Zooglobble & Spare the Rock 10×10

Aug 25

Ten years ago this week, Zooglobble launched.  About a year later, this show launched.

We have a remarkably similar background and approach (read this very old conversation for more), and I think we’ve made each other do better work in this wacky little world of family music.  There’s a picture of us standing in front of ACL outhouses over there.

stefanbillSo, anyway, we decided to celebrate our birthdays together.

Starting this week, we’ll be periodically releasing — for free, for a limited time — collaborations among some of our favorite family music acts, done just for this celebration.  And we’re delighted to start off with “When I’m Ten,” written and performed by Recess Monkey and The Not-Its!, who I suppose now count as elder states-people of the Seattle kindie scene.  Listen here:

(It’s gone! It was a limited time only deal.)

Here’s what Jack Forman of Recess Monkey had to say about the song:

The Not-Its and we had a BLAST in my home studio yesterday. The song is called “When I’m Ten,” a bit of a nod to The Not-Its’ song “When I’m Five,” but more purposefully a song about a kid imagining what life will be like when they’re double digits. We laughed about how the first thing that a kid usually does when they turn ten is stop being a fan of our bands (or nine, or eight…) but we’re lucky that you guys still are fans of ours after all of these years.

We premiered the song on this last weekend’s show, and I just love it.

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World Premiere for the Mates of State Video!

Jun 21

You can check out the video for Mates of State’s “I Am a Scientist” cover today at Paste Magazine.  Whoo-hoo!

Thank you to: Lindsay Van Dyke for conceiving of and directing the video, Bob Pollard (Needmore Music) for permission for doing the video, Smith College for the fantastic location, our great volunteer cast and crew, and Mates of State for a terrific performance!

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Download this: New Heidi Swedberg!

Feb 14

Want a sweet Valentine’s Day tune from Heidi Swedberg?  Download it here, just for today.  It’ll get grown a bit for her next full-length CD, but I love the two-ukes-and-vocals vibe.  Listen here:

[audio:https://sparetherock.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/OwlAndPussycat.mp3|titles=Heidi Swedberg – Owl And Pussycat]

Or download the MP3 here:

Heidi Swedberg – Owl & Pussycat

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A Many Hands Update and Another Way to Help

Oct 03

First, I’m thrilled to announce that Many Hands: Family Music for Haiti has now raised over $35,000 for the Haitian People’s Support Project!  Wow!

Second, you have another chance to help out and get some great music for your family.  Todd McHatton is guest DJing this week on Spare the Rock and he’s offered to donate every penny he gets from digital sales of his new record this week to the Haitian People’s Support Project.  Go get it at his BandCamp page and buy it for any amount — and all of it will go help HPSP!  That’s awesome.

(And the CD is really good, too!)

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This week…

Dec 22

On Saturday’s show, it’ll be mostly (all?) holiday music. Plus, the River is going commercial free from 6:00 Friday until 6:00 Saturday, so there will be even more show than usual. And! A guest DJ set from Ashley from the Jimmies (with brand new music from them) and an in-studio from Uncle Rock (including what is now my favorite Christmas carol, “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?”).

So turn on the radio while you open presents, if you do that. Turn on the radio when you’re not opening presents, if you don’t.

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This Week — Marty Beller Guest DJ Set, Premiere of AudraRox Track, and More!

Dec 22

We’ll have a Boxing Day episode on Saturday (okay, we don’t have any Boxing Day songs, but it’s on the 26th).  Among other things, we’ll have a great guest DJ set from Mr. Marty Beller, drummer for They Might Be Giants (who will be playing two shows in town on New Year’s Eve [tickets], including a family show at 3:00).

Marty is also a talented producer and his projects include the forthcoming CD from our friends in AudraRox (who will be coming to town in February, by the way).  You’ll get to hear a great track from that record, “Five Minutes More,” during his guest DJ set that you won’t hear anywhere else other than live shows until the record comes out.

To tide you over until Saturday, a little AudraRox from last year’s KindieFest:

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