I'm a little suspicious of someone who goes by the name of "Mr. Stinky Feet," and not just if he's sitting next to me in a crowded theater. When that name is applied to a kiddie-rocker, it just seems a little too self-consciously flamboyant--trying a bit too hard to find a gimmick.
Jim Cosgrove dresses and acts a bit like Jimmy Buffett. He even has the same first name. I'd just as soon he call himself Jimmy Cosgrove. Then again, I'm not a kid in his target age range, which runs, apparently, from pre-school to the pre-school-at-heart.
"Mr. Stinky Feet's Road Trip Live" is a 33-minute live-performance DVD that features Cosgrove and his band, The Hiccups. Now, what that has to do with stinky feet, I'm not sure. But working the stage with Mr. SF (who plays rhythm guitar) are Dino O'Dell on lead guitar, Mark Thies on bass, Tim Whitmer on piano, and Dean Ottinger on drums. Though this DVD is released on the Warner Brothers Nashville and Jack Records label, it really has a family feel to it, or an independent production.
But the Nashville touch is apparent in the glitzy set. For a kiddie musicmaker I expected a rudimentary stage performance along the lines of a school assembly, but this doesn't look like the typical road performance. Filmed live at the Polsky Theater at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas, it seems more like a controlled setting. I could be wrong, but it feels like a set-up. There are decorations all over the place, with a runway that Cosgrove walks and occasionally leaps off of to engage his young audience. But the audience couldn't be more diverse than if you hung outside of the U.N. and invited the delegates to come to a free show, and bring their kids. The age range seemed similarly hand-picked, with toddlers sitting on moms' laps and eight and nine year olds doing their best not to look or feel embarrassed, trying to get into it while clapping in their seats or performing on-stage with Mr. Stinky Feet and the Hiccups. As I said, it's a highly decorated set too, in an intimate venue, all of which felt staged for this DVD. Cosgrove, we're told on the cover notes, "has performed his high-energy family shows for tens of thousands throughout the U.S. and Europe." It's too bad that they decided to tweak this concert to make for a more polished look. Reason? All that energy Cosgrove generates just doesn't seem contagious enough in this controlled environment. I'll bet he gets a lot more from his audiences on the road, or when three cameras aren't capturing the crowd responses. Camera shy? Maybe. These kids just don't seem as ready-to-rock as audiences for, say, the High Five concerts. But that's not Cosgrove's fault.
It's easy to see why Cosgrove has been called Jimmy Buffett for Kids. He dresses in tropical shirts and shorts, wears a baseball cap and sandals, and has a similar repertoire of silly songs. Now, if he could only throw in a few mellower ones, and if his audience could act a bit more like little Parrotheads, he'd really be Jimmy Buffett Jr. As it is, he's carving out a pretty good-sized reputation for himself. He performed at the 2006 White House Easter Egg Roll, and his CDs have earned awards from Parents' Choice, National Parenting Publications, and Kids Radio Mania. He's also performed throughout the U.S., Europe, and Mexico.
Eight songs are included on what seems like a single set: "Put Down the Binky" (is he talking about a favorite blanket??), "Gobble 'Cross the U.S.A." (during which he coaches kids to make gobbling sounds and use hand gestures to help him), "Little Red Wagon," "Stinky Feet" (hilarious, the reaction of some kids as his feet get close to their faces on the runway), "Peanut Butter," "Fancy Pants Dance, "Slug Bug" (yep, that old travel game of spotting VW's and them slugging your brother or sister--minus the slugging part), and a suburban anthem that might be his catchiest and most subtle, "What Color is Your Minivan?"
there's also a "Slug Bug" video of Cosgrove, his wife (who's his event manager) and children in a play car singing and swaying like Wiggles wannabes, and a convenient scene selection according to songs.
Now, as far as kids' performers go, Cosgrove has high energy, he tries hard to involve the kids, he says goofy things to get a reaction from them, and he's close to Buffett in the singing and songwriting department--a talented songwriter and performer who gets by with a voice that's less-than-perfect. You hear it flatten out in some songs or bend a note in others, but, of course, the kids aren't going to notice--especially the 2-6 age range his music targets. They're just listening to these kid-rock songs that are a little to the Margaritaville side of Wiggle Land. But before you know it, this DVD is over. If anything, that's the one regret his little viewers will have.
Usually, concert videos list a producer but no director, because there's not much in the way of direction. Here, as if to confirm my suspicions about the controlled environment, Charley Randazzo is credited with the direction.
Jim Cosgrove dresses and acts a bit like Jimmy Buffett. He even has the same first name. I'd just as soon he call himself Jimmy Cosgrove. Then again, I'm not a kid in his target age range, which runs, apparently, from pre-school to the pre-school-at-heart.
"Mr. Stinky Feet's Road Trip Live" is a 33-minute live-performance DVD that features Cosgrove and his band, The Hiccups. Now, what that has to do with stinky feet, I'm not sure. But working the stage with Mr. SF (who plays rhythm guitar) are Dino O'Dell on lead guitar, Mark Thies on bass, Tim Whitmer on piano, and Dean Ottinger on drums. Though this DVD is released on the Warner Brothers Nashville and Jack Records label, it really has a family feel to it, or an independent production.
But the Nashville touch is apparent in the glitzy set. For a kiddie musicmaker I expected a rudimentary stage performance along the lines of a school assembly, but this doesn't look like the typical road performance. Filmed live at the Polsky Theater at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas, it seems more like a controlled setting. I could be wrong, but it feels like a set-up. There are decorations all over the place, with a runway that Cosgrove walks and occasionally leaps off of to engage his young audience. But the audience couldn't be more diverse than if you hung outside of the U.N. and invited the delegates to come to a free show, and bring their kids. The age range seemed similarly hand-picked, with toddlers sitting on moms' laps and eight and nine year olds doing their best not to look or feel embarrassed, trying to get into it while clapping in their seats or performing on-stage with Mr. Stinky Feet and the Hiccups. As I said, it's a highly decorated set too, in an intimate venue, all of which felt staged for this DVD. Cosgrove, we're told on the cover notes, "has performed his high-energy family shows for tens of thousands throughout the U.S. and Europe." It's too bad that they decided to tweak this concert to make for a more polished look. Reason? All that energy Cosgrove generates just doesn't seem contagious enough in this controlled environment. I'll bet he gets a lot more from his audiences on the road, or when three cameras aren't capturing the crowd responses. Camera shy? Maybe. These kids just don't seem as ready-to-rock as audiences for, say, the High Five concerts. But that's not Cosgrove's fault.
It's easy to see why Cosgrove has been called Jimmy Buffett for Kids. He dresses in tropical shirts and shorts, wears a baseball cap and sandals, and has a similar repertoire of silly songs. Now, if he could only throw in a few mellower ones, and if his audience could act a bit more like little Parrotheads, he'd really be Jimmy Buffett Jr. As it is, he's carving out a pretty good-sized reputation for himself. He performed at the 2006 White House Easter Egg Roll, and his CDs have earned awards from Parents' Choice, National Parenting Publications, and Kids Radio Mania. He's also performed throughout the U.S., Europe, and Mexico.
Eight songs are included on what seems like a single set: "Put Down the Binky" (is he talking about a favorite blanket??), "Gobble 'Cross the U.S.A." (during which he coaches kids to make gobbling sounds and use hand gestures to help him), "Little Red Wagon," "Stinky Feet" (hilarious, the reaction of some kids as his feet get close to their faces on the runway), "Peanut Butter," "Fancy Pants Dance, "Slug Bug" (yep, that old travel game of spotting VW's and them slugging your brother or sister--minus the slugging part), and a suburban anthem that might be his catchiest and most subtle, "What Color is Your Minivan?"
there's also a "Slug Bug" video of Cosgrove, his wife (who's his event manager) and children in a play car singing and swaying like Wiggles wannabes, and a convenient scene selection according to songs.
Now, as far as kids' performers go, Cosgrove has high energy, he tries hard to involve the kids, he says goofy things to get a reaction from them, and he's close to Buffett in the singing and songwriting department--a talented songwriter and performer who gets by with a voice that's less-than-perfect. You hear it flatten out in some songs or bend a note in others, but, of course, the kids aren't going to notice--especially the 2-6 age range his music targets. They're just listening to these kid-rock songs that are a little to the Margaritaville side of Wiggle Land. But before you know it, this DVD is over. If anything, that's the one regret his little viewers will have.
Usually, concert videos list a producer but no director, because there's not much in the way of direction. Here, as if to confirm my suspicions about the controlled environment, Charley Randazzo is credited with the direction.
I'm a little suspicious of someone who goes by the name of "Mr. Stinky Feet," and not just if he's sitting next to me in a crowded theater. When that name is applied to a kiddie-rocker, it just seems a little too self-consciously flamboyant--trying a bit too hard to find a gimmick.
Jim Cosgrove dresses and acts a bit like Jimmy Buffett. He even has the same first name. I'd just as soon he call himself Jimmy Cosgrove. Then again, I'm not a kid in his target age range, which runs, apparently, from pre-school to the pre-school-at-heart.
"Mr. Stinky Feet's Road Trip Live" is a 33-minute live-performance DVD that features Cosgrove and his band, The Hiccups. Now, what that has to do with stinky feet, I'm not sure. But working the stage with Mr. SF (who plays rhythm guitar) are Dino O'Dell on lead guitar, Mark Thies on bass, Tim Whitmer on piano, and Dean Ottinger on drums. Though this DVD is released on the Warner Brothers Nashville and Jack Records label, it really has a family feel to it, or an independent production.
But the Nashville touch is apparent in the glitzy set. For a kiddie musicmaker I expected a rudimentary stage performance along the lines of a school assembly, but this doesn't look like the typical road performance. Filmed live at the Polsky Theater at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas, it seems more like a controlled setting. I could be wrong, but it feels like a set-up. There are decorations all over the place, with a runway that Cosgrove walks and occasionally leaps off of to engage his young audience. But the audience couldn't be more diverse than if you hung outside of the U.N. and invited the delegates to come to a free show, and bring their kids. The age range seemed similarly hand-picked, with toddlers sitting on moms' laps and eight and nine year olds doing their best not to look or feel embarrassed, trying to get into it while clapping in their seats or performing on-stage with Mr. Stinky Feet and the Hiccups. As I said, it's a highly decorated set too, in an intimate venue, all of which felt staged for this DVD. Cosgrove, we're told on the cover notes, "has performed his high-energy family shows for tens of thousands throughout the U.S. and Europe." It's too bad that they decided to tweak this concert to make for a more polished look. Reason? All that energy Cosgrove generates just doesn't seem contagious enough in this controlled environment. I'll bet he gets a lot more from his audiences on the road, or when three cameras aren't capturing the crowd responses. Camera shy? Maybe. These kids just don't seem as ready-to-rock as audiences for, say, the High Five concerts. But that's not Cosgrove's fault.
It's easy to see why Cosgrove has been called Jimmy Buffett for Kids. He dresses in tropical shirts and shorts, wears a baseball cap and sandals, and has a similar repertoire of silly songs. Now, if he could only throw in a few mellower ones, and if his audience could act a bit more like little Parrotheads, he'd really be Jimmy Buffett Jr. As it is, he's carving out a pretty good-sized reputation for himself. He performed at the 2006 White House Easter Egg Roll, and his CDs have earned awards from Parents' Choice, National Parenting Publications, and Kids Radio Mania. He's also performed throughout the U.S., Europe, and Mexico.
Eight songs are included on what seems like a single set: "Put Down the Binky" (is he talking about a favorite blanket??), "Gobble 'Cross the U.S.A." (during which he coaches kids to make gobbling sounds and use hand gestures to help him), "Little Red Wagon," "Stinky Feet" (hilarious, the reaction of some kids as his feet get close to their faces on the runway), "Peanut Butter," "Fancy Pants Dance, "Slug Bug" (yep, that old travel game of spotting VW's and them slugging your brother or sister--minus the slugging part), and a suburban anthem that might be his catchiest and most subtle, "What Color is Your Minivan?"
there's also a "Slug Bug" video of Cosgrove, his wife (who's his event manager) and children in a play car singing and swaying like Wiggles wannabes, and a convenient scene selection according to songs.
Now, as far as kids' performers go, Cosgrove has high energy, he tries hard to involve the kids, he says goofy things to get a reaction from them, and he's close to Buffett in the singing and songwriting department--a talented songwriter and performer who gets by with a voice that's less-than-perfect. You hear it flatten out in some songs or bend a note in others, but, of course, the kids aren't going to notice--especially the 2-6 age range his music targets. They're just listening to these kid-rock songs that are a little to the Margaritaville side of Wiggle Land. But before you know it, this DVD is over. If anything, that's the one regret his little viewers will have.
Usually, concert videos list a producer but no director, because there's not much in the way of direction. Here, as if to confirm my suspicions about the controlled environment, Charley Randazzo is credited with the direction.
Jim Cosgrove dresses and acts a bit like Jimmy Buffett. He even has the same first name. I'd just as soon he call himself Jimmy Cosgrove. Then again, I'm not a kid in his target age range, which runs, apparently, from pre-school to the pre-school-at-heart.
"Mr. Stinky Feet's Road Trip Live" is a 33-minute live-performance DVD that features Cosgrove and his band, The Hiccups. Now, what that has to do with stinky feet, I'm not sure. But working the stage with Mr. SF (who plays rhythm guitar) are Dino O'Dell on lead guitar, Mark Thies on bass, Tim Whitmer on piano, and Dean Ottinger on drums. Though this DVD is released on the Warner Brothers Nashville and Jack Records label, it really has a family feel to it, or an independent production.
But the Nashville touch is apparent in the glitzy set. For a kiddie musicmaker I expected a rudimentary stage performance along the lines of a school assembly, but this doesn't look like the typical road performance. Filmed live at the Polsky Theater at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas, it seems more like a controlled setting. I could be wrong, but it feels like a set-up. There are decorations all over the place, with a runway that Cosgrove walks and occasionally leaps off of to engage his young audience. But the audience couldn't be more diverse than if you hung outside of the U.N. and invited the delegates to come to a free show, and bring their kids. The age range seemed similarly hand-picked, with toddlers sitting on moms' laps and eight and nine year olds doing their best not to look or feel embarrassed, trying to get into it while clapping in their seats or performing on-stage with Mr. Stinky Feet and the Hiccups. As I said, it's a highly decorated set too, in an intimate venue, all of which felt staged for this DVD. Cosgrove, we're told on the cover notes, "has performed his high-energy family shows for tens of thousands throughout the U.S. and Europe." It's too bad that they decided to tweak this concert to make for a more polished look. Reason? All that energy Cosgrove generates just doesn't seem contagious enough in this controlled environment. I'll bet he gets a lot more from his audiences on the road, or when three cameras aren't capturing the crowd responses. Camera shy? Maybe. These kids just don't seem as ready-to-rock as audiences for, say, the High Five concerts. But that's not Cosgrove's fault.
It's easy to see why Cosgrove has been called Jimmy Buffett for Kids. He dresses in tropical shirts and shorts, wears a baseball cap and sandals, and has a similar repertoire of silly songs. Now, if he could only throw in a few mellower ones, and if his audience could act a bit more like little Parrotheads, he'd really be Jimmy Buffett Jr. As it is, he's carving out a pretty good-sized reputation for himself. He performed at the 2006 White House Easter Egg Roll, and his CDs have earned awards from Parents' Choice, National Parenting Publications, and Kids Radio Mania. He's also performed throughout the U.S., Europe, and Mexico.
Eight songs are included on what seems like a single set: "Put Down the Binky" (is he talking about a favorite blanket??), "Gobble 'Cross the U.S.A." (during which he coaches kids to make gobbling sounds and use hand gestures to help him), "Little Red Wagon," "Stinky Feet" (hilarious, the reaction of some kids as his feet get close to their faces on the runway), "Peanut Butter," "Fancy Pants Dance, "Slug Bug" (yep, that old travel game of spotting VW's and them slugging your brother or sister--minus the slugging part), and a suburban anthem that might be his catchiest and most subtle, "What Color is Your Minivan?"
there's also a "Slug Bug" video of Cosgrove, his wife (who's his event manager) and children in a play car singing and swaying like Wiggles wannabes, and a convenient scene selection according to songs.
Now, as far as kids' performers go, Cosgrove has high energy, he tries hard to involve the kids, he says goofy things to get a reaction from them, and he's close to Buffett in the singing and songwriting department--a talented songwriter and performer who gets by with a voice that's less-than-perfect. You hear it flatten out in some songs or bend a note in others, but, of course, the kids aren't going to notice--especially the 2-6 age range his music targets. They're just listening to these kid-rock songs that are a little to the Margaritaville side of Wiggle Land. But before you know it, this DVD is over. If anything, that's the one regret his little viewers will have.
Usually, concert videos list a producer but no director, because there's not much in the way of direction. Here, as if to confirm my suspicions about the controlled environment, Charley Randazzo is credited with the direction.
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