Recess Monkey - Live at SPSCC!

Boy am I glad that I took the time to check my email this week.  Parent Map was nice enough to inform me that Recess Monkey was going to play a FREE concert at the Kenneth J. Minnaert Center for the Arts at South Puget Sound Community College (phew, what a mouthful).  And what do you know, that's just down the street from where I live!  What a score!  A free Saturday morning concert that I could literally walk to.  The sun was shining, it was warm and dry outside and I could see Recess Monkey. For free.  Life just doesn't get any better than that.

Let me tell you that I may have been the last to know about this concert, but apparently everyone else knew about it.  This is the third year that Recess Monkey has played this concert sponsored by Parenting Tools.  So guess what?  There were tons of people there!  It was a blast despite the fact that even though there were so many people there, one person was very obviously missing.  Jack Forman couldn't make the concert due to the arrival of his baby boy, Oscar, yesterday.  But no worries.  Though we missed Jack, Drew and Daron brought plenty of energy and fun. 

They started with Birthday Bite, in celebration of little Oscar, off their 2008 album Tabby Road. Then quickly jumped to a sample of their newest album, Flying, to be released in June 2011 with the song Flap Jacks.  It's all about making pancakes on a Saturday morning.  Who doesn't love that?  Next up was Lucas's favorite song, Knocktopus, about an octopus that tells knock-knock-jokes.  Lots of audience participation and really bad kid jokes.  He never gets tired of that.

Jet Pack came next off their most recent album The Final Funktier followed by Melvin the shark and the song Pet Shark.  Then Daron jumped out in front to show everyone how to do the moves for riding a roller coaster.  This was followed by lots of jumping up and down and screaming.  Haven't got a Pet Yet came next, followed by Under My Bed, and then Dr. Wiggle.  I love Dr. Wiggle.  It's just such a fun, silly song.  Even if it is about something that makes my stomach turn. 

Finally, we had songs about playing with a box (hadn't heard this one before), going to swim at the pool, playing on the monkey bars, and to top things off Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?  A totally interactive song in which Daron started a chicken dance conga line and led nearly the entire audience up on to the stage.  No back stage passes needed to see these guys!

Wow!  What a great show!  These guys really bring it when they come to play and even though the auditorium seating was somewhat restricting in terms of movement, that didn't keep the kids from jumping up and down and screaming their little hearts out.  (Not my kids of course who always attend these things like they are a pair of constipated old men.)  All the parents around me knew all the words to the songs and we sang along and, I suspect, had way more fun than the kids.  My husband and I threatened never to bring the kids again.  Next time we'll just go by ourselves. 

Don't tell Daron, but after the concert, I took a few quick photos of Lucas pretending to play that incredibly snazzy, sparkly red drum kit of his.  It was just so bright and glittery that I couldn't resist.  I'd run out and buy one exactly like it today if I didn't think my neighbors would kill me.  Then the kids got to make some craft projects out in the lobby and we took a quick picture of Lucas with Drew and Daron.  They enjoyed the fact that we were all wearing our Recess Monkey t-shirts (thanks Jack!!)  It was a great concert.

I have just one final thing to say.  Recess Monkey, YOU ROCK!!!

Video Friday - $9.99 by caspar babypants

Well, I'm back. I'm not sure if you missed me or not, but here I am again. It's been so long that I have not kept up well with all the new kids music videos out there. So "bear" with me here. Oh, that was an awful joke because here I am to tell you about an oldie but goodie video by the very fine Mr. Chris Ballew. Or chris ballew as he would write. No, he'd probably say caspar babypants. Anyhoo, this is my family's all time most favoritest song by caspar. It's the story of a little bear who is loved most dearly until the day that he becomes an old bear. Then he goes on a journey of sorts until one day he ends up with a new little kid to love. It's the age old story of toys. At least that's what Toy Story has taught me.

I don't know why my family loves this song so much, but I can tell you we are definitely not the only ones.  If there is such a thing for Kindie music, this song appears to have earned a cult following.  According to the YouTube comments, this video and/or song appears to be played quite often at your local Chuck E. Cheese.  Apparently every patron of Chuck E. Cheese loves this song.  I wouldn't know since I refuse to step one tiny toe in there.  However, I do know that when caspar came to Olympia and played at the local independent toy store Wind Up Here, there were tons of kids and parents there.  And when he played this song, there was not a single parent who did not sing along.  Truly.  You can't say that about every kids song.  I can't say that about every kids song.  There are lots that I love, but I don't know all the words.  I am proud to say that I know every single word to the song, $9.99.  

So, watch this video that caspar created along with daughter Josie and then tell me why I love it so.  Because I just can't figure it out.  My 7-year-old tells me every time we listen to it that he likes this song, but good luck getting a 7-year-old to explain why he loves or hates anything.  "I just do".  That's the answer.  I suppose you don't really need at reason.  If you love it, well then, that's enough.  I love it.  So there.


Happy Friday, everyone.  Take some time today to appreciate something simply because you love it.  You don't need a better reason than that.

By the way, caspar was at Wind Up Here in late October to promote the release of his third album, This is Fun!  If you didn't know, or haven't got it yet, go out and get it! It's every bit as awesome as the first two!

Video Friday - Blah, Blah, Blah by Hullabaloo

I've featured a video here on Video Friday before by Hullabaloo and ever since then I've been wanting to share this one too. This video cracks me up and even my son says that he loves it. Of course it's not too surprising that his favorite part is the "blah, blah, blah" chorus. I think it's pretty fun too. I guarantee it's going to be stuck in your head for the rest of the day, (probably when your boss shows up at your desk to talk about something important.)

At my house there are many occassions when the grown-ups and the kids just don't seem to speak the same language. I confess that on more than one occasion I've said to my son, "I'll I heard was blah, blah, blah." You know it happens. Then again, it works both ways. More than once I've told my son to do something, or Dad rattles off some long, complicated list of tasks, and all we get back is a blank stare. Dad and I turn to each other and say, "All he heard was blah, blah, blah." Yup. Then again, I've noticed that the cats are not immune to it either. In fact I think that pretty much all they hear is, "Blah, blah, blah, Lily.  Blah, blah, blah, Dragon." In one kitty ear and out the other.  If your household is anything like ours, you'll love this video too.



I seem to be seeing a pattern here lately on Video Friday where I have to show more than one video.  I was catching up on some of my Zooglobble today when I saw this video.  It was too funny not to share.  Have you ever watched the show Time Warp on the Discovery Channel?  My husband and I used to be addicted to it.  If you've ever seen the show then this next video will be oddly familiar.  The song is by The Okee Dokee Brothers and features a clip from Time Warp.  It's a short video, but once you watch it, you'll want to watch it again and again.  It's so much fun.  Here is Water Balloon  by the Okee Dokee Brothers.



One last thing.  I just discovered today that the Hipwaders mentioned me on their Facebook page last May!  Wow!  How cool is that?  Pretty darn.  Thanks so much for the mention, Hipwaders!!!

Happy blah, blah, Friday, blahddy, blah, blah, blah, everyone!

   

Video Friday - Pool Party by the Aquabats

No doubt if you are a fan of Yo Gabba Gabba, you've seen this video at least once.  Front man MC Bat Commander (AKA Christian Jacobs) is a co-creator of the show and this version of their popular Pool Party song was toned down and made a little more kid friendly for the show.  I love it.  My kids love it.  Heck, everyone loves a pool party! 

My sister has been emailing us with her family's adventures in Hawaii recently, and this video makes me think that maybe they would have been safer staying home and having a pool party instead.



While searching for this video, (I've had various versions of it on my channel all along, but for some reason Nickelodeon or YouTube keeps pulling it) I found another video for the song.  This one uses the original version of Pool Party in which only the cool kids are invited and there's lots of mention of cute girls in swimming suits.  However, it uses clips from the Peanuts cartoons and honestly, I don't think kids even listen to the words. My son loved this version and it's pieced together really well so I love it too.



This is my favorite line:

 Holy guacamole, we've got chips, so come on take a dip, cuz my pool rips! 

Try yelling that out at your next party and see if it doesn't raise the bar there a little bit.

Happy Friday everyone!  Super killer (wading) pool party at my house!

Video Friday - Jet Pack by Recess Monkey

Sorry for the unexpected hiatus.  We moved to our new house and life sort of got in the way for a while.  Blogging was put on hold.  But, I'm back with lots of stuff to share and hopefully I'll get some time to write it all down.  Lucas and I took a trip to Seattle for the big "Share the Music" concert at Freeway Park and I took tons of pictures and made lots of notes so that you could all pretend that you were there with us too.  It was a great concert and we stuck it out until the very last note was played.

Recess Monkey has been putting out videos like crazy since they've just released their new album, The Final Funktier.  We got a copy of the CD at the Share the Music concert, which just so happened to be their CD release party too.  Can I just say that the CD is *AWESOME*!  Seriously, I thought that they'd have a really hard time topping their last CD Field Trip.  The two are now rivaling each other as my favorite Recess Monkey album.  I just can't decide which one I like more.

So, to celebrate the fact that I'm finally back to blogging again, and Recess Monkey's CD release, and the fact that summer has finally hit the Pacific Northwest, here is the video for Jet Pack.  I'm sure you'll find it as fun and catchy as my family did.  I wonder how many families will be setting out for yard sales in search of vacuum cleaners to turn into their own jet packs?



I'm also giving you a video bonus at the end to help make up for all the missed Fridays that I didn't post.  Yes, it's another Recess Monkey video, but this one is a little different.  They don't sing in this one.  What!?  They don't sing?  Nope.  Sorry, there is no singing.  Ah, but there is music.  Elevator music in fact.  Space Elevator music.  And let me just say that the video is HILARIOUS and that Jack has some awesome acting skills.  Why, you'd almost believe that Mayor Monkey (MayMo) really did . . . well, you'll just have to watch the video to see what MayMo did.  I love Drew's total indifference to Jack's hysteria at the end.  You'll see.  Watch it, it's fun.



Happy Friday Everyone!  I hope today finds you in a sunny, warm place with lots of room to run and let your imagination go wild!