Kids Music in Chicago

Sorry for the interruption. I’m back from my winter break now. Lots in kids music in Chicago is happening! More on the way…

There is a lot (really a lot) of kid’s music excitement this weekend. I think this must somehow be related to that thing where the busses all come at the same time. The Folks & Roots Festival was one of the best events we went to all of last year, so we’re definitely going again this weekend, hopefully to both days. If my husband will keep an eye on our daughters during their nap, I’m also going to head to Schuba’s to see Little Miss Ann. Lots more is going on though (see the Calendar for more details).

• July 13-15 Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park.
• Saturday, July 14th Ralph’s World at Morton Arboretum
• Saturday, July 14th Justin Roberts at Ravinia
• Saturday & Sunday, July 14th & 15th Folks & Roots Festival with many, many great performers (especially at the kids tent)
• Saturday & Sunday, July 14th & 15th Central Street Family Fest with Joel Frankel
• Saturday & Sunday, July 14th & 15th Rock Around the Block with Little Nashville
• 1:00 pm, Sunday, July 15th Little Miss Ann band at Schubas

There are a bunch of really exciting kids music events this weekend. I’m especially interested in the Belmont Art & Music Festival where you can get the chance to not only see our own Little Miss Ann in person, but also Karen Banks-Lubicz, Mary Macaroni and Stacy Buehler. I also want to see Erin Flynn and Lenny Marsh at the Notebaert Nature Museum again. This is really a unique event that is worth making the time for.

Saturday, June 23rd

• 10:00 am – 11:30 am Karen Banks-Lubicz at Winnemac Park (near playground SW corner of park), 5100 N. Leavitt St
• 11:00 am Erin Flynn and Lenny Marsh at the Notebaert Nature Museum Cicada Sing-Along with songs and games all about the 17-year cicadas set to emerge in Chicago this summer. Children will build their own instrument to sing like cicadas and learn about the lives of these fascinating creatures. This program is free for children of all ages and their caregivers.
• 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm Joel Frankel at the Chicago HealthFest at Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park

Saturday & Sunday, June 23rd and 24th

• Belmont Art & Music Festival Great family and kids entertainment from noon - 3:00. I’m not sure exactly who’s performing when but they say our own Little Miss Ann, Karen Banks-Lubicz, Mary Macaroni and Stacy Buehler.
  • Saturday, 1:00 pm Karen Banks-Lubicz and Karen for Kids
  • Sunday, 12:30 pm Little Miss Ann Band
• Chicago Summerfest in Lincoln Park
  • Saturday, 12:00 pm Scribble Monster

We are big Erin Flynn fans and we listen to Dreamer of Dreams at least once a day, so we were very excited about the Cicada Singalong at the Notebaert Nature Museum. As it turns out, the event was even more wonderful than we expected. This time, I remembered my camera and battery. I wish I had a larger memory card, because I would have recorded more of the event.

For those of you who aren’t from the Chicago area, the 17 year Cicadas are up and about, even though you don’t really see any in the city. Interesting information from Wikipedia that mentions insects and prime numbers:

The Magicicada goes through a 17- or occasionally 13-year life cycle. These long life cycles are an adaptation to predators such as the cicada killer wasp and praying mantis, as a predator could not regularly fall into synchrony with the cicadas. Both 13 and 17 are prime numbers, so while a cicada with a 15-year life cycle could be preyed upon by a predator with a 3- or 5-year life cycle, the 13- and 17-year cycles allow them to stop the predators falling into step.

The event is hard to describe. I think it was more “interactive educational kids theater” than a singalong. Erin had the kids act out the life cycle of the Cicada while she described each stage of the Cicada’s life in song. What is amazing is that it completely worked. The kids loved it, the songs were amazing and everything just flowed. Erin just seemed to connect really well with the kids. She was never condescending and the kids really seemed to get what she was talking about. I wasn’t sure how much my 2 year old really absorbed, but then this morning when youtube finally finished processing my videos, she exclaimed, “I want the Timbales song”.

On Sunday, our girls woke up from their naps 30 minutes earlier than usual at 2:30. My husband and I looked at each other and said, “I bet we could get down to Printers Row for the Justin Roberts show at 3:00.” We ran around, piled in the car, parked illegally and made it to the show only 10 minutes late. We have Justin Roberts’ “Meltdown” CD and listen to it quite a lot, but we’ve never seen him live before. In all our rushing, I forgot my camera, so no video (again).

As expected, the show was a terrific amount of fun and Justin Roberts was even better live than on his CD. Lots of the kids knew his songs by heart and everyone danced and sang. He really seemed like a friend and you could tell the kids thought so too.

I am happy to welcome Ann Torralba as a contributor to this blog. You may be familiar with Ann as Little Miss Ann and from her fabulous CD. We are very lucky to have Ann as a contributor and already her first post is on the way.

Last Wednesday I packed my two girls into the car and drove down to Millennium Park for the free Wiggleworms. I was very proud that I was actually able to get us there a bit before 10:00 am. Unfortunately I left the battery for my camera in the charger in my kitchen, so I don’t have any video. At least I remembered both daughters.

I really wish I had my battery with me, because Tisa was fantastic. The music was terrific and she really engaged all the children and got everyone up and moving. The set up in the family tent is really nice with a big blue rubbery area in front of the stage for the kids to run, jump & fall down. The whole atmosphere was really friendly and inviting.

Afterwards Tisa signed our copy of “Tisa Plays Guitar and Strange Things Happen” for my daughters. We read the book quite often. I’ve been impressed at how well it has stood up to my girls’ rough treatment.

By the way, I stopped by a couple of days later during my lunch hour and the tent was closed because of high winds. It was quite windy, even for the windy city, so keep in mind that you might want to check on the weather before you make a long trip for a 10:00 am show.