Tween Band Opening For Sarah McLachlan

Sarah McLachlan, music superstar and founder of the Lilith Fair tour, is used to discovering new talent. This year, she's introducing the world to some very young talent: a tween girl band called von Grey.

The band is a foursome of four sisters ages 10 to 15 from Atlanta. All are classically trained in different instruments (they play guitar, mandolin, cello, keyboards, and violin), and the result is a singer-songwriter fusion of pop, classic rock and country. .  The girls practice a lot: about 20 hours a week in addition to their regular school schedules.

We can't make the show in Atlanta on August 5, but we wish them well!


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Young Women Compete at the U.S. Open of Surf This Weekend

I'm from Southern California and waves and surfing were just part of growing up. If your tween is into surfing or wants to learn more about this fantastic sport, check out the U.S. Open of Surfing which starts tomorrow, July 31. The Junior Women's Surf slot is at 3pm P.D.T. tomorrow, and you can view profiles of the young athletes here (one of the youngest competitors is Lakey Peterson, age 14, from Santa Barbara, CA. The events will be webcast live on their website.

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The Project Runway Premiere AND Tim Gunn's Birthday Today

Tonight was the premiere of Project Runway (season 8), and it's also Tim Gunn's birthday - nice timing!

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July is Rickey Month - A Tween-Friendly Version

We were surprised to learn that Washington, D.C. has a native cocktail: the Rickey. This drink was invented about a hundred years ago in the District to help alleviate the hot, muggy Washington summers. Our summer thus far has been incredibly hot and humid, and we thought it'd be fun to make non-alcoholic Rickey's for our D.C. tweens.

Here are a few recipes we found for tween-appropriate Rickey's:

• Virgin Lime Rickey:  Pour 1 oz. lime juice over a glass filled with ice, add club soda to fill, stir, and then stir in one dash Grenadine.
• Pure Lime Rickey: Shake together 3/4 oz. fresh lime juice, 1 oz. simple syrup, and 3 dashes of Angostura bitters. Pour into a glass, top with club soda and garnish with a lime peel spiral.
• Raspberry Lime Rickey: Fill a tall glass with ice and squeeze one lime over the ice. Fill glass nearly to the top with carbonated water, and top with raspberry syrup (you can use other flavored syrups such as lemon, orange, or cherry - our tweens love Monin syrups - a local distributor we've used before is Clear Mountain Coffee on Brookville Road in Silver Spring, MD).

Stay cool!

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President Obama on Raising Tweens - "It's Just a Great Age"

President Obama was on The View today and talked about how he spends time with his family. Of his recent trip to Maine, he spoke about how much he enjoyed spending time with First Tweens Malia and Sasha Obama:

“We went on bike rides and hikes and the girls are getting old enough now where they’re not quite teenagers yet, so they still like you, but they are full of opinions and ideas and observations and it’s just a great age."

We totally agree - that's tween parenting in a nutshell.

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Jonas Brothers Launch New Tween Network With AOL: Cambio

AOL  and the Jonas Group today launched a new tween and teen network today called Cambio. (Jonas Group is the family management firm that handles the Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato, and the Wonder Girls, and is run by the Jonas Brothers' father.)

Cambio is envisioned as a entertainment and lifestyle network. We're not quite sure how it fits in with JYSK, Just Jared Jr. or Twist, but it seems to be remarkably similar. The site will cover the band's "Road Dogs" softball team, sync up with the launch of Camp Rock 2, and other Jonas activities.

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The Jonas Brothers Perform the Beatles: Behind the Scenes at the White House

As reported earlier, the Jonas Brothers were at the White House last month to celebrate Paul McCartney as he accepted the Library of Congress' Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. They covered the Beatles "Baby You Can Drive My Car" while the President, First Lady and First Tweens Malia and Sasha Obama rocked out in the front row of the East Room. This concert will be broadcast on PBS stations tonight as part of the "In Performance at the White House" series, and the White House released the following video footage of the group behind the scenes at the event.



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A Classical Take on Lady Gaga: The Vitamin String Quartet

We *heart* this: a string quartet version of Lady Gaga's hits including Poker Face, Paparazzi, and Just Dance. The Vitamin String Quartet is a collective of classical musicians in L.A., and their work was been recognized by Disney (they were commissioned to contribute a track on an all-star tribute to Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas) - they've even done an album from the music from Glee! They apply "a rock n' roll attitude to classical technique" - way cool.

Greyson, it looks like you're in good company.

Their Lady Gaga album is available on iTunes.

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New Tween Style for Back to School? Willow Smith as Trendsetter With Lady Gaga Ear

Is this a sign of a new tween trend?: at The Karate Kid premiere in Paris, Willow Smith, star of the American Girl movie, "Kit Kittredge" and sister of Karate Kid movie star Jaden Smith, sported a silver painted ear. An homage to Lady Gaga perhaps?

Her avant garde haircut and stunning visage already sets her apart from the crowd - and we *heart* her rocker-chic fashion choices (did you catch her Carrie-esque ring?). Unique style must be what happens when one follows the beat of your own fashion drummer and don't cow to group-think - Willow and Jaden Smith are home-schooled.

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New Gummy Bear Game!

Just for fun: In honor of Carly's new room on iCarly - complete with gummy bear chandelier - check out the Gummy Bear Burst game on iCarly.com:



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