Matt's 7th Birthday CD

Hello – Adele
Ben – Zee Avi
ABC – Jackson 5
Papa Loves Mambo – Dean Martin
Despacito (feat. Daddy Yankee) – Luis Fonsi
Hava Nagila  – Ben Folds
 Hey Jude  – Caspar Babypants
Rolex – Ayo & Teo
Everything I Didn't Say  – 5 Seconds of Summer   
Dino-Soaring   – The Dirty Sock Funtime Band
Raining Tacos – Parry Gripp
Grapes   – Andrew & Polly
Dog Park – Jack Forman
Shrimp – Recess Monkey
 I'm a Gummy Bear (The Gummy Bear Song) – Gummifer 
The Duck Song – The Duck
Hello Goodbye – Caspar Babypants

Danny Weinkauf Back With Rockin' Osomeness

Is Danny Weinkauf the kindie equivalent of Dave Grohl? Bear with me here... Grohl graduated from Nirvana (which wasn't really a choice, given the circumstances) and created the Foo Fighters, a band which will go into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its own merits. But Dave had so many musical synapses firing that he had to disperse all those thoughts into ancillary bands such as Queens of the Stone Age, Probot, and Them Crooked Vultures.

Danny Weinkauf, on the other hand, is mostly known as the bassist for They Might Be Giants. Heard of them? They're celebrating their fourth decade and Danny has been there since 1998 (Wikipedia has a pretty cool band timeline). He also played with Fountains of Wayne and has hundreds of tracks to his credit. More immediately, he has a thriving "side business" as the lead in the Red Pants Band with Steve Plesnarski and Tina Kenny Jones, producing three CDs. The latest, TOTALLY OSOME! is out there, I mean, really out there, right now.

TOTALLY OSOME contains 14 songs (and two snippets) that demonstrate Danny's versatility and inventive songwriting. The earworm singalong fave, "Sunshine Sunny Sun Sunshine Day" kicks off the collection, with the verses contradicting the chorus of what is allegedly a happy family day at the beach:

We wake up super early, dad's cranky as can be.
The drive takes us forever, I really have to pee.
My mom makes us wear sunblock, I hate the way it smells.
My foot's already bleeding, I cut it on some shells.

Music has become more of a singles-based business and Danny utilized this methodology to release "Sunshine" as well as three other tracks, the female empowerment anthem "I'm A Girl (Step Aside)," "It's Your Birthday," and a power-pop ode of SiriusXM Kids Place Live host Mindy Thomas, "Superpowered Mindy." Danny has done these dedicated numbers before. I used his tribute to songwriter Ben Folds, "The Ballad of Ben," as part of my son's bar mitzvah video a few years ago.

Danny's engaging experimentation is on display with two takes on "Put Down That Smartphone" – a straight-ahead charging rocker and a tongue-in-cheek 80s themed "modern" version. "Ray Scott Thanks A Lot" is a doodle in the style of the man known for scoring Looney Tunes. One of my favorites, "The Bah Bah Song," deconstructs the process of getting together, playing instruments, and deciding exactly what a song is going to be about. Many tracks feature the sparkling vocals of Tina Kenny Jones (wife Michelle and kids Kai and Lena also make appearances). Kai is showcased on "A Song About Anything," and could carry the family business forward for another generation.

if you want a CD that you can crank up and make passerbys wonder, "What are they making their kids listen to?" then this is a TOTALLY OSOME! recommendation for you. The kids won't mind rocking out and you don't have to worry about subliminal messaging or hidden product advertising. Best of all, they might be giant Weinkauf fans.

TOTALLY OSOME! is available from Danny Weinkauf's website, Bandcamp, iTunes, CDBABY, and Amazon.

Here is the video for "Eyes in the Back of Her Head":

Henriques and Palindrome: Kids Music Forward and Back

When my older son started playing piano, I expressed a quiet reservation to my wife. "If people ask him to play, it's not like a guitar," I said. "He can't just carry a piano around in his back pocket."

But we still carry a high regard for pianists and not just instrumentalists. The burden of nimble keyboard gymnastics while singing is a daunting task and one that our kid has yet to attempt. But he likes piano-based acts and the more he likes them, we figure the more likely he is to stick with playing.

Lori Henriques plays deceptively simple songs (think Tori Amos for kids). Her new CD, THE WORLD IS A CURIOUS PLACE TO LIVE, contains such ditties as "Everlovin' Water" and "Dinosaur," which poses the plaintive thought:

Dinosaur, dinosaur
You used to be here but you're not anymore.

Lori calls her second release, "much like my college degree, touching on many things that somehow form a picture of what it's like to live here." In that regard, she is successful is bringing together many elements under one umbrella. There are counting songs such as "Let's Count By Twos," To Count By Three," Leaping Fours," etc. There are nature songs like "When I Look Into the Night Sky" and "Curiosity." There are world songs about "When In Norway" and "Le Francais Est Magnifique."

But the CD could also be regarded as quite a hodge-podge, especially with a middle section that transforms familiar (and classical) pieces of music into singalong educational songs. "Le Francais Est Magnifique" is a reworking of "Frere Jacques." Beethoven's "Fur Elise" becomes "Parts of Speech." If you've ever heard Beethoven's Wig, you get the concept. And if that's your thing, Lori is happy to indulge you.

Lori has a sweet voice, real piano chops, and a desire to bring her ideas to young audiences in the Portland area. She is correct, the world is a curious place to live, and kids deserve to hear some specifics.

THE WORLD IS A CURIOUS PLACE TO LIVE is available from Lori's website, Amazon, and iTunes.

Click for a video from Portland PBS about Lori and her music.

Another local artist sticking his toe into the children's music scene is Mr. Palindrome.

These two go together because they both play the keyboard. Other than that, they are worlds apart, literally. Palindrome (nee Natan Kuchar) is based in Australia, by way of Boston's Berklee College of Music. His inaugural release, SMILEY FACE STICKER, brings some very big words to very small children.

A fan of word games, Natan did not realize he could fashion a career out of puns and wordplay until he took a course called Nonsense Literature. His palindromic family includes wife Lil and daughter Ayala who was born on February 21, 2012 (21/2/12 in Australian date style).

His CD is being released stateside this month in advance of a U.S. tour. Palindrome is for the very young with songs like "Backwards Alphabet" and "The Real Adventures Of Incy Wincy Spider." But if you've got an adversion to the Wiggles and a fascination with accents, he's your man from Down Under.

SMILEY FACE STICKER is available now from CDBABY, Amazon, Bandcamp, and iTunes. A national launch starts 9-1-9 (get it) at BigKids.

Here is the video from the title track of the CD:

Big Bang Boom Rocks, Because I Said So!

There is no applicable response.

"Because I said so."

You've hit a parental dead end.

Big Bang Boom empathizes with kids. They feel the frustration. And so their song of the same title (off the new CD of the same title) laments the titular response - BECAUSE I SAID SO.

I've often said that as a husband, I empathize with kids when I get that response as well.

"I told my mother we would stay at her place this weekend."

"This weekend? But it's a national holiday and they're doing construction on the freeway and the car has been making a funny noise. Why do we have to go to your mother's?"

"Because I said so. Get packing."

BBB takes umbrage at this sort of shenanigans. Surely you jest! But that's the point of their music – rocking out your frustrations, while still getting home in time for milk and cookies.

This goes for all ages. BBB tackles the subject of family road trips, always a prickly topic. Even at 21 months, Matt starts squawking from the back seat, babbling a version of "Are We There Yet," while his older brother sits calmly next to him.

Based in Greensboro, North Carolina, the power-pop trio took a turn for the kindie side in 2007 and Big Bang Boom have discovered a whole new fan base (which in turn reinvents itself every 5-6 years). Multiple awards followed, including a grand prize in this year's John Lennon Songwriting Contest, for "Monster Under the Bed," from their second CD, SONGS YOUR MOTHER WILL LIKE.

Chuck Folds, Steve Williard, and Eddie Walker want kids to know that it's alright to love your "Hippie Mom," it's alright to let people know that "I Can Sing," and that sometimes they need a push to "Make Me."

For parents who detest "little kids" music, here comes the best news: When played for the first time, you may not even realize it's a children's CD. BECAUSE I SAID SO is inspired crunchy pop music, without hard rap or metal edges to hurt young 'uns tender minds.

Take the plunge. Why? Because I...you know the drill.

BECAUSE I SAID SO is available on September 18 from Amazon, CDBaby, and iTunes.

Oh, Chuck's brother is Ben Folds.

Here is the video for "Make Me" from the CD: