Prepare to rock

I posted this before, but it got kinda buried quickly with all the other stuff of late, so: hey, if your kids want to be on the show, send us (show AT sparetherock DOT com) an MP3 of them saying their name(s), where you're from, and "Are you prepared to rock?" Not-great-quality is okay, so don't not do it just because you don't have a studio setup or anything like that. And if you see us around town, ask if we have the recorder with us; we often do. We got a couple of great ones at the Brady Rymer show last night...send us more!

And again, remember that if you send us your favorite spring break/spring activity and your favorite planet (or dwarf planet!), you could win the Pop Rockets' new CD!

Playlist for 2008-04-26

Fun show with Brady Rymer and the Little Band that Could at First Churches! Thanks to everyone for coming out, and to Brady and the band (and Bridget!) for putting on such a fun show, even with technical difficulties.

Thanks to The Pop Rockets for guest DJing! The first people to e-mail us (show AT sparetherock DOT com) who live locally (i.e., who are willing to come to downtown Northampton to pick it up) with (a) their favorite spring break activity (or just spring activity, for non-schoolers) and (b) their favorite planet or dwarf planet will get a free copy of the new Pop Rockets CD!

Also, welcome to Amherst Toy Box in their first official week sponsoring the show!

Stream the show here:



Here's what we played:

Segment 1
TMBG - It's Spare the Rock
-Ella ID
TMBG - The Secret Life of Six
Damnations - Steeple Full of Swallows (Where it Lands)
Gourds - Education Song (Heavy Ornamentals)
ID
Dan Wilson - Lullaby (EP)
ID (Pop Rockets coming up)

Segment 2
Father Goose - Island in the Sun (It's a Bam Bam Diddly)
Frances England - Spring has Sprung (Family Tree)
ID/prep to rock
Posies - Flavor of the Month
Deedle Deedle Dees - Babe Ruth (Let it Dee)
Pencilhead and the Playground Punks - Free

Segment 3
Arcadia bit
Quiet Ones - Ultrafoot (Make Some Noise)
Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Kinder Words (Question the Answers)
AudraRox - All My Toys Are Broken (I Can Do It By Myself!)
SteveSongs - No Good Toys (Little Superman)
Telephone Company - Bomb Pop (Panda Brain)

Segment 4
ScribbleMonster - Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
Pop Rockets Guest DJ set:
John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting - The Hoppity Song (For the Kids)
Beatles - All Together Now (Yellow Submarine)
Earth Wind & Fire - Shining Star (Pure Funk)
Naked Brothers Band - Crazy Car
ID

Segment 5
Rose Royce - Car Wash (Pure Funk)
Semisonic & Mary Lou Lord - Sugar Sugar (Saturday Morning Greatest Hits)
ID -
Billy Jonas - What Kind of Cat are You? (What Kind of Cat Are You?)
ID

Segment 6
Steve Weeks - Xavier Xerxes Xeonphanes X (Alphabet Songs Vol 3)
ID/Book Time with Ella
Justin Roberts - She Sits (Pop Fly)
Ralph's World - King of the Alphabet (The Rhyming Circus)
ID
TMBG - D is for Drums (Here Come the ABCs)
TMBG - Spare the Rock

Bumped: Details About the Brady Rymer Show

Just moving this up to make it easier to find for anyone looking for details (and welcome, Advocate readers):

I think I've hit the high points of this periodically, but in case you're coming here after seeing one of the posters, hearing an ad, etc., here's the key information:

Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could

Friday, April 25, doors at 5:00 p.m.

Lyman Hall at First Churches of Northampton, 129 Main Street, Northampton, MA (enter opposite the Iron Horse Music Hall)

Co-presented by us and Hilltown Families.

Potluck contributions are welcome but not required.

$7 for kids and adults; infants are free.

From the press release:

Brady Rymer toured and recorded with the RCA roots/rock band From Good Homes for thirteen years — sharing the stage with the likes of Bob Dylan, Dave Matthews, and the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir — before parenthood broadened the scope of his music. Five albums and countless live shows later, this veteran performer has established himself as one of the country’s most captivating creators of music for kids and families. Combining a feel-good R&B foundation with traditional acoustic arrangements and a scoop of sunny 70's optimism, Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could have created a distinctive, modern American roots sound for families raised on rock 'n' roll. Every generation connects to this band's strong, straight-ahead grooves, catchy choruses and irresistibly down-home, hip-shakin' vibe.


Brady will appear on WHMP 1400 AM at about 8:40 on Friday morning.

It's gonna be a ton of fun. Please come.

Valley Advocate on Brady Rymer

Nice piece here. Whoo-hoo!

Are you prepared to be on the radio?

Hey, so at the Brady Rymer show I'm going to bring our new little digital recorder (which is so so sweet) and have kids ask the weekly question: "Are you prepared to rock?"

Does your kid want in on the action? Then record them saying something that includes their name, where they're from, and the key phrase -- "Are you prepared to rock?" -- and send it to me (show AT sparetherock DOT com) as an MP3 attachment. It can have something else in there too if you want; try to keep it around 20-30 seconds at most.

And what the heck. If you're in a band and want to send a prepared-to-rock bit, you can do that too.

I might scare kids at the Brady Rymer show.

Hmm:




I fear I look a little like Dave Attell.

Wow, I'd forgotten how good that is

The Replacements' Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash -- first punk record I ever got (given to me on a dubbed tape by, I'm pretty sure, this Brad Witham). That tape stayed in my tape player for months, probably until I got Let It Be (and I still remember hoping my mom wouldn't look too carefully at the track listing, especially, oh, around midway through side 2, when I was buying it at the record store).

Yes, the remastered CDs mentioned here showed up, and they sound incredible. Do I have a point? No. Except that the Replacements changed my life in important ways. They're especially well described in the liner notes by Gina Arnold for Let It Be. It's worth reading all of it (and you must buy these records, right now), but a quick excerpt might be interesting:

That was the thing about The 'Mats. You didn't just listen to them or like them or drop by a gig every now and again. You simply were them. You wouldn't have said that about R.E.M. or Sonic Youth or Husker Du or any of the other well-known bands of the era, much as you may have loved them. You wouldn't have said it about Springsteen, Madonna, or Prince. Unlike those acts, compelling as they all were, once you fell into The Replacements vortex, you took on their attributes--and their battles. It was sort of like that episode of the X-Files where hapless city workers are usurped by an amoeba in the sewer. You didn't listen to The 'Mats, you channeled them.

By the time I was old enough to go see shows (and, more important, had access to a car), they were almost done. I saw them once, on the Don't Tell a Soul tour. It was good, though it was in a mid-size theater rather than something like First Avenue, and by all accounts it was at best a middling show. And yet it was still great.

My point? Again, I have none. There are virtually no 'Mats songs we can play on the show. But if you need to know why you hear them fairly regularly, that's why. And if you have those old records and haven't listened to them recently, listen, now.

Switching over to AM, searching for a truer sound

No, we're not switching to AM; just saw an excuse to quote a Son Volt song.

But this Friday morning at 8:40, listen to our sister station WHMP 1400 AM to hear Chris Collins and Tom Vannah chat with Brady Rymer.

July at Pearl Street is getting even better...

...because Uncle Rock is now confirmed opening for the Sippy Cups!

Susan B. Anthony and the Replacements

What do they have in common? Actually nothing besides this post.

But as for the first:

When I was around Ella's age, we were assigned to do book reports on a biography. As I've mentioned, my mom was an organizer for the ERA in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and so women's suffrage and women's rights was a fairly big subject in our house. So I chose to do my report on Susan B. Anthony. After we were all done writing the report, etc., the teacher informed us that we would be reading the report to the class...dressed as the subject. And that's how I went to school wearing a dress.

Why do I mention this here? Because I told Ulysses S. Dee of the Deedle Deedle Dees this story, and he reports that they will soon have a song based on my experience, "Put on a Dress (Nobody Told Me to Be Susan B. Anthony)." Cool.

And the second:

These are going to be excellent. I have a fair number of the bonus tracks already, but not nearly all of 'em. Hooray!

Welcome Lucy Rae!

Ginger Hendrix has some news in the form of a new baby, Lucy Rae Hendrix. Whoo-hoo!

In the Well, That's Weird category: Had Liam been a girl, he would have been Lucy Rae. (Well, Lucinda Rae, but Lucy.)

Playlist for 2008-04-19

All sorts of great stuff, including brand new music from Frances England, Ralph's World, and more!

Details about the Brady Rymer show we discussed are here. Please come!

Stream it here:



(I'm a dork; I forgot to upload a key file for it to work. Uploading now and is probably working by the time you read this. 4/18 9:30pm)

Here's what we played:

Segment 1
TMBG - It's Spare the Rock
-Ella ID
TMBG - Cowtown (Lincoln)
Dog on Fleas - Give It Away (When I Get Little)
Uncle Rock - There's Love in My Food (Uncle Rock U)
ID
Justin Roberts - From Scratch (Pop Fly)
Laura Freeman - Compost Heap (A Baker's Dozen)
ID


Segment 2
Steve Weeks - Kiki Kangaroo (Alphabet Songs 2)
Monty Harper - A Pet Like That (Paws Claws Scales and Tales)
ID/prep to rock
Guided by Voices - Hank's Little Fingers (Box)
David Weinstone - Big Boom Whacker (Taxi)
Recess Monkey - Aquarium (Aminal House)
CandyBand - It's Your Birthday (Calling All Kids)
ID


Segment 3
Frances England - Free to Be Me (Family Tree)
ID
Deedle Deedle Dees - Rancher Ants (Freedom in a Box)
Arcade Fire - Tunnels (Funeral)
Hipwaders - Art Car (Educated Kid)
Sgt. Major - Nellie the Elephant (Play)
ID

Segment 4
ScribbleMonster - Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
ID
Ralph's World - Gotta Be Good (Rhyming Circus)
B-52s - Wig (Bouncing off the Satellites)
Dream Jam Band - That's Enough for Me (Dream Jam Band)
Lunch Money - Tricycle (Silly Reflection)
Beatles - And Your Bird Can Sing (Revolver)
ID

Segment 5
Brady Rymer - It Was a Saturday Night
ID
Mocean Worker - Right Now
ID/Book Time with Ella
Oren & the Hiccups - Turn Around the Sun (Turn around the Sun)
Gunnar Madsen - Sun Comes Up (I'm Growing)
ID


Segment 6
Dan Zanes - El Pescador (Nueva York)
Mahotella Queens - Mbube (African Playground)
ID
Tom Freund - Hug Trees (Hug Trees)
ID
TMBG - Edison Museum (Long Tall Weekend)
TMBG - Spare the Rock

The Brady Rymer Ad

Listen to it here:



Details here.

There will be no hair.

Students at the law school chipped in to raise $500 for Equal Justice Works (our public interest group) and so sometime in the next week or so I will become completely bald.

Hmm.

Hello, People in Northwest Texas and/or Southern Oklahoma!

My music column will, starting in May (the first issue!), be in Red River Family. Whoo-hoo!

AKL Lineup

Announced.

Kids' stuff:

School of Rock
Jambo
Q Brothers
Buck Howdy with BB
Uncle Rock
Big Don (?)
Mr. Ray
The Jimmies

Other stuff I notice I like: Beck, Mates of State, Manu Chao, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, David Byrne, Raconteurs, Tegan & Sara, Neko Case, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Alejandro Escovedo, Vampire Weekend, Roky Erickson, Mgmt, M. Ward, Jenny Lewis, and no doubt many more I missed on a quick glance.

Rawk.

Happy birthday, Ella!

She's nine.

She rocks.

Next week...

New Frances England.

New Ralph's World.

And more.

Next week.

Also, possibly news on whether my head will soon be shaved. It's a possibility, as it's up for auction for WNEC's chapter of Equal Justice Works. There will be photos if so. They may be frightening, as I have a freakishly large head.

Rock!

Playlist for 2008-04-12

Thanks again to Hannah Levine for calling in to chat about her work with They Might Be Giants!

Stream it here:



Here's what we played:

Segment 1
TMBG - It's Spare the Rock
-Ella ID
TMBG - Apartment Four (Here Comes the 123s)
Tom Freund - Bump Bump Bump (Hug Trees)
ID
Rebecca Frezza - Summer Sunshine
ScribbleMonster - Beautiful Day
David Tobocman - Home (Very Helpful Songs)
Barenaked Ladies - Raisins (Snacktime)
Liz Mitchell - Lily Pond
ID

Segment 2
ID
Nields - Red Red Robin (All Together Singing in the Kitchen)
Gustafer Yellowgold - I'm From the Sun (Wide Wild World)
ID/Prep to Rock
Apples in Stereo - Energy (New Magnetic Wonder)
Farmer Jason - The Forest Oh! (Rockin' in the Forest)
Quzazar and the Bamboozled - Can You Picture That? (Lovely Lunatickle Musical Revue)
ID


Segment 3
Shonen Knife - Frogphobia
ID
Justin Roberts - The Backyard Super Kid (Pop Fly)
New Pornographers - Twin Cinema (Twin Cinema)
Daddy A Go Go - What a Wonderful World (Rock of All Ages)
Sippy Cups - Move Your Pants (Electric Storyland)
ID

Segment 4
ScribbleMonster - Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
ID
Mates of State - Starman (All Day EP)
Jayhawks - This Little Light of Mine (Down by the Riverside)
Trout ID
Trout Fishing in America - I Get Ideas
Brady Rymer & the Little Band that Could - Your Smile (Here Comes...)
Astrograss - Drunken Sailor (Let Me Stay Up All Night)
ID -

Segment 5
Interview with Hannah Levine
TMBG - One Dozen Monkeys (Here Come the 123s)
Mr. Oscat - What's that Smell (Mr. Oscat Says...)
Hank Hooper - Look Ridiculous (Playground Fortune Teller)
ID/Book Time with Ella

Segment 6
The Go! Team - Junior Kickstart (Thunder Lightning Strike)
Kid Koala - Fruit Belt (See You on the Moon)
ID
Milkshake - Bottle of Sunshine (Bottle of Sunshine)
Jimmies - Spanimals (Make Your Own Someday)
Baze & His Silly Friends - All My Silly Friends (One Little Smile)
ID
TMBG - LMNO (Here Come the ABCs)
TMBG - Spare the Rock

Hee-Haw, Barenaked Ladies

BNL gets a little western in this video for the song "789" from their new kids' record, Snacktime:



They'll be on Regis & Kathy Kelly (apparently there's a difference) on Wednesday, May 7, and doing a bunch of in-stores:

Tuesday, May 6 – New York, NY
BARNES & NOBLE – Performance and CD Signing
97 Warren St. (at Greenwich St.)
New York, NY 10007
212-587-5389

Thursday, May 8 – Framingham, MA
BARNES & NOBLE – Performance and CD Signing
1 Worcester Rd
Framingham, MA 01701
508-628-5567

Friday, May 9 – Detroit, MI
BORDERS – Performance and CD Signing
34300 Woodward
Birmingham, MI 48009
248-203-0005

Saturday, May 10 – Chicago, IL
BORDERS – Performance and CD Signing
1500 16th St, Suite D
Oak Brook, IL 60523
630-574-0800

Wednesday, June 11 – Los Angeles, CA
BARNES & NOBLE – Performance and CD Signing
189 Grove Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323-525-0270

Thursday, June 12 – San Mateo, CA
BARNES & NOBLE – Performance and CD Signing
11 West Hillsdale Blvd, Hillsdale Shopping Center
San Mateo, CA 94403
650-341-5560

Saturday, June 14 – Boulder, CA
BARNES & NOBLE – Performance and CD Signing
2915 Pearl St
Boulder, CO 80301
303-442-1665

Short, Not Sweet

That's the subtitle of the new blog, Damning Capsule Reviews, by my friend Molly. It is not about, for, or remotely related to children, but it is very funny. Please go read it.

Sippy Cups Tickets On Sale

Head on over to IHEG, scroll down, and buy. Yes, July 12 is a long ways off, but don't you want to be sure you get in?

A Mystery You Can Help Solve

Got this in the e-mail this weekend; any thoughts?

I've got 3 kids, now 10, 13, and 16. About 10-15 years ago, our favorite kid's album was by a singer-songwriter whose name I can't recall. The catchiest tune he had was "Zachary Zack", which I can still sing most of the lyrics to (Zachary Zack was always in the back, his name was the worst it could be. He'd like to be first, but with his name he's cursed, Zachary Zack with a Z.). He also had another song we remember, "Great big puffy clouds". We loved this guy - actually went to a concert by him and he signed a CD for us. In fact, his album was actually sold in Disney stores for a while.

I'd like to give this album to a friend with a new baby, as a gift. But I cannot for the life of me remember, or find through any search engine, his name! Any ideas?

Playlist for 2008-04-05

Thanks a ton to School for the Dead for coming in the studio and playing some songs for us. Remember: Sunday, April 6, 2:00, Calvin Theater. Great family-friendly tunes and performances benefiting a key community space for the entire Pioneer Valley!

Stream it here:



Here's what we played:

Segment 1
TMBG - It's Spare the Rock
-Ella ID
TMBG -Employee of the Month (The Else bonus CD)
Randy Kaplan - Loquat Rooftop (Loquat Rooftop)
Medeski Martin & Wood - Let's Go Everywhere (Let's Go everywhere)
Johnny Cash - I've Got a Boy (Children's Album)
Dan Zanes with Loudon Wainwright III - All Around the Kitchen (Family Dance)
ID

Segment 2
Son Volt - Windfall (Trace)
Brady Rymer & the Little Band that Could - One True You (Here Comes...)
ID
ScribbleMonster - The Fur Trade? (Curious Glimpse of Michigan)
Jonathan Richman - El UFO Man
RTTs - Snack Time (Turn It Up Mommy!)
They Might Be Giants - Free to Be You and Me
ID

Segment 3
Love & Rockets - No New Tale to Tell (Earth Sun Moon)
Bzots - Two Months Security Deposit
Big Bang Boom - Why Can't I Have Ice Cream (Big Bang Boom)
Mike Doughty - More Bacon than the Pan Can Handle
Apples in Stereo - theme song
Dr. Strangeblood & the New Zombies - Our House
James Kochalka Superstar - Hockey Monkey
ID

Segment 4
ScribbleMonster - Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
ID
Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Max Roach - A Little Max (Money Jungle)
Frances England - Charlie Parker (Fascinating Creatures)
Jellydots - San Diego (Changing Skies)
ID/Book Time with Ella
Barenaked Ladies - Raisins (Snacktime)
ID

Segment 5
School for the Dead live in-studio:
Periscope
Beautiful Day in the Woods
Superhero
Omnivore
Interview

Segment 6
Jack Johnson - 3 Rs
Frank Black - Jumpin' Beans
Roger Day - Ready to Fly
REM - Shiny Happy People (Songs from the Street)
ID
They Might Be Giants - James K. Polk (Factory Showroom)
TMBG - Spare the Rock

Stink.

Consider:

Lunch Money
The Jimmies
Jellydots' Doug (w/ Josh Levine on bass and Warren Truitt on drums)
AudraRox
Ernie & Neal
The Terrible Twos' Matt Pryor
Astrograss
Deedle Deedle Dees
Hayes Greenfield
Randy Kaplan
Uncle Rock
Opus Ditty
Ah-Choo
Bari Koral Family Rock Band
...plus some others.

Now that's a lineup, no? And what might it be for, you ask? (Go ahead, ask. Don't leave me hanging.)

It's for this year's showcase in Brooklyn, "Stink," taking place in May.

Like last year (scroll throughout that set of entries to learn about it), it's not open to the public, and unlike last year, we're trying to keep the performance list short-ish (believe it or not, this is about half the list of last year). Here's the logo:



It amuses me. (As with last year, it's a knock-off of a Replacements record cover. Click on it to see it bigger.)

As with last year, the primary organizers are me, Audra from AudraRox, and Steph Mayers from Kindie Rock PR. Thanks also to The Pokey Pup (link over there on the right) for sponsorship. If you're someone like a reviewer, booker, radio person, etc., and are interested in attending, get in touch. We are not planning on adding any performers to the lineup.

Interview with Hannah Levine from TMBG's Here Come the 123s

We had a fun time chatting with Hannah Levine, the 12-year-old who sang on They Might Be Giants's new record, Here Come the 123s. An initial edit of it is here:



I may edit it down a bit more for air usage, but figured folks might enjoy hearing the longer version too. Thanks to Hannah for chatting and I sure wish we could go to see her sing with the full band at Town Hall in a couple of weeks (April 20)!