cAPSLOCKKILLS

No film since Harry Potter has spurred as much hype as Where the Wild Things Are. Sure, Spike Jonze directed, Karen O. composed and Urban launched an entire line of wild thing apparel. Yup, this film has all the ingredients of indie sensation and I’ve already seen way too many a hipster rocking the original Maurice Sendak cover art t-shirt. I’m sure I could go on and on about the emotional connection us 20-somethings have with a mischievous but lonely Max but I won’t. Instead, I’ll tell you that I rushed out the door to pick up the soundtrack once it dropped. Of course I couldn’t wait to hear it but most importantly I couldn’t wait for my kids to hear it.Monday-Friday I trade in my Ray-Bans for a ruler and teach a class of 31 shining 1st graders at an urban charter school in Hartford. Normally inundated with sickening Hannah Montana tunes or hardly appropriate “club bangers” this soundtrack was a chance for me to share a little bit of my music with 6 year olds. I guess you have to trust me that seeing a 6 year old shake her head full of beads along to “All Is Love” is truly a beautiful thing. Finally, some totally rad, age-appropriate songs for a demographic that so desperately needs them. Call it a diatribe, call it a plea but I just hope karen o. has plans on recording many, many more records. My first graders need more of what she’s cooking in their lives.