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Hilltown Family Variety Show
World Premiere!
April 3rd, 2007 – 7pm

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• Super Heros Invasion – Batman
• Dennis Caraher – Elephant Played Electric Guitar
• The Nields – Going to the Zoo
• The Beatles – Octopus’s Garden
  
• Jim Dale – Green Eggs and Ham
  
• Uncle Rock – Break a Few Eggs
  
• Rosie Flores – Red, Red Robin
• HFVS Special Guest – Dennis Caraher
• Zoe Lewis – Sheep
• Langston Hughes – Dreams
• Rebecca Frezza – If I Were a Kite

We’re Going to the Zoo!

April is National Zoo and Aquarium Month. Read We’re Going to the Zoo! for local Western MA places to visit, sites to surf and books to read – all about the zoo!

The Nields sing a great rendition of Tom Paxton’s, We’re Going to the Zoo. My daughter and I love the Nields, a sister/mother duo from the hilltowns. We saw them recently at the Amherst Library for a great family performance from their album, All Together Singing in the Kitchen. Read more about that performance here on Hilltown Families. They will also be performing live on Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child this Saturday (04/07/07)!

If you’re looking for more zoo songs, Alphabet Soup has a nice page of songs, poems and fingerplays, and Perpetual Preschool has a short list of songs too.

Uncle Rock

Seeing as my daughter would argue that she is Uncle Rock’s #1 fan, we would be remiss not to play a song of his on our premiere show. Unfortunately, he could not make the Brooklyn Hootenanny. My daughter was crushed. I was crushed. Fans were crushed… kind of like a Who concert.

Sheep

We’re getting ready to celebrate Greek Easter with my daughter’s Ya Ya (that’s Greek for grandmother). Her Thea (Greek for Aunt) has a dinner at her home for the whole extended family with traditional Greek dishes, including lamb (sorry sheep). The whole affair is like a scene out of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.”

Break a Few Eggs

Like I explained to my daughter, during Easter dinner there are an abundant supply of eggs dyed red. Everyone takes an egg and taps them against another person’s egg. If your egg cracks while tapping, you’re considered lucky for the year – or is that the other way around? We always come home with a dozen red eggs that have seeped through and stained the inner whites pink. Too afraid to eat a pink egg, we end up tossing them into the compost pile and feeling guilty. This year I found a Russian papercraft project My daughter & I can do with our red eggs – Easter Roosters! Click here for directions.

I found an article, How To Dye Red Eggs with Onion Skins for Greek Easter that I want to try with my daugher too. I’d be much more willing to eat those!

The Elephant Played Electric Guitar

Dennis Caraher stopped by for a chat on his way to Cup and Top for a family performance. My daugher & I missed the performance, but we did discover more of Dennis’s tunes. You too can check out his music on his web site: www.dogbonetown.com, the winner of a Parents’ Choice Silver Medal. Click here to download an interview with Dennis on Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child.

If I Were A Kite

We discovered Rebecca Frezza at the Brooklyn Hootenanny. A fun performance! My daughter & I look forward to playing more of her music on future HFVS’s.

Green Eggs & Ham

I wanted to include more poetry in this weeks show since April is National Poetry Month, but we could only squeeze a couple so much into a half-hour show. We choose the poetry of Dr. Seuss and Lanston Hughes.

Dreams

Smithsonian Folkways has a recording of Langston Hughes reading his poem, “Dreams,”

“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams, for when dreams go life is a barren field frozen with snow.”

Timeless advise.