Pancake Mountain

I just found out about Pancake Mountain, an all ages music show on cable TV in Washington DC and NYC where they have "dance parties" similar to American Bandstand or Soul Train, but the music is punk rock/indie and kids are under 10. From their site:

Pancake Mountain aims to bring back what got us passionate about music. We want to be able to tear down the barriers that make music pretentious and boring. We enjoy seeing the artist interact with their audience. We like to have fun, we love new music, and we need an excuse to act really silly and call it our job.

Metric - Monster Hospital


The Evens - Vowel Movements


Deerhoof - Spirit Ditties of No Tone

Music From Turkey

We saw an interesting documentary about contemporary Turkish music/culture called Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul by Fatih Akin (who also directed the amazing Head-On) and I became inspired to find out more about Turkish music. To know a place you must know its music. Istanbul is a mix of modern and ancient, east and west. Their music is an interesting mix of traditional folk, electronica, 60s roots rock, hip hop punk and psychedelia.

Siya Siyabend, the street band in this video are fun to watch they're passionate idealists, talking about how music is the biggest toy of all. How music brings together the guy with the laptop and junkie on the street.


It sounds like Steve Malkmus was inspired by this song, it's very similar to Baby C'mon.
Özdemir Erdoğan

Yellow Submarine Lyrics

We needed a refresher on the Yellow Submarine lyrics - one of the best sing along songs ever. The boys love watching the youtube music videos, it's much better than tv, so I'm happy to oblige. I didn't realize how much we sing in our house. I'm always amazed how easily Asher can learn to sing a song like Scarborough Fair (of course not the whole thing) having only heard it twice. The door is open, it's magic.




In the town where I was born,
Lived a man who sailed to sea,
And he told us of his life,
In the land of submarines,

So we sailed up to the sun,
Till we found a sea of green,
And we lived beneath the waves,
In our yellow submarine,

We all live in a yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine,
We all live in a yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine,

And our friends are all aboard,
Many more of them live next door,
And the band begins to play.

(Trumpets play)

We all live in a yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine,
We all live in a yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine,

(weird sounds)

As we live a life of ease,
Everyone of us has all we need (has all we need)
Sky of blue (sky of blue) and sea of green (sea of green)
In our yellow (in our yellow) submarine (submarine. Blaaaha)

We all live in a yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine,
We all live in a yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine,

We all live in a yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine.

A Pirate's Life For Me

Elliot's T-ball team is called the "Golden Pirates." Elliot suggested they could be called the Golden Bald Eagles (my favorite) or the Golden Thunderbirds, but the pirates won by popular vote. At least they're not the Gold Stars. I don't know what it is about pirates, but they really speak to Elliot's generation. Something about living without rules? Just a guess. A Pirate's Life is a catchy tune, the lyrics are innocent and depraved at once.



Yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me
we pillage we plunder we rifle we loot
drink up me hearties yo ho
we kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot
drink up me hearties yo ho
yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me
we extort we pilfer we filch and sack
we maraud and embezzle and even hijack
yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me
we kindle and char we flame and ignite
drink up me hearties yo ho
we burn up the city we're really a fright
drink up me hardies yo ho
we're rascals and scoundrels and villains and knaves
drink up me hearties yo ho
we're devils and black sheep
we're really bad eggs
drink up me hearties yo ho
we're beggars and blighters and
ne'er-do-well cads
drink up me hearties yo ho
I think we're loved by our mommy's and dad's
drink up me hearties yo ho
yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me

Pippi Longstocking Lyrics

We were trying to remember the pippi lyrics today and we were completely off. Here are the English lyrics for pippi theme song.



Freckles on her nose
diddle diddle di
a girl came riding
into town one day
diddle diddle di
she was quite a sight
it's pippi longstocking
say ho ho he ha ha
it's pippi longstocking
there's no one like her
happy as can be
diddle diddle
pippi tells you stories
you just wait and see
tra la la la
she's quite a girl
she's got a house
an older funny house
a monkey and a horse
a suitcase full of gold and coins
you'll never ever ever find
a girl so strong
the grown ups here in town
tra la la la
pippi's world is fun
she makes kids happy
her make believe
the grown ups here in town
tra la la la
she is such an imp
tra la la la
you'll love her too.

Do Re Mi - Sound of Music

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?

Asher loves this song, so I'm forcing myself to learn it. I had no idea it was such a long complicated song. This poor woman, she really has to prove herself.



Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine
Tell her to make me a cambric shirt
Parsely, sage, rosemary & thyme
Without no seams nor needlework
Then she'll be a true love of mine
Tell her to find me an acre of land
Parsely, sage, rosemary, & thyme
Between the salt water and the sea strand
Then she'll be a true love of mine
Tell her to reap it in a sickle of leather
Parsely, sage, rosemary & thyme
And to gather it all in a bunch of heather
Then she'll be a true love of mine
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine

Cabeza y hombros pierna y pies, pierna y pies

Asher's school requires the parents to lead "small group activities" for 4-5 kids during the second half of the year. I've got to come up with 9 lessons. Activities can be very simple - finding leaves on a walk, cutting string, singing songs, pouring water, washing a chair etc. I'm going to try to teach them to sing "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" in Spanish.

Cabeza y hombros pierna y pies
Cabeza y hombros pierna y pies
Ojos orejas boca una nariz
Cabeza y hombros pierna y pies.

I tripped over myself a million times learning the song, it was harder than I thought, but now I think I've got it. We'll see if I can get the kiddos to do it. Elliot picked it up. Asher thought it was funny.

During my research, I found a good resource for children's songs and nursery rhymes from around the world:
http://www.mamalisa.com/world/

I also found this great site that has videos of children around the world singing "Frere Jacques" in their native languages. Asher thought it was fascinating.

Weeds

Danny and I watched the whole first season of Weeds in one weekend a few weeks ago. Each night in bed we gobbled up the episodes on our laptop three or four at a time (1/2 hour episodes are particularly addictive - this happened to us when we watched each season of Sex in the City on dvd as well).

The writing is sharp, the characters are complex and compelling, the satire is fresh. Poking fun at suburban family values hypocrisy is nothing new, but Weeds works as straight drama as well as a brutal black comedy (not campy or broad at all). Mary Louise Parker as Nancy Botwin sips her iced lattes like a chain smoker. Her intense drive to become a weed kingpin feels believable. Her hubris and greed are transparent. Andy the slacker brother in-law and Celia the bitchy PTA / city council president get the most laughs. Shane, Nancy's youngest son is also fun to watch. Silas the oldest son is the show's weakest character. Not sure where they're going with him.

We ended up watching most of season two last weekend. There are two episodes left in the season. I'm already going through withdrawal. I like how the producers are spicing up the show with indie bands singing the little boxes theme song, but I still love the Melvina Reynolds version the best. The kids and I sing it all the time.

Bagley Buzzzz

Elliot and I (his father) were messing around with Garage Band. Elliot had difficulty starting the song on a count(1-1-1-2-3-4.) He wanted to get the song down in his mind before--he started singing. I'm not a musician--but it seems like his mind was going over the song--before he sang it. Anyway here it is...

http://www.gigasize.com/get.php/102817/BAGLEY_Bzzzzz.m4a

Smash your head on the punk rock

Now that we're driving the old Toyota Camry that lacks a CD player, we've dragged out our ancient box of cassette tapes. We almost threw them out a few months ago. We're glad we have the tapes because our family tends to get cranky and whiny sans a soundtrack. Asher is a complete dictator when it comes to choosing music, "change the song", "again, play it again" or "I don't like it" (I want to encourage his personal taste so I indulge him for the most part). The tape technology sucks of course, I'm always rewinding the wrong way or something.

Olden days, my sentimental musical review
I played the boys a tribe called quest (some racey lyrics not sure how often we'll listen to it, but got a good reception from the guys), jon spencer blues explosion (asher liked it. elliot said, "I like fake punk rock better" what does that mean?), black flag (no fans. "turn it off" said asher), bob dylan (no fans), my bloody valentine (boring. I could barely listen. why did I like them?), minutemen (a winner. elliot liked the sound effects and variety), sebadoh (elliot said "this music is sad").

Creature from the black lagoon
A few weeks ago while searching for old monster movies on youtube for elliot we found this cheap skater punk creature from the black lagoon video. It is now Elliot's favorite song ever and he sings it into his hairbrush every morning.