modern day dad

Modern Day Dad At CES 2010. Oh. And Lady Gaga Too.

Well, I did the quick calculation this morning, and this is officially the 7th CES I've been to, and while some were fun (the first few) and some were really underwhelming (last year), this year's is proving to be a little better, if only for the fact that I pretty much kicked it off by going to a Lady Gaga press conference at the Polaroid Booth.

You see, she's now a Creative Director at Polaroid for a special line of New Imaging Products or something. In the conference she made it very clear (while she tried her best to hide her face with her bizarre hair-hat), that this wasn't a typical endorsement deal, and that she and "The Haus of Gaga" (I couldn't make that up if I tried) were going to be very involved with new products.

Hey, that's great I suppose, and I know that Polaroid who haven't had anything exciting going on with them in about, oh, twenty years or so, are probably thrilled with the association. But all that stuck out to me during the whole thing was, there's a guy who works for Polaroid, one of the last great brands in photography, up on a platform saying "Lady Gaga" as if it were the most normal thing anyone ever uttered. Maybe I'm old or something, but it was kind of funny to me.

So anyway, if you're interested in my posts about stuff I'm seeing at CES this year, check out my posts over at Babble.com's product blog, Droolicious.

Morrissey's New Dad Pose

Can someone tell me what exactly is going on with the album art to Morrissey's new album, Years of Refusal? As a childhood devotee of the Smiths (and fan of Morrissey's solo work), the idea of him with a baby is at worst weird and at best kind of funny. And while this was pretty much my initial reaction to the actual image, it got me thinking about whether or not there was some deeper meaning to the whole thing.

Stereogum had a butterfly/caterpillar theory to it (revolving around the apparent jeweled butterfly and "caterpillar" on the baby's head and Morrissey's arm respectively) that was kind of crazy. Mark Beumont at the Guardian's music blog had a fairly well thought-out post about it too.

But I guess what it really comes down to is, "Who the hell knows?" The kid is undoubtedly cute (jeweled butterfly on the forehead and all) and though some might call Morrissey's pose "defiant" I would probably use the word "uncomfortable."

Actually, "defiantly uncomfortable" might just be the best way to describe Morrissey's work yet.

Bjorn bassist.

Here's Les Savy Fav bassist Syd Butler bringing the rock with his kid at a concert in Brooklyn. Aside from the green bjorn (is a camo Bjorn far away?) I'm particularly partial to the baby's Vanns Vans [I must have been thinking of the company I bought my TV from. Thanks Gregg. Er, Greg. -mdd]

Best Seat in the House at Citysol [Gothamist via Dan]

When the kids play metal, we all win.

Check out this video of "The Gauchos" performing Iron Maiden's "The Trooper" on YouTube. Freaking YouTube - you've ruled me again (almost as much as their little brother or sister who pretends to rock the lead vocals).

[Link courtesy of PR Nelson]

Jack's Big Music Show CD.

OK. September's almost over and was mid-August the last time I posted. If you still check in on this blog from time to time, thanks. I know I've been neglecting it. (And thanks especially to everyone who's emailed me with stuff to post that I haven't responded to yet - thanks especially to you.)

Now that's out of the way, I kind of feel I have to mention that today the new Jack's Big Music Show CD was released. After finally finding it in a store (my local Borders - seriously, where do people buy CDs these days?) we came home and waited until the modern day mom came home to test it out.

The result? Success. Kind of. My two year old knows almost all of the words to the songs, but was kind of annoyed that there wasn't any video to watch with it. She still danced and sang, but reminded us between each song that it wasn't on the TV and we needed to listen for the next song.

While I definitely recommend it, my only criticism is that while it's got a good mix of music from season one, it could have more of the songs they actually play in the clubhouse (not just the music videos). And where is Cathy? The most frequent clubhouse visitor got stone-cold snubbed.

Get Jack's Big Music Show Season One CD from Amazon.com for $11.97.

Further evidence of Laurie Berkner world domination.

So the other day I was browsing the Top Sellers DVD list on Amazon (looking for Neflix ideas) and I noticed something that stuck out like a sore thumb. Right there, just after 24 - Season Three and right before Syriana Widescreen Edition at number 49 was We are... The Laurie Berkner Band.

Seriously? More people are buying that than Munich, Capote or the first season of Lost? Well, good for the LBB I suppose, but I hope somewhere Moose A. Moose is getting his ass kissed.

Buy We are... The Laurie Berkner Band for $10.99 at Amazon.com

(And yes, before someone comments, I know I've put up a bunch of links to Amazon in this post, all of which will make me a very small commission if someone clicks and buys. And whether I put this disclaimer in or not I still think it's a perfectly OK thing to do. So click and buy away!)

(And no, that's not my kid in the picture.)

Preschool of Rock

A friend of mine sent this article to me a week or so ago, and I have to admit it hit home with me. Getting your child to like the music you like (or maybe the music you think is worth listening to, or really the music you want them to like) is no easy task. The author's scheme is a daily "music hour" with his kid to introduce him to decent kid's music, and slowly incorporate the music he likes - which sounds like a pretty good idea.

And his description of Dan Zanes is right on the money.

Preschool of Rock [NY Times Sunday Magazine re-posted at Doug Henwood Talks - thanks Brian.]

Q. Are we not dads?

In some sort of perfect glitch-in-the-matrix synchronization of my life, it seems that Devo is reforming and releasing a kid's album. "Devo 2.0" will be released in March, not only with revamped versions of songs like "Whip It!" but also two brand new songs. Oh, and there's a DVD too.

If Pavement re-forms and makes an appearance on Jack's Big Music Show, I'd appreciate it if someone woke me up and got me out of my pod.

Devo whips up classic tracks for kids [Reuters via Matt - thanks!]

Endtroducing the Minnetonka High Percussion Ensemble.

Damn this is cool. Brian Udelhofen, a teacher at a Minneapolis high school arranged and then taught his after-school percussion group to play two songs off of DJ Shadow's Endtroducing ("Building Steam with a Grain of Salt" and "Changeling"). The kids had to spend an unbelievable amount of time rehearsing because it's perfect - with live drums that sound like drum loop edits and everything. Someone should give this teacher a raise or a grant or something.

Check out the video here (direct download link - 67MB wmv).

School band play "Endtroducing" with real instruments [Music Thing via Waxy.org] 

Funkey Monkeys.

Joshua Sitron is the guy who composed the theme song, travel song and some of the other music for Dora the Explorer. It's a pretty good claim to fame if you ask me, and even though (almost) no one knows his name, kids and parents are singing his songs every day all over the country.

He emailed me the other day with a link to his new project, Funkey Monkeys. It's kind of a band/performance art thing for kids, that he describes as Seinfeld meets the Wiggles. I might describe it as Freaky Monkeys. Not freaky in a bad way, but freaky like a video of Monkey Josh and a woman singing a lullaby to a grown man in a baby outfit - "Giant Baby". My favorite thing is the radio player at the top of the site that plays an ongoing stream of his music - something good to listen to with Madame while I'm blogging. I'm starting to figure out that the trick to kids' music is that the weirder it is, the less it annoys me and the more I enjoy it. And Funkey Monkeys doesn't disappoint.

Oh, and he posted a comment in my post about the song La Cucaracha the other day, confirming that the marijuana reference in the song was indeed the reason Boots and Dora will never sing it. The Backpack however I don't think he can speak for.