Contest for Bill & Keith Fans!

From the awesomeness that brings us "The Leftovers" and "Down in the Backpack" (a funny take off "Down on the Boardwalk") is another even FUNNER idea-- YOU WRITE THE TITLE, THEY'LL WRITE THE SONG. No way!! For real!


I took the pleasure of sitting down with the awesome creative mind of Miss Pants over here at Kindieriffic, and emailed in some fabulous ideas. We could have come up with many more, but it was a teacher workday for her, so we had to pick up The Brain at Preschool, and go pet the bunny. It was a very busy day.


So in case there are still ideas floating out there in the netherworld to be snatched up and emailed to the fabulous duo, email them to Bill & Keith at contest@billharley.com. And go hhhhheeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrreeee for contest rules!! Good luck!

 I don't know who this 

                                                    bear is, I just thought he 

                                       was awesome.

''Plays Well Together'': Fabulousness to Download!

Burnside Kid - Dependent Presents ''Plays Well Together''

Free! My favorite price. I was driving home today and this popped up in my playlist. I had forgotten I downloaded it a while back. I looked up, and OMIGOSH! Still free from Amazon. Burnside Kid is not an actual band, which confused me at first. I was thinking this would be a cool superband a la Travelling Wilburies, (who were a family favorite of ours growing up). It would be nice, now wouldn't it? Our favorite Seattle bands getting together and rocking the preschool? Yes!

But, alas, they are not. Well, not on this album, although folks in Seattle can see them perform together on Saturdays at the Mount Baker Community Center, so if you are in that area you might want to check it out between now and April (for tickets call (206) 722-7209 or email Mount Baker). But for those of us not in the Pacific Northwest, you can download the album and swing your hips with your little ones here. Or go to http://www.kindiependent.com/ and download all their albums! 

Our favorite, by far, is "Flapjacks". Recess Monkey is one of the hottest kid's bands these days, and they have a massive collection of hypnotic tunes. Sadly, I was caught singing this one the other day at work. Everyone loves pancakes-- for breakfast, lunch or dinner in this house! And on this single, Recess Monkey has caught the joy of waking up to the smell of syrup and batter and snuck it into your Sirius radio. Yummmmm... I can smell the comfort food now.

"I've got a Goat" is another fun track-- and for sure, your kids'll enjoy the cutesy little animated music video on their website here and then they can run around the house singing it. And then you can get caught in your little cubicle, belting out a song about your pet ant. 

"I Think I'm a Bunny"

Good Afternoon!!
"I Think I'm a Bunny" is a great music video and song by Todd McHatton  (http://mchatton.com/) from his album Galactic Champions of Joy album. It's another example of an adorable infectious song for Kindie music. McHatton's song fits into the gets-stuck-in-your-head-but-still-makes-a-cute-kid's-song mold we love! We walk around our house singing it (and by we, I mean me). This is quite a humorous tune. The dialogue between the child and the monster is precious and funny, and the video is kinda trippy & hilarious. This is definitely one of the best McHatton tunes, for sure! I asked the carpool for a vote on this one, and The Brain answers: "I like it. It's good." Well thank you, Brain.

Sirius XM Kids Place Life VS Radio Disney... No Contest!

Why do I feel like I can tell you all some great tips on Kindie Music and children's media?
I signed up to take my girls to a school 30 minutes from  my house, and so on my non-work days (or my unpaid-days, I mean), I  spend 30 minutes one way. Fifteen minutes in the carpool line. Thirty minutes the other  way, and then ten minutes home from there. Twice a day. Surprising considering the size of our town. But it is worth it. So we read, listen to music and audiobooks, and talk. It's a great way to force your kid to pay attention to you! But my kindergartener can have days where she is so worn down by the end of the day, she does not want to talk. So we turn the music up loud so you can't really talk above it. Problem  solved!

Our satellite radio subscription ran up a couple months ago, and so I went without it for a little bit. Somehow this was an indulgence that I could not live without! I had it added back, and now we listen to Absolutely Mindy on a nearly daily basis! She is quite an entertaining DJ, and she has some great appearances by Kindie music performers and children's media experts. We have learned about everything from gross science to awesome book picks and toy experts! She has the most informative and hilarious broadcasts. And every day at 3:30, 4:30 and 5:30 she does Birthday Missions, and if you give her your name and town, she will wish your kid a happy birthday and they have to complete silly tasks like "Wear your clothes backwards the rest of the day" before they are aloud to grow another year older. And other awesome fact? Mindy has the same birthday as my big girl, so she has an awesome on-air birthday party. How cool is that?

As a parent, I havedecided that over-exposure to material, commercialized images is too much for our children to be exposed to and too much "star worship." In a world where Beyonce and Jay-Z can shut down a hospital because they are afraid someone will sell their pictures to a tabloid, we need to forget about the star-worship a little bit, and they are totally training our kids to do that over on Radio Disney. Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, and Willow Smith are regulars on that station, and our tastes are not so Top-40/ pop radio.

So in the future, I will  be posting about all sorts of new, cool, fun kindie artists, and performances and kids' music related info. Occasionally I will venture into other media realms-- internet or video or movies, as it related to music. I hope you all enjoy it here and find my posts informative and intelligent. And fun. 'Cause that's was kindie is about.