Those of you with toddlers know that there's a threshold of how many The Wiggles songs you can hear before wanting to slit someone's throat. And let's not even begin to mention Barney whose presence (televised or otherwise) is officially banned from our household. Most kiddie music is just well, so cheesy that it makes your local lite music radio station seem like edgy college garage band stuff. Because of this, let me publicly state that we pretty much worship Dan Zanes. His music is a godsend. It's kid-friendly but even more important, parent-friendly.
We live in Brooklyn, where Dan Zanes is based, so we got turned onto his CDs early in our parenting. Our first CD was"Family Dance," because we'd heard the song "All Around the Kitchen" on a playdate, so I ordered the disc from Amazon the next day. We got "Rocketship Beach" and "Night Time!" while on vacation (actually, it was at the Tower Records in Harvard Square). Those two CDs got us through more than 18 hours of driving, from NYC to Maine and back. Our favorites on that roadtrip were "Rattin' Bog" (we knew he was asleep if he didn't clap at the end); the West Indian song "Evening Time"; the "Oklahoma" showtune "Bushel and a Peck"; "Polly Wolly Doodle" featuring Sheryl Crow; and "Linstead Market". A couple months later, while attending a wedding in Chicago, my husband and I happened to be at Marshall Field's reopening, and Dan Zanes was there doing a free mini-concert. The Schmoop got an autographed copy of his latest, and I daresay our favorite, CD, "House Party." What a banner day for us... I could go on and on, but the point is that Dan Zanes saved us from boring kid music and made car-time a joy (well, at least tolerable!).
Hope you all have a Great New Year's Eve!