Showdate: Dec 9, 2010
This tribute review was written by one of the baddest daddies in the land and avid YOTS reader DJDrD.
As you can tell, gentle reader, DJDrD is hard core and bringing the next generation of show goers into the fold. This isn’t for the weak of heart. This is @#%#@! Caspar Babypants. Take it DJDrD.
The family truckster slides into one of the last rain-soaked parking spaces at the venue. I roll out of the driver’s seat, yank open the back door and retrieve my 3-year old. No time to pre-func or chill: Showtime’s in 10 minutes, and I can see the band sound-checking in the large meeting room. Through the single-pane glass comes the distorted strains of “Shoo Fly”. Oh yeah, it’s a toddler show.
Cathy and I drag Stephanie inside. This is the kid’s first time seeing a live band play. She knows nothing of rushing the door to try and angle a front-row seat at a GA event; there’s pinecones to be picked up, wet ones! Finally, hit the line at the door. We’re behind about a dozen kids with their parents. The scene is the predictable middle-class South Seattle wannabe hipster suspects: lots of fleece, Patagonia and Uggs, about as white as a Republican convention. We are just cool enough to keep our kids away from Barney and the Teletubbies. We make them watch YoGabbaGabba and give them music from the dude who used to front the Presidents of the United States of America.
Said dude, Chris Ballew, is a minor local celeb who has launched a second career as a kids singer, aiming his unrelentingly catchy songs (which are a lot like POTUSA songs, actually, except without f-bombs or sexual innuendo) squarely at the three to five year-old demographic. He’s just released his 3rd CD, This is Fun! His first album, Here I Am!, has been a fixture in the family vehicle, and Stephanie has several favorites on it that she requests endlessly.
So. Here we are. Made it to the second row, sitting cross-legged on the floor behind a row of little girls dressed, inexplicably, in tutus. Maybe it’s ironic hipster wannabe parents idea of snarky rock show groupie attire for preschoolers. Maybe they just came from dance class. Whatever. Chris is dead center ahead of us. Anyone familiar with POTUSA will be unsurprised to see him playing a 3-string acoustic guitar. On our right, “RolandBabyshoes” on electric piano.On our left, “FrederickBabyshirt” on table of Kindergarten percussion instruments.All are wearing matching yellow T-shirts, Chris is wearing a baseball cap to hide his Ron Howard hairdo. First song is “Baby Bear”, a jaunty, stop-time number from the first CD. Stephanie recognizes it and stands, staring, motionless, mouth slightly open. Starstruck?A little sleepy?
About three songs in, I realize I’m having a lot more fun than Stephanie (that goes for Cathy, too). She really is sleepy. Starting a toddler show at 7pm is a little like starting an episode of Murder, She Wrote at 11 pm. Your target demographic may be interested, but they will be too pooped to fully enjoy it. Oh, well. I really am having more fun than Stephanie when about halfway through the set, Chris introduces his next tune as being written by another Seattle children’s artist: Nirvana. After suggesting the parents buy all the Nirvana albums for their little ones, the band launches into “Sliver” from the Incesticide album. (You know the one: “Grandma take me home/ Grandma take me home”) It’s a fun moment. At the end of the number, I lose control and like the lame dweeb I am, flash the rock ‘n’ roll “devil” horns hand signal. Chris catches it, smirks, and returns the gesture. Yeah. We’re soooo subversive.
The band plays for a full hour. Unreal. Since it was a free show in the back room of a public library for about 65 people I figured we would get about five or six songs. Nope, a full hour.More than 15 songs.A lot of choreographed and/or improvised interplay between the band members. Chris does quite a few trademark rocker leaps in the air. An artist who gives such a quality show for free should be rewarded with something approximating a living wage, so I hang around to buy stuff. Three autographed CDs for $30. Not bad. My daughter’s rock ‘n’ roll education is off to a good start…
