They Might Be Giants for Here Come the 123s (Best Musical Album for Children) and Bill Harley for Yes To Running! (Best Spoken Word Album for Children). Congratulations to them both.
Now I'm on pins and needles waiting to see if my friends in the Phoenix Chorale won a Grammy for one of their four nominations... And they did! Best Small Ensemble! w00t!
Oh, pictures of TMBG and Bill picking up their awards after the jump, courtesy of Beth Blenz-Clucas
Hmmm.... What's This, Then?
For those of you tired of searching through your iTunes for They Might Be Giants' Podcast for Kids, have no fear. Some enterprising soul has now put up a TMBG Kids YouTube channel. I have no idea if this is official or not -- is the band preparing for its next batch of podcasts for the upcoming Here Comes Science?
Here is the last podcast from more than 6 months ago, featuring "Can You Find It?," "The Secret Life of Six," and robot jokes.
I miss the puppet Johns.
New Music from TMBG: The Sun Is A Miasma of Incandescant Plasma
Details come trickling out about They Might Be Giants' forthcoming kids music album Here Comes Science (which, as I've said before, is not the most scintillating of titles to my ears, but hey, they're the creative folks).
This time, the source is Bill and Ella from Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child. Ella (with help from her friend Sam) interviewed John and John Friday and, among other things, found out a lot about Nikola Tesla while telling John and John even more about Benjamin Franklin. All about the Benjamins, indeed. (And Sam's question about "Dr. Worm" produces quite a nugget, too.) In all, well worth the 12 minutes.
Bill also noted that their adult show Friday night included a new song from the upcoming Here Comes Science CD -- "The Sun Is A Miasma of Incandescent Plasma," a response song to their own cover of "Why Does the Sun Shine?"
In rooting around YouTube, it appears they've been playing this song for a little while now, but here's TMBG doing the song in Northampton...
They Might Be Giants - "Why Does the Sun Really Shine? (The Sun Is a Miasma of Incadescent Plasma)"
Bob Dylan Does Kids'....
... literature. Not kids music.
Not new news, but Bob Dylan has got a kids' book coming out tomorrow titled Forever Young. It really seems to be illustrator Paul Rogers' bag, since the text seems to consist of nothing but the lyrics to Dylan's classic song.
Anyway, since trailers for kids books are all the rage now, here's the trailer for the book so you can decide if the illustrations are plunking down your hard-earned dollars for.
Oh, and just because I'm snarky...
All This, and Some Authors, Too
I don't typically mention single concerts around the country (unless, you know, I'm helping to put on the show), but occasionally a lineup stands out.
Like next weekend's Target Children's Book Festival in Bloomington, Minnesota. On Saturday, Sept. 13th, at Hyland Lake Park Reserve, the Festival's hosting a great lineup of kids musicians to enjoy for free. And, yeah, I guess since it's a book festival, there might be a few authors hanging around. Books, music, it's all good.
Set times for musicians (there are authors scattered in between there) are...
10:00 The Jimmies
11:25 Justin Roberts & the Not Ready for Naptime Players
1:10 Nick Jr.'s The Wonder Pets!
12:35 Lisa Loeb
1:55 The Jimmies
3:05 They Might Be Giants
4:25 Justin Roberts & the Not Ready for Naptime Players
I Will Not Use "Might" Or "Giants" In This Title. Or Even "Science"
... even though it's related to They Might Be Giants and their next kids' album.
Normally I wouldn't be too concerned with the kids music opinions of a 48-year-old man with no children, but when said 48-year-old man is TMBG's John Flansburgh, I'm willing to make an exception. In Sunday's New York Times, Flansburgh lists five artists and albums he might have his kids listen to, if, you know, he had kids. Gettings props? Baby Loves Hip-Hop (the Dino-5), Tiny Masters of Today, and fellow scarred Disney Music Block Party Tour veteran (yes, the whole sorry chapter is over tomorrow) Dan Zanes. Plus a couple other somewhat surprising choices.
(And suddenly, news that the band is working on its next kids' album, this one devoted to science -- hat tip Bill -- is everywhere, as the Times article mentions that Flansburgh's spending time writing songs for that next kids album. Though let's all hope Here Comes Science is just a working title, because hoo-ee, that's a stinker.)
