Hey, Nice Shoes!

Remember, It's a Big World Out There

Myopia. Ask any kid and they'll tell you – it's the home planet from AVATAR.

Most Millenials raised to believe the Sun rises and sets on them have a pre-existing sense of myopia. Increasingly, social consciousness and cultural awareness must be taught – sometimes in a heavy-handed manner.

Recess Music attempts to perform a gentle intervention for our naval-gazing youngsters.

The company aims to entertain, encourage, and educate children and families through Earth-friendly music. Founder and CEO Nancy Doan hit the ground running in 2010. The company has released numerous CDs in its "Celebrate Earth" and "Best Foot Forward" series.

Their latest release, "Someone Else's Shoes" continues to stress the values of community, participation, awareness, friendship, and common courtesy. Fifteen tracks cover "Team Work" (The Uncle Brothers), "Say Something Nice About Somebody" (The Happy Crowd), "Take A Walk in Someone Else's Shoes" (Swingset Mamas), and "Be Nice to Old People" (Jamie Broza).

For the child who feels like an outsider, Dan Dan Doodlebug sings "There's No Such Thing As Normal":

There's no such thing as normal my mother once explained.
'Cause everyone is different, no two people are the same.
There are so many ways to be and different things to do,
There's no such thing as normal so have fun and just be you.

A timely theme addressed throughout the Best Foot Forward series is bullying. Recess Music dedicated an entire CD (Big Bully) to the topic last year and return with more tracks on this collection. On "You Hurt My Feelings," Troubadour sings about the emotional cost of careless words. The Hill Brothers are more direct on "There's No Place for Bullies In Our School." And who could disagree with the sentiment of Mike Soloway's "Please Stop Hurting My Feelings"?

With a toddler just starting to notice that other children may be interesting – and might be interested in him – these CDs are a nice way to introduce the co-joined concepts of self-worth and community. Recess Music stresses "Music for the Dance of Life." There's no better way to get a toddler on his feet than to give him access to your stereo system and "Someone Else's Shoes" gives you a good reason to do just that.

"Someone Else's Shoes" is available on Tuesday, July 31 through iTunes, Amazon, and the Recess Music website.

Buy A CD, Rescue An Animal

Jamie Broza's New Kids CD Is No Dog

I spent many enjoyable afternoons in Manhattan theaters as a child, seeing shows that (sometimes) went way above my head. We've taken Ben to exactly ONE Broadway production (Shrek the Musical), which he loved. We'll take him back, but that's another story.

People find their way to Broadway in numerous ways. Jamie Broza was literally born into it - his father, Elliot Lawrence was a musical director. The influence is obvious on his new childrens CD, "I Want A Dog."



His first childrens' album in five years, tracks on "I Want A Dog" sound like they're drawn directly from musical theater. More precisely, a latin-themed production for kids - especially tracks like "Guatemala," featuring Broza's brother, David Broza. David is an Israeli superstar and sings in Spanish and plays classical guitar on the track.

I'll want to see how Ben reacts to the song, "New School." Although he is now happily settled at his current elementary school, he spent a difficult four-year period hopping from location to location. And as for "Birthday Parties Always End in Tears," while Ben has not cried at his own party, we'll seen plenty of breakdowns at these over-amped festivities. I'm nervous that we'll wind up playing "The No Game" with Ben after he hears that track. As it is, he hears a parade of "no" answers, sans music. Older kids will figure out what happened to the cat in "Where's Charlie" long before the "surprise ending." As for "Sisters," although my wife might choke up (with three older sisters), there's enough of an age difference of 20+ years that tempers any devastating mood swings.

Broza's first CD for children, “Bad Mood Mom and other Good Mood Songs,” made the Parents’ Choice Foundation’s list of the top 25 children’s CDs in the last 25 years. His follow-up CD, “My Daddy Is Scratchy” also won a Parents’ Choice Silver award as well as a NAPPA Gold award. He and his dad, Elliot Lawrence teamed up and co-wrote two musicals with Stan Berenstain, “The Berenstain Bears Save Christmas” and “The Berenstain Bears Onstage” which toured all over the United States.

Broza and his family rescued a dog, Dusty, from the North Shore Animal League and credit him as the inspiration for the new CD. In gratitude, he is donating 20 percent of the profits from this album to the organization, and hope it encourages others to adopt rescue animals. You could do worse for your family - musically or pet-wise.