Video (and mp3): "The Fine Friends Are Here" - Dan Zanes and Friends

As previously noted, Dan Zanes' next DVD, The Fine Friends Are Here, will be out next week. Zanes and his (fine) friends were recorded live at Brooklyn's Jalopy Theatre, and, yeah, they're all up there on that tiny stage. Want the audio from the title track in a nice, portable mp3 format? Well, here you go. (Thanks, Razor and Tie!) For those of you more visually-oriented, check out the DVD video below. Like I said, tiny stage... Dan Zanes and Friends - "The Fine Friends Are Here" [Myspace] Dan Zanes and Friends - The Fine Friends Are Here
(You're also welcome to go here and order the disk with free shipping through the 22nd. Just enter "ZANESDVD" at checkout.)

Listen To This: "'Cuz We're Cousins" - Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion

I mentioned earlier this week how I've got some liner notes in Go Waggaloo!, the kids album Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion recorded for Smithsonian Folkways. I knew that there'd be some fun stuff posted in run-up to the album's Oct. 27th release, and the first stuff o' fun is now available -- a streaming preview of "'Cuz We're Cousins." Musically, it's right in the Smithsonian Folkways folk wheelhouse, but lyrically, I'm pretty sure it's the first time the Xbox gets a line in a Folkways song. Listen here. So, yeah, it's clearly not one of the 3 songs Woody Guthrie wrote lyrics for on the album, but he totally would've made an Xbox reference if he were still alive... Oh, and folks in New York and San Francisco can see Sarah Lee and Johnny play a couple kids' related shows -- a fundraiser for Clearwater September 11 in Tarrytown, NY and a -- here, I'm looking at you, Deb -- a benefit concert with Pete Seeger and The Waybacks for The Center for Steinbeck Studies September 18 in San Francisco. And more family shows are on their way...

Listen To This: "I Am a Paleontologist" - They Might Be Giants

As promised earlier today, here's that free mp3 courtesy of They Might Be Giants -- the completely rocking ode to diggin' up dinosaur bones, "I Am a Paleontologist," which features Danny Weinkauf on vocals. It's from Here Comes Science, the CD/DVD out next week on Amazon/iTunes (and everywhere on Sept. 22). And, no, I don't know most of those dinosaurs. Maybe I should learn... Download the track here or stream it below...

Video: "Electric Car" - They Might Be Giants

I'll have a lot more to say about They Might Be Giants this week and next in the runup to the release of Here Comes Science (including a free mp3). For the moment, please bounce slowly and clap along to the underaged crew carpooling in "Electric Car," one of the most gorgeously animated videos from the upcoming DVD/CD set. They Might Be Giants - "Electric Car"

So, the New Sarah Lee Guthrie / Johnny Irion Kids' CD Is Pretty Good...

GoWaggaloo_sm.jpgAside from a few scattered mentions, there's been relatively little news regarding Go Waggaloo!, the upcoming kids' album from Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion. Well, now that the album's got an official cover (there to the left in near thumbnail sizing), a press release, and a release date (October 27), you're probably going to hear quite a bit more about it. Still not impressed (many albums, after all, are released with, you know, an album cover, press release, and on an official date)? Well, it's being released on Smithsonian Folkways (perhaps you've heard her labelmates such as Ella Jenkins, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, or Elizabeth Mitchell?). Oh, did I mention Sarah Lee Guthrie is Woody Guthrie's granddaughter, and she records new music for three of her grandfather's lyrics, a la Mermaid Avenue. Did I mention that Pete Seeger plays on the album? Well, there's another reason I'm particularly excited...