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Daily Candy Kids Playlist

Dan Gellert — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:43:01 +0000

Daily Candy, the free daily e-mail that gives you the scoop on fashion, food, good deals…… and kids stuff – asked Jitterbug to put together a summer music playlist. We were happy to help out! Barenaked Ladies, Ziggy Marley, The Jimmies, Randy Kaplan and Brady Rymer are part of the mix. The artists were generous enough to offer a free download of their song (for a limited time). Five artists, five songs – listen and download here. Go enjoy!

-Dan

Traveling to Italy…w/kids?

Dan Gellert — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 01:42:45 +0000

You should check out Italiakids.com. They coordinate with many organizations dedicated to the arts in Italy with the hope of encouraging parents to attend more off the beaten track experiences of Italian culture - (think music, dance, theater). It’s a great place to check for current kid friendly music/arts events when in Italy. The mission is to provide good information to international families traveling to Italy. Italiakids are friends of Jitterbug – which makes them smart and hip!

-Dan

Music and Moods

Dan Gellert — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 19:50:23 +0000

It always astounds me how music has this uncanny ability to sustain, enhance, alter, even express our moods and behavior. As our little girl gets to know more music, I see the correlations building between her moods and her choices of music at that moment. When she’s all jumpy, she may point to Dance Like An Animal ; sleepy her favorite is Greek Lullaby ; calm mood brings about Don’t Be Afraid of the Dentist. You get the picture…

To state the obvious, music is a healthy thing to use for molding an atmosphere or experience – for kids as well as adults! To use a great line from this excellent NYTimes article – in our quest to “civilize the object of our affections” (i.e. our kids!) – music is a great helper in creating and achieving an experience. Now go and enjoy jitterbug!

Piles of Photos from Life and Google

Dan Gellert — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:06:36 +0000

A bit off topic from kids music – but creative anyway. Have you heard about the Google/Life photo archive? Google has archived millions of photos from Life magazine and made them searchable and viewable – many for the first time. Sitting and browsing through photos with my little girl – I am surprised and delighted with her curiosities. One question leads to another and all-of-a-sudden we are talking about history, clothes/fashion, decades, memories, earth – when the phrase “but why?” comes out of her, I answer it by finding another photo – and the thread continues. I must say, having a pile of photos to search from that mostly come from people with an eye sensitive to composition, story and journalism is a real pleasure. Start exploring by clicking here…

enjoy

Dan

ever wonder what to do with Ugly Fruit??

I Miss Jack

rgreen — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:21:29 +0000

Like many parents my wife and I try to limit our daughters access to television. One of the first shows we allowed her to watch was Jack’s Big Music Show. And it was “love at first site” for everyone. The guest artists were innovative and fun, the music fantastic and the Producers just “got it.” This is truly a “kindie” show that also has mainstream appeal. In fact, truth be told it was probably Jack’s Big Music Show that sparked the interest in kids artists and ultimately creating Jitterbug.

Unfortunately, the current episodes on Noggin are re-runs as it only had two seasons. But even the re-runs entertain regardless of how many times we watch.

Bravo, Spiffy Pictures including David Rudman (the Producers of the Show)!

If you have not seen it, check it out on Noggin. Maybe I should get around to checking out Spiffy’s current show, Bunny Town. Something tells me I’ll still miss Jack.

Randall

Watching AND listening to Music

Dan Gellert — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:38:53 +0000

At first I thought that once a child saw a music video, there was no going back to simply listening to music without a video – while on the computer. The visual stimulation would be too intoxicating and the need for moving image would be demanded. Well, this is not the case – Don’t get me wrong, my daughter loves to watch the music videos, but if I click on a song, I encourage her to give it a chance. Without fail, within 30 seconds, it she likes the song, she listens all the way through. If she doesn’t like it (the kids are astoundingly discerning even at this tiny age) we click away; but if she likes it, video or straight music does not matter. Some of her favorite music only tracks currently are from ScribbleMonster, Spanish Wrangler, The Jimmies… This encourages us at Jitterbug to accept and seek music from all these artists – and if they have a video, that’s a bonus!

enjoy,

Dan

Growth for all

Dan Gellert — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 08:21:57 +0000

Well for the last weeks, “growth” has been the word of the day almost everyday for me. Artists we’ve contacted (and those who have contacted us) to be involved with Jitterbug have grown. We have been busy growing the list of bloggers, media contacts, anyone who might be involved in the kid music niche – want to be sure the people who should know, do know about jitterbug. Growing the user-base of the site as well as managing the growth of future expansion and offerings has kept us constantly exploring. We have some exciting ideas (at least they excite me…). And finally, the time I have available is not growing, but it is offset by watching my 3 year old’s musical taste grow; as jitterbug gets more variety, she points, clicks, demands with increasing fervor at the new offerings – attitude growth I guess….

Dan

This chorus is a good one to remember for all ages – Secret Agent 23 Skidoo

The Jimmies

Dan Gellert — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 02:35:17 +0000

I’m thrilled with the latest featured artist on Jitterbug – The Jimmies. They are based out of New York and their recordings have smart lyrics and a great energy to them. Visit them on Jitterbug here, or check-out their fantastic world here. Enjoy the Spanimals!

Dan