StoryCorps Video

Jules of Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast sent me this video by StoryCorps. It's an animated video of Joshua Littman, a 12 year old boy with Asperger syndrome, interviewing his mom, Sarah:

Q&A from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

Capsule Review: The Brian Waite Band

I have a stack of children’s music CDs to review. I’m chagrined to say that by now, none of them are new releases. Still, maybe I can do some good by writing capsule reviews.

I’ll start off with The Brian Waite Band's concept album, 20,000 Volts Under the Sea. The songs chart the story of the band’s journey to Atlantis City to play at the Neptune Theater, but are almost foiled by the machinations of Disco Don. The album itself is a homage to the seventies and early eighties music of various power-guitar rock bands, plus reggae, funk, disco, blues, and the requisite Elvis tribute. Much of the humor has arch references that mainly grownups who grew up in those decades will understand, especially in the “audiobook” at the end (with a narrator’s voice that sounds suspiciously like an impersonation of Greg Paige of The Wiggles. I initially wondered about the CD’s accessibility for children, but the more I listen to it, the more both my daughter and I enjoy it. We both agree that the songs are well-written and fun to listen to, but don’t care for the surfeit of silly voices. Favorite songs include the Queen-esque “Get Down,” and the hair-band anthem “Tidal Pool Party.” Warning: regardless of how you feel about the song “Disco Don,” it’s an earworm that will follow you and haunt your dreams.

Who I’d recommend this album to: fans of Eric Herman, Recess Monkey, plus my guitar teacher and my younger brother (who doesn't have a website). I'd recommend the album to El Jope Magnifico too, but I wonder if that's just a ploy of mine to get him to bring his daughter to the concert next Tuesday, July 20, at the Douglas-Truth Branch of The Seattle Public Library. It's on a workday morning, but rock and roll often plays at unruly hours.

More reviews to come....

Sock Monkey in a Car

I am so out of it that I just found out that there was a KIA commercial shown during the 2010 Superbowl featuring a sock monkey. My godmother's younger sister, Bonnie Connelly, designed both the sock monkey itself and the large sock monkey costume. Connelly is the creator of In My Own Dream Studio and author of Everything's Coming Up Sock Monkeys.

I still have my own sock monkey made by my aunt before I was born. Monkey doesn't look like any other sock monkey in creation. I bit the tassle off when I was a baby, and my aunt has often rued that Monkey has no ears. For some reason, when my friends see Monkey, they start to snicker. Poor Monkey!

Song Practice Update

I've started to learn to fingerpick melodies on the guitar using the Homespun Video DVD Easy Steps to Guitar Fingerpicking by Happy Traum. I already know how to play alternate bass notes and have the basics of Travis Picking, so it's handy to have those skills already, but my playing is still pretty methodical. My current goal is to "have the music flow with variations that sound pleasing to the ear. I'm working on the first song on the DVD, which is "Skip to My Lou." (You can hear Pete Seeger sing and play the song on the banjo here.) It's only two chords, and I'm reminded of how I felt when I first started out. I needed to take lots of breaks to let my brain and fingers absorb the new information. I got tired of the song. Every time I returned to the song, I found that I had remembered a little bit more than I had before.

I think I'll have "Skip to My Lou" underway by the end of next week. After that, "Spike Driver's Blues" is next (link is to a YouTube video with a Mississippi John Hurt recording).