No, not me or this blog. Ellis Paul’s album The Dragonfly Races (the first CD we bought specifically for Eva) has just recently won this most prestigious honor. The Parent’s Choice Silver Honor Award is a pretty big deal

We are pretty happy for Ellis, in addition to creating these songs and this album he has been one of our favorite folk singers for so long. We’ve had the chance to talk to him on many occasions and we couldn’t be happier. When we found out that a children’s album was coming we knew that it would be an amazing CD or amazing songs. And we certainly were not disappointed. I was so excited for it and wanted it to do well and sell a bunch of copies that I even offered to give away 10 iTunes downloads to the first 10 people to respond. But at that time not many people were reading this blog, (well less than now) and so I never gave any away. I would still like to do that for anyone who is interested. So go to my The Dragonfly Races post and enter to win a free iTunes Download.

And if you are in the Boston Area May 24th and want to catch Ellis performing in a live, free, outdoor concert as part of Earthfest on the kid’s planet stage then check out this information.

Harnessing the power of the Internet and social media in a very bold Web 2.0 fashion we see newcomer Alisa Apps taking on other Pop Stars on YouTube. What we have here is the Pop Star Challenge. And this is how it works. There are a series of entertaining YouTube videos where an irritating host talks to people on the street and asks them to take the Pop Star Challenge. They are to listen to Alisa Apps and her song “Confusion” against other pop stars.

So how do you do this from home. Well, this is where the boldness comes in. On each video there is a link to the Alisa Apps song “Confusion” and another link to a video of another pop star. You are encouraged to listen to both songs and leave your thoughts on each in the comments of each video. Pretty simple right? Sure it is and pretty confident on the part of Alisa Apps.

I took the Pop Star Challenge. While I didn’t think the “Confusion” video was that great, I did like the catchiness of the song itself. The video was up against Rihanna – Take A Bow. I didn’t really like that video either, however it was much more polished. I think that with a better video director Alisa Apps and her songs may have a shot at Pop Stardom.