FINALLY... The promised review of Robbie Schaefer's 12/31/2006 show at Jammin Java

It's been a crazy few weeks for us at Momma Daria's house so I am late in getting this review out. I would like to apologize for that. Hopefully that won't happen again, but sometimes even adults break promises that they mean to keep.

Let me start of by saying that we have never seen Robbie Schaefer preform. He has been playing in this area as a member of Eddie From Ohio (EFO) for years and even though they are our closest friends' favorite band we have never even heard any of their CDs. This is going to change because if their adult music is as great as Robbie's songs for kids then we have been missing out on a good thing.
So here's the rundown of the concert-
Who: Robbie Schaefer with a few special guests including 2 of his sons - Ethan and Owen, several children and 2 parents (one of them was me)
Where: Jammin Java
When: Dec 31, 2006 3pm show (There were two shows on that day)
How: $10 per person for tickets bought at Jammin Java. A $3 convieniece fee is added for every ticket bought online or over the phone. OUCH.
What did I think: WOW... What a great show. We'd do it again tomorrow if we could. Lesley is crazy about Robbie now.

The show started with Robbie flanked on stage by two of his sons singing "No, No, No". I thought "Ohh this is so cute.. Can you imagine all the songs they sing at home?" But soon I realize that this is their life. They loved it. They were smiling and preforming as much as their dad. The next song was "Chicken Lips " which is Robbie's cover of a Bruce Springsteen song. This isn't the easiest song to sing but I was pleasantly surprised that most of the kids in the audience knew all of the words.

Then Robbie asked for parent volunteers and my hand flew up before I could stop it. I got my 15 minutes of fame singing "The Donkey and the Mouse". My friends and family will not be surprised at all that I got to be the DONKEY (and a pig, and cow and a walrus). All I had to do was make animal sounds. I have been practicing for this gig for the last 4 1/2 years since Lesley Lou LOVES animal sounds. Here is a small video of the spectacle.

The concert continued with "Cowboy Bob" which is such a fun song to sway to. Next Robbie asked for 6 kids to come join him on stage to help sing Professor Schnoodle. Each child was given a piece of poster board with a color on it (Blue, Brown, Purple, Green, Poka dot, and Red) and they were supposed to raise their sheet when their color is mentioned in the song. The kids did a GREAT job!!!

Next Robbie explained a little bit of the background of "Carp in the Tub" and then Owen and Ethan joined him to sing it. They also had some very cool choreography to the Carp Carp chorus. The old favorite "There Ain't No Bugs on me" was next on the list followed by one of my favorite songs now "Sally Can I walk you home?" This songs is GREAT to sing to your kids. It is hard to mess up and Sally can easily be replaced with most names. We (Lesley Lou and I) thought that Robbie used drums on this song but in concert it was just him slapping his guitar. Who would have thought?

By this time of the concert they were passing out small cups of apple juice (remember this was the New Year's Eve Show) and Robbie began talking about Resolutions. When he asked what a resolution was some smartie pants parent said "Something you break". Robbie continued on without skipping a beat and we all sang the Resolution Song. All of the kids covered their hearts and help up their other hand and made their resolutions.
When the song was over, we counted down from 10 to 0 then shouted "Happy New Year". The kids toasted each other and we began singing "auld lang syne".


At the end of the concert Robbie, Owen and Ethan posed for photos, signed CDs, postcards and sold stickers (Lesley's is on the head rest in front of her carseat and she kisses it all the time).



What a GREAT way to end 2006! We can't wait to see Robbie again sometime really soon. Let me know if you have ever seen Robbie play and what you think.

Never heard of Robbie Schaefer? Pick up his CD at CD Baby.

Lots of love,
Momma Daria