A kindie rock primer
To celebrate the new breed of kids music, we asked some of our favorite kindie rockers to let us offer a song or two for free download, and the resulting playlist covers a good range of the scene's sound, from the ska-punk antics of "Meltdown," the title track of of Justin Roberts' recent release, to the melodic folk-rock of Laurie Berkner's "Walk Along the River," from the bonus CD of her "We Are ... The Laurie Berkner Band" DVD. Also included here: Dan Zanes' roots-rock groove "House Party Time" from 2003's "House Party," two songs from Baltimore's Milkshake -- the alt-rocky "Happy Song" and "Bottle of Sunshine," a pop song that could almost be from the '80s in its ebullient enthusiasm -- and a more somber but wonderfully catchy song from Roberts, "Sand Castles." They'll only be up for a week, so download them now!
If you're looking for new sources of children's music, the Web, as always, is obliging: Check out Zooglobble, Kids' Music that Rocks, ((sm))all ages and the About.com Children's Music page.
1. "Meltdown," Justin Roberts
2. "House Party Time," Dan Zanes
3. "Happy Song," Milkshake
4. "Walk Along the River," Laurie Berkner
5. "Sand Castles," Justin Roberts
6. "Bottle of Sunshine," Milkshake
-- Scott Lamb
Great literary podcasts:
"In Walked Bud"
Amiri Baraka
"The Last Days of the Suicide Kid"
Charles Bukowski
"The House on Mango Street"
Sandra Cisneros
"A Reporter's Life,"
Walter Cronkite
"An Open Heart," by The Dalai Lama
Read by Nicholas Vreeman
"Robert Frost Reads"
Robert Frost
"In Harry's Bar in Venice"
Ernest Hemingway
"The War on Drugs"
Bill Hicks
"I Have a Dream"
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"King of Horror"
Read by Stephen King
"Motherless Brooklyn," by Jonathan Lethem
Read by Steve Buscemi
"Long Walk to Freedom," by Nelson Mandela
Read by Danny Glover
"Shopgirl"
Steve Martin
"All the Pretty Horses," by Cormac McCarthy
Read by Brad Pitt
"The Bluest Eye"
Toni Morrison
"Lolita," by Vladimir Nabokov
Read by Jeremy Irons
"The Bell Jar,"
Sylvia Plath
"The Raven," by Edgar Allen Poe
Read by Basil Rathbone
"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," by JK Rowling
Read by Jim Dale
"Everything"
Henry Rollins
"Fast Food Nation," By Eric Schlosser
Read by Rick Adamson
"Me Talk Pretty One Day"
David Sedaris
"Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"
Dylan Thomas
"Slaughterhouse Five"
Kurt Vonnegut
"Hooking Up"
Tom Wolfe
Audiofile logo by: Aris Blevins
