The Official Blog of Bobs and Lolo

We are excited to be taking our show home for the holidays with a special family concert in our childhood town of Nanaimo, BC. We’ll be hitting the stage at our high-school alma mater, Dover Bay Secondary this Saturday, December 12th at 2pm.

Having performed more than 300 live shows across Canada this past year alone, we’re looking forward to returning home for this event. The festivities are a perfect way to wrap up a crazy year and celebrate all of the wonderful musical adventures we’ve shared to date. With our newest album having received a 2009 Parent’s Choice Gold and a Western Canadian Music Award plus the whole Treehouse TV thing, getting an opportunity to celebrate with fans in our hometown will be amazing! Plus, we’ll be sharing the stage with our full band and both backing musicians are previous ‘islanders’ too. Mario Vaira will be on guitar and Mark Harvey on bass…the kiddie mosh will surely be rockin’!

We first met at a Girl Guide camp in the late 1980’s and following a fun-filled weekend of campfires, sing-a-longs and outdoor fun, a life-long friendship was sealed. We were both thrilled to end up at the same highschool (Dover Bay) a few years later - Bobs & Lolo were actually our highschool nicknames! We soon started performing together through numerous choir concerts and piano recitals, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Retro Bobs & Lolo (~16 yrs old) - not much has changed!

We hope to see some of you at the event this weekend, and regardless, we’ll be sure to post some pics on our Facebook Group next week. Happy holidays!

Bobs & Lolo

Event info:

Bobs & Lolo are performing at Dover Bay Secondary on December 12th at 2pm. Tickets $8 in advance or $10 at the door. Children under one year FREE. Advance purchases recommended. Tickets are available at Kool & Child and Kiyo Salon in Nanaimo. For more info, please call 250-758-9727.

Doors open at 1:30pm. Be sure to arrive a few minutes early to enjoy the complimentary arts and craft stations. Kids will also be able to check out a fire truck with a special visit from the Nanaimo Fire Department (1:30-2pm).

Raindrop Pop season has definitely arrived in Western Canada, although we might have to create a “raindrop slop” version with all of the flooding, leaf sludge and mud puddles in our neighbourhood! On a bright note, given that the recent weather has provided a great excuse to stay bundled up indoors, we’ve taken some time to tackle a number of behind-the-scenes projects.

Lately, our non-show world has revolved around admin duties (boring!) and program development (fun!). One of the projects we’ve been working on recently is educational resource guides featuring curriculum-based activities to complement our music. Separate activity packages for each album are now available on request for teachers, educators and parents. We also hope to have the PDF versions available on our website soon!

We are also excited to announce that with the delivery of our most recent Musical Adventures order, all of our CDs and DVDs now boast eco-friendly packaging! The packaging for all three albums (Action Packed, Sea Notes and Musical Adventures) as well as our On Your Feet DVD is printed on FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified board-stock using vegetable-based inks and waterless printing technology. To top it off, the entire packaging, including the plastic tray, is 100% recyclable…and we manufactured everything locally at Precision Disc in Surrey, BC! 
 

 
We still have a handful of our original Musical Adventures stock left in the traditional jewel-casing. These will be marked as sale items at our live shows – perfect stocking stuffers! The original discs will be selling for $10 each (including tax) while supplies last. Sale price is only applicable at our live shows – all the more reason to join us at an upcoming event!
 
Speaking of which, we want to send out a big thank you to all of the superfans who joined us at the Roundhouse Community Centre for a SOLD OUT show last weekend! We loved performing with our full band (thanks Mario & Chuckles!), and we were thrilled see the kiddie mosh rockin’ in front of the stage!

Visiting with 2-year-old Alexa after our Roundhouse show! Thanks to Mom (Michelle) for emailing us this great pic!
 
For those of you that weren’t able to join us a the Roundhouse, or if you just need to break the cabin fever after all of these rainy days,  we have lots of musical family fun scheduled in for next weekend.

Kerrisdale Community Centre – November 28th, 2pm
Our first holiday event of the season! Be sure to bring your dancing shoes and caroling voices as we’ll be wrapping the show with a few of our holiday favs! Rudolph time folks! 
 
Inglewood Preschool Fundraiser – November 29th, 3pm
A perfect afternoon outing for North Shore families, this annual fundraiser is guaranteed fun for all ages! Face-painting, games, concession and tons of great door prize opportunities too!

For a full listing of shows, please check-out our events calendar. We hope to see you soon!

Bobs & Lolo

With only a few minutes to catch our breath at the end of a crazy, but ridiculously fun few weeks, we wanted to share a few stories from our most recent adventures before diving into the new month. September was full of many ups, downs, twists and turns - onstage and off! And, while receiving a Western Canadian Music Award was definitely a cherry on the top of a great month, we also had many memorable live performances over the last few weeks!

Of most recent note was a quick trip to Vancouver Island where we began our adventures in Port Hardy at the community’s annual Early Learning and Literacy Fair. This fantastic event featured great local entertainment with music, dance and storytelling and a host of wonderful community resources for wee ones and their families. The trip also brought to surface a little nostalgia for Lolo who actually lived in Port Hardy during her own early school years!
 

View from our hotel in Port Hardy, BC!

Following our performance in Port Hardy, we drove straight to Nanaimo for a few hugs and hellos with family before continuing onto Victoria for the Vancouver Island Baby Fair. For those of you unfamiliar with the island, we ended up covering around 1000km in two days! Have we mentioned that we LOVE our new mini-van? Needless to say, with all the driving, three shows and two ferry trips, we expected to be a little tired, but the great energy at the Baby Fair was a perfect way to boost our spirits. Thanks to all the families who joined us for the musical adventures! We hope to be back on the “rock” again soon!

Another highlight from the last month was an opportunity to write our very first guest blog! We wrote a short post for Survival4Moms.com titled “Musical Adventures for Learning, Laughter and Life”. If you missed the link on our Facebook Group or Twitter, please check it out here.

We also had a fantastic time during our shows at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE), Party at the Pier and the Langley Country Celebrations. Please take a peek at the video below for a glimpse into our wonderful world of kiddie mosh pits, bubble madness and toddler dance-a-thons. These clips are from a number of shows over the past summer. We really do have one of the best jobs ever!

We hope some of you can join us for one of our upcoming shows!

Next stops…

Baby & Toddler Fair – October 3
Show times: 11am & 1pm
Location: Langley Events Centre (Langley)

SAFE:R Kids Fair – October 3
Show times: 4pm & 5pm
Location: Metropolis at Metrotown (Burnaby)

Evergreen Family Series – October 4
Show time: 2pm
Location: Evergreen Cultural Centre (Coquitlam)

Jack & Lola 1st Anniversary – October 17
Show time: TBC
Location: Jack & Lola (North Van)

St. Catherine’s Preschool Family Concert – October 18
Show time: 2pm
Location: St. Catherine’s Preschool (North Van)

For more info, please check out our events calendar!

Bobs & Lolo

Vancouver-based children’s entertainers, Bobs & Lolo, take their award-winning music on the road for a run of 35 shows at one of Canada’s largest outdoor events!

Bobs & Lolo will hit the stage daily at this year’s world-renowned Calgary Stampede. With a well-established fan base in their home province of BC and growing national adoration, Robyn Hardy (Bobs) and Lorraine Pond (Lolo) are looking forward to sharing their live programming with families in Alberta next month. Their extensive touring to date, plus regular spots on the national children’s network, Treehouse TV, is sure to have preschoolers, with parents in tow, lining up for a chance to see the live show.

What do the performers have to say?

Bobs: “We’re super excited to perform at the Calgary Stampede! We’ve had such a great year already with our recent Parents’ Choice Gold Award and the whole Treehouse thing…getting such a large contract with the Stampede really validates how far we’ve come in the last few years. It’s crazy to think that less than two years ago, we were still doing 3-4 birthday parties each weekend!”

Lolo: “Yeehaw! I can’t wait to unleash my inner cowgirl! We’re looking forward to all of the fun that goes along with sharing in a big event like this, although I think the main focus for Bobs and I will be staying healthy and rested so that we can survive performing 3+ shows per day for 10 days straight!”

Bobs & Lolo will be performing on the Buckaroos Stage at the Calgary Stampede from July 3 – 12 with shows daily at 2pm, 5pm & 7pm. Additional shows are scheduled for July 4, 5, 8, 11 & 12 at 11am. All Bobs & Lolo shows are FREE with general admission to Stampede Park.

To learn more about the Calgary Stampede, please visit www.calgarystampede.com.

Bobs & Lolo use music, movement and make-believe to share stories and experiences that both entertain and educate, while ultimately teaching children to care about themselves, their neighbours and the planet. Their programming places an emphasis on celebrating the values of healthy-living and aims to inspire young audiences with an awareness and appreciation for the world around them. Catch Bobs & Lolo live this summer (event calendar) or watch for their regular appearances on the national children’s television network, Treehouse TV.

For more information about Bobs & Lolo, please visit www.bobsandlolo.com.

Nothing takes the chill off some wintry weather like a little dancing. Join us at one or more of our upcoming shows to dance your way through December! We’ll be introducing a few tunes from our new album, Action Packed and mixing in some classic B&L songs as well as everyone’s favourite holiday hits. Click here to view our upcoming events calendar.

The Action Packed CD has been in stores for just over three weeks now and the rave reviews keep rolling in…

“…these tunes are super fun and inventive and, best for parents, really well played. From the “get your heart pumpin’” chorus of the title track to the importance of warming-up (”Muscles”) and the blues rockin’ “The Right Track,” this is tuneage for toddlers that can’t miss.” - Stuart Derdeyn, The Vancouver Province

“It’s here!  Our beloved Bobs & Lolo never cease to amaze us parents.  Action Packed features upbeat songs with many teaching opportunities that we actually want to play in the car (without the kids…).” - Urbanmommies.com, Your Online Baby Resource 

We’ve received a lot of community support recently in light of our new album release, particularly from families, media and a number of our favourite mommy blog sites. There’s a lot of information out there and sites like savvymom.com, babyvibe.ca and yoyomama.ca are great at filtering out what’s really important for kids and parents. We recently discovered a new fav when we met JB – mom and founder of Soapbox Mama.  Soapbox Mama is a place for moms to share their knowledge, list their opinions and express their ideas – be sure to check it out!

Finally, with holiday shopping high on the radar these days, we wanted to drop a not so subtle hint about how great our CDs are as stocking stuffers (insert shameless plug!), and we also wanted to recognize a few of our new retail partners! Congratulations to Hippy Grandma – BC’s newest online eco-tique – for their recent launch, and special thanks to Fresh! Baby for introducing our music to the Penticton community. For a full list of our supporting retail partners, please click here.

Thanks again to everyone who’s joined us at our recent shows. We’ve had an exciting few weeks serving as the “opening act” for the seasonal VIP himself, Santa, and we look forward to continuing the celebrations over the next month. Hope to see you soon!

Bobs & Lolo