Ella talked about Scat this week.  Click on the cover below to find an independent bookseller selling it:

Shop Indie Bookstores

Many Hands: Family Music for Haiti was officially nationally released yesterday!  You can get it at fine record stores, Amazon, or iTunes.  If your local store doesn’t carry it, tell them they can get it from E1 or any one-stop.  And in September, it’ll be in every Whole Foods Market.

I’m not going to try to link to all of the press it’s been getting (if you like us on Facebook, you’ll see links there), but how about a little sampler:

“Simply put, Many Hands: Family Music for Haiti is the year’s best family music compilation and one of the year’s best kids music CDs, period. Buy two: one for your friend and one for your own family. Many families will thank you. Definitely recommended.” – Stefan Shepherd, Zooglobble.com

“Artfully assembled and brimming with joy, Many Hands lives up to its title with noteworthy performances from many of the finest names in family music. Great music, worthy cause — what more could you ask for?” – Jeff Giles, Popdose.com

“Many Hands: Family Music from Haiti is, for many reasons, the most intriguing and audacious release in the family music world this year, bar none.” –Zooglobble.com

“A We are the World for the sandbox set. ” – UrbanBaby.com

“Many Hands is an instant family heirloom of a CD, worthy of being passed on to future generations. It’s also a lovely slice of the children’s music world in 2010, comprehensive in it’s scope yet tight-knit at the same time – heck, that sounds like the kindie scene itself! Consider purchasing Many Hands when it comes out this August. I’m pretty certain that many, if not all, of the songs will delight you and your kiddos.” –Outwiththekids.com

“Plenty of homerun tunes.”   James Heflin, Valley Advocate

If you’ve got satellite radio (psst: terrestrial radio is still pretty great), you can hear what I think will be a pretty amazing in-studio from Dog on Fleas, Uncle Rock, Grenadilla, and Recess Monkey this weekend.

If I may be so bold to suggest it, this CD would be a great Christmas or other holiday gift for, well, everyone you know.  Why not get all your gifts taken care of right now?

Stream the show any time you like at WRSI.com.

Segment 1
TMBG – It’s Spare the Rock
-Ella ID
TMBG – Where Do They Make Balloons?
Dr. Dog – The Unicorn
Frances England – Fascinating Creatures
ID
Steve Weeks – Monkeys

Segment 2
Wee Hairy Beasties – Toenail Moon
Dan Zanes – Moonlit Town (live at Spare the Rock)
ID/prep to rock
Roy Handy & the Moonshot – Moonshot!!!
NRBQ – RC Cola and a Moon Pie
Suburbs – Cows
ID

Segment 3
Andrew Queen – Big Troubles for Little Red (Too Tall)
Lucky Diaz – Blue Bear
ID (mention PK&RS)
Justin Roberts – We Go Duck
Slavic Soul Party – Never Gonna Let You Go
Brady Rymer & the Little Band that Could – Jump Up (Rock ‘n’ Roll Playground
ID

Segment 4
ScribbleMonster – Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
ID
Princess Katie & Racer Steve – Clelia’s Party (Tiny Cool)
Joe McDermott – Everybody Plays Air Guitar
Guided by Voices – Teenage FBI
ID
Bazillions- Mac ‘n’ Cheese

Segment 5
Das Racist – Pizza Hut Taco Bell
Secret Agent 23 Skidoo – Speak the Truth (Underground Playground)
ID/book time with Ella
Deedle Deedle Dees – Bring ‘Em In
Spoon – Underdog
ID

Segment 6
Grenadilla – Arabella Angelique (Many Hands)
Lion Rock – Fire Up the Shoesaw
ID
Todd McHatton – Fun & Adventure (Sundays at the Rocket Park)
The Not-Its! – Welcome To Our School (Time Out to Rock)
ID
TMBG – New York City
TMBG – Spare the Rock

Shop Indie Bookstores

This week, Ella talked about our friend Jarrett‘s newest Lunch Lady book, Lunch Lady and the Summer Camp Shakedown.  Click on the cover to find it from an independent book seller.

The CD is now available at A Child’s Garden as well as at Cup & Top and Turn It Up.  Tuesday, it is available everywhere!  (Pre-order now from Amazon if you don’t have a local record store to buy it from.)  I don’t know if I’ve made it clear before, but it will be available on iTunes as well.

Tickets for the Pines show are available (with no service charge) at Turn It Up and at the Toy Box.  You can also buy them online with a pretty reasonable service charge of just 99 cents per ticket at Brown Paper Tickets.

We have some great sponsors already lined up for the show here.  If you’re interested, contact me soon.

We’re about a week away from the record’s August 10 national release date, so how about some updates?

First, buying the CD:

• Locals: The CD is available at Turn It Up Records (Northampton, Brattleboro, and Montague Center) and at Cup & Top Cafe (Florence Center)!
• Non-locals: The CD will be available at your local record store, assuming the existence of same.  If they don’t have it, ask for it!  It has national distribution from E1 and will be available through any major one-stop.
• If you don’t have a local record store, you can order it from Amazon.  Use this link and the nice folks at This Might Be a Wiki will not just donate their commission but also match it!

Second, seeing the release shows.  There are a bunch:

• Sunday August, 15: Dog on Fleas, Grenadilla, Uncle Rock, Rosendale Theater, Rosendale, NY (Details)
• Friday, August 20: Elizabeth Mitchell & Family and Frances England, Mill Valley Library, Mill Valley, CA (free) (Details)
• Saturday, August 21: Dog on Fleas, Lunch Money, Randy Kaplan, Deedle Deedle Dees, Armory, Somerville, MA (Details & ticket link)
• Saturday, September 11, 11:00: Randy Kaplan, Johnny Bregar, and Recess Monkey, Multnomah Arts Center, Portland, OR, presented by A Child’s Time to Rock! (Tickets)
• Saturday, September 11: Deedle Deedle Dees, Gustafer Yellowgold, Dog on Fleas, Knitting Factory, Brooklyn, NY (Tickets)
• Sunday, September 26: Dan Zanes, Elizabeth Mitchell & Family, Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem, Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, Deedle Deedle Dees, Tony Vacca, Grenadilla, Pines Theater, Look Park, Northampton, MA. (Buy tickets now!)

Third, other stuff:

• Songs from the CD have been getting play on lots of family radio shows, including our show, Sirius/XM, Ages 3 and Up!, and so on.  Do you do a show and haven’t gotten the CD yet?  Send me a note (show at sparetherock dot com) and we’ll hook you up.
• On a related note, Sirius/XM’s Kids’ Place Live (I won’t be doing the wacky capitalization, nope) recorded what sounds like an amazing Rumpus Room in-studio with Uncle Rock, Dog on Fleas, Recess Monkey, and Grenadilla.  It’ll air the weekend after the CD comes out; check out some pictures here from Out With the Kids.
• There aren’t a lot of reviews out yet, but Out With the Kids sure liked it.
• Zooglobble has a limited-time preview of the Lunch Money song.  Go check it out!

That’s all for now.  Please — please! — tell your friends and family about the CD, send them a link to ManyHandsCD.com, and buy/order the CD today!

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

Segment 1
TMBG – It’s Spare the Rock
-Ella ID
TMBG – Cowtown
fIREHOSE – Walkin’ the Cow
Gustafer Yellowgold – Pinecone Lovely
ID
Lee Dorsey – Working in a Coal Mine
Dan Zanes – Tomorrow (Manana)
ID

Segment 2
Primate Fiasco – Apples and Bananas (Wheels on the Bus)
John & Mark – Colors (Children’s Record)
ID/prep to rock
Egg – La La La (I Love You)
Ellen & Matt – Side By Side
ID

Segment 3
Bazillions – Tommy Got In Trouble
Hipwaders – Things You Want
ID
Princess Katie & Racer Steve – Tiny Cool (Tiny Cool)
Prince – Starfish & Coffee (Sign O’ the Times)
Secret Agent 23 Skidoo – Opposite Day
ID
Kevin Kammeraad – Best Poem Ever

Segment 4
ScribbleMonster – Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
ID
Asylum Street Spankers – Sidekick (live at Spare the Rock)
School for the Dead -Superhero
Tim and the Space Cadets – Superhero
ID
Eric Herman & the Invisible Band – My Lucky Day

Segment 5
Stan Ridgway – Mr. Moon Man (at Iron Horse 9/12)
Jonathan Coulton – I’m Your Moon
ID
Board of Education – 8 Is a Number (live at Spare the Rock)
Baby Grands – Pluto (Baby Grands)
Polyphonic Spree – Running Away
ID

Segment 6
Caspar Babypants – Check It Out (Many Hands: Family Music for Haiti)
Brandi Carlile – Have You Ever (The Story)
ID
Harmonica Pocket – Spiders in My Breakfast
Jonathan Samson – Everything Is Music To Me (Another Kid’s Album)
Todd McHatton – Green Eleven (Sundays at the Rocket Park)
ID
They Might Be Giants – E Eats Everything
TMBG – Spare the Rock