Barenaked Ladies go kiddie

Those of you Tied to the '90s readers who have little ones now, and really liked quirky, literate power-pop back in the day can rejoice: Barenaked Ladies and They Might Be Giants are doing a kiddie-pop tour in conjunction with Disney.

Wait, really?

That's what this article says. Raven-Symone as the guest host? I'm there!

Barenaked Ladies recently released a children's album, entitled Snacktime, which debuted at a fairly respectable #61 on the charts back in May. And unbeknownest to me, They Might Be Giants have actually released three kids' albums: No!, Here come the ABCs, and Here Come the 123s.

Dates for the Disney Music Block Party Tour:
July 25-27 - Toms River HS, Toms River, NJ
July 29-30 - Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD
August 1-3 - Fairmount Park, Philadelphia
August 5-6 - Rentschler Field, East Hartford, CT
August 8-10 - Toyota Park, Chicago
August 12-13 - Columbus Crew Stadium, Columbus, OH
August 15-17 - Downsview Park, Toronto
August 19-20 - Meadow Brook Music Festival, Detroit
August 22-24 - Nassau Coliseum Parking Lot, Uniondale, NY

In other Barenaked Ladies news, they're doing a cruise in February. As we've seen, cruises are quite the income stream for many '90s acts now.

Cruisin' with Sponge and Marcy Playground

The hot thing in recent years for '90s bands is to do a cruise... you get a captive audience of your fans that you can play four or five sets to, and you get to go on a free cruise. Better than Ezra did a cruise, Guster have done a cruise, Barenaked Ladies have done a cruise... Sister Hazel and Dexter Freebish have done cruises.

But a cruise with Sponge and Marcy Playground? That's an odd bill. Who out there is a diehard fan of both of these bands? Sponge were basically off the radar by the time Marcy Playground ever had a hit.
Anyway, Sponge have a new album, Galore Galore, out on indie Bellum Records, and are playing sporadic dates in May and June (all east of the Mississippi) prior to the cruise in October. Marcy Playground don't appear to have done much since MP3 in 2004, which had the single "Punk Rock Superstar." That was a pretty good track.



*As an aside, how great is that Marcy Playground album cover? Supposedly it was originally supposed to be a Butthole Surfers album cover, but after it was rejected, Marcy took it.