"Mary's in the house! . . . Go Ma- ry , go Mary go! Go Ma- ry , go Mary go!"
Although you may be forgiven for not immediately making the connection, the Mary being cheered on here and the Mary who had a little lamb are one and the same. Sheila E., the percussively oriented perpetrator of this pop nursery-rhyme update, was just one of about 20 artists putting a hyper-contemporary spin on children's songs at a Saturday afternoon Universal Amphitheatre benefit concert.
The two-hour show--as well as the Disney cable special, album and videotape that will result from it come February--was designed as a fund- and awareness-raiser for the Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
Last year, Disney released a compilation album titled "For Our Children" to benefit the same charity. But, whereas that charming LP mostly featured artists with stronger name recognition among parental record buyers (like Springsteen and Dylan) than the ostensible kid target audience, this follow-up lineup had a decided bent toward teen hip-hop.