Kindercore

From the Contra Costa Times

BARNEY THE DINOSAUR is losing ground to Dinosaur, Jr.

If you don't believe it, just check out the new kid club scene, complete with mini-mosh pits where squealing 6-year-olds dance to songs with lyrics tackling weighty subjects such as choo-choo trains and jellyfish.

The live music is supplied by bands with names like the Sippy Cups and the Time Outs, made up of smiling, dancing adults whose first names practically leap in block letters from their brightly colored shirts.

On the tables, baby carriers replace Kamikazes and ashtrays. On the barstools, little tykes sipping from juice boxes replace the leather-jacket-wearing 23-year-olds yelling for a drink.

"One of our kids went to school and got sent home with a note saying he was singing (the Ramones') 'I Wanna be Sedated,'" says Mark Verlander, the guitarist for the Sippy Cups. "So we changed it to "I Wanna Be Elated."

Of the new kiddy bands out there, the Sippy Cups are among the hottest... the kids get up onstage to dance, sing and bang around on the instruments.