Gustafer Yellowgold at Schubas in Chicago, 2/23/13

The newest DVD, Year in the Day is currently on rotation at our house. I mean, we watch it daily. My preschooler insists. Gustafer and Slim are her favorite characters right now. She takes Gustafer everywhere and loves telling people all about him.

Each song on the DVD relates to a specific season. There’s even a song which documents Gustafer’s birth. We also enjoy watching the bonus features, which include the process of making Gustafer come to life.

Here are Hailey and Teagan with Morgan, Gustafer’s creator and the man behind the music:

And now I leave you with the video for Pancake Smackdown, one of our very favorites from Year in the Day:

A big ole’ THANK YOU to Red Tricycle!

It is most definitely appreciated to be recognized as someone who loves their city enough to feature local content, in addition to reviews on their blog. I have been blogging darn near a century now and I sure am proud of what I’ve done here at ParentSphere over the past five years.

So, thanks again, Red Tricycle for the love. I’m definitely feeling the warm fuzzies. <3

Chicago’s kindie sweetheart, Laura Doherty, was in town recently and played a pre-Valentine’s Day show to a packed room at Schubas Tavern. Click here to see all of our pictures!

If you missed this month’s show, don’t fret. Laura will be back in town soon! Her next show is in April (on the 14th at 11am) at the Old Town School of Folk Music. More info here.

First up, Laura Doherty’s Valentine’s Show
Date: Saturday, February 9th at 11 am
Venue: Schubas (Schubas Family Series is the bees knees)

More info about the show on the event page on Facebook or here, on Schubas website (ticket info there, as well). Become a fan of Laura on Facebook.

Next up, Gustafer Yellowgold
Date: Saturday, February 23rd at 11 am
Venue: Schubas (corner of Southport and Belmont)

More info about the show on Schubas website. Become a fan of Gustafer on Facebook.

We’ll be attending both shows. Hope to see you there!

Our group consisted of three adults, two first graders and a three year old. The older kids enjoyed the magical Disney show just as much as the preschooler. They giggled and sang along to the songs from their favorite princess movies. It’s hard not to smile when you hear their sweet voices singing along, or when you catch them gazing dreamily at the princesses sparkling gowns and graceful movements along the ice.

In Disney On Ice: Rockin’ Ever After, you’ll see Ariel the mermaid become human and fall in love. You’ll see Rapunzel on her journey to discover the world outside of her tower, see the floating lights, learn she’s the lost princess and finally, how she finds true love.

Merida, the young, feisty princess from the movie Brave, makes her debut appearance in this show. You’ll see how wild and free she wishes to be only to discover in the end that she and her mother, the queen, have a lot more in common than she realized.

Belle and the beast close out the show. This was my favorite part of the show. I loved the choreographed dances during this performance.

Disney On Ice: Rockin’ Ever After is in town for another couple of weeks. See it at the Allstate Arena and at the United Center. Click here for showtimes.

View more of my pictures from opening night here.

Last evening’s Yo Gabba Gabba Live show was so much fun. It was held at the Akoo Theatre in Rosemont.

The performance began with DJ Lance on the big screen, walking out like on the tv show. Soon after, he “magically” appeared on stage with the other Yo Gabba Gabba characters; Muno, Plex, Brobee, Foofa, and Todee.

This is the best kind of show to bring your kids to, in my opinion. Kids are not expected to sit through the show, nor be quiet. A win-win for parents and kids alike. Everyone is just there to, well, get the sillies out.

If you’re familiar with the tv series, you know that there are Super Music Friends, generally a band or celebrity. This live tour’s Super Music Friend is the one and only, Mike Park of Fun Fun Records (family label) and Asian Man Records (punk music label). A real treat for those of us who have been a fan of his for the past decade or so. (Did I just age myself? Oh well.)

Mike Park & Yo Gabba Gabba’s DJ Lance. Photo credit: Mike Park

Mike was joined on stage this weekend with friends Brendan Kelly (Slapstick, The Lawrence Arms), Rob Bell and Gerry Lundquist (MU330) and Rob Kellenberger (Slapstick). Their performance had everyone out of their seats, jumping and singing along. After a short intermission, the YGG crew came back out and performed hits such as; Party In My Tummy, Hold Still, and I Like Bugs; wherein, very large bugs came out and joined them on stage. And what is Yo Gabba Gabba without Biz’s Beat of the Day? The man himself, Biz Markie, was joined on stage by young members of the audience, who attempted to mimic his beat-boxing. Cute for sure.

Here’s a two minute video I put together, highlighting some of last night’s performance:

After the show, we joined the cast at the after-party. We had the pleasure of seeing Mike Park’s performance up close and personal, as well as meet some of the cast. Here are some fan photos from Saturday’s party:

Edie, Julia & Biz (Photo credit: Andy Pishko)

Brendan & his daughter with Brobee (Photo credit: Brendan Kelly)

We were also pleasantly surprised to learn that Josh Caterer (Smoking Popes) was in the audience at last night’s show:

@parentsphere Yes! I was there with my daughter. It was a silly good time!

— Josh Caterer (@jcaterer) January 21, 2013

I highly recommend checking out Yo Gabba Gabba Live when it comes through your city. The rest of the current tour runs through March 24th and you can view the tour schedule here. Try to see it, it’s so much fun!

My photos from the Chicago performance can be viewed here.

We’re getting pretty pumped about the Yo Gabba Gabba Live show tomorrow in Rosemont. In the meantime, we’ve been checking out the new Yo Gabba Gabba! Hello Friends! iOS app.

See my three year old above, peeking out in the middle of the app? She thinks it’s pretty cool that she’s included in all the fun within the app. Especially when she’s on a video call with Toodee.

Hello Friends! is an interactive app that allows kids (and, um, adults) to play and interact with their favorite Yo Gabba Gabba characters. There are games, video clips from the tv series (including music and stories), photos to embellish and face-to-face “video calls” with Brobee, Foofa, Muno, Plex, and Toodee. Looks like more fun activities for the app are in the works.

Here’s a quick peek at the app’s current features:

Be sure to check out the new Yo Gabba Gabba! Hello Friends! app in iTunes.

*I was provided with a code so my kids could experience this app for themselves. Any opinions expressed above are our own.