas
Leon Redbone - Christmas Island
Asylum Street Spankers - You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch
Elizabeth Mitchell - Jingle Bells
Vince Guaraldi Trio - Christmas is Coming
They Might Be Giants - O Tannenbaum

Happy holidays, y'all.

Archive here.

(prerecorded due to Christmas pageant rehearsal Saturday morning)

They Might Be Giants – The House At The Top of the Tree (No!)
Steve Weeks – Professor Poindexter P. Puggleston’s Prepostrapercoppopulataportapipplephone (Alphabet Songs Vol. I)
Arlo Guthrie – Bling-Blang (Sing Along with Putamayo)
Vic Chestnutt – Home on the Range (Rudy’s Rockin Kiddie Caravan)
Handsome Family – Snowball (Bottle Let Me Down)
Banana Splits – Tra La La Song
Hoya Hoye – Seleshe Damassae (African Playground)
Milkshake – Milkshake! (Bottle of Sunshine)
Trout Fishing in America – Pico De Gallo (Family Music Party Live)
De La Soul - Me Myself & I (3 Feet High and Rising)
Ella Jenkins - Dredle Dredle Dredle (Multicultural Children's Songs)
Zucchini Brothers - I Can't Put This Toy Together (A Zucchini Holiday)
PSA (Easthampton pancake breakfast)
Sweet Honey in the Rock - Little David Play on Your Harp (I Got Shoes)
Candyband - Pancake Mountain (LolliPunk)
Scribblemonster & His Pals - Chocolate Milk (Chocolate Milk)
The Evens - Vowel Movement (Pancake Mountain)
Moby - Bodyrock (Play)
Bzots - Gotta Get A Gig (Powered Up!)
Jonathan Richman - Roadrunner
R.E.M. - Furry Happy Monsters
Deedle Deedle Dees - Flat Stanley (Let It Dee)
Ben Rudnick - Sally Salamander (Live for VFR)
Roger Day - Reach Up (Rock 'n' Roll Rodeo)
Teri Yaadein - Lucky Ali (World Playground 2)
Monty Harper - Roundy Round (Take Me To Your Library)
PSA (bike safety)
Kelly Hogan - Senor El Gato (Bottle Let Me Down)
Laurie Berkner - Mahalo (Under a Shady Tree)
Lunch Money - Miniature Things (Silly Reflection)
Innocence Mission - Wonder of Birds (Innocence Mission)
Justin Roberts - Way Out (Way Out)
Ralph's World - At the Bottom of the Sea (At the Bottom of the Sea)
Eddie Coker - Please (Hmmm...)
Lucas Miller - Don't Want to be Part of the Food Chain (There's a Chicken on My Head)
Fountains of Wayne - Valley Winter Song (Welcome Interstate Managers)
They Might Be Giants - Why Does the Sun Shine? (Severe Tire Damage)

Chaotic morning. First, we played tunes from 8 to about 8:20, when I realized I forgot to hit the button that switched from the Valley Free MusicBot 2000 Automation Radio Machine to the studio, so we were playing tunes to, well, us. So then we started over. And then the program I use to record the show died at 9:15 or so. So our archive is only a partial recording of an unusually-short show. But it was a good one, honest!

Here's the partial archive: Download here.

Here's what we played:

Legal ID
They Might Be Giants - No! (No!)
Roger Day - Ready to Fly (Ready to Fly)
Low - Just Like Christmas (Christmas EP)
Nazare Pereira - Bonjour Pra Voce (World Playground)
PSA (Flywheel Kids' Cabaret) (8:30)
Asylum Street Spankers - Linus and Lucy (A Christmas Spanking)
Jay Mankita - Frogs in the Morning (The Day the Library Went Wild!)
Thunder Lords - Old Man Olaf
Apples in Stereo - Rainbow
CandyBand - All I Want For Christmas is a Big Fat Cookie
Billy Bragg & Wilco - My Flying Saucer (Mermaid Avenue Vol. II)
Teacher & The Rockbots - Let's Learn the 50 States (America)
Justin Roberts - D-O-G (Not Naptime)
Liz Phair & Material Issue - The Tra La La La Song (Saturday Morning Cartoons Greatest Hits)
Legal ID (9:00
Deedle Deedle Dees - John Brown (Let It Dee) (Coming live on February 18)
SteveSongs - Opposite Day (Marvelous Day)
Constant Wonder - I Am A Mammal (Walk With Wonder)
Kevin Kammeraad - Little Man Jay (Tomato Collection)
Lucas Miller - Go Wild - Read! (I Was a Supa Dupa Pupa)
Karl Zero & the Wailers - Coconut Woman (Caribbean Playground)
Monty Harper - Pop Up Sit Down (Great Green Squishy Mean Concert CD)
PSA (local kids' activities)
Splash 'n' Boots - Rockin' Vegetable (Manatee Bay)
Trout Fishing in America - It Did It All By Itself (InFINity)
Lunch Money - Yes, We Have Rhythm (Silly Reflection)
Terri Hendrix - Car, Car (Celebrate the Difference)
Leonardo - Do It Myself (Making' Lemonade)
Lead Belly - Pig Latin Song (Songs for Children)
Us 3 - Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) (Hand on the Torch)
Scribblemonster & Pals - The World's Greatest (Chocolate Milk)
Zucchini Brothers - I'm Myself (In Your Garden)
They Might Be Giants - LMNO (Here Come the ABC's)

Pity Almond Joy of CandyBand. Not enough snow for a snow day there, but here in Northampton, there's plenty and there's no school today! We're home, getting ready to decorate the newly-acquired tree and to rawk out to CandyBand's new Christmas single, "All I Want For Christmas Is A Big Fat Cookie."

You too can have the single -- for free. Download it from the "latest happenings" part of the news section at CandyBand.com.

And remember to listen to the show tomorrow morning from 8 to 10 on Valley Free Radio, 103.3, or to the archive of it later on in the day.

Oh -- Ella will be a reindeer in the Nutcracker on Sunday at the Academy of Music. Come on down and enjoy!

Hooray for WarningLabelGenerator.com!

The archive MP3 of this morning's show is here. (Control-click or right-click to save it to your hard drive.) It was a really fun show; thanks for listening!

Legal ID (7:59)
They Might Be Giants (with Mike Doughty) - Mr. Xcitement (Mink Car)
Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca - Boom Boom Tarara (World Playground)
Danny Adlerman - Africa Calling (One Size Fits All)
Billy Bragg & Wilco - My Flying Saucer (Mermaid Avenue Vol. II)
Vanessa Trien - Island in the Sun (Hot Air Balloon)
Trip Shakespeare - Snow Days (Across the Universe)
Mr. Richard - What Good is a Fish? (Might As Well Sing)
PSA (bike safety)
Josh Greenberg & Bill Vitek & the Mother Goose Jazz Band - Mad Man Polka (Rhythm & Rhymes)
Rick Scott - Elephant Ride (Rick around the Rock)
Pascal Parisot - Wonderful (French Playground)
REM - Stand (Green)
Fishbone - Everdyday Sunshine (Reality of my Surroundings)
Bzots - Hey Wkewke (Powered Up!)
Terri Hendrix - Nerves (Celebrate the Difference)
Candy Band - Fashion Show
Kevin Kammeraad - The Best Poem Ever
Legal ID (9:02)
Smith College Campus School Group H Poetry Reading
Ben Rudnick & Friends - I Got A New Friend (Blast Off!)
Buddy Holly - Bo Diddley
Scribblemonster & His Pals - Scrub-A-Dub (Best of Friends)
Teacher & the Rockbots - Where Will I Go? (Science)
Cibo Matto - Spoon (Stereo Type A)
PSA (Local Kids Activities)
Babaloo - My Hair Had A Party Last Night (Bean Bag Bop)
Re-Bops - Riding With A Sibling (Even Kids Get The Blues)
Terri Hendrix - Get Your Goat On (Celebrate the Difference)
Bill Harley - Sitting Down To Eat (Come On Out & Play)
Ella Jenkins - Native American Tribes (Sharing Cultures with Ella Jenkins)
Steve Weeks - Aaron and His Aeroplane (Alphabet Songs)
Zucchini Brothers - Remember the Adults You Trust (Safe & Sound)
They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse in Your Soul (Live) (Severe Tire Damage)