Whispering Beard Music Festival

We went to the Whispering Beard Music Festival the last two days. It was a great time. The venue is awesome and it has about 10 times the capacity as what attended, so they'll have plenty of room to grow, and I hope it does.

It was a great set of mostly regional bluegrass artists... Jake Speed, Comet Bluegrass All-Stars, The Hiders, etc, etc... all the usuals.

Here's a video of Mama, Greta and Otto dancing to one of our favorites... Jake Speed.

And sometimes no matter how good the music is, you have to take a break from dancing, and well..... put rocks in your shoes and dump them out... right?

Rock Out - Justin Roberts at the JCC

Greta went to her first real concert (she's been to SXSW already, but that was mostly music for her parents that she was tagging along for). This was a concert for Greta, and her friends. Greta makes a CD every year of 'her' favorite music which is a mix of age appropriate songs from regular musicians mixed in with some good 'kid-specific' artists. 

Far and away her favorite song (so far) is Pop Fly by Justin Roberts... she will request other songs on occasion, but her 'stand-by' request is Pop Fly. So when we saw he was coming in for a kid-friendly show (showtimes 11 AM and 1 PM) we were pretty pumped. Greta wore herself out by about the third song, but I think she (and her friends) had fun... see in the pictures below, everyone got a little dancing in! 

Ella busting a move

 Gavin getting his groove on

Sometimes music is serious... you have to pay attention really hard! 

Greta dancing with Stacy... Gavin checking out the moves.

The whole gang... Ella, Gavin, Greta, Jackson

She Also Likes the Black Keys

Greta Loves Heartless Bastards

Don't get so offended... it's a local band, and she rocks out when they are on...

MusikGarten

So... while in Chicago last summer, we saw some information about a program in Chicago called the Old Town School of Folk Music. It's actually something I had previously heard of as some of the musicians that I enjoy do benefits for it, like Alejandro Escovedo. And you'll notice below that some of Greta's favorite songs of the year are from a CD from OTS of Folk Music. They are celebrating their 50th year in Chicago this year.

So it was pretty cool to see a program somewhat similar in nature hear in Cincinnati. It is maybe not quite as cool, but the concept is the same. It introduces infants to music and dance and then they have programs as your child grows to continue that growth in music. The program is built off a national program based in North Carolina called MusikGarten. In Cincinnati there is a program in Clifton called Miss Amanda's Music. Melanie went to an open house today, and she's looking at perhaps starting there at the end of January.

Greta's First Music Video

Greta starred in her first music video, but she like the song so much, she fell asleep instead of doing her dance routine we worked so hard to learn.

Baby Cool

Well little Mary Lou (FYI, for those that didn't get the joke, we're not really naming out little girl Mary Lou, since she was doing 'flips' the Mary Lou name was for Mary Lou Retton, perhaps I should have used a bit more contemporary gymnist).... Anyway, we'll continue to use the Mary Lou code name for our little girl on the blog until we're ready to let the cat out of the bag on some other names we are considering (PS... that might not be until after the baby is born)...

So... little Mary Lou is already set up to be a cool little girl... just 20 weeks in the womb, she's already been to Las Vegas twice, to Austin Texas for SXSW, and on Thursday night she went to teh Wilco concert at the Aronoff.

Melanie hasn't felt the baby move too much, but she thinks she felt the baby move several times at the Wilco concert. I think that's only natrual, as I think she was dancing to the music, she's a big wilco fan already!

Pokey Pup - Music/DVDs/Books

This is a cool little website that collects CDs, DVDs and books that are kid-friendly, but not kid-freaky. They aren't about Barney and teletubies. it's poppy catchy music that's appropriate for kids (i.e. no foul language or racy themes), but it's still good music.

It's an interesting website, and it has some reviews as well as some clips that you can listen to before buying.... check it out!

Kids Music

So, I figure I'm a solid 3-4 years ahead of schedule with this topic, but it's one I care about. I actually already bought my first 'kids CD' that's put out by some fantastic Bloodshot Records artists.


The Wee Hairy Beasties are a collection of really cool musicians like Jon Langford and Sally Tims. The CD is actually pretty cool, and although it's witty and poppy, it's not overly silly like your average kids CD tends to be. It's an interesting subject for me. Is there cool music, music that's actually good, that you can have your kids listen to and actually like. Or is there something about kids music that sucks kids in that that no 'adult' music can ever possibly do? I don't think so, and I feel like there has to be some sort of balance.

The Dad Labs tackle this issue as well, and they talk about a balance of music and introducting your kids to 'adult' music, but also allowing them to listen to and enjoy some kid music.
Take a look at the video....

AlternaDad - Cool Kids Go to Music Festivals

Pretty funny chapter about Neal Pollack taking his wife and kids to Austin City Limits Music Festival in 2004. Melanie and I were actually at this festival (with a couple hundred thousand other people). Zilker Park is just across the Colorado River (aka Town Lake) from downtown Austin, and it's a HUGE park with virtually no tree coverage. It's late September in Austin and it's 'supposed' to be pretty nice... around 80 degrees. Well this year it was about 110. So it was pretty dang miserable to be there. Well, it was even more so for a two year old that was hot and grumpy....

I fully expect to have music and festivals be part of our childs youth experience, so it was interesting reading this. Perhaps a big music festival like this is not the best way to go, and going to things like "Tunes and Blooms", "Earth Day" and other such day time, family-friendly events is the better way to go. These types of events are easily accessible, but perhaps more importantly they are easy to leave.

One funny part that relates pretty directly to Melanie and I was Neal Pollack's comment when his wife asked if he wanted to go see Patty Griffin.... his response, "Nah, you go ahead, I'll watch Elijah, I'd rather chew my own arm off than see Patty Griffin"... I couldn't agree more :)