2009-01-31 Playlist

Remember: Sunday (tomorrow!), Secret Agent 23 Skidoo (follow the link for details).

Other show notes: Visit Todd's blog here, and listen to our full interview with him here. Information about the show at the Academy is here.

And visit Harmonica Pocket here.

Listen any time at WRSI.com!

Segment 1
TMBG - It's Spare the Rock
-Ella ID
TMBG - Boss of Me
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - This Land is Your Land (Naturally)
ID
Auden - Howdy Cowboy
Nikolai Moderbacher - Wake Up (Tabula Rasa)
ID
Metthew - Fire

Segment 2
Nat - Sunset Fire
Bunny Clogs - Pharaoh Pharouk's Phyrst Phood Phyramid
Elizabeth Mitchell - 3 is the Magic Number (You Are My Sunshine)
ID/prep to rock
Not-Its - We Are the Not-Its
Matthew Sweet - Scooby Doo
Strange Kidz - Superhero (Kidz Album)
ID

Segment 3
Patricia - Little Holes
ID
Ratboy Jr. - Floating Up (EP)
Ben Kweller - How It Should Be (Sha Sha)
Justin Roberts - The Backyard Super Kid (Pop Fly)
Yo La Tengo - Moonrock Mambo
ID

Segment 4
Peter - The Blue Ocean
ID
ScribbleMonster - Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
ID
Deedle Deedle Dees - Vegetarian Tyrannosaurus Rex (Freedom in a Box!)
Lunch Money - Tiny Dinosaurs (Dizzy)
School for the Dead - Beautiful Day in the Woods (Ayla) (The New You)
Me3 - Apple (The Thin King)
ID/Book time w/ Ella (Dial a Ghost by Eva Ibbotson)

Segment 5
Harmonica Pocket in-studio

Segment 6
Interview with Todd Robbins
ID
Dan Zanes & Friends - Wonder Wheel
ID
Secret Agent 23 Skidoo - Gotta Be Me (Easy)
ID
TMBG - No! (No!)
TMBG - Spare the Rock

SXSW

So, who's going to South by Southwest?

Post a comment or send me an e-mail, please - it's show AT sparetherock DOT com. I am curious for a variety of reasons, so please do let me know.

I'll be on a panel called "Kids' Music: The Other Twelve Percent," discussing, well, indie kids' music. I think it's Friday afternoon. There will also be a kids' music showcase on (I think) Saturday that will be (I think) free. Details to come.

And there may be another unofficial kids' music event. Again, details to come.

This will be -- by, oh, a week or so -- the longest we've been apart from the kids since their births. (They'll be hanging out with my parents in Arkanss.) We're doing both the film and music festivals.

Whee!

This Sunday - Secret Agent 23 Skidoo

Remember, folks, this Sunday, we'll have Secret Agent 23 Skidoo performing at Lyman Hall at First Churches, downtown Northampton. (Enter across from the Iron Horse.) NOTE: Even though the Gazette lists it as Monday, don't believe the hype. It's Sunday. Promise.

SA23 performs positive hip-hop for kids with a sound that's all grown up. Fronted by 23 (a/k/a Cactus from grownup band Granola Funk Express), SA23's debut CD Easy is the first great hip-hop CD for kids, and the live show is a great high-energy party for the whole family. 23 did a fantastic show last fall, and this will be a great pre-Superbowl time for everyone.

Hear and learn more at SecretAgent23Skidoo.com, and listen to the show this Saturday to hear more.

Our chat with Todd Robbins, Sideshow Performer

Todd Robbins will be one act on the very cool Being Harry Houdini show on Sunday, February 8. He's an amazing sideshow performer who appeared for years at the Sideshow by the Sea at Coney Island, founded the sideshow school there, and has performed all over the country.

We interviewed him today for Saturday's show. The Saturday version is about six minutes long, but here's the full 22-minute chat:



I love Coney Island, I love the sideshow there, and I was honestly a little starstruck in my geeky way.

You can also download the MP3 here.

2009-01-24 Playlist

Thanks to Andy Ure for a great great guest DJ set! You can listen on-demand at WRSI.com.

Segment 1
TMBG - It's Spare the Rock
-Ella ID
TMBG - Why Does the Sun Shine? (The Sun is a Mass of Incadescent Gas)
Randy Kaplan - Good Morning Blues (Loquat Rooftop)
Woody Guthrie - Wake Up (Nursery Days)
Elizabeth Mitchell - You Are My Sunshine (Sing Along with Putumayo)
ID
Ladysmith Black Mambambo & Kermit the Frog - African Alphabet (Songs from the Street)
Daniel - Sleeping Tigers (Group H poetry)
ID

Segment 2
Hannah - Little Brown Bones (Group H)
Dan Wilson - Sidewalks of New York
ID/prep to rock
Paul Westerberg - Mr. Rabbit
Michael Franti & Spearhead - Obama Song
AudraRox - Short Attention Span (I Can Do It By Myself)
Deedle Deedle Dees - Baldy (Freedom in a Box!)

Segment 3
Katie - Sound Poem
ID/Meltdown announcement
Guest DJ set from Andy from the Quiet Two
1. Sit On A Sandwich – Brute Force
2. Robot Parade (Adult Version) – TMBG
3. It’s Alright To Cry - Rosey Grier / Free To Be Me and You Soundtrack
4. Bubbles – The Free Design
5. The Soft Machine – A Concise British Alphabet
6. Exercise Is Good For You – The Wombles

Segment 4
Liam - Brown Hurricanes
ScribbleMonster - Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
ID
Guest DJ set, con't:
7. Race You To The Corner – Music For Aardvarks
8. Cars – Gary Numan
9. Girl From Venus – Perrey-Kingsley
10. Green Tambourine – The Lemon Pipers
11. Theme from Hair from the Soundtrack
12. Nothing To Do– Bruce Haack

Segment 5
Lucas - A Nest
Guest DJ set, conclusion:
13. Do the Funky Penguin – Rufus Thomas
14. Hole In My Shoe – Traffic
15. Mc Spella – Muckafurgason
16. Secret Agent Man – Johnny Rivers
17. Someday Children – Susan and The Kids / Sesame Street
18. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious – Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke / Mary Poppins Soundtrack
19. Scarecrow – The Pink Floyd

Segment 6
Maddie - Sand Dollar
ID
Egg & Secret Agent 23 Skidoo - I Like Fruit
XTC - Fruit Nut
Rusted Root - Send Me On My Way
ID
TMBG - Dr. Worm
TMBG - Spare the Rock

Listen to Harmonica Pocket In-Studio

This won't air until next week, but you can listen to the unedited Harmonica Pocket in-studio here (MP3) or here:



Again, tomorrow, 1:00 Mass MoCA. We will almost definitely be there.

Tomorrow: Harmonica Pocket at Mass MoCA

Folks,

Don't forget to go see Harmonica Pocket at Mass MoCA tomorrow. We've had so much other stuff that I forgot to mention it as often as I should have, but we'll probably be out there (say hi!) and it promises to be great.

We'll also be recording a segment with them that we'll air a week from tomorrow

Updated: Coming March 28: The River's Family Music Meltdown and Book Bash

Updated: We've been adding more acts to the list below, so check it out.

We'll have lots more details and announcements to come, but on Saturday, March 28, from 10 am to 4 pm at the JFK Middle School, we're super excited to be presenting the inaugural River Family Music Meltdown and Book Bash.

We'll have:

• Two stages of music (one more rocking, one mellower)

• Some of the most exciting children's book authors working today

• Story time with River DJs

• Great activities - not just the same old stuff you see at every kids' event; promise

• Local food

• Wonderful local groups and businesses

On the music side, here's just some of who we've got lined up (all subject to change, and there's more to come):

The Nields - local heroes, national following, great new two-disc record

Deedle Deedle Dees - from Brooklyn, longtime friends of Northampton and the show, fantastic historical rock

School for the Dead - more local heroes doing a rare family show

Aric Bieganek - You know him from the Northampton Parents Center; the Gazette calls him the "Jack Black of kids' music," and his shows are great fun

Uncle Rock - Long-time friend of the show, former Fleshtone, rawk.

Marcy Gregoire - newcomer to our happy valley, quickly becoming a big part of the area, including a fun series of shows at Cup & Top

Dennis Caraher - one of the first guests we ever had, and still a favorite with a fun new record

Maria Sangiolo - Happy and smart folk rock for everyone

Laura Cayer - Formerly of the Juice Pops and Pop Rockets, now doing solo stuff, along with shows with Marcy Gregoire

Ratboy Jr. - kids' incarnation of popular roots band Ratboy

And for the authors, we've got:

Anna Alter - Anna's work is reminiscent of a modern day Bread and Jam for Frances. Her work is beautiful! She is the illustrator for the lavishly illustrated chapter book The Purple Ribbon and she is the author/illustrator for Estelle and Lucy and Francine's Day. Her upcoming book (which should be here in time for the festival) is called What Can You Do With an Old Red Shoe? (A Green Activity Book). It's a craft book on recycling and Anna will work with kids at craft table.

Timothy Basil Ering - Tim is the illustrator of the award-winning Tales of Despereaux and the author/illustrator of Frog Belly Rat BoneI and Necks Out for Adventure! He's the biggest kid you'll ever meet.

Jane Yolen - Jane really needs no introduction. Jane has been called the "Hans Christian Andersen of America" by Newsweek and "the Aesop of the 20th century" by the New York Times. She has countless books to her credit -How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight, the immortal Owl Moon.

And then there is our friend Jarrett Krosoczka, who's putting together the book side of the event. Jarrett used to be a goofy kid that liked to draw. Now, he is an award winning published author/illustrator with many books to his credit, including the Punk Farm series and, coming this summer, the graphic novel Lunch Lady. (You can hear our visit to his studio on this show.

How much would you pay for all of this? $20? $30? Nope. It's free, folks. Free!

If you're a business or organization interested in becoming a sponsor of the inaugural Meltdown, get in touch with me (show AT sparetherock DOT com) and I'll get you a sponsorship package. We're hoping to get a ton of folks from the community involved and would love to work with you to get you involved.

How fun!

Best Use of Technology, This Week

Behold.

This week...

On Saturday, we'll play the guest DJ set from Andy from The Quiet Two. It is awesome.

We also have more poems from Liam's class and a bunch of other great music.

So listen, won't you?

Uncle Rock: Whoo-hoo!

What a fun time we had with Uncle Rock this weekend.



Friday, he came to our monthly neighborhood soup night (we were hosting this month, and Dena made two great soups [potato leek and tortilla, if you're curious]), which was great.

Then he was on the show Saturday, playing three brand-new songs -- you can listen to them over at WRSI.com -- including the best-titled song I've heard this year, "Buddy Holly's Got the Hiccups."

And then he played a packed, and I mean packed show at the Northampton Community Music Center. We had, I'm pretty sure, right around 150 people in that room; happily, they were small people so we fit in well.

You can see pictures over at our Facebook Fan page (and if you were there, feel free to add more), or you can see the pictures and some shaky low-fi video at my MobileMe gallery. (For some reason, I'm having trouble getting the video into iMovie and/or YouTube, but I'm working on that.)

Remember: Uncle Rock. Today. 2:00. NCMC.

Thanks again to Uncle Rock for coming by the show this morning, and remember, you can see him play live at 2:00 this afternoon at the Northampton Community Music Center, 139 South Street, Northampton. Just $5 per person at the door.

2009-01-17 Playlist

Stream it at WRSI.com.

Segment 1
TMBG - It's Spare the Rock
-Ella ID
TMBG - Particle Man
Nields - Muffin Man
ID
Ella Fitzgerald - The Hot Canary (Miss Ella's Playhouse)
ScribbleMonster - The Song of LIFE (Songs with No Character)
ID

Segment 2
Ben Rudnick & Friends - Cowgirl Song (live at Spare the Rock)
Grateful Dead - The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)
ID/prep to rock
Iggy Pop - Real Wild Child
Mr. Richard - Zanyville (Might As Well Sing)
ID
Group H Poem: Anni - Tooth Fairy

Segment 3
Group H Poem: Anya - Color
Uncle Rock - It's Hot! Don't Touch It!
Talking Head - I Zimbri
Paul Westerberg - Meet Me in the Meadow
Terrible Twos - Lily Names Everything Sandy (Jerzy the Giant)
ID
Ben G. - Funny Books

Segment 4
Benjamin G-R - Animals
ScribbleMonster - Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
ID
Bunny Clogs - Midtown Greenway (More! More! More!)
Tom Freund & Friends - Hug Trees (Hug Trees)
Caitlin - Sun Burst
ID
Monkees - Gonna Buy Me a Dog
ID/book time with Ella (after the break, Uncle Rock live in the studio)

Segment 5
Uncle Rock in-studio

Segment 6
Cat Power - New York
Cathy Heller - Supergirl (Say Hello to the Sun)
ID
Marcy Gregoire - Spittin' Seeds
Dennis Caraher - Chasin' After Chickens (I Miss the Mud)
ID
TMBG - Apartment Four (Here Come the 123s)
TMBG - Spare the Rock

SXSW...

The list of acts is growing. Notable ones for our purposes here:

Asylum Street Spankers (though I assume they're doing an adult show)
Steve Burns & the Struggle (ditto)
Daddy-A-Go-Go
Jon Langford And The Pine Valley Cosmonauts (of Mekons/Wee Hairy Beasties)
Joe McDermott
Tiny Masters of Today
Who Shot Hollywood

I know nothing about, but love the name of: Natalie Portman's Shaved Head

Clearly, Sasha and Malia need to listen to our show

...because this lineup, well, kind of blows. Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato? Come on. Even with it being aired on Disney, why not some other Disney acts - Ralph's World? TMBG?

Bleh.

Ella's thinking about writing to the Obama kids; maybe this will be the trigger.

Lunch Money has a fancy new site

Purty, no?

Coming soon...

Some great stuff coming up soon on the big radio show:

This week, assuming it all goes right technology-wise, we'll have Uncle Rock in-studio before his show at the Northampton Community Music Center on Saturday afternoon at 2:00.

Then, in coming weeks, we will have guest DJ sets from:

- Andy Ure of the Quiet Two (nee Quiet Ones), who did one of the greatest guest DJ sets we've had

- Lunch Money, who I've been hoping to get a guest DJ set from for ages

- Tad Kubler from The Hold Steady. For real.

Totally psyched. Aren't you?

Wanna See Harmonica Pocket at Mass MoCA?

Hilltown Families can hook you up with free tickets.

2009-01-10 Playlist

Thanks to Marcy Gregoire and to Cat in the Hat and Horton for coming by! (Yes, we had Cat in the Hat and Horton in the studio!)

You can listen to the show any time on-demand at WRSI.com!

Segment 1
TMBG - It's Spare the Rock
-Ella ID
TMBG - Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
Joe McDermott - Come to Hawaii (Hawaiian Playground)
ID
Maria Sangiolo - Power Shower (live at Spare the Rock)
Trout Fishing in America - Big Round World (Big Round World)
Frances England - Best Friends (Family Tree)
ID

Segment 2
Ziggy Marley - Beautiful Day
Rex Hobart & the Misery Boys - It's Not Easy Being Green (The Bottle Let Me Down)
Eels - Daisy Through Concrete (Daisies of the Galaxy)
ID/prep to rock (happy birthday, Ben!)
(Uncle Rock live at NCMC one week from today!)
Uncle Rock - Play Outside Today (Uncle Rock U)
Daddy-A-Go-Go - School Bus Driver(Rock of All Ages)

Segment 3
ScribbleMonster - All Ready to Go, All Ready to Go
Polyphonic Spree - Running Away (Fragile Army)
ID
Jimmies - Cool to Be Uncool (Make Your Own Someday)
Recess Monkey - S-L-Double E-P Over (Tabby Road)
ID/book time with Ella

Segment 4
ScribbleMonster - Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
Marcy Gregoire live in-studio

Segment 5
Cat in the Hat and Horton live in-studio

Segment 6
Blitzen Trapper - New Shoes (For the Kids Three)
Winterpills - Purple Pictures
ID
Bunny Clogs - 3 Dogs and a Pancake (More! More! More!)
T. Rex - Telegram Sam
Lunch Money - Dizzy (Dizzy)
ID
TMBG - Zeroes (Here Come the 123s)
TMBG - Spare the Rock

Help the Learning Spring School

Long-time friend-of-the-show Jeff (whose son you can hear on this week's show!) asked if I could encourage folks to support The Learning Spring School's spring benefit. Looks like a great school for kids on the autism spectrum...maybe some NYC-area bands could donate a show to be raffled off?

Updated: Kids' Music Smackdown!

Interesting episode of Soundcheck on WNYC today; listen here.

At one point, Limor Tomer (WNYC's director of programming) equates the Baby Loves Disco events to a visit to Chuck E. Cheese. (Except, presumably, with fewer fights.) Her basic argument is that it's all about sensory overload and doing things that parents like rather than what the kids like.

Can that possibly be right? I've never been to one, but almost all of the feedback I've seen, and the descriptions I've read, have made it sound like it's pretty kid-focused. I don't think you sell out a ton in a row if the kids hate it. Maybe it's just a way to make it sound like a debate even without having any particularly good reason to be a debate...

Update: I only heard about five minutes of this, and I understand from the comments on their post and from a couple of e-mails that Tomer went after kids' music more generally. You should definitely go check out the comments section (and note friends-of-the-show Tor and Beth in the comments, among others), but I feel compelled to quote this from the mysterious Molly from South Carolina (hey, I know a Molly from South Carolina):

Seriously, why take your kids to a Pixar film when there's the entire Woody Allen catalog to explore? Why read Where the Wild Things Are when the works of Nabokov are gathering dust on your shelves? Stop insulting your children by exposing them to material that attempts to speak to their current human condition!

Molly from South Carolina, you're my hero.

2009-01-03 Playlist

Happy new year! We had a really fun show this week, even though we were beat tired.

You can listen on demand at WRSI.com.

Here's what we played:

Segment 1
TMBG - It's Spare the Rock
-Ella ID
TMBG - Hovering Sombrero (Mink Car)
NRBQ - Accentuate the Positive
Walter "Wolfman" Washington & the Roadmasters - This Land is Your Land (Funky Kidz)
ID
Billy Bragg - The Beach is Free
Dan Zanes & Friends - Keep On the Sunnyside (Rocket Ship Beach)
ID

Segment 2
The New Standards - Rock and Roll (Rock and Roll)
Kimya Dawson - Sunbeams and Some Beams (Alphabutt)
ID
Jingle Punx - Auld Lang Syne (Coal)
Apples in Stereo - Energy (New Magnetic Wonder)
Uncle Rock - Disco Nap (Plays Well With Others)
ID

Segment 3
Bunny Clogs - Velveeta Girl & Squatsy (More! More! More!)
Grupa Fantasma - Gimme More!
ID
Jellydots - Bicycle (Hey You Kids!)
CandyBand - My Bike (Calling All Kids)
Madness - Our House

Segment 4
ScribbleMonster - Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
ID
Michael Franti & Spearhead - Hey World (Remote Control Version)
Baby Loves Jazz Band - The Wheels on the Bus (Baby Loves Jazz)
ID
Sippy Cups - One Day Soon (EP)
ID

Segment 5
ID
Liz Mitchell - What Goes On (You Are My Little Bird)
Maria Sangiolo - Celia Says
ID
Nields - With Catlike Tread (Rock All Day Rock All Night)
Secret Agent 23 Skidoo - Hot Lava (Easy)
Harmonica Pocket - Spiders in My Breakfast (Ladybug One)
ID/book time with Ella

Segment 6
ID/book time with Ella conclusion
Richard Julian - Spring is Just Around the Corner
Lunch Money - Ate Too Much of My Favorite Food (Dizzy)
ID
Me 3 - Apple (The Thin King)
Go! Team - Milk Crisis (Proof of Youth bonus disc)
ID
TMBG - Nonagon (Here Come the 123s)
TMBG - Spare the Rock

Almost entirely off-topic, but...

So our sister station is WHMP-AM, which has great local programming as well as Air America stuff.

One of the shows there is The Bill Dwight Show.

On New Year's Eve and tonight, Bill and his producer Jaz Tupelo are guest hosting for Rachel Maddow and Ron Reagan on Air America.

And tonight, they'll have (among others) my colleague Jennifer Levi to talk about Prop 8 and its current status. In addition to being on the faculty at the law school, she's director of transgender issues at GLAD. Her bio at GLAD is here and her bio at WNEC Law is here.

She'll be on during the Ron Reagan show, which at least locally is in the 8:00 hour.

So: Listen (to all of it; Bill and Jaz are great in their own right) and enjoy!

Upcoming Live Shows...

My heavens, we have a lot of great stuff coming up soon. It's all on the calendar over to the right, but let's just contemplate:

Saturday, January 10 at 11:00am: Maria Sangiolo at Cup & Top Cafe - free! (You can hear Maria's visit to our show here.)

Wednesday, January 14 at 3:00pm: Marcy Gregoire at Cup & Top Cafe - free!

Saturday, January 17 at 2:00pm: Uncle Rock at Northampton Community Music Center - $5! (net proceeds to NCMC's scholarship fund)

Saturday, January 24 at 1:00: Harmonica Pocket at Mass MoCA (we'll have them on our show either that morning or the following week, btw)

Sunday, February 1 at 1:00pm: Secret Agent 23 Skidoo at Lyman Hall, First Churches - $7! (a portion of proceeds to the church's capital campaign)

Saturday, February 21 at 2:00pm: Elizabeth Mitchell at Northampton Community Music Center - $5! (net proceeds to NCMC's scholarship fund)

Mark your calendars, folks. (And keep March 28 free, too, though we're not quite ready to formally announce what's happening that day.)

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