Are You the Next David Fincher?

Lord, I hope not. Dude couldn't direct a used car ad well.*

But if you do fancy yourself a music video maker, perhaps this Asylum Street Spankers contest is for you:

Make and submit a video for any track on our new family-oriented album,"Mommy Says No!" and if we think yours is the rockingest, we'll award you $1000 and it will become the Spankers offical new video and be promoted nationwide.

We're looking for a creative vision that entertains and delights both kids and grownups, so keep that in mind. Funny is good. Sweet can be nice too. Touch us, make us laugh, blow our minds. Animate, dance, psychedelize, literalize, visualize world Spanks!

Please pass this along to friends, and post it on networking websites and filmmaker forums. Thanks for helping us get the word out.

the simple rules:

1. All submissions become exclusive property of Spanks-a-Lot Records and our use may include, but not be limited to, uploading on video sharing sites and podcasting.

2. Submissions should be sent on DVD along with your contact info to: Asylum Street Spankers, PO Box 4559, Austin, TX 78765.

3. Entries must be postmarked by March 15, 2007.

4. Entries will be judged by the Spankers and their management. The winner will be announced by April 15, 2007.

5. The maker of the winning entry will receive $1000 and the glory of pseudo-collaboration with God's favorite band.

6. Existing images from our website and/or video footage from our DVDs may be incorporated into your work. We will also try to accomodate you if you'd like to shoot the band at a live performance. Please check http://www.asylumstreetspankers.com/tour.html for a list
of upcoming concerts then contact us via email with your proposal. Sorry, but we cannot schedule a video shoot for you, only allow you to shoot at a currently scheduled appearance.

Address questions to John Riedie at riedie@asylumstreetspankers.com.

* Okay, Fincher's not that terrible. His movies at least look good, and sometimes are decent. Maybe there's a better music video maker turned film director I should be using as an example. But I can't think of one off-hand. Maybe McG? Was he a music video maker? I can't be bothered to do actual research, apparently.

Updated: The Only State That's Shaped Like a Mitten

All four are now spoken for, assuming Katy sends in her address. But feel free to share your cool-or-weird Michigan vacation dreams in the comments!

So, now that I finally mailed packages out to the winners of the last contest, it must be time for another.

We have four copies of the CD A Curious Glimpse of Michigan. And how can you win one? Just send an e-mail (show AT sparetherock DOT com) describing what your ideal vacation in Michigan would be. Checking out the dunes along the lake? Terrific! Watching the Michigan Wolverines football team choke? Awesome. Following in the footstapes of Michael Moore in Roger and Me? A little depressing, but dandy. Gerald Ford themed? Just plain weird.

First four get 'em. Please include your mailing address and a promise to be patient if it's April by the time I mail them. I'll post them here (not the addresses).

Winner Number 1: Sam writes: "On a trip to Michigan, I would have to see if other Great Lakes are surfable, a la Step Into Liquid. And doing a tour based on the events in Sufjan Stevens' Greetings from Michigan sounds kind of fun, too."

Winner Number 2: Friend-of-the-Show Lisa writes: "The Harper family would tour Detroit with stops at the Motown Historical Museum for Monty, Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory at Belle Isle for Lisa, and the Detroit Zoo for Evalyn!"

Winner Number 3: Katy L (who needs to e-mail me her address) says: So, if we were going on a trip to Michigan, I think we'd have to take in the World's Former Largest Cherry Pie Pan in Charlevoix (the one 50 miles away in Traverse City, though much bigger, only copied the idea from the folks in Charlevoix). Then we would make our way to Kalamazoo and, late at night, try to see if the kudus really do fly red balloons there (see Jack Prelutsky's great book of kid's poems, "Ride a Purple Pelican"). And finally, we'd end up at the Motown Museum in Detroit because, well, it's Mecca for music-lovers!

Winner Number 4: Ginger says, perhaps channelling Smoove B at the end: "I would take my family to the University of Michigan at the LEAFIEST time of year (Octoberish, maybe) and we would run all over the University of Michigan and tromp through all those leaves leaves leaves! It would be a leaf-tromping vacation. And we would all buy big wooly University of Michigan scarves. And no, I didn't go to the University of Michigan, but I've always imagined it to the collegeyest of colleges and when you go to places like that that are also cold, you should get yourself and your whole family a scarf. Then we would drink some hot chocolate.

Nice Birthday Present!

Happy birthday to someone at the Gooney Bird Kids house. Hey, that guy at your party looks familiar!

When Ella turned 4, we went to see Justin Roberts at Iota in Arlington, Virginia, where we were living at the time. (Arlington, not Iota. Though it is a nice place.) Justin and Liam were kind enough to sing "Happy Birthday" to her. Not quite the same as having a Huge Huge Star in your house, but it was still very sweet.

Blogs and Songwriting Camps and Stuff

Just listening to a lovely CD we had submitted from Josephine Cameron and looking at her website. Couple cool things, in addition to the CD (which you will be hearing on the show for sure):

- Songwriting for Kids workshops. These look cool. That reminds me: we might be doing some music workshops for kids this summer in Northampton with Ulysses S. Dee from the Deedle Deedle Dees. But if you're in Maine, check out Josephine's events!

- Please Come Flying - Josephine's music, books, and other stuff blog is good reading.

KidsBestFest Film Festival Next Month!

Local listeners may be interested:

The ninth annual KidsBestFest: The Best of the International Children's Film Festivals, opens on Monday February 19th and runs through Saturday, February 24th at the Academy of Music Theatre in Northampton. All weekday shows are at 2PM (doors open at 1:30) and all seats are $3. On Saturday February 24, 2007 we will screen Brave Cat and Other Stories, a collection of short films for young people at 10AM (doors open at 9:30) and all seats are $3.

For something new this year we have YouthFilm, a festival of films made by local people 18 and under. The doors open at 12PM and films run all afternoon with commentary from the filmmakers and actors. All seats are $3 for 18 and over, but free for people18 and under.

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art will kick off KidsBestFest2007 on Saturday February 17, 2007 with a 1PM screening of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Admission to the Museum will get you into films as well as into the galleries: for more information take a look at www.picturebookart.org.

As in the past, Cate Damon of New Century Theatre will read the subtitles. It is something for the entire family: the films are funny, smart and sweet. See northamptonartscouncil.org for a complete listing. The Valley Advocate is the media sponsor. KidsBestFest2007 is sponsored by Florence Savings Bank. Gravity Switch and Faces support YouthFilm.

More at Northampton Arts Council.

2007-01-27 Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child

Note: My computer done crashed right at the end of the show, so I'm having to try to recover the 2,000+ files that the program I use created and get them into a usable form. I think I'm on the right path, but the archive will take a while...

Hooray! The archive has been recovered and it's here! I'm happy, because frankly, this show was pretty excellent.

We can't possibly be almost done with January. Crazy talk.

--legal ID (8:00)
They Might Be Giants - Four of Two (No!)
Safety Patrol - Shoe Tie Rules
Courtney Kaiser & Benjamin Cartel - The Season Song (Park Slope Parents The Album Vol 1)
Dixie Chicks - Rainbow Connection (Mary Had a Little Amp)
Deedle Deedle Dees - Major Deegan (Park Slope Parents The Album Vol. 1)
Elizabeth Mitchell - Lily Pond (You Are My Little Bird)
--song ID
Miles Davis - Move (Birth of the Cool)
Ginger Hendrix - Stinky Trash (Macaroni Boy Eats at Chez Shooby Doo)
George Carver - Down at the Zoo (Down at the Zoo)
Dennis Caraher - The Elephant Played Electric Guitar (Dog Bone Town)
--song ID
Dick Dale - Miserlou
CandyBand - Down By The Bay (Calling All Kids!)
Pizzicato Five - Twiggy Twiggy/Twiggy v. James Bond (Made in USA)
Thunderlords - I Like Dirt (Noisy Songs for Noisy Kids)
Muppets - She Drives Me Crazy
ScribbleMonster - The Fur Trade? (A Curious Glimpse of Michigan)
RTTs - Snack Time (Turn It Up Mommy!)
Ernie & Neal - Hooligan (Rock the House)
Campfire Kev - Cheese Stands Alone (Campfire Kev Show)
--legal ID (8:58)
XTC - Do What You Do
Yosi - Hole in the Ground (Under a Big Bright Yellow Umbrella)
Of Montreal - Disconnect the Dots
Daddy-A-Go-Go - For Those About to Walk, We Salute You (Eat Every Bean and Pea on Your Plate)
ScribbleMonster - Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
--song ID
Michael Jackson - Rockin' Robin
War - Why Can't We Be Friends?
Earth Wind & Fire - Shining Star
Recess Monkey - Trading Squirrels (Aminal House)
AudraRox - Hope My Mama Says YES! (I Can Do It By Myself)
Milkshake - Play! (Play!)
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - This Land is Your Land (Naturally)
--song ID
Charity and the JAMband - Jump Into the Middle (Rock Your Socks Off)
Gwendolyn & the Good Time Gang - Sweet Marmalade (Get Up and Dance)
Asylum Street Spankers - Sidekick (Mommy Says No!)
Ralph's World - The Tea Tale (Amazing Adventures of Kid Astro)
Ben Rudnick & Friends - Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World (Live for VFR)
--song ID
They Might Be Giants - Impossible (Bed Bed Bed)

Enjoy Your Delightful Christmas CDs in Late January!

Remember way back when in December when I did a giveaway of the Putumayo New Orleans Christmas CDs?

I finally mailed them on Tuesday.

Yes, I'm lame. But hopefully you haven't packed up your holiday stuff so you can throw that CD in, and be surprised to find it in December. (Hey, our Christmas tree is still in our yard, waiting to go to the community compost thing.)

Prepare to Rock, Don't Spare the Rock

That's the opening line to the new They Might Be Giants song, "Spare the Rock."

We've got a rough cut of it. It's not quite ready for airplay yet. But soon.

And yes, it rawks. And yes, I'm still pretty amazed at the entire concept of it. (And of ScribbleMonster writing a song for us too.)

Still More About Lightning Rod Laurie Berkner

Ginger Hendrix has made her contribution.

It's interesting -- and useful, I think -- to get the perspective from someone who is recording great family music in her own right (just as clever and good as Berkner's, in my view), but who has not -- yet! -- achieved the level of success that Berkner has. Check it out.

2007-01-20 Playlist

Good morning! Thanks to Eric Herman for doing a guest DJ set!

Archive is here.

They Might Be Giants - Violin (No!)
Omara Portuondo - Guantanamera (Latin Playground)
John Hadfield - Robot Monkey Head (Robot Monkey Head)
Elvis Presley - Old McDonald
--song ID & PSA (Ashfield Community Preschool Contra dance)
Interview with Trout Fishing in America
Trout Fishing in America - My Hair Had a Party Last Night (My Best Day)
Gwendolyn & the Good Time Gang - Red Means Stop (Get Up & Dance!)
--song ID
CandyBand - Simon Says (Calling All Kids)
ScribbleMonster - Do the Bounce (Best of Friends)
Replacements - Cruella deVille (Stay Awake)
Asylum Street Spankers - Mommy Says No! (Mommy Says No!)
Trip Shakespeare - Toolmaster of Brainerd (Are You Shakespearienced?)
Sippy Cups - Springtime Fantastic (Electric Storyland!)
Posies - Dream All Day (Frosting on the Beater)
Bzots - Two Months Security Deposit (Powered Up!)
Terrible Twos - Caroline (If You Ever See An Owl)
ScribbleMonster - Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
--legal ID, song ID
Eric Herman Guest DJ set:
--intro
Trout Fishing - Dinosaur Sleeping in Your Bathtub (inFINity)
Eric Herman and the Invisible Band - Hot Sand (Snow Day!)
Ralph's World - Hideaway (Green Gorilla, Monster and Me)
Stevie Wonder - Sir Duke (Songs in the Key of Life)
Frances England - Charlie Parker (Fascinating Creatures)
Eric Ode - I Love My Shoes (I Love My Shoes)
Tom Chapin - Johnny Glockenspiel (Zag Zig)
--song ID
Eric Herman and the Invisible Band - Prune Juice (Monkey Business)
Roger Day - Monster Face (Ready to Fly)
John Lithgow - Ya Gotta Have Pep (The Sunny Side of the Street)
Justin Roberts - More than Just a Minute (Meltdown)
The Tragically Hip - Ahead By a Century (Trouble at the Henhouse)
Cake - Mahna Mahna (For the Kids)
(poem) Kenn Nesbitt - Mashed Potatoes on the Ceiling (The Aliens Have Landed at Our School - book)
Shel Silverstein - The Minnows (Underwaterland)
Eric Herman and the Invisible Band - The Elephant Song (The Kid in the Mirror)
Sam Payne - Shazam (Coming Just to Go)
John Carlin - Runaround (First Time for Everything)
TMBG - Flying V (Here Come the ABCs)
--song ID
--end of guest DJ set
Milkshake - Bottle of Sunshine (Bottle of Sunshine)
The Quiet Ones (Quiet Two) - My Keyboard (Make Some Noise)
Telephone Company - Teeth (The King's Suprise?)
--song ID
They Might Be Giants - The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) (Apollo 18)

This week...

We'll play the interview with Trout Fishing in America we recorded a few weeks back. Plus, in the second half of the show, a very cool guest DJ set from Eric Herman! Be sure to join us.

Totally Off-Topic But Kinda Cool

...I got cited in the New York Times. No, not about kids' music, but instead about how document protective orders can be easily undermined in the age of the interwebs tubes, but hey...it's the Times!

Playlist for 1-13-07

We're back!

Archive is here.

They Might Be Giants - Whistling in the Dark (Flood)
Buddy Holly - Bo Diddley (Best Of...)
Juice Pops - Trucks (100% natural)
Loretta Lynn - High on a Mountain Top (Van Lear Rose)
Duplex - DNA (Ablum)
Two of a Kind - I Just Want to Sing Your Name (The MLK Song) (So Many Wys to be Smart)
Elizabeth Street - Plastic Spiders (Different)
--song ID/PSA (MLK day)
Beatles - Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (White Album)
John Carlin - Run Around (First Time for Everything)
Baby Loves Jazz Band - Scat Song (Baby Loves Jazz)
Ella Jenkins - Miss Mary Mack (This A Way, That A Way)
Erin Flynn & the Co-op Band - Mary Mack (Dreamers of Dreams)
Mr. Pete - Growing Bigger (Get on the Bus)
--song ID
Asylum Street Spankers - Sliver (Mommy Says No!)
Dressy Bessy - Electrified (Electrified)
Candy Band - Go Fish (LolliPunk)
Jellydots - Mister Gloom (Hey You Kids!)
Lunch Money - Roller Coaster (Live at Flywheel)
Fountains of Wayne - Peace and Love (Welcome Interstate Managers)
Deedle Deedle Dees - Teddy Days (forthcoming album)
--legal ID (8:59)
ScribbleMonster - Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
(Susan and Greg)
Elizabeth Street - live in studio
-Counting Fireflies
-Really Gross
-Fair
Stevie Wonder - Sir Duke (Definitive Collection)
Danny Adlerman - Library Song (One Size Fits All)
Mates of State - Fraud in the '80s (Bring it Back)
Princess Katie & Racer Steve - Jeans! (Songs for the Coolest Kids)
Ellen and Matt - Side by Side (Best Friends)
Laurie Berkner - Victor Vito (Victor Vito)
Gustafer Yellowgold - Pterodactyl Tuxedo (Wide Wild World)
Eric Herman - Snow Day (Snow Day)
Paul Westerberg - Love You in the Fall (Open Season Soundtrack)
--song ID
They Might Be Giants - Why Does the Sun Shine (Live) (Severe Tire Damage)

On Laurie Berkner...

Okay, so there's this post about Laurie Berkner. And there's this other post, too.

What I think is this:

1. Laurie Berkner is indeed really good at what she does, while of course respecting Amy's differing views. I think kids' music is different than some genres in that you really don't get a particular type of success without having some chops, and chops she has. There's no payola, even the well-marketed artists are not all that massively exposed, and parents just aren't going to keep buying things their kids don't like. Plus, kids don't know yet that they're supposed to like what they're told to like. Maybe you get the first CD to be a moderate success through smoke and mirrors, but not the next one, and the one after that, and the DVD...her ongoing success is because people genuinely dig her. She's not the first artist I play, but she was the first artist we ever played on the show (due to hitting play on the wrong CD player -- she was supposed to be the second artist.)

2. I don't think Laurie Berkner is so much better than other similar-targeted artists in proportion to her success. Boy, that's a bad sentence. Let's try that again: I don't think she's enough better than other artists to explain her ginormous success. So it's gotta be something else.

3. One thing it is: She's crazy nice and seems to have surrounded herself with crazy nice people. Last year around this time I asked a bunch of artists for donations for Liam's preschool auction (and will be asking again soon!). Many many artists donated a CD or two, and that was awesome. She gave, if memory serves, one of every one of her CDs, autographed, plus a DVD. By any rational measure, she doesn't "need" the publicity of a Montessori school in western Massachusetts, or the good feelings of a DJ on a 100-watt radio station out here. But she is, as noted, crazy nice. (See Frances England's post on Amy's blog for more on this.)

4. Another thing it is: Probably some luck. And I don't mean to demean her talent or the talent of her PR person (who posts in Amy's comments, by the way). But sometimes there's right-time-right-place, and that was it for her. It was going to be someone, and she happened to be the person who was there -- a talented and qualified person who was there. A year later, and maybe we'd be having this conversation about someone else -- someone none of us have heard of because the CD never got to the surface.

5. As for indie versus not, I disagree with Stefan that the discussion is "tired," but I agree that indieness itself doesn't predict artistic credibility. See this post for why it matters to me. Regardless, Laurie is indie by most measures.

Our Talented Guests...

Man, we get some cool posters made by the folks who come to do shows here. The poster for the upcoming Gustafer Yellowgold show:

Shrinking Archives

I got a pleasant note from our hosting company that we were a bit over our storage quota, so I've deleted the 2005 show archives (not the playlists, just the MP3s). We have them all on CD, so if you're desperately looking for one, send a note.

(And if you have an extra 5 GB or so you'd like to share to keep them all up, just holler.)

This week should be fun - first week back, plus Elizabeth Street live in-studio and at Cup & Top!

Best Kids' Album Cover Ever?

Yes, I think so:



It's in the mail now, hopefully in time to play on Saturday.

Okay, I'll Stop Talking About the Hold Steady Soon.

But not today.

Fun NPR piece to listen to, complete with four acoustic numbers.

As always, they are not a kids' band, nor are they appropriate for kids. But they're my favorite band right now, so it's hard not to mention them, um, all the time.

2007-01-06 Playlist

Again, a day early, blowing your collective minds. Archive is here.

Thanks to Monty Harper and his family for an excellent guest-hosted show! We'll be back live on 1/13 with Elizabeth Street.

They Might Be Giants - Moving to the Sun (The Guitar EP)
Mister Billy - Good Morning (*Batteries Not Included)
The Beatles - Good Day Sunshine (Revolver)
James B. Coffey - Put a Little Sunshine in Your Mouth (Shake it Up! with fruits & veggies)

Scribble Monster - Chocolate Milk (Chocolate Milk)
Tim Cain - Pancakes (A Day in Tim's Garden)
Joe McDermott - Flying Saucer (Everywhere You Go)
Clifford, Kermit and the Giant Clams a.k.a. Rockapella - Papa Oom Mow Mow (Muppet Beach Party)

Trout Fishing in America - Alien in My Nose (It's a Puzzle)
SteveSongs - Gravity (On a Flying Guitar)
Two of a Kind - The Double Life of Amphibians (Patchwork Planet)
Charity and the JAM Band - Peanut Butter and Jam (Peanut Butter and Jam)
Joanie Bartels - Peppermint Twist (Dancing Magic)
The Doo-Dads - My Incredible Shrinking Room (The Doo-Dads)

The Figureheads - Kiddo Anthem (You Come Too)
Skee-Lo - The Tale of Mr. Morton (School House Rock! Rocks)

Monty Harper - How Many Days (Imagine That)
Original London Cast Recording - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (Mary Poppins)
Gene Wilder - Pure Imagination (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)
Fran Friedman - I Don't Want to Live on the Moon (Songs For a Smile)

Lou Del Bianco - That's What My Mama Says (A Little Bit Clumsy)
ScribbleMonster & His Pals - I Like the Way You Share (Best of Friends)
Scotty & Lulu - Bounce (Bounce)
John Linnell - Illinois (State Songs)
Dave Kinnoin - Gorilla Feet (Fun-A-Rooey)

Phil Collins - Look Through My Eyes (Brother Bear Soundtrack)
Eddie Coker - Regina (Hmmm...)
Bruce O'Brien - Curiosity Killed the Cat (Love is in the Middle)
Monty Harper - The Cat Came Back (Paws Claws Scales & Tales)

They Might Be Giants - Istanbul Not Constantinople (Flood)

New Year's Eve in Arkansas

So we headed down to the beautiful square in the center of Fayetteville for First Night. We came upon the structure for the Hog Drop:



(Ella is doing her self-created Razorbacks sign.) Unfortunately, the machinery didn't work, as we found out later...but it worked out for the best.

Anyway, we then went in and chatted with Trout Fishing in America:



They're terrifically nice guys about to mark thirty years of making music together. Assuming the recording worked right, we'll probably play the interview a week from Saturday. They put on a great show:



It was cold outside (low 30s), so I think they got more people inside than they might have otherwise. Kids (including ours and the cousins) were dancing and having fun, and cousin Ty (and my brother and sister-in-law) picked up some merchandise, which they got autographed.

We then went outside for a bit to watch the puppet parade, which was hard to photograph but really neat:



We also saw a fun magic show and a very entertaining juggling act.

As the evening progressed, I decided we couldn't make it all the way to midnight - as mentioned, it was cold and we were all getting tired. But once we got home to the grandparents, we decided we should have a celebration there, so we had one at midnight, albeit midnight eastern time. We even had a hog drop:



Our hog drop worked, unlike the one at the town square.

And hats and noisemakers:



(In addition to Ella, that's official Spare the Rock Uncle Mike and Cousin Ty.)

Happy New Year, everyone!

Monty Harper Is Not Afraid Of You And He Will Beat Your....Oh, Wait.

Monty Harper is not actually Yo La Tengo and he is not nearly as threatening as they are (but, incidentally, doesn't this look cool?).

What he is, though, is this week's guest host while I while away the hours in tropical Washington, D.C., frolicking with other law profs.

Monty's show will be all-new, and those of you who heard his last guest spot (and if you haven't, you should) know that it'll be a bucket of fun.

Just Not Quite In Time For Christmas...

Part 1 of 2 of my take on the top ten Fids & Kamily award winners is up at Minnesota Parent magazine. Print copies (80,000 of 'em!) are available all over Minnesota.

Fids and Kamily Rules in Toledo

A neat story about The Lovely Mrs. Davis in Toledo Parent.