Thursday, March 31, 2022

Kid Vids: Baseball, Allergies, and Car Rides

My son is locked and loaded for spring little league, where he generally gets placed in the outfield (although he sometimes lucks out and is assigned to third base). At least he's trained (through years of t-ball and instruction) to stay vigilant for a ball that might get hit at any instant). That's the theme of "Dancing in the Outfield," the new single from Baze and His Silly Friends – paying attention to make the play and contribute to your team's possible victory. It's well-trod ground (check out "Pop Fly" from Justin Roberts) but Baze and company use their own Jersey topspin. The video features the work of noted fellow children's musician and illustrator Key Wilde (from Wilde and Mr. Clarke fame):

When my son Ben was four, he underwent allergy testing. They asked if I also wanted the testing, so I said "Sure, why not." I learned that the reason my eyes water and my throat gets a tickle for two weeks every spring is an allergic reaction to Kentucky bluegrass – in Queens! Sometimes there's a similar outburst in the fall, depending on the volume of lawn-cutting and wind. During a pandemic, the last thing you want to do is have people running away, when the culprit is allergies, not COVID. Matt Heaton and the Outside Toys addressed that topic in their whimsical throwback song, "Allergies." Heaton wrote the Americana-themed tune in tribute to his son, himself a long-suffering allergist himself. You can purchase the song at Soundcloud and watch the video here:

Ay car-umba! Jim "Mr. Stinky Feet" Cosgrove is revved up, thinking about what people think and talk about when they are driving in their vehicles. His new song, "Car Talk," recalls his days as a backseat voyeur, watching the scenery (and traffic) and imagining conversations to fill the hours on family road trips (including some "stinky" references to keep everyone on brand). Produced by Donny Brown of the Verve Pipe, "Car Talk" will ignite similar chatter if played while in motion:

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