i can dig this...

There are way too many 'make me wanna scrape out my eardrums with a dull knife' kind of kids music groups out there. Such "artists" (I guess as they like to be referred to) include: Barney--a freakishly kind plum colored dinosaur, The Wiggles--4 Aussie dudes who drive around in the tiny ass little car that they refer to as "The Big Red Car", and The Doodlebops--I don't even know what to say about these wierdos...kinda like clown college meets bad highschool theater. At any rate, no matter what a parent does to avoid these entertainment disasters, children develop obcessive phases of worship to these "musicians". Alas, there is hope to the industry. There is this fella, his name is Dan Zanes, who is revolutionizing "family music". Originally in the band called "Del Fuegos" (they had a few hit singles in the early 80's), he took time off from music when the band broke up. Then when he had kids, he got together with some of the parents he met from outings to the park and stuff, and they started playing music for their kids. It got pretty big in his neighborhood, so they started recording and playing parties and stuff. Its good music though. Its not the hokey, bouncy, repetitive, annoying noise us parents cringe and try to tolerate. Its like mellow mini rock. And there is just something wacky about Dan Zanes that my kids love to watch, and his videos (they plan them on Noggin a lot, and sometimes Disney) are fun. Festival Five and Starbucks just co-released a new album of the band that is being sold at Starbucks. This dude is making mad cash with this genre of "family" tunes. What a relief! Thank you Dan!!
http://festivalfive.com/flash/video5.shtml Click to check out some of his videos... he kinda has a Bob Dylan kind of sound. House Party Time and Smile, Smile, Smile are good.