Possibly the coolest kids’ show ever, The Muppet Show ran on CBS and affiliate stations from 1976 to 1981 and produced a number of much-loved TV specials and movie spin-offs, not to mention a huge range of Muppets licensed products from toys to clothing to personal gear.

One great delight of The Muppet Show was its music — and its high-profile musical guests. Over the years, cultural icons from Alice Cooper to Joan Baez to Johnny Cash to Liberace sang with Jim Henson‘s wide-mouthed, floppy-armed puppets…


Ah, memories! (Ah, the critics!)

Now, a variety of talented contemporary artists have produced the ultimate tribute to an iconic show of the 1970s-’80s North American childhood: a collection of cover versions of classic Muppets tunes: Muppets: The Green Album was just released this week.

Preview the Muppets Green Album Online

Thanks to National Public Radio (NPR.org), we can preview the music online.

Track list

Here’s the line-up of songs on the new Muppet album:

• “Muppet Show Theme Song” — performed by OK Go
• “Rainbow Connection” — performed by Weezer (featuring Hayley Williams)
• “Mahna Mahna” — performed by The Fray
• “Movin’ Right Along” — performed by Alkaline Trio
• “Our World” — performed by My Morning Jacket
• “Halfway Down the Stairs” — performed by Amy Lee
• “Mr. Bassman” — performed by Sondre Lerche
• “Wishing Song” — performed by The Airborne Toxic Event
• “Night Life” — performed by Brandon Saller
• “Bein’ Green” — performed by Andrew Bird
• “I Hope That Something Better Comes Along”
  — performed by Matt Nathanson (This tune is one of my personal favourites, so happy it was included!)
• “I’m Going to Go Back There Someday” — performed by Rachael Yamagata

These songs are to make up the soundtrack of a new Muppets movie, written by Jason Segel, that is scheduled to be released in November.

True, some of us ol’ curmudgeons may cringe a bit at some of the new, hip renditions of these classic Muppets tunes, but do listen with an open mind — and with your kids. If Muppets: The Green Album can bring the joy that was The Muppet Show back to mind and forge a fresh link between generations, it’s all to the good!

This just in from Crafters News (Crown):

You’ve knitted their colorful blankets, sassy nightgowns, adorable baby bibs, dishtowels, and more, but did you know that Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne of Mason-Dixon Knitting fame are actually country singers in disguise?

Give a listen to Kay and Ann on the Nashville Bandwagon Show, performing their side-splitting-funny country song “Pardon Me (I Didn’t Knit that For You)”.

This musical gem was part of the whoop-up launch of the new (affordable!) paperback edition of Mason-Dixon Knitting: The Curious Knitter’s Guide: Stories, Patterns, Advice, Opinions, Questions, Answers, Jokes, and Pictures.

Now, doesn’t that make you want to rush right out and… knit up something cosy for the one you love?

Happy Canada Day!

Photo: Phillie Casablanca

We’ll get to the low-key-Canadian-patriotic celebrating stuff in a minute.

First, I want to say thanks to all you lovely Internet People who sent emails, noticing that the Domestik Goddess was uncharacteristically quiet and wondering if I’d died… got me all misty-eyed, some of you!

“Rumours of my death are greatly exaggerated,” to crib from Mark Twain.

The truth is that I’ve been working super-long hours on a big new project, and it’s almost done. Well, done enough that I can come back to the real world now that the end is in sight! (Did I just call the Internet the “real world”?!?) Anyway, today I celebrated that long-awaited “Almost Done” milestone (and Canada Day, too) by spending a little quiet quality time with dogs, food and the traditional Maritime icons of beer and music…

Healthy Outdoor Exercise

The best part of the day for me (and, frankly, the most productive) was taking my dogs for a long long long walk in the gentle warm rain. Three white-tailed deer stood and watched us wander out from the woods trail into the open fields, and didn’t seem at all troubled by the presence of the dogs. I do believe that they couldn’t even see the Golden Retriever over the tall grass, and they think the long-legged Greyhound is just another deer!

Here are the dogs, at home — I didn’t have the camera with me, so you’ll just have to imagine the deer:

Food!!

For supper, I invented a new recipe. The dish is too simple to deserve to have a name, but it turned out very well for something so very healthful and high-fibre/low-calorie, so I thought I’d share it here:

Cooked chicken breasts (I had some waiting in the freezer, previously cooked for just such an occasion): thaw and slice thin. Thin-slice some carrots, celery, yellow bell peppers, and onions. Heat a splash of olive oil in a giant frying pan, throw in the veggies and cooked chicken, and sort of stir-fry them for a few minutes until the carrots start to soften. Salt and pepper to taste. I also sprinkled on just a touch of cayenne. Then splash in just enough gingerale to moisten, and cover the saucepan. Let it simmer until heated through. At the last minute, toss with about a tablespoon of lemon-poppyseed salad dressing. Serve over flax/whole wheat spaghettini.

The Traditional Brewski

And afterwards, a refreshing glass of Dooryard Summer Ale. Yes, that really is the name of a beer — I’m not making it up. It’s an organic wheat ale made by Picaroons, a micro-brewery here in our region.

What goes with a brew?
Tunes, of course!

Sing Along!

Because this is Canada Day, I was digging deep at Blip.fm for some dusty Canadian classics and having a great time doing it — but the song that summed up the whole mood of the day, for me, is this one by Julie Doiron that I heard for the first time today on CBC radio’s all-day CanCon programming, part of the Canada Day celebrations.

Here’s my new favourite song, “Nice to Come Home” by singer-songwriter Julie Doiron for your listening pleasure:

And there you have it.

If you’re not Canadian… so sorry you didn’t get a holiday today!
(Your turn is coming, right?)

And tell me, my fellow Canadians — how did you celebrate? Drop a note in the comments (since I’m not actually dead, and thus able to read it) and share the joy. And if you blogged about your Canada Day celebrations, leave a link so I’ll be sure to come visit your blog and read all the festive details!

If someone on your “social obligations” Christmas gift list has a little girl… and that little girl is a fan of Hannah Montana… but, truth be told, you really don’t like her parents all that much… here’s the perfect (slightly evil) gift.

For about ten bucks, you can pick up a singing Hannah Montana collector doll.

She comes with a snazzy outfit that the kid can put on and take off her until it falls apart, a doll display stand that someone’s bound to step on, and a delightfully tacky Hannah Montana “keepsake” in a convincing gift box.

Apparently, batteries actually are included, too!

But don’t let that fool you — this toy has genuine potential to ruin a parent’s holiday.

Because the Hannah Montana doll only knows one tune — she’ll sing Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree until every adult in the house wants to smash the doll with a case of Tylenol bottles.

How perfect is that?

Delight the child.
Annoy the parents.
And most likely get yourself off the hook for giving anything to that particular family next year!

Really, it’s the next best thing to giving the kid a drum kit for Christmas…

It just feels wrong to criticize, when someone does something nice. In this case, the folks at Best Buy sent along a little REDI mp3 player for my Aged Mother to take with her when she went into the hospital, back at the end of June.

Great idea, eh?

Well, it was… sort of…

My mother (yes, same one; I’ve just got the one) always said, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” — and, fortunately, I do have some nice things to say about the player. But it’s not all good, so I’ve been really stalling here, not much wanting to write about it…

Okay, here goes:

Basically, it’s a $40 1GB mp3 player, pre-loaded with music so you can start using it right away — or as soon as you get another battery to replace the highly questionable one that comes in the package. When you do want to change the selection, it comes with the USB cable to glom right on to your computer and go to it. And the screen isn’t too hard to read, as these tiny LED screens go. Oh, and there’s an FM tuner, too — essential for we who are avid fans of public radio.

And I’m sure, as a $40 mp3 player goes, it’s about as good as one can expect to get. In fact, the sound is surprisingly clear and true.

The problem is in getting the damn (sorry, Mum!) thing to work.

I’m not even talking about the little wheel-thingie button that sometimes you have to push down on and sometimes you have to turn, or the fact that if you bite your fingernails you’re going to have a hard time pushing some of the other dainty little buttons — my brother gave up in no time.

No, the big stumbling block is those incomprehensible instructions! You’d think that a nice diagram, showing all the bits and buttons, all nicely labelled, would be helpful — no? Well, no. Because the nicely labelled bits and buttons had completely different names in the (translated from an Asian language?) instruction text.

Counting the helpful night-shift nurse on her coffee break, at one point there were 6 of us, with an age range of 16 to 79 years old and a total of 7 university degrees, trying to figure out how Mum could distract herself with a bit of CBC radio on that sleepless night before surgery. Music, yes, got that, no problem — and she liked the music selection just fine. (“Be sure to say that,” she told me: “I like the music.”) But to switch from music to tuner, following the instructions provided? Eh. We gave up, and I brought my own mp3 player in the next day. For the rest of her hospital stay, she kept my Kix tuned to the radio station, and her REDI all ready for music.

Maybe one of these days we’ll take some time and sit down and figure the thing out. It can’t really be that confusing, can it? I guess the big disappointment here was a result of the way the player is marketed. The idea is that the music’s pre-loaded so Dad and Grannie don’t have to wade into the big scary world of iTunes until they’re good and ready, right? So we all had expected much greater ease of use — both in a physical sense, what with the tiny buttons and strange wheelie-thing and all — and as a result of the poor instructions.

But hey, it was nice of you guys to send it, anyway — and Mum told me to be sure to say “Thank you”; she appreciated the thought.

Okay, gang, here we go!

It’s time to give away the Insignia Kix mp3 player I wrote a review about on Friday…

You know, that fun little 1Gb USB mp3 player that would be perfect for a kid… or for someone like me who frankly just doesn’t want the headache of trying to learn her way around a fancy-schmancy gadget…

There are 2 ways to enter for your chance to win:

1. subscribe by email to DomestikGoddess.com

or

2. leave a comment on this post, being sure to put in a valid email address on the comment form.

No worries, your email address won’t be used for any nefarious purpose — I’ll just need a way to get in touch with you if you happen to be the lucky winner, so as to make arrangements to get your Kix delivered, courtesy of Best Buy.

I’ll be making the draw at 10pm AST Friday, 8 February 2008 by the highly scientific process of putting all the entries on little slips of paper, dropping them into a hat, and making He Who Hogs The Power Tools close his eyes to pull one out.

So that’s it — go ahead now and drop a comment or sign up for your Domestik Goddess email updates, your choice — and we’ll announce the winner here on Friday evening.

__________________________________

Friday 10:05 p.m. update:
Contest is closed now — All the entries have been scribbled on squares of recycled junk mail and dropped into a lovely Mexican basket, ready for He Who Hogs The Power Tools to make the draw. I’ll be emailing the happy winner this evening, and announce it as soon as I get a reply… stay tuned! :)

Technorati Tags: gadgets, affordable, mp3 player, giveaway, contest

Could you use a new mp3 player? Stay tuned — on Monday I’ll let you know how to enter the Domestik Goddess Get Your Kix mp3 player giveaway for a chance to win the gadget I’m raving about right now…

Cheap but Good

I’m a simple soul, as you may know.

There are only 4 things I ask from an mp3 player:

1. It must be simple — easy enough for a small child to use (or a woman who hasn’t had her morning coffee);



2. It must let me drag-and-drop files from my computer to the mp3player without needing to use any weird proprietary software;
3. It must be tiny — that is, if I put it into the front pocket of my jeans, I want to be able to bend over and tie my shoes without breaking the player or causing myself any pain;
4. It must take rechargeable batteries — and if I can charge it up with a USB to my laptop, all the better!

Oh, and I want it to be affordable and sturdy, too. Not that I’m a total klutz (not exactly) but what’s the point of an mp3 player that you’re afraid to take with you? So, a cheap mp3 player that works, that’s what I want — you know, in case it gets lost, stolen, or accidentally dropped in a hot tub (could happen!) apres-ski…

The Swag Fairy must have been reading my mind:

Insignia, part of Best Buy’s internal brand, recently launched a new Kix MP3 player. It’s a small, portable player that features 1GB of space, interchangeable USB color caps and a built-in FM radio.

Never mind the pink colour — it’s got two other options (blue and green) for the little swivel-up piece that covers the USB plugin thingie. I just chose the pink to discourage He Who Hogs The Power Tools from “borrowing” my Kix.

Anyway, I am well pleased with this little gadget.

It hits all the features on my wishlist — plus it has an FM tuner with decent reception and 20 pre-sets. Yeah, I forgot to put FM radio on the list, but it’s great to be able to catch the news and weather while out walking the dog.

Audio books, too. See, this is one of the whole big reasons I need an mp3 player in the first place – so I can listen to audio books (right now, coincidentally, it’s Getting Things Done by David Allen) and feel just super-productive and efficient in the use of dog-walking time!

Okay, to review:

• Simple to operate? Check.
• Drag and drop? Check.
• Compact? Check.
• Rechargeable? Check.

And by the way, I’m really quite impressed with the battery in this baby — a couple of hours plugged into my USB port and it’s got about 30 hours of listening power in store.

It almost embarrassses me to say this, but the Insignia Kix would be a really great choice for an mp3 player for a kid. I’ve been taking it everywhere in my pocket for a full week now — off-roading in a snowstorm, even — and haven’t managed to screw it up yet.

Bottom line: Maybe not for the serious music geek or gadget freak, or for those who want to carry a life-time supply of tunes with them at all times. But for those of us who are just a tad rough on our portable toys… at well under 50 bucks, it’s hard to find a better little mp3 player.

Get your Kix

Check out the specs on the Best Buy or Insignia sites… then drop back in to Domestik Goddess here on Monday when I’ll open it up for your chance to win a Kix Insignia mp3 player, courtesy of the Swag Fairy and the fine folks at Best Buy.

Technorati Tags: gadgets, affordable, mp3 player, giveaway, contest

It was Remembrance Day 1999, and singer-songwriter Terry Kelly was in a drug store in Nova Scotia, Canada.

An announcement came over the store’s PA system, asking customers to give two minutes of silence at 11:00 AM — at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month — the annual token of respect for the nation’s veterans.

Read the letters and poems of the heroes at home
They have casualties, battles, and fears of their own
There’s a price to be paid if you go, if you stay
Freedom is fought for and won in numerous ways

On the stroke of 11:00, all the store fell silent.

All, that is, except for one man, who was accompanied by his little daughter. Oblivious of the example he was setting for the child, the man continued to try to talk to the sales clerk all through the respectful silence.

Take two minutes, would you mind?
It’s a pittance of time…

Terry Kelly did what artists have always done, in the grip of the strongest emotions — he channelled his anger into his music.

Lest we forget what Remembrance Day is all about, here’s the song:

Imagine — it’s 1927, and newsboys are shouting the word on the street: Charles Lindbergh has mastered the impossible. In that frail aircraft, the Spirit of St. Louis, he made the first non-stop solo trans-Atlantic flight…

Got a vintage 1920s home, lovingly restored to reflect that breathless era of glamour, adventure and invention?

The period home deserves more than a mod iPod dock on the side table to pump out your mood music, or even a discreet black box with speakers.

Posh Prezzies’ Spirit of St. Louis collection of home technology products is crafted to replicate the style of Lindbergh-era gadgets, all fascinating knobs and shiny dials and rich wood details.

Each CD player or clock radio in the collection is an evocation of the Golden Age of romance — when Old Hollywood reigned — when luxury ocean liners and velvet-cushioned ralway cars were the height of travel style — and when a human voice carried across the airwaves was still as miraculous as man’s ability to take flight across the Atlantic.

Technorati Tags: 1920s, retro, gadgets

What’s a pirate without a song?

It originally be a quick joke, but now Pirate Day in this sceptr’d isle now be raisin’ thousands o’pounds fer charity, as well as bein’ more entertainin’ than a barrel full o’mice. We be proud t’carry on the tradition, an’ t’be gettin’ as many folks round Britain as we can t’be talkin’ like pirates!

The single of Jay Foreman’s song On A Pirate Ship is available at www.yarr.org.uk/single, with the proceeds — every doubloon — going to support the Marie Curie Cancer Care… an’ it be costin’ less than a mug o’grog!