currents

a few things to share...

i just came upon zooglobble, a great blog about kids music. it in turn has led me to the nodcast podcast, where you can download podcasts of great kids music performances. i just listened to one with elizabeth mitchell and ella jenkins, which was wonderful. there's also a fun one with dan zanes, who i really like. i'm excited to hear more.

the zooglobble blogger, stefan shepard, was recently on npr to share thoughts on new kids music. in that piece, he reviews a cd of lullabies by renee and jeremy called "it's a big world." i listened online to some of the songs, which were really lovely. their style is slow and almost melancholy, which is a perfect fit sometimes. if i weren't trying not to spend money, i'd certainly buy their cd.

stefan shepard also gave great reviews to frances england's cd "fascinating creatures," which luckily the library carries. i checked it out and have been listening non-stop. she's lovely! she's a san francisco mom who initially made the album as a fundraiser for her son's preschool. she sounds a bit like early 90s chick music (mazzie star/tanya donnely style). and her lyrics are fun without being super cheesy. noah loves to dance to "tricycle." check out the awesome video below.



shepard also says he loves listening to bruce springsteen's "we shall overcome: the seeger sessions" with his kids, even though it's not a kids cd. i agree! jess and andrew gave us this cd when noah was born, and we all love it, especially in the car. my favorite song is "erie canal," which dan zanes also happens to do and which i first heard being sung by christina to her boys.

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in non-kids music, i've been listening a lot to po girl, especially the songs "till its gone" and "9 hours to go," which you can hear here. i had a lovely girls night out earlier this summer with sarah and sarah, and we got to see po' girl at the nightlight. these songs remind me of that night and are generally wonderful driving songs.

and in the kitchen cd player is the latest innocence mission cd, "we walk in song." my favorite songs are "since i still tell you my everyday" and "happy birthday." (which is the source of the quotes in the babynono masthead lately.) you can listen to a bit of happy birthday here. thanks to sarah and andrew for sharing this music with us!



and one of the few cds i can remember actually buying in recent months was "the swell season," which includes a lot of the music from the movie "once." have you all seen this movie?! it's absolutely lovely. it's one of those movies i could imagine seeing again and again. and the music is fantastic.

from the library, amy winehouse's "back to black." i know i shouldn't really like this cd, and i don't recommend reading the lyrics, but man, i can't help but put it on in the kitchen when i'm doing dishes. "rehab" is so catchy! noah dances to it too. (when is the age when i have to be more careful about him noticing lyrics?) "love is a losing game" is also really great.

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and the new season of the office starts next week! and i heard recently that itunes will no longer carry nbc shows for download! so sad! does anyone on the north shore have cable? you can see some really funny "summer vacation" interviews here.

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i also just came across this trailer for the new movie "juno." unfortunately it won't be out until december! it looks really funny and nice. also lots of my favorite actors.



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another recent find is this wonderful video of sufjan stevens playing the innocence mission's "lakes of canada." the filming is really neat--kind of ethereal--and i love sufjan singing it. also, apparently he is working on a musical tribute to the brooklyn-queens expressway, which he'll perform at the brooklyn academy of music in november. anyone want to go? (i'm serious.)

this is from the asthmatic kitty website: "It could be a suite, a fugue, a theme and variation, a repetition of melodies, a canon, to name a few. What we can say is that the piece lasts about 30 minutes and will include a small band, a wind and brass ensemble, string players, and, of course, hula-hoopers. There is no singing. But don't worry: the remainder of the show will include Sufjan navigating through old and new songs. The same small voice, the badgered banjo, the glissandos of the piano, the pump organ, the acoustic guitar, and the inaudible thump of the human heart."

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next weekend we plan to head down to seattle to visit with mike and jessie and maryka and kevin. we're also planning to catch a nikki mcclure art show at eat local in queen anne. nikki did this cool papercut for their website.


i've been thinking a lot about nikki mcclure lately since i finally broke down and bought her lovely baby journal, "the first 1000 days." it's hard to make the first entry in such a perfect little book, so i made aaron do it. here it is:


mike just pointed out to me this artist who does silkscreens but in the same simple lines as nikki's stuff. i really like this one, called "boston":



she says this about it: "This piece is about the isolation that often accompanies depression. The sky is meant to feel uplifting. Things always get better. I made this to remind myself of that."

it reminds me also how beautiful the city is. i am so anxious to explore boston again!