Gustafer Yellowgold has hold over tykes

CC and I already thought Gustafer Yellowgold was charming on his latest DVD/CD set "Mellow Fever," but I'm not sure we were completely prepared for how awesome it was seeing him in person -- er, in sun creature.

We were invited this past weekend to a Gustafer concert at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, and CC couldn't take her eyes off the show, headlined by Gustafer illustrator/songwriter Morgan Taylor.

As I wrote in a previous post, Gustafer is the creation of Taylor, who has a 2-year-old son of his own. Taylor combined his love of drawing and music to create this friendly, Earth-loving creature from the sun who leaves his family to make his home in the chilly woods of Minnesota.

It's there where he becomes friends with a pterodactyl named Forrest Applecrumbie and an eel named Slim.

Taylor is a laid-back musician whose music is a clever dose of mellow kid rock.

In fact, when he first appeared at the mic, Taylor raised his fist to the crowd of shorties and their parents and said, "Are you ready to soft rock!"

Indeed they were.

The set list itself is connected to the short videos that appear on screen. These are the same videos we saw on the DVD, but Taylor injects much more presence on stage. He interacts with the kiddos and riffs on random quips from the audience. You can tell he loves the feedback, which is always positive.

"Anyone have any pets out there?" he asked before a song about Gustafer's eel, Slim.

"I have a zebra!" CC yelled. "At the zoo!"

(That's right, zoo security, that zebra is hers!)

Taylor even got a kick out of one toddler who stood next to him and pointed at the above screen during one or two songs.

"That's my brother," shouted the boy's older sibling. I wasn't sure if he was embarrassed by his little brother or just identifying a culprit who happened to be related to him.

It was a great time, and CC didn't want to leave. She even talked me into getting her a plush Gustafer doll (above right).

You know you've hit a home run when you get in the car with your child and she already wants to see the show again.

Hope to see you again soon, Gustafer!