1/25/2014 Grammy Nominees Concert

Nominees on stage for the finale

Wow! What a great show today in LA featuring The 2014 Grammy Award Nominees for Best Children's Album! All five nominees came up on stage to play songs from their nominated album. The concert aired at 6pm EST/3pm PST today and will repeat tomorrow at 1pm EST/10am PST on SiriusXM 78. Great performances!

Bart, Kenny, Rocky Alvey, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Mindy

Radio Special Playout:

• Opening Jingle
• Intro from Kenny and Mindy
• Beth Nielsen Chapman and Rocky Alvey interview
• "Rockin' Little Neutron Star" - Beth Nielsen Chapman
• "Test Re-Test and Verify" - Beth Nielsen Chapman
• Kids: Margot and Zoe interview
• Jennifer Gasoi interview
• "Little Blue Car" - Jennifer Gasoi
• "Throw A Penny In The Wishing Well" - Jennifer Gasoi
• "I'm A Bubble" - Jennifer Gasoi
• "Happy!" - Jennifer Gasoi
• Alastair Moock interview
• "When I Get Bald" - Alastair Moock
• "B-R-A-V-E" - Alastair Moock
• "This Little Light of Mine" - Alastair Moock (with Elizabeth Mitchell)
• Elizabeth Mitchell and Daniel Littleton interview
• "Kooks" - Elizabeth Mitchell & You Are My Flower
• "Arm in Arm" - Elizabeth Mitchell & You Are My Flower
• "Blue Clouds" - Elizabeth Mitchell & You Are My Flower
• Justin Roberts interview
• "Check Me out, I'm at the Checkout" - Justin Roberts & the Not Ready for Naptime Players
• "" - Justin Roberts & the Not Ready for Naptime Players
• "Recess" - Justin Roberts & the Not Ready for Naptime Players
• "Turn Turn Turn" - Elizabeth Mitchell, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Justin Roberts, Alastair Moock, Jennifer Gasoi
• Closing from Kenny and Mindy

Artist Appearance - Captain Bogg & Salty

Today, Mindy's show was invaded by pirates! Captain Bogg and Salty showed up and tried to claim Mindy's dresser drawer for themselves. In the end, everyone got along, singing and playing and joking! Great fun for all!

If you don't have it yet, their newest CD is called Emphatical Piratical. Check it out!

SteveSongs Hangs with Mindy

SteveSongs came into the KPL studio today to hang out with Mindy. Steve talked about his new song with Mindy, then Steve played it -- it's about his trip and hanging out with Mindy, but oops, he said "XMKids." can he change that to "Kids Place Live"? "Hobby Paper" rhymes with Robbie Schaefer, but it is a little weird, isn't it?

He comes up with ideas from things that pop up in everyday life. He gets ideas from kids and parents. Mindy said don't ask for "Crazy Frog", so the first kid asked SteveSongs to play "Alvin and the Chipmunks." Argh!

Steve lives in Connecticut, but he's in DC to play at Jammin' Java tomorrow and then one on Sunday in Owings Mills. Steve started writing songs when he was in college. Steve says that he doesn't know how to read music very well! Steve loved science in school.

Steve and Logan (regular caller) performed "Fast Monkey" together live on the air. Fantastic! Mindy got Steve to help press buttons; I don't think he broke anything. Steve's cat Emma has three legs, but she gets around just fine. Steve gave a shout out to Milkshake (we can't wait to see them again -- soon).

Steve got bullied around when he was in fifth grade. The bully let up on Steve when he was able to score goals in football. He was never mean back to the bully.

Chloe chatted (and chatted and chatted) with Steve and Mindy. Steve pulled his band out of his pocket. David Stackhouse (beat box), Paul "Puddles" Pampanela (electric guitar), and The Sensational Sillies, Serena (12) and Ailey (10). The band performed "Spyrtle the Turtle" live (for our Chloe - the photo is of the girls near the Sea Turtle Center in Jekyll Island) and then "Giant."

Steve has five albums, and you HAVE to get SteveSongs DVD!! He's on PBSKids too.

Mindy, Steve and the band THANKS SO MUCH! Xhloe has perked up so much. You guys rock!

Artist Sneak Attack - ScribbleJim

Mindy gave ScribbleJim a call this evening. she called it a sneak attack, but somehow, I think he knew the call was coming. He had sent her a message in a milk bottle regaring the recent "GoTarts Mystery."

The story is a long one that I can't get right here, but it has to do with a caller that offered to send Mindy Go-Tarts, never did, then realized they were no longer available. Mindy tried to call Kelloggs about it, but got brushed off (bah).

Jim discovered that he actually had three in his pantry, with a "Best if Used by" date of January 8th. He has stuck them in the mail to send to Mindy. S MIndy called him today and they chatted about these gotarts and what to do with them and how to find out why Kelloggs has stopped selling them.

Artist Interview - Roger Day

Last week, Roger Day sent Mindy a coupon for a yak. To find out more, Mindy set up an interview (not a sneak attack) with Roger for today.

Roger, his son Jacob, and their friend Jake came on the air, from Franklin, TN to talk about the Yaks for Youth. Mindy owns "part" of yak; Roger days it can be whatever part of the yak she wants it to be. Is a yakalope a really fast yak?

Jake had a booth at an alternative Christmas gifts fair, selling coupons for the Yaks for Youth program. Jake is ten and he is a yak salesman. Yaks are an endagered species. Boarding schools in Tibet (a very poor country) have difficulties provide for its students, and a yak can give them milk, fur, yak patties (to be burned for warmth). After a yak dies, they can use the skin and meat as well. They are very useful animals.

You can buy someone a yak at anytime of the year. It makes a great gift. A Yak Revolution in the making!

Both Jacob and Jake are members of the Yakalulah Chorus who sang so well -- and so loud -- and the CD. And they're both in Roger's Webelos Den!

Artist Sneak Attack - Lunch Money

Following a tradition of calling the musicians with no warning, Mindy called Molly Ledford from Lunch Money today. Like Mindy, we love their new CD Dizzy. mindy's been playing It only Takes One Night To Make A Balloon Your Friend quite a lot this week, and we are so happy.

Molly said that her kids (she was picking up toys when Mindy called) are the inspiration for some of the songs, like "Dizzy" and "Silly Reflections". Molly's mom is also quite proud of what Molly's been up to as well :)

As for how the band was named, Molly wanted the band to be the "property" of the children. "This is mine!" like Lunch Money!!

KPL Fans Love Live Music Too!

Pictured here are a regular KPL listener Tie Dye Nate and Molly from Lunch Money. Nate and Molly first met at the XMKids Roadshow a couple of years ago, and now got the chance to meet again this weekend. How fun is that!

Lunch Money has a new CD out, called Dizzy, from which Mindy played a few selections today. But there is much more on that CD, and we here at the GBK house think you should go check it out!! Visit the Lunch Money website for more info.

Artist Interview - Justin Roberts and Liam Davis

Justin Roberts is in DC this weekend for a show and was kind enough to get together with Mindy to chat for a bit. Happily enough, our plane landed on time and we were able to get home in time to hear the interview!

Justin and his BFF Liam came in from Chicago today -- easy flight. Justin Roberts has a new CD Pop Fly and Justin's favorite song is "Fruit Jar". Justin got a fruit jar from his grandma, and it sits in a window, probably not a great place to keep it. Liam managed to break his microphone? I bet it was Mindy that broke it.

Mindy said that Justin is usually sick when he comes? Justin played Henrietta's Hair. He told the hairbrushing inspiration story again.

Kid caller Logan wanted to know what state is Justin's favorite state to perform in. Justin said that he's performed all over. Mindy and Justin played make believe about what Justin's car and house would be like. Another kid caller, Sam, called in and said he loves Pop Fly. Justin talked about his Little League career. The one time he hit the ball, it went down the line and then fouled.

Justin just called Mindy spacey. Really. Claire called in from Ala. Justin's favorite "fast" song is Cartwheels and Somersaults. His favorite slow one is "Moving." Justin's wife moved a lot since her father was in the Air Force.


Justin wrote down an idea for a new song "Claire and Sam." He and Liam sang part of it right there on the radio. (Justin giggles a lot.) Mindy didn't like the peanut butter and "Pam" part. (Peanut butter has a salmonella problem these days.)

Liam is playing a pot, and he has a roll of tissue paper too. They played "Pop Fly" together. I think this is the first time we've heard a live version of it? (Justin you have to come to Atlanta.) Justin said his headphones were falling off the whole time.

Justin says that he was always very nervous going to school and that he would break into tears when he realized his mother was leaving. Mindy just told Liam that he smells funny? Did I hear that right? Justin has a beat up bear when he was little, "Mr. Beasley". Liam had a Stretch Armstrong doll...

Justin had his cell phone on; Mindy told him to turn it off.

Kid caller William called in to talk to Justin. Mindy told Justin that his hair was really flat. William asked Justin if he would play one of the songs that he knows, Track 5. Justin knew that it was Superkid. William like to pretend that he is a superhero. "Curly Man" could make straight hair curly.

Gabriel called in. What is Justin's second favorite song? He said "Meltdown." His bigger brother caused him to have meltdowns. Gabriel asked for Justin to play Meltdown. Justin does not know all the words to his songs. Matthew called in to talked to Liam. He wanted to know if Justin knew any songs about baseball catchers.

Justin is still taking notes in his journal. Liam chose for them to play "Backyard Superkid." Excellent.

I think Justin said Chlk was like an Elvis Costello song. Justin said that practice is a good way to learn. Justin didn't practice as much as he should have, so that's why Liam plays lead guitar. Justin learned piano first, but then he quit, but then he played again, and then he quit, and then he took clarinet. In junior high, he started to sing. In chorus, he did a lot of solos. Justin's mom is still so proud of him!

They played "Meltdown" live on the radio, which was very cool. The song "Giant Sized Butterfly" comes across as a truncated version.

Justin has a younger sister that is nine years younger than him, so that was the inspiration for "Airplane of Food." Emma from Illinois asked Justin how he decided to be a singer. He said that he loved music since he was young. Her sister Nina asked for a song ... "Crazy Frog"!!! Yikes!

Liam and Justin would love to play in Austin, TX. They've played in Dallas, Houston, El Paso etc, but have not played in Austin yet.

They then played "Henrietta's Hair" live. How I wish we were still in DC and going to Jammin' Java tomorrow!!!!!!

Justin's website www.justinrobertsmusic.com is full of great things like CDs, videos, coloring pages, newsletters, and tour dates.

From here it sounds like Justin, Liam and Mindy all had a great time. Thanks so much all of you for getting together and letting us share in it!!

Doctor Noize Ripped His Pants

Oh well. I'm sure he's not the only one to whom that has happened. But Mindy found out about it and decided to give him a call. He didn't answer, so she left him a rambling (is there any other kind of Mindy message?) and sang him "Happy Birthday" (no it isn't his birthday.

A little later in the show, Mindy got a call from none other than Doctor Noize! He then sang Happy Birthday to her (it isn't her birthday either). He chatted about how he ripped his pants. He told us that he has backup plans for everything, but no backup pants!!

He likes to play lots of instruments and sing at the same time, but he hasn't mastered doing both while playing the saxophone. He thinks maybe he could play it with his nose.

While he isn't a real doctor, he is looking forward to playing at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis in five weeks. He is also trying to get his muscles big enough so he can jump to the moon.

Dr. Noize has a CD and a book called The Ballad of Phneas McBoof.

Interview - The Naked Brothers Band

I missed most of the interview this afternoon as the girls and I were running around. The kids and I found the guys funny, but a little too wacky. Mindy tried to get them to answer real questions, but all that came up was first grade experiences. Oh well. I missed the end, so I hope that it went better and more good info was forthcoming....

I admit that the NBB is not one of the bands we follow closely, so I probably have no clue how great it was that Mindy got the chance to chat with them. I'd much rather hear her talk to Ralph, Johnny Bregar, or ScribbleMonster, really.

What's Missing?

As we listen to KiDS Place LiVE, we have come to notice that some of the musicians we love are underrepresented.

Who would you ask KPL to add? My first pass list is as follows, but I am sure that there are many I missed. Please add your requests in the comments.

Gustafer Yellowgold
Uncle Rock
Brady Rymer
(Chloe actually once asked for Brady's "Road Trip" and got Ellis Paul's instead. Beautiful song, but not what she wanted.)
Princess Katie and Racer Steve

Listen to Your Buds

Mindy got connected with Justin Roberts today after her little mix-up yesterday.

Justin is part of the campaign Listen To Your Buds, which is:

an ongoing campaign to raise consumer awareness about the potential risk of hearing loss from personal audio technology.

Justin answered the phone! He is having a concert tomorrow at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago (love that place!) for the campaign.

He got an email from a parent who wanted him to write a song about brushing your hair, and he thought that didn't sound like a fun song. So he wrote "Henrietta's Hair."

"Giant Sized Butterflies" is about Justin's first day of kindergarten, where he got very, very nervous when he realized his mom was leaving. Justin says that he still gets nervous before getting on stage; he tries to imagine that everything will be okay.

Monday News

Animal Farm:
Sounded like a nice day on the farm. A caller asking for Elvis was pretty funny!

Absolutely MiNDY:
Mindy did an interview with Jordan Francis, who played Brannon in Camp Rock. He is going to star in an upcoming series Connor Undercover. While I don't know much about any of those things, he was a fun interviewee and talked to Mindy about how he worked on memorizing his lines.

Mindy THOUGHT she was supposed to talk to Justin Roberts today, but she got her days mixed up, and she will talk to him tomorrow about the Listen to Your Buds campaign.

Mindy, if Robbie has a Dog and Pony show in the Real Tall Tree, I have to wonder how the dogs and ponies don't fall out of said tree?


The Real Tall Tree:
Billy Jonas and his friend Jake joined Robbie Schaefer in the Real Tall Tree. Billy has a new CD Happy Accidents that will be released next month (Dec 10th). Robbie played the song "Vitamin Alphabet" to start out the fun.

They talked about the updated "What Kind of Cat Are You?" called "What Kind of Dog Are You?" which has verses about different animals. I LOVE the "Yak" verse and the "Tick" one too! Hey Billy, what kind of carp is on your floor???? How FUN was that! What kind of B-are you? "rob-BIE" should have been the answer!

Robbie and Billy spoke to a big little fan Meredith (and her 12 year old friend) on the phone. They played another new song "To Be One" live. Very beautiful! They talked about the song "I Like Yaks" that Billy made with Roger Day, then played it (not live). The last sneak preview from the CD was "We Are Hollow Bamboo".

Sunday Dec 21st is the big release party in Asheville at the Thomas Wolfe auditorium.

Billy states that music can happen anywhere at anytime with anyone. A "Billy Jonas Tree House Jams" special will be coming soon, sometime around Dec 10th.

And, no, he is not the dad of the Jonas Brothers. We can't wait to hear the Tree House Jams with Billy Jonas coming next month!

The Gooney Bird Girls with Billy Jonas in Atlanta:



On the Blog:
We posted the 13 under 13 and the 13 under 13 poll. Feel free to send in photos and drawings for publication! (See the email address on the right.) Also, a link to the KiDS Place LiVE Facebook Group has been added.

Artist Interview - Charity and The JAMband

Yesterday on the show, Mindy tried to call Charity because she was always hears "Happy Birthday Baby" as "Help Me Burp the Baby". Charity was thrilled to talk to Mindy. She said they are coming out with a new "witching hour" CD (not lullabies) but then will come out with a new rock CD soon after. She also will think about coming up with a spin-off song called "Happy Birthday Baby."

She offered a 50% discount on downloading digital music from jamjamjam.com to all of the KiDS Place LiVE listeners !! Wow, thanks Charity!!!

Book Hour - The Donut Chef

Mindy took a break from press coverage of the election to interview Bob Staake, whose job is drawing goofy pictures and writing silly books. His drawings appear in The Washington Post, Mad Magazine, New Yorker Magazine, Hallmark Cards.

His latest book in The Donut Chef. Influenced by poster art with bright colors and fun shapes. He was attracted to the graphic, colorful, bold style.

How do you want to spend your time? He just finished a few pop up books; one about animals. There is no easy answer to whether the idea or the illustrations come first. Sometimes you go back and forth between drawings and the story. He spends all day imagining and drawing and creating.

He draws with a mouse to create big forms and then nudges and cuts using a computer mouse.

The Donut Chef was gong to be about a donut chef going to war with the bagel maker. But he thought that there is only one word that rhymes with bagel (finagle), so he scrapped that idea.

Bob is endorsing "The Weirdo".

Artist Interview - Kat Vellos

Kat Vellos called in from Seattle, Washington to talk about her new CD Musiplication. She talked about how she tutored kids. Some kids couldn't learn from flash cards, but knew the words to every song. So she made the songs to help kids remember their times tables.

Kat herself used flashcards. She said 7*8 was her hardest to remember (mine too)!

The artwork was done by Tad Crowe, a friend of Kat's. He really tied the album art to the songs. Kat chose the breezy hip-hop because of how fun it is.

Nutricious Nine is about eating healthy; Kat loves to cook and eat well, so she combined the two here.

CDBaby.com carries Musiplication.

We really like the whole CD and are very glad that XMKids has been playing so much of it!

Artist Interview - Sippy Rudy

Today, Mindy interviewed Rudy Trubitt, the guitar player from The Sippy Cups. The band has a new EP called One Day Soon (available from iTunes) which has five songs. (EP means "extended play".) Their new CD "The Time Machine" is due out in the spring, but they wanted to get some new songs out sooner. "One Day Soon" is the first song, and it is about things that kids can almost do, but can't quite do yet, but will be able to do soon. (Like us getting the new full length CD...) Rudy penned "Ladybug Beat," about aphids tasting so sweet. "Effervescing Elephant" was written by Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett.

Rudy described their shows with a circus-like feel on top of the rock-n-roll party. The Sippy Cups are all about color -- so Rudy has never worn his cow suit on stage.

Rudy also discussed their new video "The Day After Halloween." Sippy Henry's bedroom is the bedroom in the video, and Henry is the ghost.

Rudy was a great interviewee (even if his phone was not behaving well making it hard to hear some of what he said) and seemed to enjoy talking about the new CD and how they came up with the ideas for the various songs. Thanks, Mindy and Sippy Rudy!




Mindy also played an interview she had done with Diana DiGarmo from American Idol talked about "American Idol Rewind" -- Behind the scenes. (Never having seen American Idol, I didn't get it.)

Artist Interview - Secret Agent 23 Skidoo

In preparation for this weekend's Rumpus Room, Mindy had a nice interview with Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, a great "Kid Hop" artist. We were lucky enough to be in the Rumpus Room when the show was recorded -- it was so much fun! We love their cd Easy - the lyrics are inspiring without being over the top. Very fun and imaginative.

He didn't quite answer the question of the origin of his name "23 Skidoo" but gave the answer that it was the first slang used in the 1920's and that everyone should figure out what it means for themselves. "Life is a beautiful thing, you are going to have some bad days, but you can deal with it."

Some of his words of wisdom:
Balance "Dream thinking" and "pay the mortgage" thinking and keep your mind open. Kids can believe two things at the same time. Adults should stop being afraid of looking stupid. Life doesn't make sense; stop trying to make it make sense. The "daydream world" of kiddie-idiosynchrocies is "Easy". He doesn't like to coddle children and talk down to them.

His song "The Bluegrasshopper" tells the Aesop's Fable from the grasshopper point of view and shows the power of music and the worth of being a musician. She also interviewed his daughter "Saki" who appears on the CD. Saki tried to teach Mindy how to beat box....

He's working on a DVD to come out soon and some new kids' books. Stay tuned!

Thanks Mindy and Cactus!



Mindy also spoke with Cicely Gray Women's Sports Foundation about healthy eating and bone growth for girls.

We heard from girls about what activities they do and what foods they eat to get calcium for strong bones.

Go Girl Go!

GoGirlGo! is the primary programming focus of the Women’s Sports Foundation designed to combat the alarming physical and psychological health hazards affecting America’s young girls. GoGirlGo! uses sport and physical activity as an educational intervention that supports girls’ health and wellness in childhood and early womanhood.

Other links:

Girls' Health

Go Girl Go!

Artist Interview - ScribbleJim

Mindy interviewed ScribbleJim from ScribbleMonster this afternoon. Oh, how we love hearing ScribbleJim on the radio! Thank you so much Mindy and Jim for taking the time to do this for us!

XMKids has been playing two tracks from the new CD (available today) called Songs with No Character, "I'm A Utility Pole" and "The Song of LIFE". My kids both love "The Song of LIFE", and each kid has a number of favs on the new CD. I particularly like "Doing the Right Thing Isn't Always Easy" and "It Could Have Been Worse" (after The Song of LIFE), but every song is growing on me. A GREAT CD!

ScribbleJim took the time to explain the difference between the live band (ScribbleMonster) and the character band that has been on the past CDs, which of course explains the name of the new CD.

While we have heard the story of the origin of "The Song of LIFE" before, it was wonderful to hear it again and shared with a much wider audience.

Mindy asked what ScribbleMonster was going to be for Halloween and suggested that he dress up as ScribbleJim. Can't wait to see the photo!

Songs with No Character will be available TODAY at ScribbleBooks.com.

Book Hour and More

Whoa - I thought I was busy today!! We did manage to catch some of Mindy's show, though not as much as we wanted. We forgot to take Robbie (our XM receiver) with us, so no XM while driving around. Too bad XM doesn't have an iPhone client yet (as far as I know). Other things we forgot today -- Chloe's goggles (left in DC last weekend), a top to Chloe's swimsuit (grabbed two bottoms by accident -- but we were early enough to have time to run home to fix the problem), my phone (left at gymnastics).

Enough about my "mommy had a virus yesterday brain" ... Back to Mindy's guests today.

First up was Drew Lachey and the Magical Veggie Challenge:

Help us right this musical wrong. Gather family and friends to record a video performance of your rewritten bean chant that conveys beans are a vegetable.

Submit your video for a chance to win $5,000 and a trip to New York to meet Drew Lachey and perform your chant!

Next up was Savannah Outen, who is about to go on tour with The Naked Brothers Band. For more information:

Savannah's website with links to her YouTube and MySpcae sites.

The final official guest was the one I most wanted to hear, but missed all but the first two minutes of... Mindy interviewed the author of what sounds like a book just up my alley, Eco-Friendly Families by Helen Coronato. I wonder if it could help us and our stuff problem. More info is on the author's website Helen Coronato: The Next (Kinda) Big Thing. (Addendum: Her book reportedly lists a bunch of websites that support greener living and a lot of specifics which is something that is often hard to find in these kinds of books.)

We spent the afternoon weeding out stuff. I wish there was a solution to the stuff. Everyone gives kids stuff. Kids find stuff on the playground, in the woods. I can't keep stuff out of my house. But then I have to deal with it.

Chloe called in to chat with Mindy and announced to everyone that we were going crazy cleaning the house. Mindy joked about putting people into the "free pile" that we put a lot of our stuff into. Chloe went on to tell Mindy that I always talk about putting Chloe into the trash cans. Oh great. A family joke, of course. Chloe asked for "The Song of LIFE" by ScribbleMonster, which was the song that managed to help us through the craziness of the day.

Savannah's video: