Steve Denyes and 20 Kindie Artists Write 20 Kindie Songs in 20 Days

Sounds like a logic problem, right? "If Steve Denyes and 20 kindie artists write 20 kindie songs in 20 days, how many days would it take Steve Denyes and 1 kindie artist to write 1 kindie song?"

The answer -- contrary to what logic would tell you -- is one day.

Or, to be more specific -- today. That goes for whenever you read this, because for the next 20 days, Denyes (best known as the main guy in San Diego's Hullabaloo) and a guest artist will pick a song title out of a hat and, by 5:00 PM daily, write, record a post a song based on that title. Actually, both Denyes and the guest will each write a song, so it's actually 40 songs in 20 days, but Denyes' title was already set. (Logic is tough, y'all.)

Why would Denyes do such a thing? I'm sure there are many intrinsic motivations, but an external one would be to raise money for Happy Star Melodies, a San Diego-based charity that brings musical instruments and performances to kids facing long hospital stays. Denyes has already raised a nice sum of money, and although the time to suggest songs is long past, I'm sure the group could use whatever you can spare via the donation page.

I could list some of the guest artists, but then I'd be afraid of leaving some out, and, really, there's no good way to handle the issue other than to say the guest artist for the first day, February 1, is Jason Didner, and there's plenty more good stuff coming.

Denyes' plan is to post the song(s) by 5 PM Pacific time daily, and my plan is to update this post -- hopefully daily -- with all the songs.

So, again, visit that donation page and give a little bit if you can. And enjoy the music!

"My Best Friend Riley" - Steve Denyes / "My Best Friend Riley (Is a Dog)" - Jason Didner

"Ant and Bee Went Looking for a Cookie" - Steve Denyes / "Mr. Ant and Mrs. B" - KB Whirly

"My Trip to Paris" - Steve Denyes / Ashli Christoval (aka Jazzy Ash)

"Hugs for My Family, High Fives for My Friends" - Steve Denyes / Randy Kaplan

"Help!" A Snake Is Gonna Eat Me" - Steve Denyes / Jim Cosgrove (aka Mr. Stinky Feet)

Songs for Thanksgiving (Updated)

About five years ago, I compiled a list of songs for Thanksgiving that brought together a bunch of kids music themed for Thanksgiving either overtly or somewhat more subtly (i.e., songs about gratitude).

It's time for an update. I've included some stream/video links, along with a Spotify playlist for those songs on the service.

And if I've missed one, please let me know in the comments or via e-mail and we'll add it in.

Laurie Berkner - "(I'm Gonna Eat on) Thanksgiving Day" (as close to a kindie Thanksgiving Day anthem as we have)

John McCutcheon - "Thanksgiving Day"

Charity and the JAMband - "Thank You" (close enough, right?, and you can still download it for free or pay what you like)

Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer - "Thank You" (this one's much more Thanksgiving-related)

Brian Vogan and his Good Buddies - "Last Thanksgiving"

Todd McHatton - "Happy Vegan Thanksgiving Song" (listen here)

Bill Harley - "Enough is a Feast" [parents: see note below]

Bill Harley - "Thanksgiving Prayer"

Kindiependent - "Kids' Table"

Jim "Mr. Stinky Feet" Cosgrove - "Gobble Across the USA"

The Harmonica Pocket - "Give Thanks"

Dre Towey - "Turkey Bop"

Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights - "The Tofurkey Song"

Spencer the Gardener - "The Gobble Song"

Kurt Gallagher - "Tommy Turkey" (watch here)

Shine and the Moonbeams - "Soul Food Holiday"

Renee and Friends - "Gather Round"

Aaron Nigel Smith and the One World Chorus feat. Dan Zanes - "Grateful"

Mista Cookie Jar - "Gratitude" [stream]

José-Luis Orozco - "Thanksgiving"

Rocknoceros - "This Thanksgiving"

Justin Roberts - "How Lucky We Are"

Gustafer Yellowgold - "Pumpkin Pied"

Miss Nina - "Grateful" [YouTube]

Radio Playlist: New Music February 2016

I will admit that this February playlist is somewhat brief. That's mostly because January isn't necessarily a popular month for releasing music. (If you want to catch my list from January you can see that playlist here.) But what it might not have in length it makes up for in quality.

As always, it's limited in that if an artist hasn't chosen to post a song on Spotify, I can't put it on the list, nor can I feature songs from as-yet-unreleased albums. But I'm always keeping stuff in reserve for the next Spotify playlist.

Check out the list here.

**** New Music February 2016 (February 2016 Kindie Playlist) ****

"Love Comes Back" - Jim Cosgrove and Jazzy Ash

"The Dog On the Bus" - Raffi

"There's a Little Wheel a-Turnin' in My Heart" - The Laurie Berkner Band

"Definition of Good" - They Might Be Giants

"Espejos" - Moona Luna

"Don't Drink the Water (Your Butt's Been In)" - Matt Heaton

"Just Be" - Kira Willey

Jim Cosgrove and Tom Brantman from Mighty Mo Productions

Interview: Jim Cosgrove and Tom Brantman (Mighty Mo Productions)

Jim Cosgrove is best-known in the kids music world as, well, Jim Cosgrove, but that's often written as Jim "Mr. Stinky Feet" Cosgrove. For more than 15 years, he's been making music for families in the Kansas City area and nationally. He's clearly a well-organized man, because not only does he make music, he also helped get the well-respected Jiggle Jam kids music festival off the ground, and occasionally writes for the hometown newspaper. (And he does all that while working a full-time job.)

Under the old adage, if you want something to get done, find a busy person, it's not terribly surprising to me that he's got another job under his belt, and that's as "Chief Groove Officer" (their description, not mine) for Mighty Mo Productions, a new record label focused on introducing kindie music -- quality, independently-produced music for kids and families -- and their artists to a broader audience. Their tagline? "Real People. Real Music." The first album from the label, the Smiles Ahead compilation, will be released October 16.

I chatted with Cosgrove and his label partner ("Corporate Guy") Tom Brantman by phone a couple weeks ago. I talked with them about the label's start, its initial efforts, and its goals for the future.

Zooglobble: What are your earliest music memories?

Tom Brantman: My grandfather and father were big band musicians, both drummers. I remember seeing Maynard Ferguson in concert with that big, high trumpet sound, with the cheeks out, and everybody dancing.

Jim Cosgrove: Yeah, my father as well. He was not a performing musician, but he sang all the time around the house... He'd sing "Mack the Knife" and the Mills Brothers. I also remember several albums of music by the Singing Nuns.

I'm not familiar with them...

Jim: There were several types, actually, all like that.

Sort of sounds like the Irish Tenors and their variations... So how did Mighty Mo Productions come about?

Jim: I've been beating the drum about doing something with kids music [more broadly than my music] for years, and eventually I pitched the idea of a label to Create Space, a local business incubator. So we're funded for the moment by Create Space.

Mighty Mo Productions logo

What's your goal with the label?

Jim: I've been a part of this community for about 17 years. Jeni, my wife -- we'd go to events like KindieFest and KindieCOMM and year after year we'd come out of the conferences asking, "what's next?" Everybody's working so hard, with their heads down. And there are folks like you, Kathy O'Connell, Mindy Thomas at Sirius/XM helping to get the word out to lift all boats. But we asked, "how do we cross-pollinate this music?" We didn't want stuff like Disney or Kidz Bop, music that focused on characters or regurgitated pop songs, but for independent artists there's no organizational fabric. When we talked to artists, everybody we talked to said, "we're in."

We started with a compilation [Smiles Ahead] with the theme of being happy or upbeat. We're introducing some new songs -- I was talking with Brian Vander Ark, and they ended up writing a new song. Chris Ballew [aka Casper Babypants], he's got a song not yet released. Catherine Hollyer -- a new kids music artist who goes by the name Katydid -- we said, how about we introduce you using this record.

Tom: For me, I was most interested in two things [in this scene]: 1) there is some amazingly awesome music for kids to find -- I have friends asking me for that [all the time], and 2) the acceptability of the artists. There's much more interaction with the artists. So we want to put families in front of the artists so they can enjoy the music together. I think that's what makes us different.

Jim: That's what that "Real People. Real Music." tagline is all about -- not about cartoons, not about music from film. We want families to get to know them as people, to find out, "Who are you?"

Smiles Ahead from Mighty Mo Productions album cover

What are the commonality of artists on the label?

Jim: We reached out to artists we had a relationship with. There is a lot of great music on both a large and small scale, so it was difficult to pick just 13 artists. We really liked some artists, but the song wasn't quite there [in terms of fit with the album theme] -- we wanted a variety of styles, but not a huge broad swipe.

Tom: For me, [the genre] was so huge that if you do everything, it's a little messy. We look at it as we're building a body of work.

You mean, don't judge the label after one album -- do so after ten?

Jim: Yes. We're going to release albums, but also promote touring festivals. We want to create a national scene by connecting markets, but this -- releasing albums -- seemed like a logical place to start...

And a little background on Tom -- he was a touring rock drummer before he became a corporate guy.

Tom: When I had hair [laughs].

Jim: He owned a label in his early twenties...

There have been a number of attempts to create family music labels -- what do you bring to the table?

Jim: Whereas a lot of projects become about the artist, we felt like a lot of them could have been more about the music. That's our premise -- we love this music and want to help all boats rise.

Tom: [We focus on] acceptability to families. We're also actively working on distribution and getting CDs in lots of places. We're not ignoring digital, we're working on touring, getting [artists] in more markets. Video... we have plans working on all those parts.

Jim: The eagerness of and welcoming by artists is encouraging.

What's next?

Jim: We have another compilation coming out in January. It'll be a love-themed album, some of the same artists [as on Smiles Ahead], some new. We're always looking for new music. We're also working on retail placements -- we'll have a 30-market test with Hallmark Gold Crown stores.

Tom: We're really pursuing festivals in 2016. And we're working on doing on our own app.

Itty-Bitty Review: 10 - Funky Mama

Kansas City's Krista Tatschl Eyler -- AKA Funky Mama -- has been laying low in the kids' music world for a few years since the release of her previous album Sing! in 2010, but she's back in fine vocal form on her new album 10.

The album title is a recognition that 2015 marks the ten-year anniversary of the release of her first album in 2005. But this is no retrospective of an album. Instead, these ten tracks (appropriate, that) are celebratory. It's nice to have her voice back in kids music -- Shawana Kemp of Shine and the Moonbeams is the only kids music artist who can belt out a song like Eyler can. Eyler has a powerhouse voice and the best songs here take advantage of that. "Action, Friends, Action!" is a horn-drenched movement song that demands movement from anyone within listening distance, while on "Safe Seat" is a blues-drenched song sung from the perspective of a student who just can't sit still (and might have gotten in trouble a few times at school for it). She brings in some local guest artists to good effect -- Sugar Free Allstars' Chris Wiser funky organ on "Gonna Be Alright" and Rappin' Roy Scott's vocals on "Dance!" work particularly well.

The album and its kid-targeted subjects (e.g., dogs eating homework, the joys of eating corn, dancing) will be most appropriate for kids ages 4 through 8. 10 doesn't reinvent any kids music formulas, but one listen may remind that there's room for all sorts of kindie musicians, including those who know how to belt out a tune without fluttering off into American Idol silliness. Recommended.

Note: I received a copy of the album for possible review.