In the mid 1990's, Jestin was a fan of a band called The Presidents of the United States of America. You may remember a few hits such as Lump and Peaches, but they were also known for playful and zany antics that were just the type of thing that Jestin was into in junior high. The Presidents never reclaimed their early success, and after several reunions in the 2000's finally called it quits.
However, that's not end of the story.
Since 2009, the front man of the Presidents, Chris Ballew, has rebranded himself as Caspar Babypants, the Seattle area's most popular writer and performer of childrens music. He has put out eleven albums, one of which was nomitated for a Grammy, and plays shows exclusively around Seattle. We had heard of this oddity from a friend while we were looking for a place to live in May of 2019, but it wasn't until February 2020 when we made it to a show.
The girls loved it!
We saw him perform in a large conference room at a convention center, during a sci-fi, fantasy, and general geek culture convention called Nerd Faire. The room was packed with geeky looking parents and their geeky looking children, and not quite enough stroller parking in the back of the room. We found seats in third row, and Rorie joyfully squeeled that she spotted her friend from daycare two rows in front of us. After a few songs of sitting in their chairs, clapping, shouting, and stomping at all the right times, we let them join the ever-increasing number of children watching from the foot of the stage.
The show was good, and not just by children's music standards. Caspar does a great job keeping the kids engaged, with catchy songs you can sing along to, and audience participation that is perfect for toddlers. The songs are entertaining enough for moms and dads too, which is a huge plus. It was also a little surreal how many pre-K children were requesting their favorite songs, and Caspar always played whatever they asked for. It became clear that he didn't have a set list, and just let his audience decide what he would play.
After the show, Jestin stood in line at the merch table, bought a CD of original music and a vinyl record of his Beatles covers for Rorie's collection. Caspar signed both, while
talking about how surprisingly good the acoustics in the conference room were, and probably not realizing how big of a fan Jestin had been in the 90s.
Since then, Rorie and Luna have learned to sing along to every song on the CD, often with mommy and daddy joining in. Rorie is also getting more practice playing the record on her record player, which is something that simply mesmerizes Luna.
So if you are ever sick of listening to Let It Go and Baby Shark on a loop, we highly recommend taking a look at Caspar Babypants.
