By Beth Blenz-Clucas
sugarmountainpr.com
You all set your clocks back an hour last weekend (November 1st), which means a couple of good things:
- You can actually find your feet when the buzzer rings at 6:30 a.m. – at least for a couple of weeks.
- You get an extra hour to recover from your Halloween sugar binge.
On the other hand, “fall back” means that the days are swiftly waning darker and shorter. Before you know it, you’ll be in full “holiday” mode.
Sigh.
What you need is a sonic reprieve. Before the holiday madness starts in earnest, switch on some new songs. A new record label called Mighty Mo Productions has released a sunny first album, Smiles Ahead. It’s a handy sampling of some of the best of the indie children’s music scene today. Two stars of the Northwest kindie music scene are included. Johnny Bregar’s hit “Dragonfly” is one of the songs, as is Caspar Babypants’ “Happy Heart.” Get a preview of the tunes here: mightymoproductions.com/music, and look for it at your favorite music retailer. Selected Hallmark Gold Crown stores will be carrying it soon. And, Caspar Babypants (aka Chris Ballew of The Presidents of the USA to you grown-up indie rock fans), performs a family show at the Village Ballroom on November 15th – woodlawnswapnplay.org/fallwinter-family-concerts.
If you’ve never seen one of Red Yarn’s shows, complete with puppetry and irresistibly sing-along folk songs, you’re in for a treat at any of his upcoming events, including the free appearance at Thinker Toys (as part of their 21st birthday celebration weekend), on Sunday, November 8th. Check Thinker Toys’ website for updates on all of the fun: thinkertoysoregon.com/events
One easy way to sample great new family music is to try streaming via the new services out there. Thinker Toys uses Pandora to stream tunes into their store. If you’re an Amazon Prime customer, there are two brand-new and exclusively released children’s albums available now for free streaming:
The Pop Ups Great Pretenders Club — amzn.to/1FwFgrA
Lisa Loeb’s Nursery Rhyme Parade! — amzn.to/1gRSSBX
Plus, Rhapsody just launched a new “Rhapsody Kids” app, and for one dollar, you and your kids can try it out for three months by going to this link: rhapsody.evyy.net/c/189311/229440/3274
The kids’ music review site Kids Can Groove recently posted an excellent discussion of the digital services for kids. Check it out: kidscangroove.com/2015/10/05/the-digital-future-of-kids-music-rhapsody-launches-rhapsody-kids/
