Connected2Christ

Posts Tagged ‘Music’

I’d like to thank Janet from Loving Heart Designs for guest reviewing this Music CD on my blog.

• May 30 –– Evanston, IL
• June 6  –– Columbus, OH
• June 12-13—Printer’s Row, Chicago
• June 26 – St. Louis
• July 9 – 10 – Winnipeg Folk Festival
• July 24 –  NYC
• July 25- Cambridge, MA
• August 1 and 7 – Chicago (various locations)
• August 13 – Seattle
• August 15 – Portland
• July 17 – San Francisco
• July 18 – Los Angeles

You can also find Justin Roberts on the popular social media sites Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and Youtube. To learn even more, visit the Justin Roberts website. You will find coloring sheets, music downloads, apparel, gift certificates and much more.

~GAhome2mom

http://www.lovingheartdesigns.com

Disclaimer: Loving Heart Designs received a free copy of Jungle Gym for this review from Beth Blenz-Clucas of Sugar Mountain PR.

Tot Yoga is the first video to focus on yoga for children between 10 months and 3 years old. The video encourages safe and nurturing physical activity to improve the parent-toddler relationship by increasing exercise and reducing stress. TOT YOGA is the innovation of Khadi Madama, a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) and an IAYT, Yoga Therapist who is a pioneer in the field of applied therapeutic yoga.

I believe this is a fantastic DVD program to encourage bonding between you and your child in sharing and teaching the importance of exercise in your day to day life! This program will increase strength and flexibility, reduce stress and calm restlessness, and improve fine motor skills in your child!

The video features three distinct sections.

1. Toddlers Teach Yoga – parents learn to mimic children’s movements to do simple stretching and strengthening poses

2. Parents Teach Yoga - parents learn how to engage a child between the ages of 10 months and 3 years in focused and relaxing playtime exercise

3. Parent Yoga – parents follow a simple routine of strengthening and stretching poses intended to reduce stress and increase strength and flexibility

Tot Yoga can be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Tot Yoga DVD retails for $20 on Totyoga.com and Amazon.com.  Running time is approximately 40 minutes.

About The Album…

Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem, an acclaimed American string band, is proud to announce the national retail release of their first family music CD. Ranky Tanky is a sunny place where kids and adults alike may groove to one effortless riff, rhythm and soaring harmony after another. Ranky Tanky features 17 songs and will be available on March 15th from independent label Mayhem Music.

Kids who listen to Ranky Tanky sing along to the catchy melodies and funky beats. Grownups recognize the sounds of Cat Stevens and Tom Petty as well as Nat King Cole, zydeco, and Texas swing.  Amid all the entertainment and fun, people of all ages find plenty of ways to discover this adventurous and nuanced journey through 100 years of American music. As Rani Arbo explains, there was only one criteria for choosing songs for Ranky Tanky: “If they’re good, they’re in.”

The band creates original songs for their grown-up shows, but all of the tracks on Ranky Tanky are covers, many of them dusted off from other genres, times and traditions. The title track is a hip-shaking game from the Georgia Sea Islands, and Cat Stevens’ “If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out” (currently enjoying heavy rotation on Sirius-XM Satellite Radio’s Kids Place Live) gets a full band-with-horn-section workout. Listeners of practically any musical taste can pick their favorites, from the raucous “Tennessee Wig Walk;” to the swingy “Kemo Kymo;” the Mardi Gras parade styled “They All Ask’d For You” or the rousing rendition of the classic “Purple People Eater.” Amid all this booty-shaking fun is a ukulele ditty from 1901, a twangy jaw harp solo, a 21st century lullaby and traditional Bahamian children’s song with an ethereal kalimba accompaniment.

Your official Ranky Tanky tour guide is sweet-singing fiddler Rani Arbo (who has logged several stints as Joan Baez’ backup singer). The rest of the band provides strong lead vocals too. Bassist Andrew Kinsey keeps the groove deep in his pocket, while Anand Nayak (whose work with SteveSongs is featured daily on PBS kids) growls, howls and soars on electric and acoustic guitars. Scott Kessel’s percussion rig, the “Drumship Enterprise,” anchors the proceedings. Cobbled together from cardboard and wooden boxes, tin cans, plastic jugs, and an old naugahyde suitcase, it is – like the band – unpretentious, soulful, a little bit silly and always musical.

After ten years on the road, Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem are a bona fide family themselves, with the chops to prove it. Now, after a cropof three highly-praised grownup CDs – and a bundle of their own kids – Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem are a group of musicians stretching toward a new audience. For a band with a reputation for dispensing joy (the Boston Globe describes their shows as “playful and profound”), family music making is a natural step. They plan to continue creating solid roots music for families: uplifting, joyfully spontaneous, danceable, occasionally wistful and never sarcastic.

My Thoughts…

I’m a southern girl with quite an appreciation for all sorts of music such as a genre not whole lot of people love. Which genre? I’m talking about bluegrass! I don’t know what it is, but nothing can bring a smile to my face and my toe to tapping like the playing of a fiddle! This is one reason why I couldn’t wait to review this album!

I’m pleased to say that not only myself but my daughter whom is nearly two is quite a fan of the “Ranky Tanky” album. This album is by far  the perfect mix of many great sounding instruments and well known songs such as “The Green Grass Grows Around and Around”, “If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out”, and the “Purple People Eater”. All songs I recall from my own childhood that I can now enjoy again with my own daughter!

I highly recommend this cd and give it 5/5 stars! If you are a fan of bluegrass, this cd is must and if you aren’t I would encourage you to give it a chance. You can — hear some samples here. And if you are interested in purchasing this album, click here.

Get connected…

Please do visit http://www.raniarbo.com/rankytanky/index.html as you can read reviews, listen to several of the tracks on the cd, and find out when the band may be touring near you!

Disclaimer: This product was provided for free at Connected2Christ.com by Beth Blenz-Cluca of Sugar Mountain PR.

About the Album…

What’s more fun than the award-winning Story Songs & Sing Alongs by Debbie and Friends? More Story Songs & Sing Alongs, of course! This new CD featuring 10 kid-tested tunes by one of America’s favorite new indie kids’ artists will get everyone in the family playing and dancing along. More Story Songs & Sing Alongs will be available nationally on March 30th from NewSound Kids and other retailers.

The latest release from the Boston based artist who is a college dean by day and a high-energy pop star most weekends, More Story Songs & Sing Alongs features familiar themes like and “I Think I Can” (based on the classic story The Little Engine That Could), “Simon Says” and “Little Red.” Kids will also delight in the goofy wordplay of tunes like “Rosie Wrong Rhyme” and enjoy the success of “Home Run Ronnie.” “Wendell” is a cumulative movement song that will get kids up and on their feet. Sesame Street’s legendary music teacher Bob McGrath, joins Debbie for the sweet good-bye song “Until Next Time.”

The fresh and crisp sound of More Story Songs & Sing Alongs comes from Debbie Cavalier’s deep understanding of what works with kids. Shari Lewis, Buffalo Bob Smith of Howdy Doody and Bob McGrath. Each of these trailblazers influenced her songwriting and creative approach to sharing music with children. After working in the field of music publishing and education for more than two decades, Debbie wanted to get back to working directly with children.

My Thoughts…

I immediately was excited about Debbie and Friends – More Story Songs & Sing Alongs the moment I heard about the album and was not disappointed. My nearly two year old daughter loves this cd! Why? This cd has lots of fun songs that are sweet and upbeat. On this album you’ll find fun twist on classic kids’ songs that are extremely refreshing as well as some great sing-a-long story songs from everything to baseball to a little boy who would rather make silly faces than smile when his photo is taken!

I will pop this cd in during my daughter’s play time after lunch and she will dance around and sing along to the songs. Or at least try to sing along, it’s pretty cute! Her favorite song is definitely “So So Happy”, which encourages a lot of interaction with it’s listeners. A few of the lines are as follows;

• So happy jump around;
• So happy make a sound;
• So happy clap your hands;
• So happy come on let’s dance!

This CD isn’t too rocky, like I said before it’s sweet and upbeat. I guarantee you won’t have a room full of rowdy kids while it’s playing. This mom loves it and I’m sure most other mom’s will like it too! I give it 4/5 stars!

Get Connected…

You can learn more about this album as well as other  information at www.DebbieandFriends.net
I personally loved how interactive this website it! You can watch fun music videos featuring favorites from the album, print coloring sheets for your kids, and much more!

Disclaimer: This product was provided for free at Connected2Christ.com by Beth Blenz-Cluca of Sugar Mountain PR.

10 Songs for Rocking Out & 10 Songs for Tucking In!

Party Like a Twinkle Star features 10 upbeat songs on one disc, “PARTY” (songs for rocking out), and 10 more soothing, soulful songs on the second disc, “TWINKLE” (songs for tucking in). These new and original songs have been recorded over the past three years and originally were conceived as two separate albums. Earlier this year, JAMband leader Charity Kahn decided to put them together as one set, divided by mood. One CD features the “celebratory, rockin’, funkin’, JAMband sound” and the second CD features “the more magical, mystical and inspirational JAMband love-a-bye songs,” according to Kahn.

My Thoughts:

This album is fantastic! Why do I like it? Well, I find it pretty unique and praise how there’s a upbeat cd as well as a much more mellow. The lyrics are fun and meaningful! If you, like me are not a fan of kids music with characters with extremely high and annoying to voices, you’ll opt to get this cd as you wont find any of that here.

The songs chosen to be on Party Like a Twinkle Star were written by mom that was inspired by the very best source, her children. you’ll find well know favorites such as Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Row, Row, Row Your Boat ( one of my favorites), as well as new songs to grow up with and love within your own family! And if you’d like to read the stories behind each song, you can do that by following this link.

My daughter loves to dance and play while this cd is playing. Also, since a lot of the graphic design I work I do  is geared toward children, just having this as background music is an inspiration to get my creative juices working! I highly recommend this CD for kids and for parents that are just big kids at heart!

Thinking about owning this album?

You can check out the Charity and The JAMband website and listen to full-length samples of each of the songs before you buy. Albums vary in price depending on whether you want over the other, both, digital or physical copies ranging from 9.99-19.99. Check out the options yourself at the Party Like a Twinkle Star page.

Get Connected!

Follow Charity on Twitter! * Fan Charity and the JAMband on Facebook! * Sign up for their email newsletter.

Disclaimer: Special Thanks to Charity and the JAMband for sending me a copy of their Party Like a Twinkle Star album free of cost in order to write a review.