DJ EGY on the Turntables!

Looks like Blue Ivy isn’t the only one being influenced by musical parents. Can you guess who this little cutie is playing DJ on his daddy’s turntables? Hint: His dad is a music producer and his mom is a beautiful songstress.

That’s right! Its Egypt, son of Swizz Beats and Alicia Keys.  Proud dad Swizz tweeted the pic this past weekend saying “”DJ EGY :) getting it in from his high chair Lmao“. So cute! Reminds me so much of my son Jagger, who is constantly in his dad’s studio, dancing and trying to make music.

Product Review: Counting Maracas by Leap Frog

Leap Frog is known for their technology-based educational products that make learning through play effective and engaging. This is why Jagger and I were pleased to have a chance to review one of their products, the Bilingual Counting Maracas. I was especially excited about this product, because my son loves music. His dad, a music engineer, had him listening to music since before he was even born, so we thought this would be a great product for our son.

The Bilingual Counting Maracas are for kids 6 to 36 months old. The set includes one traditional maraca that rattles, and one Leap Frog infused maraca that features three different educational modes. In counting mode, each shake encourages your child to count to 10. Color mode teaches colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple as the top of the maraca lights up in each color, and music mode creates various musical sounds with each shake.

The best part is that all modes can be used in both French and English. I think this is an amazing feature since we live in Quebec, a bilingual province, where learning French and English are equally important. Living in a primarily English speaking home, I love having the option of setting the maracas to French, so that my son can begin to be introduced to the language, and be exposed to it a little more. After all, it’s never too early to start learning.

At this age (8-9months), I think Jagger prefers to shake the traditional maraca, because he understands it a bit better. He gets that each shake makes the maraca rattle, while the other one intrigues him with various lights and sounds. He loves to shake it up and make music. I think as he get older, he’ll appreciate the counting and colors modes even more.

Check out this video to see Jag in action, enjoying his new toy.

So cute! He has lots of fun shake, shake shaking up his maracas, and they’ve given him some extra practice for the mommy & me music class we attend every week.

Click here for more details on the Leap Frog Bilingual Maracas, and stay tuned for an upcoming Leap Frog giveaway on Montreal Fashion Moms!

* Please note I was not monetarily compensated or influenced by the sponsor for this review. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Montreal International Jazz Festival

Isn’t Montreal just an amazing place to be in the summer with all the fabulous festivals and events that hit our city? Well, tomorrow, the 32nd edition of the amazing Montreal International Jazz Festival begins with tons of musical talent from around the world here to entertain us, and pleasure our ears!

The Montreal International Jazz Festival has been the world’s biggest jazz festival for 30 years and has brought in amazing international superstars like Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, BB King, Tony Bennett, Stevie Wonder and so many more! Even Prince is performing two midnight shows tonight and tomorrow, to officially kick off to this year’s festival, because of course, they always have to start off with a bang!

The best part is that the festival hosts 750 FREE concerts, perfect for the whole family to see and enjoy. Its definitely worth checking out!

The festival takes place at the heart of Quartier des Spectacles (the entertainment district) in downtown Montreal, and runs through to July 4. Click here to access the official Jazz Fest website for full listings of all the upcoming shows.

*JAZZ HANDS*

Kids POP

Looking for something fun and creative for your kids to do this weekend? Check out Kids Pop, the kid-focused part of POP Montreal, which offers children's workshops and concerts that both empower and educate youth, in a fun, creative environment.

Pop kids will definitely bring the creative, artistic side out in your children. Their wonderful workshops are geared toward kids between the ages of 5 and 12, and include awesome activities like building time capsules, making instruments, writing songs, designing concert posters, green screen technology, animation, movie making, and more!

They even have a Kids Pop Idol, where your whole family can perform on stage, and sing karaoke style with a live band! How awesome is that?

Sounds like great family fun to us! And a perfect place to go for your budding artist or musician. Check out the Kids POP website for more details on all the activities, times and locations.

Have fun!!

Man Down

The Parent Television Council has called out Rihanna on her latest music video for Man Down, the newest single off her LOUD album. They say that the video that premiered yesterday on BET’s 106 and park condemns murder, as it shows Rihanna in an implied rape scene with a man whom she later guns down in an act of premeditated murder.

“‘Man Down’ is an inexcusable, shock-only, shoot-and-kill theme song. In my 30 years of viewing BET, I have never witnessed such a cold, calculated execution of murder in primetime. Viacom’s standards and practices department has reached another new low,” said Paul Porter, co-founder of Industry Ears and a former voice of BET.

“Rihanna’s personal story and status as a celebrity superstar provided a golden opportunity for the singer to send an important message to female victims of rape and domestic violence. Instead of telling victims they should seek help, Rihanna released a music video that gives retaliation in the form of premeditated murder the imprimatur of acceptability. The message of the disturbing video could not be more off base,” said Melissa Henson, director of communications and public education for the Parents Television Council.

This isn’t Rihanna’s first run in with the Parent Television Council. She just recently got flack for her racy performance of ‘S&M’ with Britney Spears at the Billboard Music Awards, just a few weeks ago.

They are now calling on Viacom executives to immediately pull the video from programs that are targeted to youth and teenagers. Meanwhile, Rihanna defends her video via twitter and is continuously re-tweeting positive messages from her fans about how inspiring the video is, how it brings attention to a very serious issue and that it's her best video yet. To all her fans she replied, "Thank you for the amazing response on ManDownVideo I love you guys, and I love that u GOT IT!!!", indirectly referring to people she thinks didn't get it, like the Parental Television Council.

Check out the video and let us know what you think! Has Rihanna gone too far - is she spreading the wrong message, perhaps unintentionally? Or is this just same old entertainment media, no big deal? How do you feel about it, as parent? Do you approve of the message? We want to hear from you!