Playlist for our 300th show: 2011-04-30

Apr 30

Listen any time you like at our page at WRSI.com.  (And if you’re in New York, come to KindieFest!)

Segment 1
TMBG – It’s Spare the Rock
-Ella ID
TMBG – Dr. Worm
Laurie Berkner – Victor Vito
ID
Beatles – Yellow Submarine
Charity & the JAMband – So Long to the Day
Milkshake – Happy Song
ID
Brian Eno – I’ll Come Running

Segment 2
Nick Cope – What Colour Is Your T-Shirt
Heidi Swedberg – Froggie Went a Courtin’
Frances England – Daddy-O
ID/prep to rock
TMBG – Don’t Spare the Rock
Matthew Sweet – Scooby Doo
ScribbleMonster – A Monster Goes Rrraargh!

Segment 3
Princess Katie & Racer Steve – Tube Sox (Tiny Cool)
Joanie Leeds – Happy as a Clam
ID
Pixies – La La Love You
Dreyer Family Band – The I Love You Song
Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players – Eggs
ID

Segment 4
ScribbleMonster – Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
ID
Alex the Seal – Stinkerbelle
Talking Heads – Stay Up Late
ID
Billy Kelly – It’s Close Enough
Verve Pipe – Wake Up
ID
Ben Rudnick & Friends – I Need a Hand

Segment 5
ID (Sunnyside fundraiser at Flywheel at 10:30 today with Mister G & Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem)
Mister G – Shark in my Bathtub
Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem – Zudio
ID
Suburbs – Rattle My Bones
Elizabeth Mitchell – Hey Bo Diddley (May 21 at the Eric Carle Museum)
ID
Velvet Underground – What Goes On

Segment 6
Justin Roberts – Day Camp
Lunch Money – Tiny Dinosaurs (Dizzy)
ID
Pizzicato Five – Twiggy Twiggy/Twiggy vs. James Bond
Joe McDermott – My Cat Can Fly
Kelly Hogan – Senor El Gato
ID
TMBG – Birdhouse in Your Soul (Severe Tire Damage)
TMBG – Spare the Rock

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2011-04-23 Playlist

Apr 23

Listen any time you like at our page at WRSI.com.

Segment 1
TMBG – It’s Spare the Rock
-Ella ID
TMBG – Wake Up Call
Golden Smog – Long Time Ago
April Smith & the Great Picture Show – Say, Say, Oh Playmate (Joey’s Song for Kids)
ID
Dan Zanes – Wonder Wheel (Family Dance)
Los Lobos – I Wanna Be Like You
Ella Jenkins – Milk Cow Blues
ID

Segment 2
Sweetback Sisters – Have You Seen My Chicken?
Dennis Caraher – Chasin’ After Chickens (Cup &; Top Friday 4/29 at 4)
ID/prep to rock
TMBG – Don’t Spare the Rock!
Me First & the Gimme Gimmes – You’ve Got a Friend
Lunch Money – Original Friend
ScribbleMonster – I Want to Hold Your Ear
ID

Segment 3
Asylum Street Spankers – Everybody Loves My Baby (Live at the Iron Horse)
Secret Agent 23 Skidoo – The Bluegrasshopper
ID
Mr. Leebot – Our Family
Salteens – All My Friends Are Different
ID
Of Montreal – I Want to Have Fun

Segment 4
ScribbleMonster – Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
ID
Daniel Hales & the Frost Heaves – Bubble Test
Frances England – Spring Has Sprung
Vampire Weekend – Holiday
ID
Elizabeth Mitchell – The Happy Song
Dog on Fleas – Happy
ID
Earth Wind & Fire – Happy Feelin’

Segment 5
Recess Monkey – Book Time with Ella
Book Time With Ella (Firestar’s Quest by Erin Hunter)
Recess Monkey – The Sun Will Shine For You (Wonderstuff)
Wonder Stuff – Inertia
Egg – Zoom!
ID
Maria Sangiolo – Didn’t Know What I Was Missing (Planting Seeds)

Segment 6
Primate Fiasco – Sunny Side of the Street
ID
Peter Rundquist – Bug Feathers
Sunshine Collective- Fun, Fun, Fun
Justin Roberts – Gym Class Parachute
ID
TMBG – Electric Car
TMBG – Spare the Rock

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Book Time with Ella for 4-23-11

Apr 23


Shop Indie Bookstores

Click on the book cover to find the book available at an independent bookseller!

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Playlist for 4-16-11

Apr 16

Listen on demand any time at our page at WRSI.com!

Segment 1
TMBG – It’s Spare the Rock
-Ella ID
TMBG – One Dozen Monkeys
Sweet Colleens – No More Monkeys
Rufus Thomas – Can Your Monkey Do The Dog?
ID
Red Baraat – Drum ‘n’ Brass
Elizabeth Mitchell – Elephants All Over the World
Mates of State – 17 Pink Sugar Elephants
ID

Segment 2
Frances England – Where Do They Go? (Fascinating Creatures)
Frank Zappa – Montana
Kimya Dawson – Sunbeams & Some Beams
ID/prep to rock
TMBG – Don’t Spare the Rock!
Miz B – Raise the Brain
Throwing Muses – Counting Backwards

Segment 3
Starfish – My Name Is No (Enter Sandbox)
Kurt Gallagher – 1234! (1234!)
ID
Artichoke – Mary Anning (26 Scientists)
Jarrett Krosoczka Interview Part 1

Segment 4
ScribbleMonster – Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
Jarrett Krosoczka Interview Part 2
Lucky Diaz – Here Comes the Sun
ID
Michael Franti & Spearhead – Sound of Sunshine

Segment 5
Jack Johnson – Constellations
Jonathan Coulton – I’m Your Moon
ID
Ralph’s World – Black Hole Boy
Dog on Fleas – the Moon Song
Great Lake Swimmers – See You On The Moon
ID

Segment 6
Boogers – I’m Ridin’ My Bike
Mr. Leebot – Protect Your Nog
ID
Devo – Whip It
The Pop Ups – Outside Inside
Beck – Where It’s At
ID
TMBG – Particle Man
TMBG – Spare the Rock

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Some Random Thoughts on the Grammys and Choosing Music

Apr 12

1.  On the Grammy changes: Until the release of Many Hands, I hadn’t paid much attention to the Grammys.  The winners had never been remotely relevant to my musical interests in the prior 39 years of my life, and, other than being glad for family musicians who got nominations because they seemed happy about it, they weren’t really relevant to my musical interests in the family arena either.  So I was vaguely disappointed by the record not getting a nomination, but less about the lack of acknowledgment and more about the additional amounts we could have contributed to the Haitian People’s Support Project.  (I’ll have an update on that soon, by the way.)  The record’s success with kids, critics, and so on was much more important, along with the clean drinking water we’ve been able to provide for Haitian kids.

But since then, I’ve more or less returned to not really paying attention to the Grammys, and so the announcement more or less made me shrug.  While in recent years there have been some family releases I’ve liked a lot getting nominated — and I appear on one of the 2010 nominees in spoken word (Healthy Food for Thought) — they just aren’t very relevant to me.  And I have to agree with the comments I’ve seen from Kathy O’Connell and others that there are a lot of releases (not just in the family categories, but certainly there too) that seem designed rather than inspired, with the design oriented towards getting press and, ultimately, a nomination.  That’s fine — it’s within the rules and probably smart — but it doesn’t get me very fired up about losing some categories.  I’m sad for those great acts that lose some exposure, but mostly I just think it means there needs to be a better way to get exposure and to make judgments.

2.  Go read this from Stefan.  It’s all worth a read, but I want to write for a second about the “What makes good kids’ music?” part.  I occasionally get notes from people disappointed that they haven’t gotten airplay, or who think there’s some sort of kindie cabal trying to promote only a particular type of music.  Maybe there is a cabal, but I haven’t gotten my invitation.  (If I get one, I hope there are t-shirts and maybe discounts at the Kindie Cabal Museum Gift Shop.)

For me, it’s a simple but somewhat guidance-lacking question: Will it sound good on the radio — on our radio show on this radio station?

On our show, that doesn’t exclude any genres completely (other than pure classical, I suppose, though I’ve played a Smetana piece and Yo-Yo Ma), and it doesn’t exclude low-budget stuff (see: Frances England’s first record, etc.).  It doesn’t exclude artists I’ve never heard of (looking over my playlist for this week, about a fifth of the artists are artists we hadn’t played at all before about six months ago, and we’ve been the first show in the world to play a number of artists who are now in frequent rotation on the Satellite Station That Must Not Be Named, among others).

What does that question include?  Well, that’s trickier.  I’m not as good at articulating that.  But if you really want to know what has driven my idiosyncratic tastes: Listen to the show (look, on-demand archives!).  Listen to the station (stream it live!).   Listen to the Current (Abney middays, Lucia drivetime).  Listen to the Replacements and Mates of State and the Hold Steady and fIREHOSE and They Might Be Giants and Babe the Blue Ox and Stevie Wonder and DeVotchKa and Fountains of Wayne and Frank Turner and Girl Talk and Jonathan Coulton and Old 97’s and Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings and the Thermals.  Read about our part of the world (I like Megan Rubiner Zinn’s blog right now) — it surprises me sometimes how much geography changes what I like on the radio.

I like records that sound like fun, that sound like bands (when they are bands), that sound genuine, that sound real.  Unless you’re Mr. Leebot or something where it’s supposed to sound electronic, I like records that sound like real people playing real instruments.  I don’t even mind some flaws.  (Sometimes I like them.)

If your record doesn’t fit in what I like on the radio, that doesn’t mean I think it’s a bad record (though I suppose I might).  It just means it doesn’t work on our radio show in our town.  When I was working for Parenting magazine as their music stringer, I often pitched music to them that I’d never play on the show, because I could recognize that it would be appealing to many people — but not to our audience.  Since they dropped having regular music coverage, I no longer have that, but it remains the case that a lot of what comes in is perfectly fine music — great for some people — but just not great for the radio (or at least our radio in our town).

Enough of my yakkin’.  Your thoughts?

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