Time to move! All our kids music info is moving over to http://KidsMusicinChicago.com.

Come join us at the new site.

Written by Lori Barrett

This weekend is Taste of Randolph Street. If you have kids who are able to stay up late, there are some bands playing that the whole family might enjoy. Friday night’s lineup includes the Broken West, Stephen Kellogg and, at 8:30, Fountains of Wayne. All three acts are pop enough for music fans of all ages. We’re hoping to be able to catch Fountains of Wayne. I played a couple of songs and videos for my 9-year-old on the other day, and he liked them, though I wish we could have skipped the many upper-torso closeups in the “Stacy’s Mom” video.

Local band the Changes play early on Saturday, at 5:30. This would be the perfect musical accompaniment to an al fresco dinner. The Walkmen play at 7:00, and the Smoking Popes play at 8:30, for those with little sk8er boys or girls.

Sunday afternoon there’s a Baby Loves Disco set at 2:30, and a treat for moms and dads of a certain age, Marshall Crenshaw. His set is also pretty early, at
6:30.

We are big Erin Flynn fans and we listen to Dreamer of Dreams at least once a day, so we were very excited about the Cicada Singalong at the Notebaert Nature Museum. As it turns out, the event was even more wonderful than we expected. This time, I remembered my camera and battery. I wish I had a larger memory card, because I would have recorded more of the event.

For those of you who aren’t from the Chicago area, the 17 year Cicadas are up and about, even though you don’t really see any in the city. Interesting information from Wikipedia that mentions insects and prime numbers:

The Magicicada goes through a 17- or occasionally 13-year life cycle. These long life cycles are an adaptation to predators such as the cicada killer wasp and praying mantis, as a predator could not regularly fall into synchrony with the cicadas. Both 13 and 17 are prime numbers, so while a cicada with a 15-year life cycle could be preyed upon by a predator with a 3- or 5-year life cycle, the 13- and 17-year cycles allow them to stop the predators falling into step.

The event is hard to describe. I think it was more “interactive educational kids theater” than a singalong. Erin had the kids act out the life cycle of the Cicada while she described each stage of the Cicada’s life in song. What is amazing is that it completely worked. The kids loved it, the songs were amazing and everything just flowed. Erin just seemed to connect really well with the kids. She was never condescending and the kids really seemed to get what she was talking about. I wasn’t sure how much my 2 year old really absorbed, but then this morning when youtube finally finished processing my videos, she exclaimed, “I want the Timbales song”.

On Sunday, our girls woke up from their naps 30 minutes earlier than usual at 2:30. My husband and I looked at each other and said, “I bet we could get down to Printers Row for the Justin Roberts show at 3:00.” We ran around, piled in the car, parked illegally and made it to the show only 10 minutes late. We have Justin Roberts’ “Meltdown” CD and listen to it quite a lot, but we’ve never seen him live before. In all our rushing, I forgot my camera, so no video (again).

As expected, the show was a terrific amount of fun and Justin Roberts was even better live than on his CD. Lots of the kids knew his songs by heart and everyone danced and sang. He really seemed like a friend and you could tell the kids thought so too.

Written by Ann Torralba

I took my daughter to go see the World Premiere of the Chic-a-go-go movie.  We got to Schuba’s a little late.   I missed the red-carpet reception and Miss Mia completely.  We got there just in time to see the end of the dance party.  There was a jolly crowd of about 30 people eagerly awaiting the movie. One of the producers of the show, Jake Austen, commented that “85 percent of the people in the crowd were in the movie” The movie opened with a hilarious kids music video about nutrition done by the Goblins.  After the Goblins video, we got to see about 5 minutes of the movie before the sound went out.  Jake Austen tried desperately to fix it.  After about 20 minutes, my daughter and I left. Too bad because what I saw looked really good.

I am happy to welcome Ann Torralba as a contributor to this blog. You may be familiar with Ann as Little Miss Ann and from her fabulous CD. We are very lucky to have Ann as a contributor and already her first post is on the way.

Last Wednesday I packed my two girls into the car and drove down to Millennium Park for the free Wiggleworms. I was very proud that I was actually able to get us there a bit before 10:00 am. Unfortunately I left the battery for my camera in the charger in my kitchen, so I don’t have any video. At least I remembered both daughters.

I really wish I had my battery with me, because Tisa was fantastic. The music was terrific and she really engaged all the children and got everyone up and moving. The set up in the family tent is really nice with a big blue rubbery area in front of the stage for the kids to run, jump & fall down. The whole atmosphere was really friendly and inviting.

Afterwards Tisa signed our copy of “Tisa Plays Guitar and Strange Things Happen” for my daughters. We read the book quite often. I’ve been impressed at how well it has stood up to my girls’ rough treatment.

By the way, I stopped by a couple of days later during my lunch hour and the tent was closed because of high winds. It was quite windy, even for the windy city, so keep in mind that you might want to check on the weather before you make a long trip for a 10:00 am show.

On Sunday June 10th, from 2:00 - 4:00 pm, musician, artist, and educator Sandy Lucas will celebrate the release of her new CD for children and families, “Keep A Song In Your Heart”, with a party and concert for families at the Byron Roche Gallery, 750 N. Franklin St. in Chicago. The concert will feature Sandy, as well as guest musicians from the recording. The event is free and open to the public.

Prior to the 2PM FREE screening, Chic-A-Go-Go friends (old and new) are invited to join the cast and crew for Schubas/Harmony Grill very affordable, very delicious brunch at noon, followed by a “red carpet” reception hosted by Miss Mia from 1pm-1:30. There will also be a brief, but energetic, dance parties before and after the screening. Immediately preceding the film will be a music video preview of the Goblins’ upcoming children’s video. This is an all ages event. Kids are welcome!

More info on the Schubas Calendar the Chic-A-Go-Go website.

[now includes extremely cute video at end] Yet another terrific event for this weekend:

Jennifer Trowbridge is having a kids concert Sunday, June 10 at 11am on the North Stage of the Andersonville Midsommarfest. The kids (ranging in age from 5 to 13 years old) will be performing on guitar, piano, saxophone and percussion as well as singing and dancing. Their repertoire ranges from Old MacDonald Had a Farm to rock and reggae songs by Chuck Berry, Elvis and Bob Marley.

Check out the cutest video with the kids rehearsing with Jennifer!