Ben's Playlist - Friday, September 28, 2018

Sea Of Stars - Dan Zanes
One Of These Days - Vance Joy
Chewy to Your Han - Recess Monkey
Watch Petunia Dance - Caspar Babypants
Press Play - Brady Rymer & The Little Band That Could
Robert Broccoli - The Green Orbs
What Kind Of Fruit - Dean Jones

Ben's Playlist - Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Me And You – Caspar Babypants
Inkpot – Kepi Ghoulie
Hide & Seek – The Not-Its!
That's My Style – The Bazillions
Shine On – Dan Zanes
Outside – The Green Orbs
Fly Like A Bird – Dean Jones

Ben's Playlist - Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Window – Gustafer Yellowgold
One Day By The Riverside – Brady Rymer & The Little Band That Could
Disco Hippo – Caspar Babypants
Sunshine Sunny Sun Sunshine Day – Danny Weinkauf
Have You Ever Been Real – Dean Jones
Outside – The Green Orbs
If You Want To Sing Out – Frances England

Green Orbs Champion Silly Music for Kids

The family band concept has existed forever. Most recently, the Oot 'n Oots feature four brothers and one of their daughters. Keeping in the sibling spirit is the brother and sister team The Green Orbs. Eddie RosenBerg III and Heather Hirshfield first decided to collaborate musically in 2015 for the YouTube Audio Library. Three years (and 50 songs) later, the duo have released their debut CD, THUMB WRESTLING CHAMPIONS.

While every family has their resident goofball, the Green Orbs divide the wackiness evenly. That way, Eddie can sing "Soup is the best food in the world" and Heather can belt the '60s Romper Room meets Shindig! romp, "The Suction Cup Shuffle."

There are a host of characters in the mix as well, including "Doug the Bug," "Ruby the Tooth Fairy," and "The Duck of Whistleburg." All teach some lesson, such as "don't litter." But there's enough silliness to counter-balance any lecturing, such as the song in search of a Broadway musical, "Twelve Steps to Eating Your Veggies":

Step 3
Hold your nose …what you can’t smell, you cannot taste
Step 4
Hum your favorite tune… and your veggies will vanish without a trace

While a genial, upbeat tune packed with a horn section, "A Flower in My Shower" makes the listener feel a little skeevy about the hygiene of the family whose bathroom has been invaded by plant life. Yes, it's an allegory about appreciating nature. However when you grow up with three younger brothers, it would not have a been a surprise to find sweat socks cultivating potatoes.

Looking at their bio, Ed seems to be bursting at the seams with his musical pursuits. Heather, while ensconced in suburban Marlton, New Jersey, has refined and expanded her instrumentation to cover piano, ukelele, trumpet, and baritone horn. Their mind-melded sensitivities give the Green Orbs a confident and friendly aura. THUMB WRESTLING CHAMPIONS lets kids witness the spectacle of a mummy grappling with a pickle. At the end of the day, isn't that what children's music is supposed to do best?

THUMB WRESTLING CHAMPIONS is available on September 7 from the Green Orbs' website, Amazon, Bandcamp, CDBABY, and Apple Music.

Here is the video for their song, "The Suction Cup Shuffle":

Quick Hits: Uncle Dox & Green Orbs in Cornfield, Father Goose On Friday

I've got issues with kids and crops. Ever since CHILDREN OF THE CORN and its infinite sequels, the prospect of tykes and tall stalks gives me the willies. Well, until Uncle Dox and the Green Orbs soothed my fragile nerves and got me back in the high weeds.

Their new song, "Cornfield" puts you out past the meadow in the farmland where the corn is green and the kids are happy. And no hidden menace is hiding in the dark, waiting to tear you limb from limb. Unless that's the Halloween sequel.

You can hear "Cornfield" on Apple Music, Google Play, and Soundcloud.

Summer was a busy time and a bunch of stuff slipped through the cracks. Among them was a track from Father Goose – a remix of "Friday." The song features a bevy of performers from Goose to Little Goose to Elena Moon Park to Yami Bolo and more.

FG is one of the artists who has chosen the path of releasing songs as they come to him, eventually fleshing out a vision that results in a full-length CD. In the meantime, the process keeps him current and engaged in the kid music community, as well as gives SiriusXM's Kids Place Live a steady stream of kid hop tunes to sample.

The "Friday" remix is available on iTunes, CDBABY, and Amazon.

Ben's Playlist - Monday, September 21, 2015

Biggest Brother – Tim Kubart
Caught in the Screen – Secret Agent 23 Skidoo
Mr. Mustache (feat. Joel Marsh Garland) – The Green Orbs
Paper Airplane – Recess Monkey
Turned Out – Paul McCartney
When You're Gone – Mil's Trills

Kindie Quick Hits: Red Balloon, Mil's Trills, Green Orbs and Ham, and Smiles Ahead

Koko the gorilla was able to learn sign language and communicate with humans. Okay, what has that got to do with children's music. Hang on, I'm making a point. Infants, before they are able to speak, can also be taught to communicate with basic sign language. Bear with me. Children are also able to learn the sounds of languages at a very early age. As they get older, we lose this ability.

Dan Schteingart's RED BALLOON seeks to create a stopgap – a collection of songs intended to expose children to many languages and capitalize on their ability to remember sounds, inflections, and pronunciation. As the CD features Cletus the Cow as its main protagonist, RED BALLOON clearly steers for the under-five set.

Featuring a host of ably-talented musicians, RED BALLOON has a unique goal (and hey, it ain't world music) with a narrowcasted audience. To stress their earnestness, the MP3 version is being sold at the low price of $4.95 (at least, that's the current price). But hey you can always grab a physical CD if that format suits your purposes.

RED BALLOON is available through Dan's website, Amazon, and iTunes.

Speaking of new concepts, Mighty Mo Productions, birthed on the banks of the Missouri River, is delivering children's music to the world. The world of kindie music has seen specialty divisions and corporate attempts (hey Disney) to franchise existing popular artists. Led by Jim "Mr. Stinky Feet" Cosgrove, the new label seeks to deliver real music to real families. I will be writing more about the debut release, SMILES AHEAD, in October ahead of its release. Here is a video with samples of the artists, including Caspar Babypants, Brady Rymer, Frances England, and a new song from the Verve Pipe.


Say, while we're talking about new kid's music videos, Amelia Robinson and her ensemble Mil's Trills have released a new video from their recent CD, NOW THAT WE'RE FRIENDS. Take a look and enjoy "All Of the Colors":


Finally, if you want to reach back to the Roaring Twenties (and who doesn't), the Green Orbs are back on the scene with a pair of new songs. "Dear Mr. Mustache" comes complete with a trembly old-fashioned vocal and a period-piece video:


Orbmeisters Heather Hirshfield and her brother Ed Rosenberg go in another direction for "The Hams in the Deep Blue Sea," originally created for the interactive storybook app Mibblio. It's a goofy little tale about silly little pigs. I can just see how that will look in the Google search form. In any case, you can download both songs from the Green Orbs Bandcamp page.