Song of the Week: MyHope by sweetafton23

The gathering at the Downtown Seattle Public Library branch for John Green's Paper Towns book tour was huge! They had to open up the doors in the back to bring in extra seats. John Green read, Hank Green played some songs on the guitar (and forgot the words), and Molly a.k.a. sweetafton23 played "MyHope" and "Road Trip" on the ukulele. I'll have more to post about the Vlog Brothers Seattle event soon, but for now, here's "MyHope" as the Song of the Week:



You can sing along with the chorus:

How I hope that you forget your MySpace
I hope it slips completely from your mind
And I hope it stays up long enough for the next generation to find
And I hope that it embarrasses your children
I hope their bratty friends all forward it around
And I hope that you forget your password
So you cannot take it down

Song of the Week: Abiyoyo, by Pete Seeger

Lucia had heard me play Pete Seeger's Abiyoyo before, and I think I even got the book out of the library for her, but it wasn't until her grandpa showed her a Youtube video of a young Pete Seeger peforming the story-song that it had sticking power for her. It's got a boy playing the ukulele, a father with a magic wand that goes "Zoop!" and a giant with slobbery teeth (because he never brushed them). Walter Minkel, this Song of the Week is dedicated to you. We'll never tell you and your ukulele to "git!"



P.S. S&S got an 8 out of 10 rating in the Children and Family Music section of Blogged.com. Thanks!

What kind of a horn did Dinah, play, anyway?

As it turns out, "I've Been Working on the Railroad" really is two songs stuck together. Walter Minkel of The Monkey Speaks has the story (and the chords for your ukulele).

Song of the Week: Walter Minkel's Jungle Bells

For this week's edition of Song of the Week, I point you to Walter Minkel's Jungle Bells. Walter provides his send-up of a classic secular winter holiday song using easy ukulele chords. If you're playing guitar, you can transpose the song into the key of D thus:

C becomes D
F becomes G
G7 becomes A7

As you might have guessed, this blog will be updated on a lighter schedule for the remainder of 2007. I'll still read everyone's blogs and attempt to catch up on comments and such. I have a few Spinning Wheel interviews left to publish, but I've decided it's unlikely I'll continue the series afterward. I've admired the bloggers with a journalistic bent, and wanted to emulate them in some ways, but I prefer to sit down with someone (preferably with drinks on the table) and have a conversation without worrying about reporting it accurately.

One of the reasons I'm looking forward to 2008 is because of the complete revamp of my gig website, thanks to Nancy Shawn, Nancy Shawn is not only my new web-designer but was my first storytelling employer in the Seattle area. Back when I decided to pursue storytelling as a career outside of the library, she hired me for a gig at Island Books. Now, Nancy is working as a full-time web designer.

The Monkey Speaks

I realize that (1) the Kidlitosphere is a big place (2) I'm a big girl and should have probably found this site by myself, but still... how can it be that I didn't know about The Monkey Speaks, a blog maintained by puppeteer, ukulele-player and children's librarian extraordinaire Walter Minkel? Walter used to work for Multnomah County Library (i.e. Portland, Oregon and surrounding cities) and is now the head of the Early Childhood Center of The New York Public Library. He was the technology editor for School Library Journal, and that's probably where I remember most seeing his name most often. All of these fancy library credentials are impressive, but you have probably gathered by now that either a ukulele or a puppet-show will stop me in my tracks. To have both in one blog? That's like combining chocolate and coffee. Or chocolate and peanut-butter. Or chocolate and orange. (As long as it's dark chocolate, of course...)

Go read!

Silver Slippers

Ever since I read the Brothers Grimm version of Cinderella, which featured both silver and gold slippers, I fancied a pair of silver slippers for my own. After reading L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, whereby Dorothy wears silver shoes* (the ruby slippers were created for the film), I only wished for them more. However, there were a lot of beautiful things I wanted-- not necessarily to own, but to enjoy in some capacity.

LoneStarMa convinced me that my storytelling outfits would not be complete without the silver slippers. I ordered a pair of ballet slippers for myself, and a smaller pair for Lucia. The first night she wore the slippers, Lucia danced around the room, admiring her reflection in the glass door to her room. Now, she only takes the slippers off when she has to. When Philip the Pun last babysat, Lucia attempted to convince her "Uncle Phil" that she needed to wear her silver slippers to bed to keep her feet warm. Since Lucia is a girl who likes to run around barefoot when the rest of us are shivering, Uncle Phil remained unswayed.


*If you'd like to read about the populism theory of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, whereby the yellow brick road is the gold standard of currency and the silver shoes represent the "free and unlimited coinage of silver," take out your magnifying glass and click here .

The Ukulele revolution starts in the home

The new DZ Flea ukulele arrived today. After some initial protestation over the necessity of tuning the wee instrument, Lucia started to strum "Polly Wolly Doodle" and strike dramatic ukulele-player poses. Now she's doing windmills to "Cape Cod Girls" and other rollicking sea shanties. I can't keep up.


Psssst... what isn't pictured here:

Lucia: You don't play the ukulele!
Alkelda: Fine, you play the ukulele, and I'll play the guitar.
Lucia: You don't play the guitar!
Alkelda: That's not fair. You don't get to tell me I can't play the guitar. That's like me telling you that you can't play with your dollies.
Lucia: You don't play! You don't! (Bawl, screech, wail)
Alkelda: Bede, please come home. My daughter is oppressing me.

I'm not kidding. Sometimes Lucia says, "You don't sing it! You don't dance." I feel as if I'm in the middle of the film "Footloose" and Lucia is the character played by John Lithgow. There was a time when we sat next to each other and made music.

Catch that Flea

Happy New Year!

Here is the 2007 Grammy nominees list for Best Musical Album for Children:

"Baby Einstein Meet The Orchestra"-- Various Artists
"Beethoven's Wig 3: Many More Sing Along Symphonies"-- Beethoven's Wig
"Catch That Train!"-- Dan Zanes And Friends
"My Best Day"--Trout Fishing In America
"The Sunny Side Of The Street"--John Lithgow

To celebrate, Dan Zanes is giving me (and a few others, for a price) a Flea ukulele: