Kick-off the Halloween Season with “Flick of My Wrist”
Full disclosure – Halloween is kind of a big deal at my house. New decorations started arriving in June this year. First it was a couple of blow mold black cats in the living room, then it was black cat pumpkin figures peering from unexpected places (and often getting mistaken for our actual black cat) when the Grandin Road fall catalog appeared in July. As we slowly cruised into autumn, it was a few Halloween goodies from the local grocery store on the kitchen table soon to be followed by bowls and plates and platters as prices were slashed to make room on store shelves for the Christmas decorations. Plans are being made for our annual Halloween costume party with evening discussions often surrounding what the lighting should look like, what theme we should go with throughout the house this time, and what creepy food we should serve. And then there’s the outside decorations. Did I mention that work on the light show began back in January? January!! It’s going to be amazing.
Decorations aren’t the only thing essential to Halloween. So is a good soundtrack. After all these years of celebrating All Hallows Eve, I have a pretty prolific collection of Halloween themed music, but as with any holiday, there is always room for more. So what better way to start off the spookiest of seasons than with a brand new song from Lucy Kalantari and the Jazz Cats? Released last Friday, “Flick of My Wrist” is a fantastically orchestrated tune that allows Kalantari’s rollicking vocals to dance around the lyrics as they describe the exploits of a young witch whose use of her power leads to unexpected results. It would be absolutely ghastly if you dared to leave “Flick of My Wrist” off of your Halloween playlist! Take a listen, and Happy Haunting!
When he’s not busy these days being part of the entertaining duo Randy & Dave, Dave Kinnoin and a whole host of friends (including Randy Sharp and Red Grammer) are busy making music as Grin Brigade. The group’s second album, All I Do Is Hop, is filled with 29 songs that cover an incredibly wide range of topics. One of those tracks is the “Dog Alphabet Song.” While the tune is fun to listen to, there’s nothing quite like watching the video that goes along with it. The dog days of summer may already feel like distant memories, but this video featuring dogs of every shape, size and breed, will be the uplifting hit that your fall needs. Brighten any day by watching with the young dog and animal lovers in your life. Can’t catch all the types of dogs as they go by? Check out the lyrics (and chords if you want to try playing it yourself!) 
Did you know that National Grandparents Day officially became a holiday on August 3, 1978? In the early 1970’s Marian McQuade, a resident of West Virginia and advocate for the senior population, began campaigning to have Grandparents Day recognized in that state. Through her efforts, in 1973, West Virginia became the first state to proclaim Grandparents Day a holiday. McQuade’s quest didn’t end there and in 1978, President Carter designated the Sunday after Labor Day as Grandparents Day. And this year, that special day is Sunday, September 8.
Chicago-based children’s music artists Wendy Morgan and Darryl Boggs don’t just talk the talk, they also walk the walk. Along with writing music about helping protect the environment, the animals within it and general messages about having love for one another, for years the duo has donated part of the proceeds from their albums to the VH1 Save the Music Foundation and Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots. While the target audience for the music from their albums is at the preschool through early grade school level, Wendy & DB make time each year to work with local middle and high school students throughout the Chicagoland area to create music that is important not only to the students, but to the larger global community as well.
In the follow-up to Legion of Peace, a beautiful album dedicated to an amazing array of Nobel Peace Prize winners, Lori Henriques returns to her light-hearted yet earnest style with her new album What Do You Wish. Originally released as a solo-voice and piano, cabaret style song on Lori’s 2013 album The World is a Curious Place to Live, “Everlovin Water” has been reimagined for 2019 with an arrangement that features a full funk band. With Schoolhouse Rock as inspiration, Henriques takes her passion for good, clean water and teaches children what happens to the water in your body. To capture the essence of “Everlovin Water,” Henriques enlisted the help of her brother Joel, a 
Montana-based Cowboy Andy and the Salamanders follow their celebrated album 
Recorded on land originally inhabited by the Ohlone people and produced at Zoo Labs in Oakland, California, The Love is a massive musical collaboration incorporating more than 60 guest artists who perform alongside Alphabet Rockers founders Kaitlin McGaw and Tommy Soulati Shepherd. The themes of love and belonging continue from Rise Shine #Woke to The Love but this time rather than the focus being social justice, the group is turning their attention to gender justice with the goal of the album being to honor the diverse identities within our society. Once again featuring well-thought out, powerful lyrics, The Love is an album that everyone should listen to.
Josh Lovelace (of the adult rock group NEEDTOBREATHE) returns with a follow-up to his 2017 debut family album, Young Folk. On Growing Up singer-songwriter Lovelace captures universal life experiences that affect everyone no matter their age like friendship, family, the birth of a baby and saying goodbye to those we love. His solo voice is occasionally joined to great effect by children’s backing vocals on the twelve Americana-tinged rock songs in this collection. While there are plenty of hand-clapping and toe-tapping moments on this album, they are tempered by other tracks such as the gorgeous “You Are Loved,” “Let’s Go Drive” which captures the peaceful moments of unplanned family drives, and the beautiful blending of voices on the Frances England duet, “Butterfly” which encourages listeners to reach your light and follow your dreams.