Funny Folk Songs, Windy City History and Trip to Laa-Laa Land

Audio

Never Grow Up. Anne Hills and Cindy Mangsen. Flying Fish/Rounder Records. CD: $15; cassette: $9.50. (800) 443-4727. All ages. Comic and soulful folk songs with Anne Hills and Cindy Mangsen and top guest singer-musicians. Raspy-voiced Dave Van Ronk’s “Froggy Went A-Courting” has a surprise ending, while Priscilla Herdman’s lead vocal adds poignancy to the cowboy lament, “The Colorado Trail.”

In the comic saga of “Hopalong Peter,” Uncle Peter’s wrong road to heaven includes Old Mother Hubbard, geese, roosters and a 700-lb. sweetheart. The highlight is “Master of the Sheepfold,” a moving welcome to straying sheep.

Fire in Boomtown. Amy Lowe and Megan Wells. Emphasis Kids. CD: $14.98; cassette: $9.98. (630) 355-5762. Ages 8 to adult. A beautifully performed, compelling theatrical narrative about the devastating Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

With poignant testimony from eyewitnesses and vivid songs, Amy Lowe and Megan Wells bring to life a city that grew too fast, with dangerously little planning; the chilling song “Mud, Wood, Drought, Blunder & Wind,” tells of what contributed to the devastating tragedy.

CD-ROM

Play With the Teletubbies. Knowledge Adventure, Win 98/Win 95. $30. (800) 542-4240. https://www.knowledgeadventure.com. Those Day-Glo colors, those robot-like bodies with TV-screen stomachs, those giggles: Love ‘em or hate ‘em--there doesn’t seem to be much in between for parents in their reactions to the controversial, popular BBC-to-PBS “Teletubbies” TV series targeting ages 1 to 4.

This spinoff, requiring parental mouse action and know-how, probably won’t change minds. The object is to “play” with Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa or Po in such games as chasing their pet vacuum cleaner, “Noo-Noo”; finding hidden Tubbies; or helping a Tubby eat “Tubby Toast” before Noo-Noo looms over to snorkle it down, a rather alarming sight that could be stressful for some children.

It’s all here, from the sun with a real baby’s face, to the magic windmill, the Tubbytronic Superdome, the giggles and the Tubbies’ repetitive, “Again, again.”