Count Down To Kidza-2 Days Till Lucky #7! #lolla #kidza11

Today's 2 Days!!

So, we've got links to ChiIL Mama's photo and video filled best of Kidzapalooza 2010.


Check out ChiIL Mama's YouTube Channel for loads of great live footage from Kidzapalooza 2010 including interviews with Recess Monkey, Candy Band & Tim and The Space Cadets and live concert footage, too.   We have 69 Original Videos as of today.


Tomorrow we'll have more unpublished pixs from 2010, for a photo filled feature, and ChiIL Mama's original interview with 16 year old Ruby Jane.   

Ruby plays Lollapalooza 2011 at noon THIS Friday at the BMI Stage.

Relive the Lolla love as we travel back in time another year to 2009
Click each day for highlights:

Friday9

          Saturday9 

                        & Sunday9

Here's a little photo filled blast from even farther in the past (past Kidza years that is) with Perry Farrell and Patti Smith and ChiIL Mama's own Sagezilla & Du-Jay.   



And here's our inaugural ChiIL Mama blog post featuring Slash, Perry and photo filled highlights of Kidza 08!!

Of course Perry and Tor and Peter DiStefano will make their annual Kidza appearance again this year.    Their kidza sets are alway a highlight of the weekend.   Last year, we were also thrilled to be able to introduce the kids to one of our favorite artists, Chrissie Hynde, LIVE at the Kidza Stage.   Check out ChiIL Mama's best of past Kidzas coverage.

Peter DiStefano, ChiIL Mama 2010

We're also stoked to see the VIR (Very Important Rocker) Breakfast is back again and we'll be their bright n early this Sunday morning for an intimate show, great Paul Frank give aways and fun.    Last year ChiIL Mama shot the following videos of kindie king, DAN ZANES, at the VIR Breakfast at The James Hotel.   Lollapalooza Co-Producer and Kidza MC, Tor Hyams' son, Lyon, can be seen rockin' out.    He's doing the "freezing in the hotel air conditioning" dance.    Enjoy!

We also have a print interview with the main man, father of two, Lolla Co-Producer, Grammy nominated producer, musician and Kidza MC, among other hats.  Click here for ChiIL Mama's Exclusive Interview With Tor Hyams himself.

Here's What We're Excited About For Kidza 2011:

FRIDAY, AUGUST 5th

Big Bang Boom

*The Happiness Club

*Northbrook Garage 

(Jr. High)

Kate Diaz 

(14)

Brady Rymer

Elizaveta

Haley Bonar

SATURDAY, AUGUST 6th

*Northbrook Garage (Jr. High)

*The Happiness Club 

Big Bang Boom

Haley Bonar

Ralph's World

Special Guest

Brady Rymer

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7th

*Kate Diaz (14)

The Q Brothers

*The Happiness Club

Keller Williams

Peter DiStefano & Tor

Perry Farrell

Ralph's World

*signifies bands where the musicians ARE kids

We can't wait to see newcomers, Northbrook Garage.   Here's what Kidza has to say about them:

Smoky, soulful vocals. Chunky, melodic licks. Solid, barnstorming rhythm. If you hear Northbrook Garage without seeing them, you’ll never guess the members are still in junior high. Their talent, arrangement style, and synergy are way beyond their years. 

From deep cut covers to infectious originals, the sound of Northbrook Garage is unexpectedly unique. The guys of Northbrook Garage -- Sam Harkey, Eric Doar, and Eric von Holst -- have been honing and tightening their sound since grammar school. When they met vocalist Elenna Sindler at a junior high talent night, the band was complete. 

NBG has an undeniable chemistry evident both on and off the stage. That vibe translates into tight grooves and that indescribable “something special”. Described as Soulful Americana and Rootsy Groove, NBG finds the pulse in music and expresses themselves through their eclectic sound. The result is not typical of their generation, but could just be where their generation is going. As exclaimed by Sharon Jones after inviting them onto her stage to jam with the Dap-Kings, “The babies are bringing back soul! Ain’t that something!”

Check out their website HERE and 10 live videos on their YouTube Channel.

ChiIL Mama loves their header--Minor Age, Major Rock N Roll!   Indeed.

Kidzapalooza Chicago 2011 Activities 

This year's activities include:

Applegate Community Mural: Paint a large apple mural with your friends and family. This interactive and collaborative art project has traveled through many cities this summer and has been painted by thousands of artists of all ages.

Paul Frank: The Academy of Awesome! Silkscreen some of the awesome wears of the most awesome inspired fashion company for kids.

Hip Hop Dance Workshop with Happiness Club: Get your groove on while you learn the latest hip hop and fly boy/girl moves.

Double Dutch Workshop: Learn the tricks of doing some mad jump roping from the best and watch kids & teens do some amazing moves.

Hip Hop Workshop: The Q Brothers will teach kids how to scratch, beat box and rhyme. Take home a CD of your Phat track!

DrumZone: This area is all about rhythm and making noise with John Yost’s Rhythm Revolution. Bang away on a variety of drums to create something cool and loud.

Funky Hairdooz: A chance for kidz to be styled using environmentally, kid friendly products. A pink Mohawk will have you in style for the festival.

Tattooz: Hip airbrush tattoos are available at this station. Be a rock star while at the festival!

Photo Shootz: Kidz capture their new rocker look with Time Out Kids Magazine and pose with props to be the next rock star on their very own cover that they get to take home.

Lifeway Probugs: Sample some organic Kefir in a spill free pouch and cycle your way to nutrition.

Berklee School of Music: Create your own private headphone concert and impress your friends!

Check out Kidzapalooza's website for set times and family friendly fest details.   

We will be covering Kidzapalooza and Lollapalooza again this Friday through Sunday, so check back in with ChiIL Mama like we vote in Chi, IL...early and often!

Exclusive Video--ChiILin' With Tropicana's OJ Express At Lincoln Park Zoo!

ChiIL Mama checks out the OJ Express & catches the kids cooking healthy Orange French Toast with registered dietician, Dawn Jackson Blatner, in this original video. It was also fun to see MC Miss Lori both on and off the Tropicana stage, and see Sagezilla and Du-Jay cooking and playing games with her two daughters and their friend. Her younger 2 kids are also 8 & 10 like mine. We had a great time catching up with another 10 year old friend, and his blogging Tiramisu Mom.


ChiIL Mama, Dug and the kids caught tasty OJ Toast making, fun and games on video yesterday morning.   There's one more chance to catch Tropicana's OJ Express today at Union Station.    


Click HERE for the schedule and ChiIL Mama's still photo fun.

Photo Filled Fun at The Tropicana #OJExpress This Morning

We hit the LP Zoo bright and early this morning for an OJ French Toast making lesson, games, and fun with Tropicana.    Stop by for your own samples and swag and even record a song for your chance to win 10,000.    Miss Lori is singing and hosting.   Pulp free fun for everyone!    We'll have our video footage up later today.   It was fun to see Miss Lori, Amy (Tiramisu Mom), and more blog friends.

Not an early girly...Sagezilla was ready for a nap before things even got rolling at 9am.

ChiIL Mama's 8 year old, Sagezilla, before and after some healthy and tasty OJ and Orange French Toast, with awesome sauce made with Greek yogurt. 

Catch the Tropicana OJ Express:

Tuesday, August 2  10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.                      Lincoln Park Zoo 2200 N. Cannon Drive Chicago, IL 60614

Tuesday, August 2  6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.                      Jewel 1224. S. Wabash  Chicago, IL 60605

Wednesday, August 3  7:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Union Station - Riverwalk 210 S. Canal at Jackson St. Chicago, IL 60606

C is for Cotton Candy

Mmmmmm.    Pure, spun sugar and garish food coloring.    What could be more fun to eat?    The blue tongued skink effect rocks, too.    I can't remember the last time we bought cotton candy before last weekend.   It had been years.   But we had a fun, girls day out at Chicago's Navy Pier with Sagezilla and one of her BFFs, Ruby, so we splurged.    First, we all saw Chicago Shakespeare Theatre's amazingly excellent production, The Adventures of Pinocchio  (playing through August 28th).   Then we had lunch, bought matching hair clips and robot mood bracelets for the girls, and yes....indulged in a tasty blue treat. 


For more ABC fun from around the world, click below.

http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.com/

Count Down To Kidza-4 Days Till Lucky #7!

Keller Williams Interview With ChiIL Mama from ChiIL Mama on Vimeo.

ChiIL Mama interviews Keller Williams about fatherhood, V8 engines v. hybrid cars, and how creatives parent & how parents create


Something old something new....

Kidza Kids:   Du-Jay and Sagezilla have loved Kidza from the start.   Here they are as 3 & 5 year olds in 06.   They've been to every day of every one!


Kidzapalooza's comin' to town!    We're starting our count down with ChiIL Mama's original interview with Keller Williams.   He's an accomplished and well loved musician with 16 albums to his credit, but he's new to the kindie rock world.    It was a natural extension for this devoted dad of two, to write a kids CD, aptly named, Kids.   


If you haven't heard of Keller or heard Keller LIVE, you are in for a treat.    Catch him on the Kids Stage this Sunday at 2:30, right before Peter DiStefano & Tor, then Perry Farrell.    (As usual, parents accompanied by kids 10 and under get the rock star treatment with VIP space at the front of the grass, inside the gates.)



Here's ChiIL Mama's LIVE concert clip where Keller explains his unique style.   We have loads more fun footage from Park West, the last time Keller came through Chi-Town and ChiIL Mama's got some great Keller photo pit shots from Summer Camp Music Festival coming soon.   Keller Williams rocked Summer Camp Music Festival.   We loved his Grateful Dead and Morphine covers!   Hear and/or download Keller's whole Park West Kids and Adult show sets HERE while you check out ChiIL Mama's stills from Park West.     You can also hear Keller's whole Summer Camp set HERE.

Keller's Kids Show at Park West, Chicago


Check out Keller's Kids Website for more videos, photos, goat cam, tour dates, merch and more!   We can't wait to see what he breaks out for Kidza #7.


Click Here for the full line up on the Kidzapalooza stage

ChiIL Mama catches the magic of a Kidza drum circle in 2010 Next, we have an old favorite that has been an integral part of every Kidzapalooza for the last 6 years--drums!    Jon Yost and Rhythm Revolution will be there again, rockin' Kidza.   Ken Crampton and Everybody Drum opened for Keller Williams Kids Shows when he toured earlier this year, and we saw Jon Yost there keepin' the beat with his kid, so it's a natural pairing.    Check out Keller's opener at Park West, Chicago below. Remo always gives away loads of kids drums and percussion instruments at Kidza every year, so enter the free lottery and be there when the kids' area closes each day for your chance to win. How many drums have your kids broken so far? We've gone through a rubber topped pseudo-Native American drum, a wooden drum that got recalled for lead paint and several giant plastic drums filled with percussion toys. Our cheap maracas cracked and spilled their plastic beans everywhere. And those instruments sounded terrible when they were new. However, all the Remo drums we've ever bought are still in great shape and hold a prominent place in our hearts and in our living room. Over the years, our kids have accumulated an assortment of Remo bongos, toms, conga drums, shakers, tambourines and even lollipop drums on a stick that are spiraled like a huge sucker. At 8 & 10, the kids still haven't outgrown them. Instead, these instruments have grown with the children. Especially during those early years, when drums sometimes accidentally double as seats or stairs, kids are really rough on drum heads. But just because it's for the kids and not the pros, Remo doesn't cheap out on the materials. Remo uses REAL drum head on their kids' drums. So they last REALLY long and they sound REALLY great. Every year we look forward to the Remo drum circle at Kidzapalooza.   Everyone who wants to, gets to play.   And the pressure's off in a group.   There's such a loud lot of drumming going on that nobody will hear or care if you screw up.   There's safety in numbers. There's also a mightiness and energy to group drumming--to individuals coming together to make a big noise together.   And John Yost is the master maestro who helps to make control out of chaos.   He directs and channels the energy so everyone gets a turn to play.   And he gives the rhythms focus, so people get out of their head and their self consciousness and into a follow the leader game.    In 2010, the drum circle became a longer running part of the Kidzapalooza day, instead of just happening at the end.   It's a positive change and hopefully a new tradition.    Drumming is great for kids' development and parents might just find themselves jumping in and wailing away, too.   Drumming is also a great stress release.   If we can walk together, why can't we rock together.   If you haven't tried it yet, a drum circle is fun family together time.   We'll be practicing up on our Remo drums this winter.   Look out Kidza 2011.   We're gonna kick out the jams.  ChiIL Mama's featuring a daily COUNT DOWN TO KIDZA so check in like we vote in Chi, IL...early and often!

Tropicana OJ Express Rolls into Chi-Town Tomorrow!

One in Four Americans Start the Day off in a Bad Mood And 34 Million People Skip Breakfast Regularly.  

Tropicana Tour Stops In Chicago to Promote Good Nutrition, Put the “Good” Back in Morning.

In our family, Sagezilla frequently wakes up acting like a ferrel cat shaken up in a bag.   Dad Dug is a bit better at hiding the fact he's not a morning person, but we have 50% of the bad mood morning crew in our family.    No matter how surly or hurried we are, I'm adamant about everyone leaving home with full, happy tummies, even if the happy doesn't extend to their faces till a bit later in the day.  

The Tropicana OJ Express is on a mission to put the “good” back in morning for families across the country. The OJ Express will remind everyone that one 8 oz. glass of Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice has four essential nutrients and counts as two servings of fruit – all without added sugar or water.  You can catch them in Chicago on Aug. 2-3 (Aug. 2 at Lincoln Park Zoo and Aug. 3 at Union Station) where they'll host fun, free and family-friendly events for local residents.

The events will include fun games, a singing contest with the chance to win $10,000 and a year’s supply of Tropicana OJ, plus free Tropicana OJ and Quaker Oats Cereal for all! Plus, people can take the Fruit & Veg pledge for better nutrition, all to support Chicago-area schools! In fact, they’ll donate one 8 oz. glass of OJ for every pledge they receive.

WHAT:  The Tropicana OJ Express is steaming into Chicago to educate residents about the important nutritional role of breakfast.  In fact, here in Illinois the vast majority of people (about 85 percent) don’t get the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables each day. So Chicago-area dietitian Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD is helping offer quick and simple tips to teach local families about the power of breakfast, and is putting out a call to help Chicago kids in need get good breakfast nutrition, too. 

            We'll have a photo (and vitamin C filled) report for you tomorrow after our early morning French Toast making party with a host of blogger kids.    We'll see if the OJ Express can turn Sagezilla's frown upside down.

Catch the Tropicana OJ Express:

Tuesday, August 2  10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.                      Lincoln Park Zoo 2200 N. Cannon Drive Chicago, IL 60614

Tuesday, August 2  6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.                      Jewel 1224. S. Wabash  Chicago, IL 60605

Wednesday, August 3  7:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Union Station - Riverwalk 210 S. Canal at Jackson St. Chicago, IL 60606

Visit Tropicana's Facebook page for more information and to take the Fruit & Veg Pledge http://bit.ly/kqGKeY.

Mellow Yellow Monday--ChiILin' At Circle Pines Social Justice Camp

It's been a couple of circ weeks, with my oldest at CIRCle Pines Camp in Michigan and my youngest at CIRCEsteem in the city.    Here's a little, yellow tinged taste (for Mellow Yellow Monday) of Du-Jay's first adventure with sleep over camp.    


Circle Pines is a magical, peaceful, fun filled place between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids, Michigan, with a large and devoted contingent of campers that make the nearly 4 hour drive from Chicago.   We even met 3 campers and a Mom volunteer who flew in from California for camp.   And we met a number of others from places as far flung as Florida and the East Coast.   We've been impressed by the number of campers that come back for generations.


We'll have a full, photo filled feature and loads of video footage from Circle Pines in the coming month.   We're still in the editing process, but we're very excited to bring our readers interviews with campers, parents and staff, along with candid scenes, awards ceremonies and performances from the final days of summer camp.   So check back with ChiIL Mama early and often.

Circle Pines Center is a member-owned and run non-profit cooperative organization.   They run a children's summer camp and year round retreat and conference center with programs for families, children and adults. The co-op owns 294 acres of land with rolling hills, hardwood and pine forests, meadows and frontage on Stewart Lake. They have miles of trails for hiking and cross-country skiing, diverse wildlife and an organic garden and orchard. The mission of Circle Pines is to teach peace, social justice, environmental stewardship and cooperation. The Center aims to demonstrate cooperative alternatives for economic and social issues and to teach cooperation as a way of life.

For more Mellow Yellow Fun from around the globe, click below.

CircEsteem-Week 6-Final Summer Camp Show

Photo Credit:  CircEsteem
Photo slide show of the final show of CircEsteem's Summer Camp-week 6 


Check out ChiIL Mama's own Sagezilla, with her feet over her shoulders, well on the way to learning "jelly rolls" in Acro.   She's the one with the looping side braids.    You can also see her "on top of the world" balancing on the globe (the big ball) with a hula hoop!


Both Sagezilla and Du-Jay ran away with the circus for 2 weeks of fun this summer.    We have been in Saturday classes with CircEsteem for a year and are excited to continue.   We highly recommend their excellent staff, great kids and families, and esteem and strength building classes.    Follow CircEsteem on Facebook or check out their web site to keep up to date.   They'll be announcing their fall line up of classes next week, and we'll keep you posted here, at ChiIL Mama, too.


If you missed our recent video interview with Maribeth Joy, CircEsteem's Executive Director, you can check it out HERE.


We also have a zillion photos and live show footage from both their winter shows and their big spring extravaganza, we'll be posting this fall.    We're still in the editing process.   There's some incredible talent here, and we love what CircEsteem is doing for Chicago kids' minds, bodies, and spirits.    Check 'em out.    They're an amazing, local resource we're jazzed to be a part of!