MR. DAVID’S ROCK’N MUSIC FOR KIDS

Fids & Kamily Poll 2007

Wow. Are we behind the times. Just realized the Fids & Kamily Awards for 2007 came out with the 2007 winners. Have to admit that we were disappointed Jump in the Jumpy House only made it on the honorable mention list this year. Congrats to our comrades The Hipwaders who were named to the #5 spot. (BTW, we’re planning a show with them this June. We’ll be officially announcing the date very soon.)

What’s even better, is this Jumping Monkeys podcast we found where Stefan Shepard of Zooglobble, Amy Davis of The Lovely Mrs. Davis Tells You What to Think and Bill Childs of Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child talk about the winners. There’s a funny bit in here when Stefan talks about Mr. David "as close as kids music gets to Bob Dylan." (Hey, we definitely agree. And, of course we’ll take our publicity anywhere we can get it!)

 You can listen to the podcast by clicking here: Jumping Monkeys

Find us on Facebook? Download your free Mr. David song

Download for winter

CROCODILES ARE HUNGRY

To download song, right click here.

Crocodiles are Hungry is the first song on Jump in the Jumpy House. I think you’ll really dig this one. In fact, let me know what you think!

Mr. David has produced three albums for kids and their families. To purchase any of Mr. David’s album, click here.

ALBUMS

Mr. David’s First Album

The Great Adventures of Mr. David

Jump in the Jumpy House

I’ve just setup a profile on Facebook. I’m hoping to spread the word about my new CD "Jump in the Jumpy House." There’s jus so many different places to put your face these days, I’m getting a little overwhelmed by it all. Anyhoooo, I suppose it’s worth it if I can encourage just one more family to take a listen to my music.

We’re going to start putting one song each season for people to download for free this year. The first is Crocodiles are Hungry, one of my favorites off the new album. It’ll put a jump in your step during these cold winter months! Please tell us what you think of it. If you have any problems downloading the file, send us a message.

Mr. David.

 Crocodiles Are Hungry: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

MR. DAVID’S CD RELEASE PARTY: JUMP IN THE JUMPY HOUSE

Okay, sometimes we feel like real dead-beats here at Mr. David Musicworks. The CD Release Party for Jump in the Jumpy House was more than a week ago (by far the most successful concert we’ve EVER! had), and we still haven’t posted any pictures. There’s no excuse. The simple matter is that we need more bodies to help us do all the things that need to get done. Nevertheless, we do eventually get around to these things.

As for the concert goes, we can only say one thing, "WOW!" What a rush it was to hold a family concert at Santana Row (the height of chic, urban shopping in Silicon Valley) and have an entire park filled with fans who were singing, dancing and just rock’n out. For us, it was vindication of what we’ve been working so hard on for more than four years. In this business of music, it can get disheartening to put yourself out there again and again and wonder if it’s ever going to pay off or if anybody is really getting what you’re trying to do. On this beautiful evening, we realized that they did. (Tears are welling up right now as I write this.)

What struck us most about the evening was the energy that was present, an indescribeable feeling of community and appreciation for what we were all sharing. And what was most beautiful was that families and friends, all ages, were sharing the experience together, devoid of any of the negative trappings of your traditioanlly rock concert. I’ve been to many concerts and music festivals, where people are "in the zone," but often get to that point only with the help of alcohol and drugs. Here, we had fathers and daughters dancing together like they were in the middle of Coechella, and they were doing it with a free spirit. When you watch these kids dance and enjoy the music with nothing more than the openess of their hearts and minds, it makes you wonder why as adults so many of us feel that we need to alter our state of mind in order to enjoy a concert.

Mr. David and I sat at breakfast in Santa Cruz the morning after the concert, and I asked him if he would ever change over to "adult music,"  the traditional, mainstream rock tour route, if given the opportunity. I said, "if someone came up to you and asked you to go on tour tomorrow, but then said that you would have to give up the music you’re doing right now, would you do it?" He said absolutely not. "What I’m trying to do with my music is something bigger than just one particular category or genre. I’m trying to make music that everyone will want to listen to, whether they’re four or 80. I really don’t think of my music as ‘just for kids.’ It’s for everyone."

When I thought about the audience the night before, I realized he was right, and it was working. Mr. David was reaching people, entertaining them and giving a rock concert they just had to stop and listen to, regardless of their age. I’m telling you, we had people dancing who had no kids at all among the dozens of children and moms and dads. That’s powerful!

I’d love to hear everyone else’s thoughts and comments about the concert. If you were there, let us know what you thought about it. If you have photos, please post them to Flickr and tag them with "Mr. David Concert at Santana Row." We’ll pull these into the blog so that we can share with everyone. And thank you all for coming to the concert and making it such a success!

Tawnya

Mr. David named one of CD Baby’s Best Independent Musicians

CD Baby sent us a very nice email last week telling us  Jump in the Jumpy House would be featured on their homepage. Here’s what they wrote:

We love your "MR. DAVID: Jump in the Jumpy House" CD so much I’m going to feature it on the FRONT PAGE of CD Baby for a few days.

We’re *really* picky about what goes on the front page.  We get about 200-250 new albums a DAY coming in here now, (about 190,000 total), and yours is one of the best we’ve ever heard.

THE DATE: Sunday, August 19th 2007

OUR REVIEW
If Jonathan Richman were to make an album for kids, I imagine it would sound something like this. With a lyrical approach that is sharply stream-of-consciousness and keeps tongue planted firmly in cheek, these songs are bizarrely appealing, unassumingly witty, and never dull. With a loose and jangly (in the best way) approach to songwriting, these tracks are rooted in both new wave pop and the uncompromising ethos of punk. The melodies are sly and catchy, feigning non-existence until they creep into your subconscious and become buried in your head. On the surface, this could be perceived as a fun-time train of non sequiturs, but upon closer inspection, you’ll see these songs are as calculated as they are nutty, only straying off track when it makes perfect sense. With a voice that is able to righteously pull off high pitched squeals (the title track) and a passable version of Johnny Cash ("Them Devils"), there’s ample variations of wackiness on this one for the kids, and plenty of hummable tunes to keep the grown ups locked in and listening.

So there you have it. Mr. David is one of CD Baby’s "Best Independent Musicians" Yeeaaahaaaa! We love CD Baby Go buy your copy now!

Mr. David, Jump in the Jumpy House and iTunes

In answer to an inquiry we got about my music on iTunes . . .

Yes! It’s available! You can get all my albums on iTunes. You can also download songs from my MySpace account. Jump in the Jumpy House hasn’t been posted yet because it takes anywhere from 4 weeks to 3 months to get your songs up, if you’re not with a huge label (which we’re not). So, be patient for that one. The others are already there. Here are the iTunes links.

The Great Adventures of Mr. David

Mr. David’s First Album

Here’s the MySpace link: Mr. David on MySpace

My albums are also available on other digital music site, like eMusic, etc.

Thanks!

Mr. David

Jump in the Jumpy House CD Release Concert

Join Mr. David and The Buckwild for the CD Release Concert of Jump in the Jumpy House

When: Saturday, September 1 @ 7:00-8:00 p.m.
(Come early to get your seat.)

Where: Santana Row Park Valencia
(In front of Maggiano’s)

Here’s a direct link to the event listed on the San Jose Mercury News page:

Come early to get your seat–around 6:30 pm–we think this one is going to be full.

Everyone is invited to come, and its free. Bring a blanket or lawn chair (low ones please) and enjoy an outdoor concert in the Santana Row’s Park Valencia (in front of Maggiano’s). It’s going to be great fun.

We’ll be giving away prizes, including signed copies of the new CD, t-shirts, Mr. David balloons and more! We’re also donating 20 percent of all CD sales during the launch party to a local nonprofit for kids (we’re still finalizing the details on this, but will let you know).

Jump in the Jumpy House goes on sale August 25th at CD Baby, Amazon.com, MySpace, The Pokey Pup, and other retailers. Visit www.mrdavidmusicworks.com for a complete listing. We’re already starting to get reviews rolling in . . . and they’re great! Here’s the first from CD Baby . . . read more.

If Jonathan Richman were to make an album for kids, I imagine it would sound something like this. With a lyrical approach that is sharply stream-of-consciousness and keeps tongue planted firmly in cheek, these songs are bizarrely appealing, unassumingly witty, and never dull.

Artwork That Didn’t Make the Cut for Jump in the Jumpy House

We worked pretty hard on the artwork for the new album (Jump in the Jumpy House) only to leave a lot of  it on the cutting room floor. We thought it was a shame to put so much time into something nobody will see. So, why not post some of the designs we didn’t use to the blog site? We think they’re worth taking a look at.

Initially, we were going to design the entire album like a children’s book, with each song getting it’s own page. In the end, the cost of printing ended up being too high. Here are three of the pages we did for "Miss Pila," "Them Devils," and "Cabin Blues." Jump in the Jumpy House goes on sale Saturday, August 25th. Watch for it!! We’ll be posting samples of the songs in coming weeks.

MISS PILA: TRACK 3

THEM DEVILS: TRACK 8

CABIN BLUES: TRACK 10

Until later,

Mr. David

Mr. David’s Hey! It’s Lunchtime Single is Out!

A New CD Single From Mr. David: Hey! It’s Lunchtime

Mr. David will also send a free, autographed copy of the single to the first 3,000 fans who sign up for his newsletter via his web site. Hurry! Go now, or you might miss out on this one.

Listen to the songs.