SOUNDTRACK: THE ZAMBONIS and JAMES KOCHALKA SUPERSTAR-“Hockey Monkey” (2005).
I once saw James Kochalka Superstar perform at a party in Vermont. He was a lot of fun and the kids in the audience really dug it too. This song is a perfect encapsulation of the JKSuperstar ethos–silly, irreverent, rocking, and more than a little off-kilter.
Kochalka’s voice is a little strainy and whiny which works perfectly for this kind of song. The backing band, The Zambonis, write exclusively hockey-based songs, so although JKS wrote this one, they are perfect for this song about a hockey monkey. And they rock through this simple, funny song with lyrics like:
all the scientists are running around
looking for the monkey but he can’t be found
cause he’s down by the pond playing hockey with the kidsand all the mothers are running around
looking for their children but they can’t be found
cause they’re down by the pond playing hockey with the monkeyand its 1..2..3.. the kids love the monkey and
4..5..6.. the monkey’s got a hockey stick
7..8..9.. havin a good time yeaaaa
In my mind, James Kochalka is more known for his books (done in the cool style of the album cover above), which are wild and very funny. And so is his music. Go on up to Vermont and check him out.
[READ: August 10, 2014] Odd, Weird and Little
Since we were on a Patrick Jenning’s kick, I decided to grab Odd Weird & Little. I didn’t realize it was his newest book, and I really liked it a lot. And so did the kids.
They both pointed out how the cover drawing looks like an owl and how the initial letters spell owl. Well, the chapter titles also spell O W L all the way down. It’s weird and funny. And so is the story.
As with Jenning’s other stories where mildly supernatural things happen, we never quite learn enough about this odd, weird, little character. His name is Toulouse Hulot (I loved that) and he comes from Quebec, Canada. He is definitely little, and definitely odd–he doesn’t take off his gloves or his hat in class (which the teacher allows because he is new). He barely speaks and he is so…proper. He wears a suit and has excellent penmanship. It’s weird.
Toulouse Hulot is not the only funny name in this book. The narrator’s name is Woodrow Schwette. And he tells us all about Toulouse, as they are in the same class. He relates how the two bullies are preparing to gang up on the new kid (which is okay with Woodrow as they usually gang up on him). But he feels sympathy for Toulouse, because he is so weird. And little. And, actually, kind of cool.
Throughout the course of the story we see that Toulouse does strange things–he seems to appear out of nowhere–quickly jumping to the top of a high tree and then quickly landing back on the ground (although Woodrow never actually sees him move). He arrives quietly. He also seems to say “Who?” a lot. But maybe that’s because he doesn’t speak much English. The teacher Mr Longwood speaking…very…slowly…to…him made me laugh every time. As did Mr Longwood’s threats to sing the “respect song” to the boys if they don’t settle down (the song itself is never revealed and I had to wonder if it was the classical R-E-S-P-E-C-T song or one that he made up and, I wonder which would be worse).
There are so many funny details in this book. I enjoyed the stupidity of the bullies, the weirdness of Toulouse (and the whole missing fish saga) and how the girls deal with him so differently than the boys do.
It is of course very strange that Toulouse is, well, an owl, (as the book advertises all over) and yet no one realizes it. The kids thought that that was funny and I kind of enjoyed that it was never really spelled out. In the same way that Jenning’s other weirdo animal things are never addressed in the other stories.
Jennings is turning out to be an author who our family enjoys quite a lot. His stories are grounded and yet they all have an unexpectedly weird element. But it’s the details that are wonderful. And I loved the details that made up this odd and weird (and yes, actually pretty little) book.
I Just Read About That... 
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