Chicago, IL, March 9, 2010 – ToyBlock Music (TBM) has teamed up with national childhood GERD organization to help kids quit barfing – literally and figuratively.
ToyBlock Music is an ongoing collection of adult musicians’ reinterpretations of their favorite childhood songs. The project’s EP, Eats Paste, will be released on April 1st. A portion of the proceeds from TBM will benefit PAGER, the Pediatric / Adolescent Gastroesophageal Reflux Association.
“ToyBlock Music is all about real songs done by real artists – not kitschy kids’ songs that make you want to puke,” says founder and president, Joanna Quargnali-Linsley. “And we’re so excited to be teaming up with PAGER to help raise awareness for such a difficult, under-diagnosed condition.”
Quargnali-Linsley decided to connect TBM with PAGER’s efforts because of her daughter’s struggle with the disease. “Infant and childhood GERD is not like having ‘a little heartburn,’” explains Quargnali-Linsley. “It is 5 hour screaming fits, the inability to eat, lifetime food aversions, sleepless nights, and so much physical and emotional pain for the whole family. So few people really understand the severity of GERD in kids unless they are affected by it.”
As many as seven million children in the United States are thought to suffer from GERD. To combat this disease, PAGER works to provide support to children and families suffering from GERD, provides training for volunteers and professionals, collaborates with child abuse prevention programs, and conducts other public awareness programs throughout the country.
ToyBlock Music began when Quargnali-Linsley and her husband, both musicians, joked about doing a heavy metal version of Old MacDonald. They’ve since involved a wide variety of artists in TBM, including two Grammy-award winners: Ricco Lumpkins (TLC’s Fanmail) and Matt Shane (Flight of the Conchords), who are mixing, producing, and mastering the tracks. Eats Paste will feature a surf-punk “The Cat Came Back,” a dark singer-songwriter take on “There Was an Old Woman,” a funk “Wheels on the Bus,” and other unique renditions of classic kids’ tunes.
For more information on ToyBlock Music or to hear some of the music, go to www.toyblockmusic.com, or contact Joanna Quargnali-Linsley at mgmt@misery-loves.com.
For more information on PAGER and childhood reflux, see www.reflux.org.
