The Dan Zanes Juggernaut

Gotta hand it to the man; he knows what works.

After nearly three fruitless years of attempting to interest the boy in Dan Zanes' music, we finally steered his attention to danzanes.com, where videos of Zanes and his band performing several of their hits finally turned the boy into a music lover.

In particular, the video of "Jump Up", in which Zanes enlists the help of a kindergartener on banjo ukelele, sent the boy to pick up his own ukelele (something he never does), and inspired him to ask daddy to pull down the mandolin and play it (where previously he only ever asked daddy to put the mandolin away).

Almost immediately the boy mastered the hand motions of "All Around the Kitchen", and we've heard him wandering around the house singing bits of "Malti", "Emmanuel Road" and "House Party". We're used to him reciting stories; singing songs is something entirely new.

I was so stunned by the transformation that I immediately went out and bought the DVD on which most of the online videos are featured.

Of course, this weekend's new favorite: "Smile, Smile, Smile", is only available online.

It's a minor inconvenience, however. We're happy with ANYTHING that gets him to forget the nightmare of music that is the Inky Winky Spider CD. He hasn't asked for it in days.