PaintBlog

Did you enjoy Kelsey when she came on the show to talk about Paintbox Theater? We did. (It was last week. Remember?)

She's blogging about the prep for it, complete with daily video. Fun!

At Least One Deedle Deedle Dee Opening For Sippy Cups

Still bummed about Uncle Rock not being able to open for Sippy Cups...but worry not! We will have Ulysses S. Dee and possibly more Dees on hand instead! Hooray!

More details to come.

No Uncle Rock Opening for Sippy Cups

Alas, Uncle Rock wrote down a date wrong and realized today that he'd previously committed to playing at World Cafe Live in Philly on July 12. So he won't be opening for the Sippy Cups for their date here. :(

But, it will still rock.

Are you a big boaster?

'Cause we rode this roller coaster:



(Well, Ella and I did. Liam isn't tall enough.)

Ella was super brave and, then, super proud. It rocked.

Playlist & Stream for 2008-06-28

We're in Arkansas and I haven't yet found the memory card that I have the playlist for this show on. In the meantime, you can still listen:

Listen to it here:



By the way, quite soon we'll be moving the streaming over to the River's site.

Crazy...

If you are either a Violent Femmes fan or a Gnarls Barkley fan (or both), you need to go listen to this. Excellent.

Playlist & Stream for 2008-06-21

Listen to it here:



Here's what we played:

Segment 1
TMBG - It's Spare the Rock
-Ella ID
TMBG - Fake Believe (Here Come the ABCs)
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole - Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World (Facing Future)
Gustafer Yellowgold - Your Eel (Wide Wild World)
ID
Kevin Kammeraad - Summertime (Curious Glimpse of Michigan)
Wilson Lake & The Rock Bass - Walkin' in the Woods
ID

Segment 2
Velvet Underground - Sticking With You
Bonnie Raitt & Was (Not Was) - Baby Mine (Stay Awake)
ID/prep to rock
Apples in Stereo - Rainbow (Discovery of the World...)
Jimmies - What's that Sound? (Make Your Own Someday)
Robin Vaughan - What Do You Like More? (Rock & Roll Coochicoo)
Quiet Two - Invisible Trousers (Make Some Noise)

Segment 3
Of Montreal - I Want to Have Fun (FTK3)
ID
Joe McDermott - Ride Ride Ride (Everybody Plays Air Guitar)
Shonen Knife - Top of the World (If I Were a Carpenter)
Mr. Richard - Airplane Jane (Might As Well Sing)
Justin Roberts - Meltdown (Meltdown)
ID


Segment 4
ScribbleMonster - Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
ID
Prince - Get on the Boat (3121)
Jambo - Lucy's Parade (Lucy's Parade)
REM - We Walk (Murmur)
ID/book time with Ella

Segment 5
Jessica Harper - Four Boys Named Jordan (Inside Out!)
Mike Doughty - 27 Jennifers (Rockity Roll EP)
Lunch Money - Yes We Have Rhythm (Silly Reflection)
Terrible Twos - Consonants (Jerzy the Giant)
ID
Thaddeus Rex - Midway Fair (Shakin' in Chicago)
Recess Monkey - Trading Squirrels (Aminal House)
ID

Segment 6
Board of Education - 8 Is a Number (s/t)
Jonathan Richman - Abominable Snowman in the Market
Sippy Cups - Use Your Words (Electric Storyland)
Taj Mahal - Great Big Boat (Caribbean Playground)
ID
TMBG - Man It's So Loud in Here (Mink Car)

Taste of Amherst

Hey, we'll be at the River tent at Taste of Amherst this Saturday, probably around 4:15 until later. Good stuff on the River stage and tasty food. Stop by and say hi!

Recess Monkey Free AND Sidewalk Sales? What More Could You Want?

Saturday, July 26, 2:00, right behind Thornes Marketplace in downtown Northampton, we're presenting -- along with Thornes and Herrell's Ice Cream (best ice cream I've ever tasted):

Recess Monkey!

For free!

Details to come, but be sure to put it on your calendar. (Or just subscribe to our Google calendar over on the right.) Herrell's (located mere steps away in Thornes) will have great specials.

And it's right in the middle of the Northampton Sidewalk Sales!

(Here's hoping for good weather!)

Updated (2x): Happy Father's Day; also XM Kids Musings

One of the few downsides to prerecording is that I tend to forget things like holidays, etc. (For instance, we've already recorded this Saturday's show, which I realize now should have been solsticey. Alas.) And so yesterday's show wasn't at all Father's Day themed. So: Happy father's day, all!

But we had a very nice one. Church, violin, then a Father's Day lunch at Osaka. (What, is sushi not traditional Father's Day fare?) And I took a nap. The kids (with some help from Dena) got me a nice Tintin watch. (I haven't had a functional watch for nine months or so and I'm too cheap to get myself a nice one, or, apparently, any one.)

Also: I napped.

Anyway, Yosi has been doing a great series of interviews with various dads in indie kids' music in honor of Father's Day. The chat with John Boydston (Daddy-A-Go-Go) caught my eye, as it included a topic John and I have discussed previously and I've been meaning to note -- that is, the evident shift in programming at XM Kids:

But lately I've noticed a broader regressive trend back to two types of kids music, either toddler-oriented stuff, something that I have never tried to do, or music for 'tweens.' It seems like increasingly what gets all attention these days are either Wiggle's type acts or Naked Brothers band wanna bees. Have you've noticed XMKids playlist lately? They used to play a whole range of kids music....indies and all. But recently they've gone 90-percent toddler music.

We don't have XM, so I don't have a ton of exposure, but I've had two fairly lengthy samplings -- one during last year's Austin City Limits festival (the friends we stayed with have XM and listen to XM Kids a lot) and one on our trip out to Portland, Oregon (listened to it on our Jet Blue flight both ways). And the contrast was significant. Last year, there was a lot of quirky indie stuff -- Spankers, CandyBand, ScribbleMonster, Hipwaders, Lunch Money, Uncle Rock and the like. (I'm not positive I heard those specific bands -- but it's a representative list.)

Then on the trip to and from Oregon, it was a lot more Naked Brothers, Alvin & the Chipmunks, and so on. Don't get me wrong -- there was still some great stuff (and I see that on their report card this week, there's still TMBG, Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, Gunnar Madsen, and so on). But it was very heavy with movie soundtrack and TV songs (and this week I see Transformers, Alvin & the Chipmunks, Naked Brothers, and something called iCarly). Overall, it seems a lot less, well, interesting than it was. You can take a look at their top 13 going back to December 2007 here (thanks, Gwyneth!) -- again, there's some great stuff there, but I think John's right about the shift.

Did I just hit a weird sampling on our cross-country trips? Or has there in fact been a real shift at XM, perhaps in anticipation of the merger with Sirius? And if there is a shift, is it a bad one? (Maybe it's because of demand. I know that requests do play a big part there...)

Update: Stefan disagrees, while listener Gwyneth (who does the XM Kids Fans blog) and Hipwader Tito agree in the comments below.

And what Stefan says is certainly accurate, but I don't think undermines the point -- and here I think not being a regular listener probably helps, in that a gradual shift is not as noticeable if you're listening regularly. (Frog in boiling water and all that.) To that extent, I think my two days every eight months or so is actually a better way to evaluate it. No, bands aren't being frozen out entirely (as indeed I noted above), and yes, good stuff is still getting played (ditto), but it's a discernible shift.

Another update: Stefan's posted in the comments below too, suggesting that there may be less good new stuff than a year ago. Possibly, but I don't think so, or at least I don't think it fully explains the shift. I went back and looked at the March and April releases I pitched to Parenting -- things that I had in hand in I believe November, which is a lot less than actually came out in March and April -- and there was Princess Katie & Racer Steve, Brady Rymer, Daddy-A-Go-Go himself, Harmonica Pocket, and Thaddeus Rex. I don't remember hearing a one of those when I was on a plane in March.

In March, we played, along with some of those bands, new or newish Astrograss, Gunnar Madsen, Big Bang Boom, Randy Kaplan, Hank Hooper, Mr. Leebot, Bari Koral. (Some of those may be a little older than I remember.) I don't remember hearing any of those on the plane; I know Gunnar Madsen has gotten some play and maybe Bari Koral; I don't think any of the rest have gotten much (though I haven't searched).

I thought about titling or introducing the post with a quote from The Dead Milkmen's The Big Sleazy, something like "Some of us remember back when XMK was good" (the original was about Philly's legendary XPN). But that wouldn't have been fair -- XM Kids is still very good in many ways, choosing some terrific stuff and supporting some out-of-the-mainstream music. But the more I look and think about it, the more certain I am that there has been a shift, more or less as I describe it.

Playlist & Stream for 2008-06-14

New music from Terrible Twos & Board of Education. Beach Boys. Nick Drake. Parliament. (Someone's been digging through the River's CD collection!)

Listen to it here:



Here's what we played:

Segment 1
TMBG - It's Spare the Rock
-Ella ID
TMBG - Why Does the Sun Shine?
Rocknoceros - Pluto (Dark Side of the Moon Bounce)
ID
Terrible Twos - Amelia Minor (Jerzy the Giant)
Adriana Maciel - Samba Dos Animais (Brazilian Playground)
Frances England - Tugboat (Family Tree)
ID

Segment 2
Justin Roberts - Henrietta's Hair (Pop Fly)
Blind Boys of Alabama - You Got to Move (Down in New Orleans)
ID/prep to rock with Ben Cohen
Suburbs - Rattle My Bones (Love is the Law) (not In Combo, as I said on the show)
Board of Education - Beverly the Village Misfit (Board of Education)
ID
Sippy Cups - I'm a Believer (For the Kids Three)
ID

Segment 3
Barenaked Ladies - Drawing (Snacktime!)
Adam & the Couch Potatoes - Go to the Playground (One Size Fits All...!)
Jesus Jones - Right Here Right Now (Doubt)
ID
Parliament - Big Bang Theory (Tear the Roof Off)
Recess Monkey - Dr. Wiggle (Tabby Road)

Segment 4
ScribbleMonster - Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
ID
Lisa Loeb w/ Jill Sobule - Cookie Jar Song (Camp Lisa)
Mary Kaye - BB Dickinson (Spin Your Web)
ID
Buck Howdy w/ BB - Are You Havin' Any Fun? (Chickens)
Deep Fried Pickle Project - Pickle Juice (Ditties for Kiddies)
ID/book time with Ella

Segment 5
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (Pet Sounds)
Nick Drake - Pink Moon (Pink Moon)
ID
Daddy A Go Go - Pink Floyd Saves Hugh Manatee (Eat Every Bean and Pea on Your Plate)
Walter Wolfman Washington & the Roadmasters - This Land is Your Land (Funky Kidz)
Cake - Mahna Mahna (For the Kids)
ID

Segment 6
Secret Agent 23 Skiddoo - Luck (Easy)
Specials - Rudi, A Message To You (The Singles Collection)
Frente - Open Up Your Heart (Saturday Morning Cartoons Greatest Hits)
ID
TMBG - New York City (Factory Showroom)
TMBG - Spare the Rock

A Correction...

On this morning's show, I asserted that "Rattle My Bones" was from the Suburbs' In Combo release. It is in fact from Love is the Law.

Both records are worth owning, but In Combo is actually slightly better.

I recently found a site where someone had ripped to MP3 the never-released-on-CD A&M self-titled release by The Suburbs (their final studio record). I listened to that record constantly at the time (1985 I think). Boy, it has not aged well. "Life is Like" remains a great song, and some of the other songs are very good, but the production is incredibly cheesy, and, well, it's just weird to listen to. One of those records I almost wish had stayed just in my memory, where it was much better.

Roaring at Submarines

A couple of weeks back, we had the Submarines on the show (photos, the show.

Well, they've now posted a tour video. About 25 or 30 seconds in, there's Liam roaring at them, as alluded to in the interview. I'd embed the video here, but you can't, so just visit the post. It's a fun video, worth watching.

Playlist & Stream for 2008-06-07

Happy June, everyone! Thanks to Dog on Fleas for stopping by and Jarrett for welcoming us to his home/studio!

You can stream the show here:




Segment 1
TMBG - It's Spare the Rock
-Ella ID
TMBG - Flying V (Here Come the ABCs)
Renee & Jeremy - Three Little Birds (It's a Big World!)
Rosie Flores - Red Red Robin (Bottle Let Me Down)
Michael Jackson - Rockin' Robin
ID
Bill Harley - Grownups are Strange (Yes to Running)
ID

Segment 2
Terrible Twos - Lily Names Everything Sandy (Jerzy the Giant)
Squirrel Nut Zippers - Pallin With Al (Perennial Favorites) (at Iron Horse tonight)
ID/Prep to Rock with Atticus
Throwing Muses - Counting Backwards (EP)
Deedle Deedle Dees - Henry Box Brown
ID
Maya Bond - Cute Papa
Ralph's World - We Are Ants (Amazing Adventures of Kid Astro)

Segment 3
Punk Farm segment
Punk Farm - Wheels on the Van
James Brown - I Got You
Roger Day - Hello Sunshine (Dream Big!)
Flaming Lips - Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (At War with the Mystics)

Segment 4
ScribbleMonster - Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
ID
Big Bang Boom - Brothers
Secret Agent 23 Skiddoo - Gotta Be Me (Easy) (Granola Funk Express at Pearl Street later this month)
Wee Hairy Beasties - Cyril the Karaoke Squirrel (Animal Crackers)
ID/book time with Ella


Segment 5
Dog on Fleas live in-studio
-Ugly Fruit
-Birds of a Feather
-Happy

Segment 6
Medeski Martin & Wood - Where's the Music? (Let's Go Everywhere)
Kilimani Sesame - Don't Be Sad (Sesame Street Playground)
ID
Brian Setzer Orchestra - Wolfgang's Big Night Out (Wolfgang's Big Night Out)
Lyle Lovett - Bears (Step Inside This House)
ID
TMBG - Spy (John Henry)
TMBG - Spare the Rock

Coming Up This Week...

We've got a visit from Dog on Fleas, plus a visit to Jarrett Krosoczka's Florence studio.

And, of course, tons of great music, including a musical tribute to those robins on our porch, a world premiere from the Terrible Twos, new music from Secret Agent 23 Skiddoo, and a whole bunch more.

Updated: Welcome, Chronicle of Higher Education readers

So I haven't actually seen the print version that apparently mentions the show, but I'm in a Chronicle of Higher Education story about profs and technology. The online version that I have seen (but isn't available for free) doesn't mention the show. (Why a different, and evidently shorter, version online? No idea. Maybe they're trying to conserve...pixels?)

So, um, anyway: Welcome, people who read a story I haven't yet read! I'm that geeky law prof who does a radio show!

Update: Aha! Here it is and free for all, with the mention of the show down at the end of it.

Punk Farm with Monte

We went and visited Jarrett, the author of and illustrator of the Punk Farm books, and we'll play that back this Saturday. He also was on the River's morning show this morning, and you can listen to those bits -- which are very funny -- here.

Summer Playlist

I did a "summer songs" playlist for Parenting -- it's here. It's almost all songs I picked; I expressly disavow one of them. I bet you can guess which one, too. (Hint: it includes the phrases "itsy bitsy" and "teeny weeny." And it's a terrible, terrible song.)

ACL

We're planning on going again. You can see my current draft schedule here. I'm hoping to see more music this year than we did last year, hopefully staying for the full period. And yes, we are putting together another Saturday night Family Music Meltdown; details to come.

New Lunch Money CD! (in, um, seven months)

Lunch Money just sent out an e-mail announcing some shows plus their CD release date! It'll be in January 2009. That's a long time to wait, but it'll be worth it. We've heard several of the songs from it at various shows and they're great.

Photos: The Nest

As we will talk about on Saturday, we have a robin's nest in a nook on our front porch:






Robins lay one egg a day until they're done (usually with 3 or 4). There is now a robin sitting on the nest almost 24 hours per day. (They don't start sitting on the nest until all of the eggs are laid so that they will all hatch at roughly the same time.)

Photos: June 2008 with Punk Farm's Jarrett Krosoczka

This week you'll hear the highlights of our visits to the studio of Jarrett Krosoczka, a terrific children's author and illustrator now living in Florence and appearing this Saturday at the Brattleboro Strolling of the Heifers.

Photos: June 2008 with Dog on Fleas

Dog on Fleas played a fun set at Cup & Top and then recorded a bit (for broadcast this week).





(Thanks to Sienna from HilltownFamilies.org for that last photo.)

Photos: May 2008 with The Submarines

Blake and John from The Submarines were great fun to meet (and to see at the Iron Horse later that night). The show they were on is here.



(No, I don't know what Ella's look is about.)

Photos: May 2008 with Aric Bieganek

Aric Bieganek came by to chat about his new CD, Live at the Northampton Parents Center, and to sing a couple of songs.

Photos: March 2008 with John Flansburgh of TMBG

Ella did a wonderful long interview with John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants back in March. Alas, the minidisc recorder failed us. (We now have a Zoom H2 digital recorder we like very much and that has not yet died.)

Photos: April 2008 visit from School for the Dead

In April, part of School for the Dead visited the studio in connection with the First Churches Raise the Roof benefit. They played some great songs, too.

Photos: February 2008 visit from Uncle Rock

Right around when we started on the new station, Uncle Rock played a show put together by our friends at Hilltown Families. He came by the studio and did some songs for us too.

Pictures, pictures, pictures

Hey, how about a ton of photos going back a long way? In the posts coming up, that's what you'll get...