Cocteau Twins Disappoint the Resident Lullaby Connoisseur

Once again, I'm having to strongly encourage DJ B to get caught up on her music reviews. She's just not sympathetic to the fact that I keep getting insisitent emails from the public library, reminding us about all of the overdue CDs in our possession.

So, today, on a rainy day, I coerced my strong-willed 3-year-old to make her way through our pile of CDs and offer up her opinions.

First up, I asked her to revisit the Cocteau Twins' CD "Lullabies to Violaine: Volume 2." I have to admit that when she selected CDs from the library, I spotted this release. I love the Cocteau Twins and hadn't heard this particular album (a collection of singles, B-sides etc. from late in their career), so checked it out. When Miss B was a baby we had another Cocteau Twins album on regular rotation in her room, so I figured she might dig this one too.

Well, the first time I played this CD Miss B was busy with other projects. Eventually she looked up from her work and started smiling and dancing to the track "Pink Orange Red." She then turned to me, saying, "I'm going to turn off the music because I want my truck to beep. This is lullabies. I don't like this lullabies." When I asked her why, she said, "Because. It's too noisy." She then took out the CD. Who would ever have guessed that the ethereal, atmospheric sounds of this 4AD staple could be considered noisy?

Today we tried listening again and DJ B said, "It doesn't sound like my other lullabies," before turning down the volume. She then turned it off completely, saying, "I wanna try the other one" (meaning the accompanying CD). She then got angry, telling me, "I don't like it. I don't want it" and asked me to get HER lullaby CD from her room.

Unfortunately, for Miss B, her expectations were dashed. When she heard that the CD was "Lullabies," she assumed that it would be just like her one of her beloved lullaby CDs that are a nightly bedtime ritual for her. The beautiful sounds of Cocteau Twins just couldn't compete.

Record Store Day with DJ B

I feel like it's my duty as a music-loving parent to share with DJ B the importance of record stores. They've certainly been a key part of my own music education, from the chain stores at the mall during my childhood, to Tower Records during my teens, to the indie record stores that I frequented in college to score $2.99 "cut-out" LPs (and cassettes!) of new releases from bands like The Smiths and Chameleons UK.


And, I especially have fond memories of all the great record shops in San Francisco, where I've found amazing gems and have seen intimate in-store performances by a wide range of musicians. One of the oldest Tower Records, on Bay Street in San Francisco (RIP...now it's a green dry cleaner) used to host lunch-time free shows. It was so cool to take a long lunch and trek over there to see the likes of Sonic Youth (in the parking lot!). Back when I was super obsessed with Robyn Hitchcock, I'd track him down at every record shop in-store in the city, including a show on Haight (maybe at the now-closed Reckless Records?) and an awesome acoustic set at a long-gone record shop on Folsom near Brainwash.

I've also seen many of my faves at Amoeba, including Smog, Sleater-Kinney, Will Oldham, and many others. You can actually scan through photos of past in-stores (400+ performances) to get a sense of the cool shows they've had.


So, to celebrate Record Store Day yesterday, the Mr. and I took Miss B over to Aquarius Records in San Francisco. Within minutes of our arrival, her eyes were drawn to a new release by Thee Oh Sees. She pointed to it, excitedly telling me about the bat on the cover. Since I have heard and like their music I offered to pick it up for her. We then moved on to a bargain rack of CDs for $3.99 and I told Miss B to take a look. She grabbed a seat on the floor and happily scanned through a pile, choosing a couple that she liked. In future posts we'll cover her reviews of the actual music, but according to the guys at Amoeba, one of the selections is some all-female stoner rock. Right on!

Did you take your DJ-in-training to a record store this weekend? What did you buy?

Butterfly Dancing to Colbie Caillat

I managed to convince DJ B to select some new CDs from the public library, so indeed there is still life left in this project! The first album to catch her attention when we got home was Colbie Caillat's CD "Coco." I had never heard of this artist, but from the opening notes I felt like I was in an episode of "The Hills" (my only barometer for mainstream pop hits). And, indeed, this must be a popular CD, as it's one of the few that we've checked out that's had a "hold" placed on it by another library patron, meaning that we can't renew it. (Yep, apparently she's a MySpace sensation with her acoustic/soul/folk stylings.)

When we played the CD, Miss B smiled at the cover, then lifted her leg like a ballerina doing an arabesque and then began doing leaps across the room. She continued to dance and grabbed a pink blanket as a prop, which she waved, spun, and dragged while galloping to and fro. She then invited me to join her, saying, "It's your turn to dance with me. Stand up. Now it's your turn to do Aurora dance." Miss B demanded that I dance with her and said, "Close your eyes." She danced on her tip toes, did some slow maneuvers, and then channeled a butterfly, saying, "You're the green butterfly and I'm the pink butterfly. Put your wings out. C'mon little butterfly." At this point we both were dancing with blankets (aka wings). Miss B nuzzled a bit with me, flapped her arms as if in flight, then turned down the volume, saying, "It's time to go to bed butterfly. It's time to go to bed little buddy. Little butterfly is getting tired."

For DJ B, this was satisfying music for butterfly dancing. And that's high praise from a 3-year-old.

Ballet and Princesses Rule for DJ B

As I sit and watch Miss B in her brand new Aurora dress (bought today) staring at the TV, immersed in a Sleeping Beauty video, I'm reminded that as the parent of a 3-year-old I often find myself submitting to her demands. And, admittedly, I get a lot of joy out of seeing her glee when surrounded by her favorite things. These days DJ B is obsessed with ballet and princesses, so Aurora from Sleeping Beauty is just tops.

I was out of town recently and in one of the JFK Airport gift shops I spotted the CD, "Music from the Ballet," and knew I had to get it for DJ B. As expected, she was elated from the opening notes. When the music started she smiled and said, "...that was Aurora...oh, man...oh man [laughing]...this was Aurora." She recognized the opening track ("Sleeping Beauty Waltz") and knew it was from Sleeping Beauty, saying, "I just gotta put on an Aurora dress for this." She then did some spins in a circle and galloped , while telling me, "This is a circle that I'm doing like Aurora." Miss B kept smiling while she continued with her ballet moves and danced on her tip toes. I asked her where she'd heard the music before. Miss B replied, "I heard it from the ballet." Later she said, "Know what I'm going to wish for with dadda? An Aurora dress!"

As the music proceeded to another ballet, DJ B stopped the CD and kept repeating the music from Sleeping Beauty. Eventually she made her way through the rest of the CD, dancing with wands, bows, and bowing dramatically at the end of pieces. She was particularly excited to hear music from the Nutcracker too, squealing, "It's Nutcracker! I have it on TV too!" She then asked me to put a ribbon in her hair so that she could look like Clara from the Nutcracker.

I just love that music can wield this kind of power, as it beseeches Miss B to re-live the stories and ballets that she adores.

DJ B Rejoins the Cult of Music Together

It's ironic that one day after I practically gave up on DJ B's Library Tour, my daughter had a change of heart. Today Miss B pointed out a CD in our collection and asked me to put it on for her....something she hasn't done in months.

She gravitated to the Music Together CD "Summer Songs 2" that we received when we took a music class ages ago. I was thrilled by her renewed interest in music listening....but, had mixed feelings due to the genre.

As the music started, Miss B asked me to find the accompanying music book. After I brought it to her, she sat down at her toy piano, propped up her "music" and played the piano and sang along to the songs. Initially she only wanted to hear the first song "Hello Everybody" over and over again while she precisely tapped the keys, studied the music book, and sang along.

She swayed back and forth while she sang and at the end of the song said, "Everybody clap for me!" I clapped and she politely said, "thank you" and then jumped up and down, ran in circles and continued to sing, "hello to mama....hello to dadda..." Eventually she let the CD track to other songs and she danced wildly while blasting the music. During the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" song she asked me to find her book of the same name, saying, "get that book, 'cuz she's singing that." Upon retrieval, she read the book while listening to the music and acted out the accompanying gestures that go along with the song.

Wow. Music Together has something going on for sure, as Miss B was riveted by this CD. Now if only I can get her back to the library for a broader range of sounds....Keep your fingers crossed for me.

DJ B Says No to Taiwan TV

It's important to remember that DJ B hand-selected each of the items reviewed on this blog from the library, so she was initially intrigued by something that she saw on each and every CD that's been part of this project. Yet, what happens after we get home with the CD varies tremendously. As she's grown weary of this project, it's become more and more difficult to get her to allow me to play any of these CDs for her.

Sweet Relationship OST (a soundtrack CD for a Taiwan TV show of the same name) looks like a DVD, as it's housed in a long box. I think Miss B was disappointed that it wasn't actually a DVD because every time I put it in the CD player she takes it out immediately. Yesterday she said, "I don't want you to listen to music right now. It's not music time."

Well, OK.

Cuddling and Quacking to Bette Midler

DJ B is now three.

As the lengthy delay in posting might suggest, she seems to have grown weary of the CD review project and instead is focusing on playing dress up, watching way too much TV, and writing her own songs (themes this week have included ballerinas, firefighters, monsters and our dead cat).

Before the library comes after me for our overdue CDs, I'll attempt to recap her latest two selections. Way back in January Miss B was drawn to a Bette Midler CD at our local branch of the San Francisco Public Library (imagine that?). Initially, "Bathhouse Betty" wouldn't even play in our CD player (too well-loved already?). Finally, we got it to work on a boombox and Miss B smiled and said, "I want to sit on your lap." During a ballad she cuddled with me and then said, "put me in the crib, mom...tuck me in." I did what she asked and she closed her eyes, pretending to sleep, before jumping up and saying, "I'm dancing in my crib!" She quacked and started to dance to the disco-tinged song "I'm Beautiful." Sounds like a strong endorsement, right? Well, the next two times I put the CD on, Miss B wanted nothing to do with Ms. Midler. The love affair was fleeting...