Karen in Chicago

I only just heard about this. It is hard to keep track of kiddie music in chicago!

Award-winning children’s music composer and performer, Susan Salidor, will play a small concert at the Wicker Park Lutheran Church tomorrow at 11AM. She is widely acclaimed and is sure to put on an amazing show. There will be tickets available at the door so please stop by with family and friends. Tickets are $15. The concert is a fundraiser for the North Avenue Day Nursery, a pre-school and school-age program that serves low income children and families. The Wicker Park Lutheran Church is located at: 1502 N. Hoyne. If you have questions, call me: 312-388-8883. These shows have all been so much fun, so please come out if you’re looking for an activity this weekend. Many thanks! –julie herr (Please forward this email to anyone who may be interested. If you forward this email, you will always have a special place in my heart.)

We stopped by the shop at the Old Town School of Folk Music yesterday and picked up some great new kids’ music stuff. The CD “Dreamer of Dreams” by Erin Flynn is terrific. Zooglobble has a much better written review than I could ever create. My daughters and I listened to it three or four times yesterday afternoon and I have a feeling we’ll be listening to it a lot more. It will be a lot of fun to see her show.

We also got “Stacy Music Over in the Meadow” and listened a couple of times. The CD has songs that are quite familiar to us from Wiggleworms, but done in Stacy’s lively style. I don’t think we’ll end up listening to this CD as much as Erin’s, only because we listen to the same songs on other CD’s as well. We’re definintely looking forward to going to Stacy’s shows.

On impluse we ended up buying the book Tisa Plays Guitar and Strange Things Happen by Tisa Marie Batchelder. The illustrations are beautiful and the story is very evocative to us Wiggleworms. The book was pricey for a short softcover book ($15, eeks), so even though my daughter loves it, I don’t know if I would have splurged if I had though about it more.

Sones de México is performing on Sunday at Martyrs’. The ensemble includes Juan Díes who is currently performing with Joel Frankel.

All Ages-Kids 16 and under $10
Sunday, Apr 29 - 4pm - $20 includes CD
Sones de México Ensemble

After a production spanning three years, one of Chicago’s best-known Mexican folk bands, Sones de México Ensemble, will release its third CD: Esta Tierra Es Tuya (This Land Is Your Land) Using over 50 authentic Mexican instruments to represent Mexico’s diverse regional folk music styles, the band presents twelve original arrangements that range from the traditional to the experimental.

The CDs title track is a norteño version of Woodie Guthrie’s 1940 classic American folk song, sung mostly in Spanish. In 2007, “This Land Is Your Land” remains relevant and speaks to America’s national debate over immigration. The CD includes traditional tunes from Michoacán, Tabasco, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Veracruz, and the Huasteca regions of Mexico. There’s also some non-traditional material including an original chilena called “Eres Bella Flor” written by music director Victor Pichardo, a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Four Sticks” arranged as an energetic Aztec ceremonial dance, and a version of J.S. Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No. 3-Second Movement” played in a jarocho style from Veracruz.

Sones de México Ensemble is formed by six multi-instrumentalists: Victor Pichardo (music director), Juan Díes, Lorena Iñiguez, Juan Rivera, Zacbé Pichardo, and Javier Saume-Mazzei.

It seems Joel Frankel has been practicing singing in Spanish with the help of Juan Díes for their new show, “JoJo en Espanol.”

Juan Díes of Sones de Mexico, has recorded Joel Frankel’s “Jojo the Scarecrow” CD into Spanish. A sampler with fourteen songs, half in English and half in Spanish is available directly from Joel Frankel or Juan Díes and the full recording will be released in the summer.

Songs include:
“JoJo’s Barnyard Bash/Fiesta en la granja de Jojo”
“Hey Horse/Mi Caballo”
“I’d be a Bee/Si you fuera una abeja”
“Rabbit’s Hopping Habbit/Los conejos saltan lejos”

The Chicago Folk & Roots Festival will take place on Saturday, July 14th & Sunday, July 15th from Noon - 9:30 PM at Welles Park - Lincoln and Montrose in Chicago. There is always lots of great music at the festival, the schedule for the kids tent is:

Saturday, July 14th
Wiggleworms in the Park with Mr. Singer - 12:00pm
Little Latin Dancers - 12:50pm
Stacy Music - 1:45pm
Hula for Kids - 2:40pm
Linda Robertson Band - 4:10pm
Kids Improv with Ari - 5:00pm

Sunday, July 15th
Wiggleworms in the Park with Sandy - 12:00pm
Joel Frankel & Juan Dies - 12:50pm
Jitterbugs with Xaviera - 1:45pm
Hop to Pop - 2:35pm
Bhangra for Kids with Shamila - 3:25pm
Erin Flynn Band - 4:20pm
Kids Rhythm Circle with Lenny - 5:15pm

The Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce has organized a bunch of family oriented events happening in Lincoln Square between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm including a couple of music events:
2:00 pm, Wiggleworms performance at Bloom Yoga Studio
4:00 - 5:00 pm, Sing-Along at Costello Sandwich & Sides
1:00 - 3:00 pm, Nap Skippers Lullabyes at City Mouse

Morthon Arboretum Summer Concert Series

Tickets go sale April 17. Become a member and receive discounted tickets. Enjoy day-time family concerts and twilight performances under the stars.

June 23 Twilight Concert Chicago Blues Legends Lonnie Brooks and Koko Taylor (6 p.m.)
July 14 Family Concert Ralph’s World (11 a.m.)
Twilight Concert “The Legends of Country Rock” Poco, Pure Prairie League (6 p.m.)
Aug 25 Twilight Concert Josh Kelley and Sister Hazel (6 p.m.)
Aug 26 Family Concert Justin Robert (3 p.m.)

The Green Apple Music and Arts Festival is coming to Chicago as part of America’s largest Earth Day celebration. Several music events for children are happening around Chicago as part of the festival:

• Saturday 11:30 am, The Deep Fried Pickle Project at the Peggy Notebaert
• Saturday 3:00 pm, Sharp Cookies at Schubas
• Sunday, A whole day of shows at the Lincoln Park Zoo (Ella Jenkins is at 10:30)

I guess it is Bastille day, but that doesn’t really explain why Ralph’s World is at Morton Arboretum, Justin Roberts is at Ravinia and the Old Town School of Music is holding their Folk and Root Festival. Why all on the same day? Where will I go?

Karen Banks-Lubicz and Friends (Mike Vigil on guitar, Carl Lubicz on bass and Phil Soosloff on drums) will be performing a Kids’ Concert at Molly Malone’s on Saturday, April 28th at 3:00pm. Admission is $5.00 per person which includes a hotdog or quesadilla. The address is 7652 W. Madison, Forest Park and the phone is (708) 366-8073. The concert will be upstairs in the party room. Come out and see us and/or pass this message along to someone you think might be interested. Thanks!

Better late than never, I just noticed that there was an article in the Chicago Tribune back in March, “It’s a Different Kind of Kid Rock.” The article reviews nine local musicians and quite sensibly recommends that you see them all:

• Ralph Covert
• Justin Roberts
• Sharp Cookies
• Wee Hairy Beasties
• Little Miss Ann (Ann Torralba)
• Ella Jenkins
• Rose Nadolsky
• Tricia Sebastian
• Karen Banks-Lubicz

A notable exclusion is Joel Frankel. We love his CD’s and had a terrific time at a live performance last year. I wonder why he isn’t included.

My older daughter and I just got back from the Ralph’s World concert at House of Blues. It was a lot of fun, but I don’t think I’d go again. The music is really good and it is amazing hearing the music live and being part of a very enthusiastic crowd.

Now for the bad stuff. The venue was oversold. For a kids show, it is just too much to have people shoulder to shoulder. The low point though was when Ralph thanked his sponsors Disney & Kellogs and then invited the Rice Krispies elves out on stage and actually sang a Rice Krispies song. One parent turned around and said, I guess they’re trying help with childhood obesity. It was one thing to pay the outrageous ticket prices, but it was really insulting to have my toddler forceably advertised at as well. There was a lot of discussion among parents at the show about whether Ralph has sold out completely or just sold out a little bit.

With all that said, when the show ended my 20 month old looked up at me with a big smile and yelled FUN! We walked over to Big Bowl had a terrific lunch and one of our best Mommy daughter days so far.