Dallas Morning News

By NANCY CHURNIN / Staff Writer

"What distinguishes his band is a rock-infused sensibility that parents, as well as kids, can enjoy."

When Paul Godwin was 23 and dreamed of being the next Peter Gabriel, one of his professors predicted he would actually end up doing music for kids' cartoons.

Mr. Godwin was offended - but now, he wishes he had that professor's crystal ball. Because 23 years later, the early-childhood music teacher is a co-founder of the Sippy Cups, a rock band for ages 3 to 7 that will be at the House of Blues today.

"He wasn't far off," Mr. Godwin says with a laugh from Music Together of San Francisco, where he teaches music to kids between Sippy Cups gigs.

What distinguishes his band is a rock-infused sensibility that parents, as well as kids, can enjoy.

The idea and name for the group came to him in the midst of his umpteenth class with little ones toddling in with their sippy cups in hand, he says.

"It was like a little cup appeared over my head and I went, 'Eureka!' "

While he remains a big fan of the gentle, acoustic sounds he teaches at Music Together, he felt there was a place for kid versions of the early Pink Floyd, the Velvet Underground, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones that he liked to share with his own son, Bodhi. He brainstormed with other musicians who had young kids, and in 2004, the Sippy Cups band was born.

The shock, he says, was how quickly the group found its audience.

"We booked a gig in San Francisco, and it went gangbusters," he says. The Sippy Cups have since played at New York's Central Park SummerStage and the Austin City Limits Festival. Their Dallas debut is part of a "House of Kids" series at House of Blues venues across the country.

"It's been like an explosion. We have touched a nerve."

It doesn't hurt that the Sippy Cups are also into visual spectacle, with giant puppets and a robot.

"I think part of the inspiration from the beginning was: Why should it be a couple of people standing onstage strumming guitars? Why can't it be more like an event like the Blue Man Group, Flaming Lips, the Polyphonic Spree or Cirque du Soleil?" Mr. Godwin says.

The band members have kids ranging in age from 4 to 9 (Bodhi is now 7). And parents and teachers pitch in their thoughts on what's right for the children.

"Bodhi was singing 'I Wanna Be Sedated' in preschool, which is from the Ramones," he says. "The teacher said, 'I like the Ramones, too, but it's not appropriate.' So my wife came up with the line 'I wanna be elated.' We recorded that song on our first album, Kids Rock for Peas."

It amazes Mr. Godwin that after spending two decades in music, composing and performing as a lead singer in groups for grown-ups, he is just now experiencing his greatest success with young audiences.

But even sweeter, he says, is that this is an experience he can share with his family.

"My son comes to every show, and when I get off stage, he gives me a hug and a squeeze," he says. "And that's how I know I did a good show."