Three Infections and One Birthday

We have a half eaten Chocolate Chocolate Cake from Cafe Latte on the kitchen counter, left over from K8's Birthday, begging me to add it to my already thick winter layer of all natural personal insulation. We have three separate prescriptions of Amoxicillin being administered at the prescribed regular intervals to all but me. We have Charlie Chaplin's The Kid in the DVD player reminding us of our nation's past and possible future. The house is a disaster of toys, clothing, and food shrapnel and I am without the gumption to remedy such overwhelming domestic intranquility. All gumption was exhausted the other day in meticulously, and lovingly, manufacturing the tiny 3D Q and O earrings out of origami paper. There is only one thing that can save me from this morose state of being. Beastie Boys. Loud, loud, Beastie Boys.

The Cradle Was Rocked

Every year Rock The Cradle gets better... and more crowded. I really wish they did this more often. If it happened more regularly it would probably be a bit less like Mecca to us crazy cooped up Minnasnowda parents. All in all though, the changes they made from last year were drastic improvements and helped significantly in making the hoards of kids and their parents more manageable. The free photo booths were a big hit and using the big party room for alternating between story-time and Jeremy Messersmith was perfect.

What was even more perfect was that we got to talk to Jeremy before his first set and request Q's favorite Jeremy Messersmith song, Light Rail. Not only did he play it but he started of with it and gave Q a little shout-out at the end. Thanks Jeremy, you rock.. even if K8 was bummed you didn't play Welcome To Suburbia. Old McDonald probably played better to that crowd anyway.

Alphabutt

I may have to finally get those tattoos and start ironically drinking PBR to make up for my so seriously falling asleep at the hipster parenting wheel. Not only did I miss out on taking the boys to Kimya Dawson's family concert at the Cedar Cultural Center, I'm also just finding out that she's released a children's album wonderfully titled Alphabutt. Most popular for her contribution to the Juno Soundtrack, the former Moldy Peaches singer has a playful sing-a-long style that could charm kids even when the songs aren't meant for them specifically. Q certainly enjoyed her song I Like Giants when it was in heavy rotation on the Current. So a children's album just seems like the next logical step.

Electric Kool-Aid Ozzi Test

This song, Sleepyhead by Passion Pit, came on the Current today and Ozzi went joyfully bonkers.... better hide the glow sticks now!

PM4K8

Tokyo Police Club



Keane

PM4K8

Emiliana Torrini




Kraak & Smaak

PM4K8

Imagine for a moment Q, Ozzi, and I all spinning, bouncing, and dancing to this yesterday afternoon.


Then Q rocking out so hard to this that, I swear to god, he almost puked.


Now imagine what it looks like from other cars to see Q and I rocking out to this song in the car.

ppppa ch pa pa ch ika ika ika

Here in the Twin Cities we have a seemingly endless supply of classes and activities for little kids. From art to ballroom dancing to music to Chinese, with just a little searching you can fill "_______ for kids" with most any subject that you want your child to get an early start on. Well, almost every subject. Despite Minneapolis/St. Paul being home to several music schools, I can not find a single Beatboxing for Kids class. What the hell yo? I thought the Minniapple was supposed to be all progressive and shit.

So MacPhail Center for Music, to help you get with the times I've compiled a short list of possible instructors for your new Beatboxing course:


Biz Markie, Nobody beats the Biz!



James Burchfield



Gregg Pattillo



or The Fat Boys might be looking for work these days.

PM4K8

Adele



Bat for Lashes





Atmosphere

PM4K8

The Faint



Mates of State



We are Scientists

PM4K8

Bitter:Sweet





Santogold



The Mountain Goats

PM4K8

Finally, a DATENIGHT!!

SAHD's now have a theme song

PM4K8 (Pumping Music For K8)

Natalie Portman's Shaved Head (no kidding, that's the groups name) may be one of my new favorite things on this planet.


natalie portman's shaved head - sophisticated side ponytail from thatgo on Vimeo.

PBS Hip-Hop Battle

Bob da Builda' & That weird pumpkin dude

VS.

Bert & Ernizzle

Pumping music for K8

The Bird and The Bee

1234 Monsters walkin' 'cross the floor.

In a full circle musical moment for Q, one of his favorite songs gets reworked for bumpin' on da Street.

Super Tuesday

The new Beck Album Modern Guilt hit the stores (and the internet) yesterday. I decided this was as good as any reason to introduce Q to The Electric Fetus and the joy of new release Tuesdays.

I didn't realize how much I missed the record store environment. The chorus of click click click click being played by browsers flipping through the CDs. The excitement of discovering something new or forgotten. The crazy mix of people. Even the smell. God damn! I missed it all.

Fucking itunes! The easy whore that she is has led me, and so many others, astray. Led me away from the brick and mortar ones I love. Now they are dying. The fact that I can't take the boys to Let It Be Records depresses the hell out of me.

I remember cutting class in high school most every Tuesday just to drive over to the local independent record store. We would spend hours there expanding our collections of Nirvana and Pearl Jam bootlegs and drooling over the Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin boxed sets. It was on those Tuesdays that I discovered Ben Folds Five and was blown away when I first heard Beck's Odelay album.

I even got a job at a record store when I first moved to Minneapolis, albeit a now defunct chain store. I don't think I realized it then, but working there was a blast. All the free CDs, free concerts, VIP passes, free beer, partying like a rock star with rock stars, getting hit on by movie stars... ok, that only happened once and I had to turn her down since I was already dating K8.

Anyway, I really have to start making regular trips to the record stores with the boys.

As for the the Beck CD:

DK: "What do you think of the new Beck CD?"

Q: "No, no, I don't like it."

DK: "Really? I do. Why don't you like it?"

Q: "I like the dancey stuff better."

Here you go Q

Quote of the Day

If I absolutely had to name one, and only one, musical artist as my all time favorite it would have to be Ben Folds. So I was pretty damn pleased this morning when Q exclaimed, "I'M ROCKIN' THE SUBURBS!" after I put on his Clash t-shirt.

Quote of the Day

Q: "nah nah hah.... nah nah hah.... foxy.... later... nah nah hah..."

Hendrix (and Garth) would be proud.

I wasn't quite sure if I should correct him or not. But it's nice to hear another song added to the short list of choruses constantly sung by Q around the house. He knows the words to Tegan and Sarah's Walking With a Ghost about as good as his alphabet.

The fact that he has become such a Tegan and Sarah fan does have me a bit concerned about his psychological wellbeing. I love their music too, but it is a bit dreary for a three year old to be this into it.

I really need to get the cable for the video camera so I can start proving some of this stuff.