The Lovely Mrs. Davis Tells You What to Think

The End

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 02:28:00 +0000

I promised, way back when, to come back here one last time to post my personal top 10 kids' and family albums of 2008. Here they are:

1. They Might Be Giants, Here Come the 123s
2. (tie) Justin Roberts, Pop Fly
2. (tie)Frances England, Family Tree
4. Danielle Sansone, Two Flowers
5. Lisa Loeb, Camp Lisa
6. Terrible Twos, Jerzey the Giant
7. Medeski, Martin & Wood, Let's Go Everywhere
8. Dan Zanes, Nueva York
9. (tie) Scribble Monster, Songs with no Character
9. (tie) Me3, The Thin King

The full results of the 2008 Fids and Kamily Music Poll can be found here. And if you like lists, take a look at another list to which I contributed -- the Popdose 100, a list of 100 favorite singles of the last 50 years. I was pretty amazed, when all the votes were compiled, at how under-represented female artists were, but I still think it's a great list. My own 100 favorite singles can be found here.

Since my September post, I've been thinking about if and how and when I might ever get a new blog started. I'm still struggling with the eternal question -- what would I write? I'd love to open up my whole life, past and present, like some other bloggers and I know and love, but I don't think I have the guts to do that. Or maybe I just haven't found my voice for telling my own story yet. My biggest concern is who could be hurt in the process of me writing a memoir-type blog. God knows I've been pretty hard on a few kids' musicians, so it scares me to think if what could come out if I wrote honestly about my own life and all the people in it. Also, the issue of privacy (both mine and my children's), the imaginary pressure of keeping a blog updated and tracking how many people are reading it, and the feeling that I'm giving away my story for free -- these are all things that continue to hold me back.

But I still hope to be back in the blogosphere soon, in some form or fashion. Thanks for reading.

100 Singles

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 01:53:00 +0000

I was honored to be asked to participate in the Popdose 100 -- a list of favorite singles from the last 50 years, as ranked by the Popdose staff and few other friends of Popdose. The full list was published by Popdose back in November, and I've been meaning (since then, basically) to post my own votes in the Popdose 100. I'm sure there are a few songs here that will cause you to question my judgement, but keep in mind these are my favorites -- your favorites may be very different. Here they are -- my favorite 100 singles of the last 50 years:

Beach Boys, God Only Knows
Van Morrison, Moondance
The Beatles, In My Life
Nick Lowe, Cruel to be Kind
REM, Radio Free Europe
Elvis Costello, Everyday I Write the Book
Joe Jackson, Is She Really Going Out with Him
Dolly Parton, Here You Come Again
Derek and the Dominoes, Layla
Ben Folds Five, Brick
Nirvana, Smells Like Teen Spirit
Glen Campbell, Wichita Lineman
Beach Boys, Wouldn't it be Nice
Aretha Franklin, Think
Lisa Loeb, Stay
Springsteen, Born to Run
Rolling Stones, Satisfaction
James Taylor, Sweet Baby James
Christina Aguilera, Ain't No Other Man
Johnny Cash, Ring of Fire
Elvis Presley, Love Me Tender
Everclear, AM Radio
The Go Gos, We Got the Beat
J.Geils Band, Centerfold
Diana Ross, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
Neil Young, Harvest Moon
Def Lepperd, Pour Some Sugar on Me
Eric Clapton, Wonderful Tonight
Elvis Costello, Peace, Love & Understanding
Liz Phair, Stratford-on-Guy
They Might Be Giants, Birdhouse in Your Soul
Jill Sobule, I Kissed a Girl
Bob Dylan, Tangled up in Blue
Prince, Purple rain
Percy Sledge, When a Man Loves a Woman
The Beatles, Let it Be
Beastie Boys, Intergalactic
Indigo Girls, Galileo
Van Morrison, Crazy Love
John Cougar, Jack and Diane
Sheryl Crow w/Kid Rock, Picture
Duran Duran, Hungry Like the Wolf
The Police, Don’t Stand so Close to Me
Spencer Davis Group, Gimme Some Lovin’
Nancy Sinatra, These Boots Were Made for Walking
John Hiatt, Slow Turning
Outkast, Hey Ya
Rolling Stones, Happy
Kid Rock, Bawitaba
Bangles, Walk Like an Egyptian
Gnarls Barkley, Crazy
Squeeze, Tempted
Janis Joplin, Me and Bobby McGee
Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
John Lennon, Imagine
Dixie Chicks, Goodbye Earl
Martha and the Vandellas, Dancing in the Street
Pearl Jam, Jeremy
REM, Losing my Religion
Aerosmith, Walk This Way
David Bowie, Changes
Carole King, You've Got a Friend
Black Crowes, Hard to Handle
The Impressions, People Get Ready
Credence Clear Water Revival, Proud Mary
The Kinks, Lola
Linda Rondstadt, You’re No Good
Peter Gabriel, In Your Eyes
Roy Orbison, Crying
Guns & Roses, Welcome to the Jungle
B-52s, Love Shack
Billy Vera and the Beaters, At This Moment
Beck, Loser
Tom Petty, American Girl
Blondie, Call Me
Dire Straits, Money for Nothin’
Hall and Oates, Maneater
Liz Phair, Never Said
Fiona Apple, Criminal
U2, Vertigo
The Hold Steady, Stuck Between Stations
Kermit the Frog, Rainbow Connection
The Police, Every Breath You Take
Stevie Wonder, You Are the Sunshine of my Life
Supremes, You Keep Me Hangin On
Violent Femmes, Blister in the Sun
Van Halen, Janie's Cryin'
Warren Zevon, Lawyers Guns & Money
Simon and Garfunkel, The Sound of Silence
George Michael, Faith
Stevie Wonder, Isn't She Lovely
Procol Harum, Whiter Shade of Pale
The Monkees, Daydream Believer
Madonna, Like a Prayer
Pogues, Fairytale of New York
Lovin' Spoonful, Do You Believe in Magic?
Crystal Gale, Don't it Make my Brown Eyes Blue
Barry Manilow, Mandy
Aerosmith, Dream On
Tommy James and the Shondells, Crimson and Clover

Out of Business

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:34:00 +0000

I tried to get Bank of America to buy this blog, but they didn't want it. And because it's not a bank, the government wasn't interested in bailing it out. It's going out of business.

Actually, if you've been a follower for very long, you probably know this blog has been on the way out for about a year now. It's like that TV series that stayed on one season too long. It should have quit while it was ahead. But there was always one more album or artist or concert or event I thought I was going to write about. Ohhhh, I can't wrap things up until I write about that new Frances England album, or about meeting her when she played in Charlotte. And I can't wrap things up until I review the new Justin Roberts album and Sesame Street Playground or until the Yo Gabba Gabba DVD comes out or until I write about DragonCon. But it seems I'm never going to get around to writing about all those things. I'm just not.

I'm still planning to help Stefan and Bill with this year's Fids and Kamily Awards, and I'll come back here in November to post my top 10 of 2008. That's a nice way to end things, don't you think?

Until then, there's not much left to say. Except GO CUBS! Because they won their division yesterday! And because Eddie Vedder has written and recorded a song about the Cubs! And most of all because there's a new book out called Northsiders: Essays on the History and Culture of the Chicago Cubs, which happens to include a chapter by my husband.

Tell your friends! Tell your family! Buy yours now! What an incredible holiday gift for any baseball fan! OMG, my husband is in this book! Go Cubs!

Stop back around Thanksgiving for my Fids and Kamily picks for 2008. And keep in touch. You can still find me on Flickr and Facebook and (for a while at least) on Twitter.

Disney: Fail

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:43:00 +0000

Disgusted. Sad. Disappointed. Disillusioned. Crap-tastically dumbfounded.

These are just a few of the feelings I've had after hearing that the Disney Music Block Party Tour suddenly canceled a whole bunch of their dates. Clearly, tickets weren't selling.

No, we didn't have tickets. The tour wasn't coming near Atlanta. Although looking at the tour site, it appears that the tour has only ever planned to play Long Island (the only dates from the tour that have not been canceled). All the other dates are just gone. Cancellations? Never happened. Failure? Disney? No, no, no. Nothin' to see here, folks. It's all good.

In fact, Disney hasn't issued any sort of statement, leaving it to the artists to break the news to their fans. Oh, and also leaving it to the venue staff in East Hartford, Connecticut, who had to explain to many families who showed up for today's show at an empty Rentschler Field. Oy. Imagine how those conversations must have gone.

Tickets for the Long Island shows are $36 a head, with kids under 2 free. I'm guessing (but someone can fill me in if this is wrong) that tickets for other shows were the same -- or at least a similar -- price. That $36 ticket gets you hours upon hours of music and other outdoor festival-type activities. That's comparable to (or even less than) the ticket price for the good seats at Disney on Ice, Sesame Street Live, or even Playhouse Disney Live. I'm trying to get my mind around the notion that parents are more willing to pay $35 or $40 for tickets to see a costumed character dance around and lip-synch to canned music than they are to pay for Dan Zanes, Ralph's World, and a slew of other artists performing LIVE MUSIC for kids. Gah.

DOES NOT COMPUTE. DOES NOT COMPUTE.

Would scheduling more shows at smaller venues have helped? Would a different mix of acts have helped? Would this have gone over better last summer, when gas prices and grocery prices weren't stressing out parents everywhere? We'll never know.

It must have been quite a shock for Disney to put out something with their name and their trademark mouse ears on it and see it fail. That doesn't happen often, does it?

Disney may end up blaming the whole thing on gas prices. Or the artists. Or Steven Page's unfortunate run-in with the law (back before Barenaked Ladies left the tour). I doubt they will take the blame themselves.

My husband's answer, when I asked him why he thought this tour fell apart, was that perhaps Disney was too ambitious. And I tend to agree. The Disney Music Block Party Tour wasn't necessarily "too ambitious" with the number of shows, or with ticket prices, or even the size of the venues. But it may have been too ambitious in putting together a tour in response to a perceived surge in the popularity of kids' music and kindie rock. If Disney had done their homework (i.e. market research), they might have found that many of the families that are most passionate about kids' music, and especially the "kindie rock" variety, are not big Disney consumers. They're also less interested in safe, mediatized, processed events for kids (such as Playhouse Disney Live) and more interested in taking their children to a Dan Zanes concert on a university campus. Many of them are families that watch little or no television. But I'm not sure Disney is even aware that such families exist. And is the perceived kindie rock surge even all that real? Or is it just something created by a lot of media hype over the last 24 months?

On a happier note, I had a nice reminder today of why Bill Childs is a genius. I couldn't have said this better myself.

It's Especially Sunny in Philadelphia...

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:35:00 +0000

...because there's a great article on kids' music and this summer's tours in the Philly Inquirer. There's a brief quote in there from "Blogger Amy Davis" -- hey, that's me! The best part is, my little blurb is sandwiched between quotes from Dan Zanes and Lisa Loeb. I'm honored to be included.

Welcome to those of you who found me via the Inquirer! If you're looking for more on kiddie rock, check out the "Minivan Rotation" section over in the sidebar. Also, be sure to visit Zooglobble and Spare the Rock for more kids' music news, reviews, and witty banter.

Blogging About the Shoes, Redux

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:28:00 +0000

With all the discussion going on this weekend about the New York Times piece about BlogHer, and its placement in the Fashion and Style section, I immediately flashed back to a post I wrote two years ago about the BlogHer conference. What I wrote in 2006 actually holds up pretty well, so I'm re-posting it below.

Before going any further, though, I should mention two important points. 1) Although I've been a part of BlogHer and the BlogHer Ad Network since 2006, I have never been to a BlogHer conference. I have followed the conferences closely online for the last three years, and there's a good chance I'll attend the mini-conference in Atlanta this fall. 2) I own nearly 40 pairs of shoes. Someone once said the number of pairs of shoes a woman owns should equal her age, and I've lived up to that pretty well in my adult life.

I also must mention that I had some great conversation about this yesterday (via Twitter) with Elisa Camahort Page, one of the co-founders of BlogHer. She asked me, "Why is it not equally diminishing to one's credibility to talk abt sports? Tim Russert did it every Sunday."

I must admit, this is a great question, and I've been pondering it a lot this weekend. My best answer is this: Men don't lose credibility when they talk sports because their credibility is already (in most cases) firmly established. Because women are still, by our own admission, trying to earn and establish credibility in the blogosphere, we can't yet expect that "shoe talk" won't hurt us. The sad reality is, it will.

In some career fields and other settings, women have achieved a level of credibility to talk shoes or fashion the way men talk sports -- and that's great. But looking at the big picture, we are still living in a patriarchal society. We can stand outside the castle and throw rocks at it, shouting that the people inside should change; or we can work our way inside the castle and make change happen. When it comes to situations like this, my mantra has always been, "You can do more damage from the inside."

_______________________________________________

From June 30, 2006

So I've been following BlogHer this weekend -both at the BlogHer site and with some of my favorite bloggers who have posted updates and photos. I've come across a few other bloggers who are blogging about not being at BlogHer. I also found several different run-downs of the session on Mommy Bloggers, including this great one from CityMama. I love that this session was called "Mommy Blogging is a Radical Act" and that there was a lot of discussion about empowerment. I love that there were bloggers live-blogging all the sessions so I could fill my head with all kinds of great new ideas. And I especially love that next year's BlogHer conference is in Chicago. What an amazing city.

One thing I didn't love so much was the BlogHer post I saw Friday night with a Flickr slideshow about what shoes attendees were wearing. That was followed by another photo-essay post about purses, bags and backpacks. Here is an organization and a conference that are supposedly all about empowering women and helping them to find their voices through blogging, and two of their prominent live-from-BlogHer posts are about shoes and handbags.

(So not being at BlogHer has given me too much time to think too hard. Please don't think that this post comes out of some deeply-rooted BlogHer conference envy, or that I've lost my sense of humor and fun in this summer's heat. These are the things I think about when I spend too much time on the computer. Had I been at BlogHer, I very well may have been agreeable to pose for one of those photos - oooohhhh, yes, look at my cool shoes! and my excellent bag! But since I wasn't there, I had the time and the perspective to think too hard. This has bothered me since Friday night, and I have really struggled with how to express this without alienating a whole bunch of people.)

Let me clarify a few things. I am not radically against all things feminine or girly. I wear make-up. I shave my legs. I get my eyebrows waxed. And at the same time, I respect my friends who choose not to do these things. But I do not usually talk openly about makeup or shaving or waxing (or shoes and handbags) in situations where I want to feel empowered, where I'm trying to make an important statement or impression, or where I want to be taken seriously by both women and men.

So it seemed to me that the BlogHer homepage, on the weekend of the BlogHer conference (attended by hundreds and hundreds of mostly women bloggers) was sending a very confusing mixed message, saying, Women are an important force in the blogging world, and people should sit up and take notice of what we have to say and take us seriously, while at the same time squealing, And OMG, look at our cool shoes! And purses!

And then we wonder why, as women (or as moms, or even as bloggers), we are not being taken more seriously.

In fact, while the posts about shoes and handbags sat prominently on the BlogHer site, a huge crowd of women gathered in the Mommy Bloggers session to discuss questions like why aren't people taking us more seriously? or why is "mommy blogger" a disparaging term? Quite possibly, women in other BlogHer sessions were asking similar questions.

There are many bloggers (including some of my favorites, some incredibly smart and hilarious women) who do talk openly about make-up and shaving and waxing, and sometimes I have even joined in such discussions. On those blogs. I would not have been surprised to see a shoe or handbag slideshow on those blogs. I would have found it fun and entertaining. But on the BlogHer site? It was kind of disappointing. Kind of...insulting. I wonder how any of you attendees felt about being portrayed this way.

I see that BlogHer actually has a blog category called Fashion and Shopping. Ironically, it's right above Feminism and Gender in their list of blog categories. I know that BlogHer is trying to blog all kinds of different angles of the conference, and that their base represents a broad range of interests and beliefs. But blogging about shoes and handbags when you're trying to demonstrate what a powerful force women bloggers are isn't really empowering anyone, is it?

The original post with comments can be found here.

Like it or Not (and yes, we did like it)

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:58:00 +0000

A chance to see an awesome kids' artist on his way through Atlanta sounds like a great idea, right? A free, impromptu concert in the park? What a perfect outing for a Saturday afternoon. A chance to stick my head out from under this rock and make a social appearance as The Lovely Mrs. Davis? I'm there. Knowing that some cool friends will be there? Icing on the cake.

The Jellydots' new release (which happens to have been produced by Bryan Townsend) has been getting lots of rotation in the minivan lately. My kids especially love the song "Art School Girl." So much so, in fact, that 3-year-old Ralph believes Art School Girl is also the name of the album AND the band. (And this is probably a good time to point out that the Jellydots are not so much a band as a really talented and visionary guy, the Apple program GarageBand, and, occasionally, a handful of other seemingly interchangeable musicians. Kind of the Steely Dan of kids' music.)

So off we went on Saturday afternoon to see the Jellydots in concert at a local park. I explained to my family that it would be more like a single Jellydot -- mastermind Doug Snyder -- and probably not an actual band of Jellydots. Because of his continued insistence that we were going to see "Art School Girl" and my lengthy explanation of Jellydot versus JellydotS, I think Ralph had gathered that we were headed out to see a creative young woman with handfuls of candy.

Add to this that we had already ~~endured~~ enjoyed two fairly major activities that day -- a rocket-building workshop at 10 am and a screening of the 3-D movie Fly Me to the Moon at noon. It turns out a trip home after the movie to regroup, change shirts, and chill with Legos was not quite enough to re-energize and re-focus my children.

So imagine my joy when we arrive at the park for the Jellydot concert, begin chatting with my friends, and my children begin "fritzing" -- the way your TV and lights begin to cut in and out just before a complete power outage. It was at this moment that I realized we'd forgotten to bring any water. Never mind that it's 90 degrees out and it's 4 pm on a napless afternoon. I was bound and determined that we would have fun. As my dad (the Yogi Berra of parenting) used to say, "You're going to like this whether you like it or not."

And I was making an APPEARANCE! I could not be bothered with fussy, tired, dehydrated children. See?

We got a quick backstage tour from Bryan (where backstage = the picnic bench a few yards away, from which the Jellydot would be performing), chatted with Doug for a bit, then spread our blanket on the grass front and center. Jim took Ralph to the swings while we waited for the show to start. I tried to convince Walter that this would be the BEST THING EVER and that he'd better start to have fun OR ELSE.

How could the lovely children of The Lovely Mrs. Davis possibly be seen at a kiddie rock show in such a state of misery?

Like this.

Finally, the music started.

Surely my children will snap out of their funk and sing along with the Jellydot, I insisted to myself. Perhaps they will even dance. After Walter spent the first three songs glaring at the Jellydot and grunting at me, and Ralph asked to go back to the swings, I would have settled for smiles and a bit of toe-tapping.

Luckily, my children's lack of enthusiasm didn't stop the Jellydot from putting on a fabulous show.

As an encore, he sang "Art School Girl." And my sons actually clapped. Briefly. Then they fought in the back seat all the way home.

But the funny thing is, they've mentioned numerous times since then how GREAT it was to see the Jellydot in the park. And as I began writing this post, with the Jellydots CD playing on my computer, Walter came up and said, "Hey, we heard that song over the weekend! At that concert! That was so AWESOME!"

Yes, Walter, it was. I'm glad you realize that now.

More photos here. Gwyneth's recap and photos here.

Lessons Learned This Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 03:00:00 +0000

A sticker chart is an incredibly powerful motivator for Ralph (even though these never worked for Walter).

New paint can solve many problems.

A John Hiatt concert draws an interesting crowd, but a fairly narrow demographic.

There will always be drunk people at concerts, and it's best not to mock them because you will probably step in a hole and trip on your way back to your car.

Carrying around the "Couch to 5K Running Plan" in my bag for two weeks does not count as exercise.

I am running out of time to accomplish things on my "to-do-before-turning-40" list.

An MRI is much more unpleasant than a mammogram.

I understand why my mom took that ceramics class when I was in 8th grade.

Sometimes My Life Resembes a Warner Bros. Cartoon

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:11:00 +0000

Admitting you have a rodent problem is like admitting to the world that you have toenail fungus, or your kids have headlice, or that you think it's FINE to change your underwear every three days (and by the way, none of those apply to us). But here I am, telling the world about our rodent problem. This is perhaps the most raw and revealing post I've ever written. Or maybe it's the most helpful tip I've ever given. Regardless, the problem and the solution are both worth sharing.

I've found a rodent invasion to be much like grief, in that it's processed in stages. (Elisabeth Kubler-Ross would love this.)

1. Shock and shame. We first discovered our rodent problem when we heard a scritch-scratching noise behind a wall in the kitchen late one night. I was horrified. I flashed back to the time we spotted a possum on our back porch. I thought of the many squirrels that jump around in our trees. I imagined little mice invading our walls. We discovered that people-noise seemed to keep the rodent-noise at bay, so we left a radio in the kitchen on all night, along with a light.

2. Blame the neighbors. The next morning I remembered that our next door neighbor had mentioned seeing rodent droppings on her back porch. She believed the rodents were coming from the next house over, owned by a family with some unconventional garbage habits (that's a nice way of saying they are too cheap to pay for private garbage pick-up like the rest of us and instead let it accumulate in their back yard until they are ready to make a big haul to the dump). RATS! Surely, these rodents were the result of the neighbors' garbage. We called our bug guy (who sprays our yard for mosquitoes in the summer and treats our house quarterly for all other bugs) first thing that morning. He came out right away, but didn't see any droppings. He told us about traps and suggested looking for cracks or holes to patch. He also assured us that rodents are "much more common that most people realize" and "not necessarily a reflection of our cleanliness." That didn't help.

3. Stalking and hyper-vigilance. We heard the scritch-scratching again a few nights later, but it wasn't until we had visual evidence of a rodent that we moved to this stage. There were droppings. In several places in our house. We stayed up past midnight scrubbing and cleaning -- a real live rodent had been in our house and left his mark. We called our bug guy again and took his advice on laying traps. We watched and waited. There were nights with very little sleep, and many mornings of rushing downstairs to check the traps for a rodent. One morning, a glue trap (which we had dotted with a bit of peanut butter) was out of place, and peanut butter was smeared on the floor nearby. There were small clumps of hair stuck in the glue trap. But the critter had escaped.

4. Pity. Shortly after the glue trap incident, I noticed how many chipmunks (or ground squirrels - I can't tell the difference) were darting around our yard. Could this be our rodent? I felt a tinge of pity, and felt guilty for trying to kill such a cute, innocent creature.

5. Challenge. I Googled something about how to get rid of chipmunks from one's house and found excellent advice. I also learned that chipmunks reproduce quickly -- like rabbits. The urgency of our situation suddenly escalated. I set a new trap -- outside, in a spot where I suspected the rodent was entering our crawlspace. My husband raised his eyebrow and harrumphed. But then.....

6. Success. Two days later, we had our guy. My husband was suddenly excited and enthusiastic about the trap I had set. I was nauseous, sad, and disturbed to find that our "little critter" was actually a rat. We continued to set the trap, and a few days later we had another rat.

So let me tell you about the trap. The one that worked. As described in an online gardening forum, we filled a large bucket halfway with water, and threw sunflower seeds on top. The seeds float, making it appear from above like a solid surface. We laid a board on the edge of the bucket, like a ramp, and sprinkled sunflower seeds on it as well. Rodents would be attracted to the seeds, walk up the ramp to nibble them, see a bucket full of them, and jump (or fall, or perhaps even be pushed by another rodent - because conspiracy theories are awesome) into the bucket and drown.

Several posts on Garden Web praise the trap for catching chipmunks. I am praising it here for catching rats. Eeeew. My guess is that it would work well for many varieties of rodents.

Yes, it's gory and disgusting and possibly cruel. But rodents in our house are also gory and disgusting, and they can cause damage and sickness and unrest. I am exercising my opposable thumb and my superior place in the food chain. I am catching rats and killing them. I am now the bad guy in some Disney movie. But I'm also a mom who will go to great lengths to keep my kids safe.

Be warned, rodents! I am to rats what Tipper Gore was to rock music. I am the PMRC of pest control.

Minivan Rotation: Summer Playlists from Savvy Bloggers

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:57:00 +0000

A few of us who are blogging for Savvy Source put together our summer playlists for kids. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself after compiling my playlist, but then I took a look at what some of the others pulled together, and WOW -- these are incredible! You'll find The Beatles, Bob Marley, and Banarama mixed in there with Astrograss and Elizabeth Mitchell. You might want to take a look at these playlists from bloggers in:

San Fernando Valley
Washington DC
Minneapolis
San Antonio
Nashville

My list is here, and posted as an iMix on iTunes.

Atlanta, Help a Blogger Out

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:28:00 +0000

So it's been nearly a year since we made our triumphant return to the ATL, the land of our carefree youth. I'm very close to having our house completely re-painted inside, I'm using the word "ya'll" regularly in conversation without blinking, I'm up to speed on the latest traffic lingo, and I think Atlantic Station is the greatest thing ever. Also? We have decided that Kennesaw is the new Midtown.

But even after a year here, I have a few unanswered questions. I hope ~~you~~ ya'll can help me out.

1. When and how did Monica go from Kaufman to Pearson?

2. When did Eddie's Attic become Someone Else's Attic with Eddie on staff?

3. Is Clay Harper still around? What about Ottoman Empire? They were one of our fave bands back in the day. They seem to have evaporated.

Please advise.

There's No Charge for Awesomeness

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:21:00 +0000

I decided to avoid the crowds at Wall-E this weekend and took the boys to see Kung Fu Panda. It's a great movie, but so much more violent than I expected (although I suppose one could debate the subtle difference between "violence" and "action"). The best part was there were only three other families in the theater with us. The other best part was Jack Black singing "Kung Fu Fighting" during the credits.

Dr. Max and Mombo: An Illustrated History

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:34:00 +0000

I've been getting a lot of traffic in the last few days from searches on Dr. Max and Mombo, so I'm pulling this back up to the top. And - even better - I've fixed the link to the theme song and added a quick video clip at the end. If you're an old Dr. Max fan, drop me a line at thelovelymrsdavis@gmail.com, or leave me a note in the comments.(Originally published July 19, 2007.)

If you grew up watching TV in the years before cable television, chances are you had a local kids' program like the one I grew up watching. On WMT, the Eastern Iowa CBS affiliate, we had Dr. Max and Mombo weekday afternoons at 3:30. The show was named for its host, Dr. Max, an older, somewhat distinguished gentleman, and his sidekick Mombo, a big, goofy clown with the intellect of a 6-year-old (at least as I recall).

Dr. Max and Mombo aired cartoons on a "magic" board in their studio. In between cartoons, they announced viewers' birthdays, introduced groups of Boy Scouts and Camp Fire Girls who were visiting the studio, and shared public service announcements about bike safety and hygiene. At the start of every show, they also unveiled the "name of the day" -- which was displayed on the magic board.

I loved this show. And at the age of 6 or 7, I didn't understand the difference between local and national programs, so I assumed that everyone, everywhere was watching Dr. Max. When my Blue Bird troop went on the show in second grade, it was one of the most exciting days of my life, as evidenced by the notes I made on the back of this photo I received there.

Notice, especially, the "I was on T.V.!!!" part:

Just a couple months earlier, I had been lucky enough to have Mombo appear at my 8th birthday party. My parents arranged this as a surprise, and for the 8-year-old me, this was the best surprise ever.

Dr. Max and Mombo aired from 1961 to 1981, and both men have since passed away. The era of television they represent is also long-gone. What does that make me?

Old. Very, very old.

Click here for an mp3 of the Dr. Max and Mombo theme song.
Click here for KGAN's history of the show.

The Best Shot

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 03:57:00 +0000

We shot no less than 500 pictures today on our visit to the Atlanta History Center. As I searched through them for pictures worthy of adding to my Flickr account, I tried to pick a favorite, a BEST picture of the day. I looked at the lighting, the composition, the clarity. But that was all secondary when it came to these two shots. These capture the boys in such a concise, perfect way, even though they are technically so imperfect. These are moments in which each of them "peaked" -- moments in which each of them felt and understood that this was a great day and a fantastic place.

Here is Ralph looking at sheep (real live farm animals! making baaaah sounds!), sweaty and a little worn out, after walking across a small bridge and - earlier - climbing on an elephant sculpture.

Pure joy.

And here is Walter, sitting on the patio at the Atlanta History Center, discussing what we had seen over the last few hours: an exhibit on the civil rights movement, another on the Atlanta Olympics, and two historic homes. He asked questions that I wasn't prepared to answer, and made observations and connections that I did not expect from an 8-year-old -- which led to one of those very serious discussions between my husband and me later on this evening about how to answer such questions and how to find some books or videos to help guide him.

So thoughtful.

P.S. Does anyone have suggestions on books or videos (especially historical fiction or documentaries) to help an 8-year-old learn about the civil rights movement?

C is for Colbert Report

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 03:17:00 +0000

File this under Great Moments in Parenting. My 3-year-old accidentally saw this appearance by Cookie Monster on the Colbert Report.

Our Coverage is Lousy, But Our Hair Looks Great

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:39:00 +0000

CNN has let me down many times in the last few years -- anchors that are more like Ron Burgundy than Walter Cronkite, a huge lack of depth and understanding in the stories they cover, and often, just plain missing the point.

But in the last few days, CNN's coverage of the flooding in Eastern Iowa has left me beyond frustrated. Thankfully, I've been able to get better news from family and friends back in my hometown, as well as from the internet. The websites of several local TV stations and Iowa newspapers have been incredibly thorough and insightful. Somehow, I expected the enormous international news network of CNN, with its extensive resources and experience covering natural disasters, to have more to offer than a reporter standing in the middle of a flooded street last night scooping up fish with a net on live TV.

To top it off, I got to see Betty Nguyen make a complete fool of herself this morning. [Update: I found the video on YouTube! Hooray!] A CNN reporter in Cedar Rapids had just explained the severity of the water shortage there by saying that if people didn't stop flushing their toilets, there might not be enough water to fight the next big fire. Betty's response, after the most confused look I've ever seen: "But how can flushing a toilet cause a fire?"

GAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

And so, CNN, since you seem to be somewhat stupefied by how to cover the Eastern Iowa floods, here are a few suggestions.

1. Analyze the economic impact. If a small city with a population of 120,000 or so suffers losses of at least $700 million, how does that compare to other recent natural disasters in other parts of the country?

2. Look at Davenport, Iowa, or another city/town that had major damage in the 1993 floods and show how they recovered -- how long it took, what had to be re-built or fixed, how they cleaned up, how much it cost, how people got through it.

3. Show us the parts of life that are going on (sort of) as usual. Were there any weddings at any of the churches there on Saturday? (It is June, after all.) Were there people at the mall? At the park? At the grocery store? At church or out eating brunch this morning?

4. Speaking of the grocery store, are the shelves there getting kind of bare? Have the stores run out of bottled water or milk or batteries?

5. How many people there have been out sandbagging and cleaning up and helping at the shelters? From what I've heard informally, the turnout has been tremendous.

6. A railroad bridge collapsed into the water the other day. What will be the impact of that?

7. Of the hundreds of city blocks that were flooded, mostly near downtown, analyze the make-up of those areas. What major employers are there? What major landmarks are there? Who lives in those neighborhoods? Tell us about the public library, the Paramount Theater, the US Cellular Center, the art museum, the community theatre, the Czech Museum and Czech village, the churches, the homes, the banks, the Ground Transportation Center. How much of this town's culture and history are located within just a few blocks of the river?

8. There are a lot of farms in Iowa, right? Let's look at what's happening to the crops.

9. Go to the Cork-n-Fork. Or to Leonardo's on the west side. Go to the Drug Town on Mt. Vernon Road. Or Menard's. Talk to people who are out and about. Find the stories.

10. Where is all this water going to go?

There are so many angles to cover, and yet all you had to offer at 10 pm last night was the "Hey, look! There are fish in the streets!" story. You should be embarrassed, CNN.

Sure, I might be more interested in this story than most people, since I'm a Cedar Rapids native and a bit of a news junkie. But the story is far bigger and more interesting than CNN has recognized. Also, I'm not suggesting that CNN give it round-the-clock live coverage. I'm much more interested in the quality of their coverage than the quantity. I would have been happy to see a couple of intelligent, well-produced 3-minute or 5-minute spots on the flooding rather than the hours of rambling, incoherent nonsense CNN has shown.

Lastly, CNN, you're not only getting trounced by local network affiliates in Eastern Iowa, you're also getting trounced by video bloggers like David Howell, who got picked up by the BBC last night with his coverage of the floods, shot on a Nokia cellphone.

CNN, you've dropped the ball.

Devil Town

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:59:00 +0000

It's been hard to put together words to talk about the flooding in Cedar Rapids. Watching my hometown from so far away, feeling helpless, being able to reach some family and friends but not others -- it's getting a little unnerving. Not as bad as what the people there are going through, I'm sure. So I really shouldn't complain. I woke up with electricity, air conditioning, a warm shower, a dry house, a sunny day, and my morning Diet Coke. I knew my sister had stockpiled bottled water and was preparing to feed her husband and kids for several days without power.

It was raining this morning and when I went out to my van, that was the first I got really nervous. The sidewalk was full of running water and the water was gushing up out of the sewers and rushing down the street.

I've been watching the flood online over the last few days, getting updates on Twitter from a few CR Twitterers, reading a couple of CR bloggers who have been incredibly on top of the news there, chatting with my little sister by phone (although I can't get through to her this morning), and emailing some old high school classmates.

Very surreal here....People living a little closer to the river may be out of jobs. I feel VERY blessed right now.

But it wasn't until this morning that it all really sunk in with me.

There's a water treatment plant not too far from my house and around 10 PM last night the news reported they needed help quickly. I ran down there, but by the time I got there there were already 3000 people there ready to help, and they were re-directing everyone to Mercy Hospital....I am heading to the west side K-mart to help sandbag now.

And then I saw pictures of one of the hospitals in town being evacuated. This is the hospital where all of my siblings and I were born. It's were I spent a month when I was four years old. It's where I've visited many family and friends over the years, where I volunteered as a candy striper, where my mom worked for several years, where my little sister had her babies, and where my mom spent the last few days of her life. Seeing those pictures, this suddenly became a lot more personal.

So now I'm waiting to see what's next. Waiting to hear the next bit of news. The next neighborhood being evacuated, the next business closing, the next loss of water or gas or power or phones.

The Weekend in Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 01:40:00 +0000

Many adventures were had. And oh, it was hot. Here is our weekend in photos. The soundtrack to our weekend (because it's what we had on in the car nearly anytime we were out, and it seemed so perfect) was REM's Accelerate album.

Two T-shirts, a Gallon of Milk, and a Plastic Frog

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:07:00 +0000

The title up there is the answer.
Here is the question: What are three things I bought at Target tonight?

Let's try another one.

Answer: New lamps for my living room, some baby formula coupons (because some marketing company has mistaken me for the mother of a newborn), and a gas bill.
Question: What came in my mail yesterday?

Answer: Legos, Cheez-its, frozen waffles, and a whip with sound effects (which is quite awesome, by the way).
Question: What are four items in our house bearing the Indiana Jones name and logo?

Answer: Singing at a professional wrestler's televised wedding.
Question: What is Ace Young up to these days?

Answer: More home improvement projects, playing outside, and writing for a new website.
Question: What am I up to these days?

Please stop over at Being Savvy: Atlanta and say hello!

Links for 6/1/08

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 02:27:00 +0000

I'm so, so sad that we missed this -- a "500 Songs for Kids" marathon at Smith's Olde Bar in Atlanta. You can check out the list of all 500 songs here, and you'll probably be as surprised as I was to find Tammy Wynette's "Stand by your Man" and Dexy's Midnight Runner's "Come on Eileen". Less surprising, but still awesome -- "The Time Warp", "Footloose", "Singin' in the Rain" and "Sister Christian" (which landed at #2). Josh Rifkind, if you're out there, please find me. Let's do lunch.

This is the best commentary I've read on Emily Gould's essay in the New York Times Magazine. If you don't know who Emily Gould is, this is a fantastic place to start. And end.

Check out these photographic re-enactments of kids' drawings. I can't understand a word of it, yet I love it, and I want more. (via Your New Favorite)

Speaking Their Language

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 19:05:00 +0000

The sound of a helicopter flying. The sound of a stuffed animal exploding. The sound of an action figure punching another action figure. The sound of a lightsaber fight.

I can't make any of these sounds well. Instead, when playing with my sons, I say KAPOW! and CRASH! and BAM! Perhaps it's my obsession with using words -- words that can be spelled and written. Words that might be found in a dictionary. These sounds that my sons make are far from words. They are elaborate combinations of consonants -- many of them s's and k's and p's -- with very few vowels.

I've been amazed that while Ralph (now three years old) still struggles to pronounce words like chicken and toilet, he is able to make these incredibly complicated sounds. And his ability to do so seems almost innate. Yes, he's played enough with Walter (now eight) to hear and repeat many such sounds, but there was almost no learning curve. He heard them and repeated them immediately. He created his own new sounds. And this happened without practice, without coaching, without correction.

I wonder if, centuries ago, this was the language of men. If the sounds of helicopters and cars and explosions were the inspiration to build and create such things. There are days I think my sons could communicate with each other using only these sounds -- that words for them are just a formality. And I wonder if my words, to them, sound like an adult speaking on a Charlie Brown special. Wah wah wah WAH wah.

I wish I could speak their language.

Aaaaaand We're Back!

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:35:00 +0000

So yeah. That move over to Wordpress didn't give my writing the jumpstart I expected. In fact, it was kind of a trainwreck. I'm back.

An Open Letter to John and John

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 23:44:00 +0000

There are very few artists whom I've addressed directly on this blog in an "open letter" -- I believe Laurie Berkner and Dan Zanes are the only two (although that Dan Zanes entry isn't so much an open letter as a shout-out). My latest open letter is a "Dear Johns" letter -- for John Flansburg and John Linnell of They Might Be Giants.

**************************************************************************

Dear John and John,

You probably get tired of having adjectives like "quirky" and "clever" applied to your music. I can totally relate. My brother used to refer to my husband and me (back in our starving artist days) as "avant garde" and try to associate us with other things he considered "avant garde" -- including a mixed drink he discovered at some holiday party. So I will try not to use those adjectives in discussing your new kids' album, Here Come the 123s. Instead, I'll call it crazy-fun, mind-blowing, and possibly -- in some cases -- too hip for the room.

You probably know me only as some anonymous mom somewhere with a laptop and too much time on her hands. Some "Brenda in a bathrobe" type who rarely leaves her house and likes to mouth off about things she really doesn't understand. Someone your publicist may have told you could provide a valuable (and timely - not so much!) soundbite about your new(ish) CD/DVD, Here Come the 123s. Well, at one time, I did have too much time on my hands. And I do have a laptop. But I never wear a bathrobe after 8 am, I have a fairly sturdy grasp on music (kids' music in particular), and I'm terrible at soundbites.

It's possible that you know me better as the crazy stalker-like woman in the kiddie mosh pit at your July 2005 concert in Cleveland.

The one in the braids and the pink shirt who couldn't take her eyes off of your accordion (Linnell) or your guitar (Flans). The one who lifted her shirt (to feed her 4-month-old) in the middle of your first set. The one who nearly ran up on the stage to dance when hearing you open with "Alphabet of Nations" and who enthusiastically demonstrated that she knew all the lyrics to "Go, Go, Go, Go for G." That was me. Hello, it's nice to see you again.

Getting a promo copy of Here Come the 123s was one of the most exciting musical happenings in my life since hearing the first chords of "Alphabet of Nations" at your live show in 2005. (Don't get out much? Yes, that's me, too.) So it's taken me some time to listen critically and not like a fan-girl (fan-mom?), and to formulate some intelligent opinions about this album. Here they are.

John and John, you had me at Here Come...

This album could have been Here Come the State Capitols. Or Here Come the Mysteries of the Rosary. Or Here Comes the Bill of Rights. Or Here Come Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover. (Stop me. Please.) Or Here Come the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. (Okay, admit it. That was worth just one more, right? And Johns, I want a cut of any of those albums that you end up writing.)

Regardless of the focus or theme of this latest kids' album of yours, it was bound to be brilliant. Because writing within fairly rigid boundaries seems to be a strength of yours, whether it's the 123s, the ABCs or State Songs. And on top of focusing on numbers, you created several challenges for yourselves within that theme -- like "let's write a disco song" and "let's write a bubble gum pop song."

Here Come the 123s has been in heavy minivan rotation here since it arrived back in January. Fourteen of the tracks are about individual numbers (zero through 12, sort of -- you do the math), but some of the best material on the album comes in the next six tracks, with songs like "813 Mile Car Trip" and "I Can Add." (And by the way, was the verse in Spanish, prefaced by the line "I don't even know Spanish, but I'm going to sing it in Spanish now!" by any chance a nod to Dan Zanes? Because if so, HILARIOUS! And if not, well, I'm thinking way too hard about these things.)

Of the zero-to-twelve songs, "One Dozen Monkeys" is remarkable both for the catchy counterpoint between the bass and vocal lines and for the outstanding vocals of 12-year-old Hannah Levine; and "Seven" stands out as signature TMBG kids writing.

There are dozens of songs out there I could play or sing for my kids to teach them to count, but very few to teach them about infinity, nonagons, or concepts like the omniverse. It's possible that some parents might learn as much from this album as their kids, or that some of the ideas and images here might be over the heads of parents (although right on target for a five-year-old). But it's also possible that I'm a bit of an elitist and don't give other parents enough credit.

Just as I smile at the idea of a politically conservative family bringing home a Dan Zanes album after seeing a couple of his songs on the Disney channel (because if it's Disney, it must be good!) and hearing songs celebrating immigration and the labor movement, I also smile as I imagine parents completely lacking in musical taste bringing home a copy of Here Come the 123s (because it's educational! and it's Disney!) without having any idea about the music. Blowing parents' minds while teaching kids to count - that's subversion at its best.

Lastly, my three-year-old thanks you for the inclusion of the super-awesome extended version of "Hot Dog" and the "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Theme".

John and John, you guys rock.

Very truly yours,

Mrs. Davis

Tonight's Idol, Briefly

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 03:35:00 +0000

If you had told me a few months ago that I would be rooting for a boy with dreadlocks and a ukulele singing "Over the Rainbow", I would never have believed you.

Carly Smithson's music career, it seems, was never meant to be.

Ascots and Aerosmith do not mix well, Michael Johns. And I still do not believe that you are 29.

My husband's opinion: David Archuleta needs to be chained to a rock and played Toys in the Attic by Aerosmith and Exile on Main Street by the Stones for three days straight. Then, perhaps, he will be cured.

P.S. My new favorite Idol commentary is Grammar Idol at Editrix.

In More Places

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:28:00 +0000

If I ever complain about a lack of privacy, please remind me of this post.

I've been playing around on Facebook for a few months now and finally decided to mention it here. It's taken a while, but I'm finally enjoying it (which, if you were one of the Facebook friends I Rick-Rolled on April 1, you probably already know).

And I'm Twittering. Because I think a lot of people probably care about my minute-to-minute whereabouts and goings-on and what I'm having for lunch. And because if I ever get caught in a hostage situation or stuffed in someone's trunk, I can notify the entire world with one little text message. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing with Twitter, so if you start following me there now, you can enjoy my awkward phase.