Strollerderby : kid music

Robbert Bobbert & the Bubble Machine – Giveaway!

editors — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:37:00 GMT

Even though kid music should be first and foremost about pleasing the kids, it’s a relief when some of our favorite bands put their toe into the genre so parents don’t have to hold their ears while the little ones get down. Robert Schneider, intellectu-rocker from Apples in Stereo, brings the kid funk as Robbert Bobbert and the Bubble Machine. To celebrate today’s record release, Babble is going to hook you up with your own listening party complete with…

Bubble machine! That’s right, we’re giving away a party in a box. You can throw your own dance-a-thon when you win a Robbert Bobbert CD, coloring pages for the crowd and your very own Funrise Gazillion Bubble Machine that pumps out 4,000 bubbles per minute. Like this one -

We had our own Robbert Bobbert and The Bubble Machine party this weekend – check out the crowd reaction.

From the kids:

D, age 2: “I like it!”

O, age 4: “It makes me want to dance a jiggity jig” and proceeded to do so.

E, age 3: Barked along with the Beach Boys inspired, “Hey, Little Puppy”

From the adults:

While the album opens with a definitively kids-only track (“I Am a Clock”) the over-30 crowd could get behind the second track, “We R Super Heroes.” Check it out here. - April Peveteaux

Enter to win the party pack by shooting an email with subject line, “Party in a Box” to babblecontest@gmail.com.

Get it at Amazon.

Obama Adds Kids Concert to Inaugural Lineup

JeanneSager — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:32:00 GMT

They've been telling us not to bring the kids along to the inauguration, but since Americans are known for being such great listeners . . . they've added a kids show to the lineup.

Considering Sasha and Malia Obama's iPod playlists are probably a little (OK, a lot) different from Barack and Michelle's, is anyone really surprised by this one?

As of yet, there are no acts announced for what the president-elect dubbed a free "concert for America's children" to be held the night before his big show, on Jan. 19 at the Verizon Center. But Presidential Inaugural Committee spokesman Josh Earnest told the Washington Post it would include "whatever the kids are listening to today."

The event will require tickets - free of course - like most of the events of the day. So is this Washington's nod to the fact that parents want to show up for the event? Or is this just happening because we have a president with young children?

Hey Obama, Give This Kid an Interview!

Schools Closing for Inauguration Day

Bringing the Kids to the Inauguration - Think Again

Review: Yo Gabba Gabba! Cuts an Album

JeanneSager — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:33:00 GMT

It's about time. I was out at a girls night (without the kid, rare, but it happens), when someone started talking about this show with Biz Markie and his "Beat of the Day."

"And it's for our kids!" they said. After I finished snorting a cosmo out my nose, I pressed for details. "You mean Biz "Youuuuuuuuu can't carry a tune, but it's OK cause you're just a friend" Markie? And there are no freakish overbearing bunnies? Tell me more."

Oh, admit it, you've got Yo Gabba Gabba! Tivo'd for AFTER the kid goes to bed, and you can pretend you're back in college and eat some munchies. Only now you can carry it on your iPod too. Because DJ Lance Rock, Toodee and their music biz friends have put out an album that's only on iTunes. And we've got the skinny for you.

With Biz's beat, the insta-classic "Party in My Tummy" and the tune guaranteed to leave them breathless from dancing in their footie pajamas, "Get the Sillies Out," the sounds of the Yo Gabba Gabba! (YGG to those in the know - or dorky moms like me) regulars would be worth adding to the iPod alone - if only for those days when you're out of the house and need to keep them absolutely transfixed on something OTHER than you. But with hip hop pioneers The Roots and indie popsters The Ting Tings putting a little hip in their pop, it's the kid music that will sneak into your playlist.

And they love it - in all its retro fabulousness. Literally, all it took was the first few beats of the "ska/rockers who think they're superheros" The Aquabats punk "Pool Party" for my three-year-old to come running from the living room and start bouncing around (OK, so she calls it the "cool party," but she's three people).

The album is available from iTunes or you can buy it song by song.

Mix Rap With Kid Shows and Whaddya Get?

Five Easiest - and Cheesiest - Christmas Gifts to Make With the Kids

Does Your Kid Have an Accent?

Nintendo Scrabble Game Drops the F-Bomb

It's Hip Hop . . . for Babies

JeanneSager — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 15:53:00 GMT

All I could think was a sippy cup of gin and juice. So I've got to tell you, finding out "It's Hip Hop Baby" was just a bunch of kids bouncing around playing Simon Says and shaking their sillies out on a TV screen has definitely made me more "laid back."

A riff off of the old Sesame Street interstitials of kids dancing around onscreen to get your kids off their feet, "It's Hip Hop Baby" is less Baa, Baa, Black Sheep . . . more Bump, Bump, Shake That Little Booty. The thirty-minute video - one of a series of several in the works from producer Candi Carter - is still focused on kids, but they're trying to get away from the same old, same old kid music.

Does it work? The kids like it - my daughter was furiously trying to master "head, shoulders, knees and toes." She was getting close when they threw in the "eyes, ears, mouth and nose" bit. The stars are regular off-the-street kids with the kinds of goofy grins and silly stories that have been making these kinds of videos wholesome entertainment for years. So "It's Hip Hop Baby" is fun for kids, and a nice change of pace for parents to boot.

But it's not really hip hop - no, not even the Dre and Snoop beats without the lyrics. Would parents really want hip hop for their kids at this age - the series is promoted for kids ages two to six? Lyrics removed, I could see more of a hip hop influence to the sound getting them moving - if it works in the club on a bunch of drunk teen and twenty-somethings, why wouldn't it work on a bunch of toddlers?

Maybe that's the next mashup to take YouTube by storm . . . Lil Wayne does it lil kid style.

Image: It's Hip Hop Baby

Mom Scratches 'B**ch' on Son's Face with Crayon

Babble Talk: The Easter Bunny Can House Santa

Teacher Tells Kids: Santa's Not Real

Their Favorite Characters: Christmas-ized

Nintendo Scrabble Game Drops the F-Bomb

Wee Hairy Beasties - Holidays Gone Crazy!

editors — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:03:00 GMT

Remember discovering the Mekons on a mix tape with that super cool friend your parents told you to never, ever get in a car with? Luckily a lot of our favorite bands from our youth (and before our youth) are putting out music for the kiddos so you can bond over juice boxes and robot tunes. The Wee Hairy Beasties (led by Jon Langford of the aforementioned Mekons) have been on the kid music scene for awhile now bringing some much-needed hoot and holler to the genre. And the kids love them, see how much here.

The Beasties Holidays Gone Crazy release brings more fun into the alt-country rock kid music scene, as one might expect where the lead singer calls himself Cyril the Karaoke Squirrel (other members include Marjorie the Singing Bee and Monkey Double Dippey). We especially like “Dinosaur Christmas” which manages to feel like a traditional Christmas song while incorporating the term “Santasaurus” seamlessly into the merry-making. - April Peveteaux

Listen to some tracks on the Wee Hairy Beasties MySpace page.

Get Holidays Gone Crazy at Amazon.

The Ten Best Christmas Songs For the Kid in You

JeanneSager — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:02:00 GMT

They hit us with the music first. While the stores are still stocked with mallowcreme pumpkins and orange bags of mini Snickers, they start piping a few holiday tunes into the mix to make us spend, spend, spend. Yes, there are still people who listen up and even (embarrassing confession coming) tune in themselves.

We've never met a "Silent Night" we didn't like, but we'd rather fill them up with renditions of Rudolph. So power up your iPods, here are the absolutely ridiculous songs you need to pack your playlist with to make sure the family's rockin' around the Christmas tree:

"Dominick the Italian Christmas Donkey" by Lou Monte - Hey, chingedy ching. You can make an ass of yourself in front of the kids singing this one - they won't mind. At the heart, it's a song about a little creature who helped Santa in a big way - and wouldn't you know it, the jolly old man shops in Brooklyn!
"Christmas Don't Be Late" by Alvin and the Chimpunks - An education in patience . . .and punctuality (where is Alvin?), the high-pitched 'munks can hula hoop those Gregorian chanters any day.
"I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" - Zoning code in just about every neighborhood prohibits parents from fulfilling this request, but here's a kid who's thinking out of the box. Now let's shoot for something that won't eat 90 pounds of grass a day. That puppy sounds better already.
"Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" by Elmo and Patsy - How is a song about a dead grandmother one we play every year for our kids? Truly a warped way to put you in the holiday spirit, but if you're sipping on the egg nog that got one over on Granny, you'll just smile and nod.
"Mele Kalikimaka" - The Hawaiian Christmas song played over a Clark Griswold dream scene in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation cemented this as a holiday classic in a way that even Cousin Eddie in a banana hammock couldn't destroy. (It was Bing Crosby's silky smooth voice providing the soundtrack, by the way)
"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" - Although it paints Mommy as something of a tramp, this song adds a little more armor for parents in the fight to make them believe just one more year. See, he does exist - that guy on the radio saw him too. Supposedly the song was commissioned by ~~Needless Markup~~ Neiman Marcus for a holiday advertising campaign. They were depending on kids to believe at least another year too.
"Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" by assorted artists (Bruce Springsteen's version is far and away the best) - Score another one for Mom and Dad, because it doesn't get better than the Boss scratchy voice warning them the big guy won't be coming if they don't straighten up. Now's the time to teach them, you don't mess with the guys from Jersey. The space beneath the Meadowlands is full of the naughty boys and girls who tried it . . . and lost.
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" - If Gene Autry can't give them a self-esteem boost this holiday, who can? The littlest Rudolph with his bright red nose will take their nose off their stuffed honker (what is it with passing a cold around the holiday table?) and back to the usual twenty questions about that fat man who makes it around the world in one night.
"All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" - When the kids start getting greedy, here's a hearty reminder that some kids don't get what they want . . . they get what they need. Maybe if they're still good after the holiday's over, the Tooth Fairy will get it for them.
"Nuttin' for Christmas" - There are nuttin' but consequences for naughty little children, 'specially when someone's always snitching on them.

Image: CBS

FInd More:

Ten Songs You Never Want to Hear a Little Kid Singing

Parental Advisory: The Family iPod

The 25 Best Road Trip Songs for Kids and Parents

Babble Holiday Guide 2009

Can Music Help Cure Autism?

JeanneSager — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:03:00 GMT

There's no moment in music history that any child of the eighties - female anyway - can rate higher for equating music and emotion. John Cusack as Lloyd Dobler, overeager teenager with a boombox the size of all eighties objects held high over his head, blaring out Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes."

If you've never seen it, get yourself to Netflix, immediately. Or at the very least, YouTube it. It's the scene that jumped into my mind when I heard about the new project at UCLA's Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, an attempt to make sense of emotions for the children who struggle every day to interpret facial expressions.

MELODY will bring music to autistic kids, devising therapies that will help the kids build up their abilities to recognize emotions and advance their success in social settings. In other words - they're giving kids who struggle to fit in another chance. It's not a cure of the disorders on the austism spectrum that UCLA neuroscientist Dr. Istvan Molnar-Szakacs expects to find, exactly. Instead, he'll work off of studies that have shown kids whose diagnosis fall somewhere on the autism spectrum react to musical stimuli much the way "normallly" developing kids react. His goal is to bridge the gap.

Considering how music makes people all different backgrounds, ages, intelligences, etc. react - even without lyrics - I wonder how no one thought of this before. Cher Klosner Lane, a singer-songwriter of kid music who's joined forces with the fundraising arm behind the MELODY project, points to years of performing in front of kids as proof that music has jumped hurdles that little else can. Kids calm down. They laugh. They get up and dance. Music has become the great common denominator in our lives. Can it help the kids who need help finding something in common with the rest of us?

Image:

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Alllllvin! Everyone's Favorite Chipmunk is Fifty

JeanneSager — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:31:00 GMT

Who ever thought a trio of orphaned chipmunks with high-pitched squeaks would be the next boy band to make it big? Thanks to that (now very rich) somebody, we're about to spend a fiftieth year listening to Alvin, Simon and Theadore butcher, er, sing our favorite tunes. They've given up on the hula hoop. This year the iPod's the thing.

Ross Bagdasarian was having a hard time making the mortgage payments (and this is different because?) fifty years ago when he used a tape recorder to speed up the vocals on a song he'd just written and gave birth to pint-sized rodents with a knack for chirping out hits. I was too busy with a toddler to make it to the theater when Alvin and the Chipmunks hit the big screen last year, but it grossed $217 million in the states alone. Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Squeakuel is expected to hit theaters next Christmas.

So what has given the little squeakers staying power for half a century? Ramin Setodeh compares the Alvin appeal to American Idol in a post on the online version of Newsweek. "Both trade in the allure of rags-to-riches insta-stardom," he says. And " Both acts are squeaky clean, family friendly and, to be honest, not very original."

That last little dig aside, I've got to agree. With their extra-long t-shirts and their boys will be boys get-into-trouble streak, they remind me of my little brother as a toddler tooling around the house and belting out the select words he could remember from the latest radio hit. They're short, fuzzy and they haven't lost that impish streak that makes every little kid want to be their friend. Fifty's been kind to the chipmunks, but the new version of their Christmas classic is packing the years on me - what's this about Alvin dumping his hula hoop hopes?

Image: Amazon

Boy Tells 'Your Mom' Joke, Boy Goes to Jail

Ten Songs You Never Want to Hear A Little Kid Singing

Happy Birthday Cookie Monster: C is Still For Cookie Thirty-Nine Years Later

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The Smurfs Turn 50

Hey Kid, Take Out the Earphones. We Said, Hey Kid . . .

JeanneSager — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:28:00 GMT

You've seen them. The kids walking around, totally oblivious to the car that just screeched to a halt thisclose to taking them out, definitely not hearing the driver screaming at them. Some how, when I see a teenager with their iPod buds stuffed in their ears, I want to run up, yank on one wire and flick them on the now-hearing ear. Case in point:

The Green line of Boston's trolley system was shut down for more than four hours yesterday after a Boston College student was struck by a train (don't worry, he was conscious and talking in the ambulance despite some pretty nasty head injuries). Witnesses said the driver tried honking the horn, but the student never heard a thing because he had earphones on. How loud did he have those tunes cranked? I used to live beside a set of train tracks. A horn sounding to warn a deer off the tracks could send me bolting out of a dead sleep. They're not lining 'em up for stealth missions anytime soon.

Another big shocker here: trains run on tracks. Even my three-year-old has enough Thomas the Tank Engine episodes under her belt to tell you that. When you step onto the tracks, you might, well, want to check to see if there's a train coming through? Yup, I just confirmed it - I asked my three-year-old what you do before you step on a train track, and she looked at me funny. "You look both ways, Mom." I retreated before she got to a second chorus of "they're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight . . ."

So how do our kids go from three-year-old geniuses to boneheaded college students? It's got to be their taste in music, right?

Image: SeniorJunior

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Baby Loves Disco – Winners!

editors — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:37:00 GMT

So many rump shakers, so few discotheques . . . But Babble is sending the following readers out for an afternoon on the town at their local Baby Loves Disco. And, hello Minnesota! There are a zillion of you who entered our contest. Who knew how much you peeps in and around Minneapolis love to get your disco on? Here are the winning party people:

Saturday, September 6^th - Brooklyn

Renee R. and her daughter Julia; who’ll dance to anything.

Nivia R. and her daughter Isabella who likes to get down to Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff.”

Saturday, September 6^th- Minneapolis

Amber C. and her daughter Lily love to shake it to “Brick House.”

Tanya N.’s baby boy loves “In the Navy” even though daddy’s a Marine. Hmmm…sounds like they need to work it out on the dance floor.

Saturday, September 6^th - South Bay (Santa Clara, CA)

Sun L. will attend with her daughter who loves “Movin’ and Groovin’.”

Mike A. and family will get on the floor for “Jungle Boogie.”

Sunday, September 7^th - Philadelphia

Grace and her gal Laena “Loves the Night Life” and occasionally updates her moves with “So Fresh, So Clean.”

Nicole J.’s son digs Parliament’s “Flashlight.”

Sunday, September 7^th - San Diego

Alyson S. and family are all fans of the “Car Wash.”

Kristen P. and Caroline (who is learning the motions to YMCA).

Saturday, September 13^th - Washington, DC

Sarah M.’s 4-year-old also loves “Car Wash” and her 5-month-old is hip to “Heart of Glass.”

Jean H.’s kid loves Donna Summer’s “MacArthur Park”, and so do we.

Saturday, September 13^th - Montclair, New Jersey

Sharon W. will get her son to do the monkey in Montclair.

Melissa D and Dereck will be shaking it to “Boogie Oogie Oogie.”

Sunday, September 14^th - Chicago

Irma R will take her son Daniel, who loves “Low Rider”, “Disco Inferno”, “Boogie Nights” and “YMCA.” Yeah, he’s ready to cut a rug.

Marta K.’s 3-year-old gets down with “You Should Be Dancing” and her 2-year-old can do a perfect robot. Check ‘em out Chicago!

Kids In Clubs With Bands

Kelly Mills — Wed, 09 May 2007 19:36:00 GMT

This one ought to make the anti-hipster-parent faction pee themselves with horror: according to this trend piece, all-ages clubbing is the latest thing. All-ages as in, toddlers. The rise in music for kids that doesn't suck has led to venues opening up for parent and kid shows. Hey, remember when the chill-out lounge was for drugs, not babies?

Whole families can go see live acts like the Sippy Cups, Dan Zanes, and Laurie Berkner (who my husband has a monster crush on, BTW) and experience baby's first stage dive. The article implies that taking kids to shows makes parents feel young and hip, but while I love a good family show, they are more likely to make me feel old. There's something about having your preschooler stand in the same spot in front of stage left where you puked as a teen that really brings home how much life has changed. Plus I have to hear myself moan, "Twenty-five dollars for a concert t-shirt! That's highway robbery!" in a way that does not fill me with youthful spirit. Still, good times.

My daughter and I saw Dan Zanes in San Francisco a couple years ago, and it was pretty wild. At one point some of the kids kinda rushed the stage and I had visions of Altamont. The downsides of the concert were: rowdy five-year-olds (not as annoying as rowdy nineteen-year-olds though); minimal glass-eating and swearing from the band; and pretty pathetic tattoo work on some of those kids--looked like they drew 'em themselves, to be honest. On the plus side: kids can get away with that spin-y, noodly, interpretive dance thing way better than adults can; the sing-alongs were fun, not annoying; and you could actually use the bathroom stalls to pee.

Strollerderby : kid music

Robbert Bobbert & the Bubble Machine – Giveaway!

Obama Adds Kids Concert to Inaugural Lineup

Review: Yo Gabba Gabba! Cuts an Album

Hey Obama, Give This Kid an Interview!

Schools Closing for Inauguration Day

Bringing the Kids to the Inauguration - Think Again

Review: Yo Gabba Gabba! Cuts an Album

Hey Obama, Give This Kid an Interview!

Mix Rap With Kid Shows and Whaddya Get?

Does Your Kid Have an Accent?

Nintendo Scrabble Game Drops the F-Bomb

It's Hip Hop . . . for Babies

Mix Rap With Kid Shows and Whaddya Get?

Mom Scratches 'B**ch' on Son's Face with Crayon

Babble Talk: The Easter Bunny Can House Santa

Teacher Tells Kids: Santa's Not Real

Their Favorite Characters: Christmas-ized

Nintendo Scrabble Game Drops the F-Bomb

Wee Hairy Beasties - Holidays Gone Crazy!

The Ten Best Christmas Songs For the Kid in You

Can Music Help Cure Autism?

Ten Songs You Never Want to Hear A Little Kid Singing

Kindergartners Vote An Autistic Classmate Out of the Class

Should Autistic Parents be Thanking Denis Leary for Inflammatory Comments?

Girls with Autistic Spectrum Disorders Less Likely to be Diagnosed

Alllllvin! Everyone's Favorite Chipmunk is Fifty

A Taste of Sasha and Malia's White House Rules: But Can They Paint it Pink?

Boy Tells 'Your Mom' Joke, Boy Goes to Jail

Ten Songs You Never Want to Hear A Little Kid Singing

Happy Birthday Cookie Monster: C is Still For Cookie Thirty-Nine Years Later

Hey Kid, Take Out the Earphones. We Said, Hey Kid . . .

Baby Dies After a Game of Airplane

The Stick's In, But What Toys Did They Miss?

The Power of the Mom Bag: It Can Stop a Bullet

Neonatal Nurse Puts Preemie in Her Pocket and Takes Pictures

Baby Loves Disco – Winners!

Kids In Clubs With Bands