Recess Monkey performing at Marina Park in Kirkland”Wow there are 90 million bazillion gazillion skadillion kids here!” observes Katie, the nine-year-old, one of three kids who I am baby-sitting. “But I am definitely the oldest one.” We have just entered Marina Park in Kirkland where Recess Monkey kicked off the Kirkland Performing Arts Summer Concert Series, Wednesday. By the time Katie, Pete and Makai and I arrive, the park is covered in hundreds of kids (and their respective chaperones) already bouncing and grooving to the opening songs of Recess Monkey’s set. These three elementary school teachers are definitely catering to a very young audience as Katie exclaims, “No one my age is ever going to be here because the age range is like three to six year-olds.” When she tells drummer, Daron, this after the show he jokingly apologizes for not being Hannah Montana. Frankly I would listen to Recess Monkey on repeat before I ever even bought a Hannah Montana CD.While they are no Miley Cyrus, I still catch my junior music critic tapping her toe to the beat. “For a little kid band I think it’s actually pretty good because its not like Sesame Street music,” says Katie. “I think it’s more rock and roll than anything else.”Even though the lyrics are kid oriented, the beats and genre are more adult friendly. “If I’m not mistaken that’s a disco beat,” says lead singer, Jack. “It’s time to get extremely funky.” If they replaced the lyrics about marshmallows and pirates with ones about love or other emotional grown-up issues, Recess Monkey would still have some pretty solid pop-rock songs. Along with captivating rhythms, Recess Monkey was relatively effective at captivating their audience between songs as well. Their “special effects” included everything from Melvin, the puppet shark, to a conga line through the audience, to encouraged participation during a song about roller coasters. However, because they were catering to a young audience their set could have been a bit shorter. Towards the end of the show I could feel a rising tension of restlessness as many kids’ short attention spans were expiring. At this point Pete and Makai had ceased dancing and had run off to “fight” with their plastic swords.Ultimately, my favorite part of the Recess Monkey show was perhaps not even the show. I appreciated the peace that their CD bought me. On the way home Pete got tired and grumpy proclaiming, “I did not even have fun. I don’t even like music.” While he proceeded to torment his sister in every way possible I popped in Recess Monkey’s newest CD Field Trip. It was magic. Instantly the kids were asking, “Can you play the one about the bubbles?” and “Where’s the Boogie Monster song?” Before long, Pete was cracking jokes and I caught him singing “My Pet Rock” to himself. The Recess Monkey party continued all day as we played the CD on repeat. Makai and I even had an impromptu dance party with tupperware drums and a banana air-guitar. Somehow I don’t think Hannah Montana would have had the same effect.