Washington Post

Kids and Adults Drink In the Sippy Cups

By John Maynard
Monday, July 16, 2007

It was an anti-Barney and Wiggles-free zone at Jammin' Java in Vienna on Friday morning as the Sippy Cups delivered a rock-and-roll show for the under-8 set that was high in energy and, for adults, mercifully low in treacle.

There were no songs about fruit salads, hugs or big red cars from this San Francisco-based band, which preferred to get the crowd going with covers of songs by the Velvet Underground, the Ramones and even Pink Floyd.

As parents gave knowing looks to one another as the band broke into "I Wanna Be Sedated," slightly altered to "I Wanna Be Elated," or the Velvet Underground's "Rock and Roll," the pint-size mosh pit kids pogoed appropriately -- as if they were front and center at CBGB in the 1970s.

Some of that bouncing may have been because of the Rice Krispies Treats and Fig Newtons selling rapidly at the bar, but the band had plenty of tactics to keep the audience motivated during the one-hour set.

Streamers shot from the stage were a big hit, as were oversize balloons being volleyed about the crowd by little hands, causing more than a few patrons to fall down and go boom.

Doug Nolan ("Sippy Doug") is the band's star, despite the fact he doesn't actually play an instrument. Rather, Nolan's juggling and unicycle-riding (on a very cramped stage) made him the one the kids wanted to be and the moms in the audience wanted to be with.

If the band, led by lead vocalist Paul Godwin ("Sippy Paul"), didn't always quite hit the high notes, no one seemed to notice. For good or bad, most of the Crocs-wearing crowd probably got their first taste of psychedelic music with original songs like "Drinking From the Sky" and "Little House of Jello."

The band also wisely changed the pacing enough so as not to create too much excitement for this apple juiced-up crowd. So the highly danceable "Use Your Words" ("The super guy told me / sooner or later / got to use your words / all second-graders / got to use your words") was followed by a more mellow and slightly haunting Pink Floyd-inspired "I Am a Robot" ("I have a metal head / My feet are made of lead / My story must be said").

That song featured Nolan wearing a decent-looking robot costume. The kids, and mothers, were starry-eyed.