We’re Getting a Puppy Today

Today, at 1:53 pm, I’ll pick up our 9 week old Schnoodle puppy from the airport.  No matter how cute she looks, I won’t pick her up and pet her right away.  I won’t prance or clap or even say her name (Nilla).  With a calm and assertive demeanor, I will put a leash around Nilla’s neck and take her for a brief walk around  the nearest available grassy curb.  You see, I am her pack leader. And today we begin Raising the Perfect Dog. 

When my daughter Livi was 6, she started pleading for a puppy.  At first, Amy and I just said no.  But this little girl really wanted a puppy and she never stopped asking.  She was never rude or whiny, though persistence from a 7-year-old can feel a lot like whining. By the time she was 9, Amy and I began to cave when we walked into Livi’s room and saw a beautiful hand-drawn poster above her bed that said, “I Love Sherman.” Sherman is the next-door-neighbor’s sweet but strangely dysfunctional Yorkie.

Without telling Livi, we looked into the non-shedding breeds and began contemplating dog-ownership.  Amy started to get excited about having a furry buddy when I’m out of town, and we got cable… mostly so Amy could watch Alabama football games, but also so we could DVR The Dog Whisperer with Caesar Millan.  If you’re already a fan, then you understand.  If you haven’t seen Caesar in action, it’s hard to explain.  The guy has almost single-handedly revolutionized the way pro-active dog owners behave in this country, and it’s because his show is only sometimes about making dogs behave.  It is also about healing and empowering people, celebrating and partnering with God’s creation, and learning how to lead with wisdom. (Be the pack leader!)

For Christmas 2011, we told the kids we’re getting a puppy.  We wrapped up Ceasar Millan’s book How to Raise the Perfect Dog, and inserted pictures of the puppy we were getting (that one didn’t work out in the end, but this Schnoodle is gonna be great).  You’ll see in the video, Livi is unwrapping the book, and she doesn’t really get what is happening until… she does. It’s the first time I can remember any of my kids crying tears of joy.

I’ll keep you posted on how little Nilla progresses.  Stay tuned!

A Parenting Mulligan

My older son Jonah (8) never wants to sit by his 4 year old brother at the table.  It’s understandable.  They share a room, (I don’t want to share a room with a 4 year old!) and the youngster is a skillful pesterer. He will copy, or sometimes he will touch your food while asking “you gonna eat dat?”.  He will also scoot close to Jonah because he adores his brother and wants to be as near him as humanly possible.

Typically, I’ll sit as a buffer between them. But I want Jonah to be loving and empathetic, and I want Ben to feel loved by his big bro, and so when entering a restaurant recently, Ben begged to sit by his big brother, and I said OK. The pouting and whining that commenced from the 8 year old was sternly rebuked by yours truly. And then sure enough, Ben was nuts during the meal.  He was over-tired and loud, swinging limbs and silverware haphazardly, touching Jonah’s food, and poor big brother just started to cry in his seat.  Little dude was so totally defeated and sad.  I got the memo.  I switched seats with Jonah and sat between them.

Sometimes you just get it wrong and have to take a mulligan.

A Slugs & Bugs Christmas in Nebraska

This past week has seen Slugs & Bugs Christmas productions in Elkhorn, Nebraska and Hendersonville, Tennessee. Both were tremendous experiences which brought out the best of the script and music, and I can’t wait to do it again in Knoxville next Wednesday night.  I’ve got a blog post in the cue about my philosophy behind the Slugs & Bugs Christmas program, but I’ve made a game-time decision to put that off for a day or so.

Laura Preston was my host in Nebraska, at Bethany Lutheran Church, and she just wrote about the “Slugs & Bugs Christmas” experience on her blog. Through it, she is actively encouraging other churches to consider partnering with Slugs & Bugs in the future, and it is not only flattering to me but very well written and filled with practical wisdom.  Obviously, I must put off my own meanderings and direct you to Laura’s blog right away. So without delay…

http://laurapreston.wordpress.com

Slugs & Bugs Hotel Tips

I’ve been staying in hotel rooms for well over a decade, and over the years I’ve developed a few tricks and techniques that may come in handy for you over the holidays.  Become a more savvy traveler with a little Slugs & Bugs knowhow.

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For Smoothing Wrinkled Clothing…

Before you take a shower, hang your wrinkled clothes up in the bathroom.  (plan on taking a long, relaxing shower). Be sure the ceiling vent is not on, to ensure maximum steam.  You will be surprised how effective this is. If the closet hangers are normal, you can hang the clothes on the back of the door, or a towel rack (I try to find the highest hanging point, since the steam rises). If the hangers are the pin-headed, anti-theft ones, they often fit through the slits in a metal vent in the wall, where they will hang pretty snug.  However if there is no vent, I have set a shoe on a towel rack and tied a shoelace around the pinhead. Important to remember – this is best to do at night since your clothes could theoretically need to dry off, though I’ve never had trouble showering in the morning.  If your clothes do become slightly damp, hang them in the room and they’ll dry quickly.  If these solutions don’t suit you, wake up 10 minutes earlier and break out the fold-out ironing board that sounds like a dying ring-wraith.

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For Avoiding the Germ-Filled Remote…

Hotel room TV remote controls are toxic germ bombs waiting to contaminate your entire life.  At least, that’s what the magazine articles and travel blogs have led me to believe.  So, before I turn on the hotel TV, I find the hotel room icebox – the cylindrical one that you’d use to fetch ice from the ice machine.  Inside the icebox there’s always a small, clean plastic baggie. I use it as a glove.  I retrieve the baggy, put my hand inside it, and then reach for the remote and tune into SPORTSCENTER. 

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For a Good Night Sleep…

Hotel rooms can be loud places, and sleep is precious.  Once, I was in Orlando the same weekend as a high school basketball tournament, and my hotel was bursting with high school kids.  I slept soundly despite the racket, because I always wear soft earplugs.  You may have to try a few brands to find the one that you like, but it is well worth it.  When I fly, earplugs help me sleep on the plane. I put them in before I board, and leave them in all day – even through layovers – until Amy picks me up in Nashville.  I’m typing this post in Chicago’s Midway airport, and I’ve got my earplugs in right now.

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Breakfast Tips…

I usually stay at a hotel with some kind of free breakfast, and the choices can get monotonous. To mix it up, and keep it healthy but hearty, I’ll cut and toast an English muffin, and while I’m waiting, I mince a hard boiled egg (sometimes 2).  When the muffin is toasted, I butter it and spoon the chopped egg onto the muffin for an open faced (or closed) sandwich.  If there’s scrambled eggs, I’ll use those instead.  If there’s bacon, I add it with glee.

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If I’m feeling indulgent, I’ll replace the muffin with one of those fresh waffles from the waffle iron.  Topped with minced egg, syrup and butter, it’s like a do-it-yourself McGriddle.

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Also, I’ll usually bring an apple back to the room, wash it, dry it with a hand towel, and stick it in my bag

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Last breakfast tip.  If I’m thirsty, I’ll use a coffee cup for juice.  The juice cups are usually small, and if you’re in a hurry, you can take it to-go by adding the top to the coffee cup.  It’s like a sippy cup for the adult traveler!

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For An Extra Measure of Privacy

If I am leaving the room, but I plan to return soon, I hang the “privacy” sign on the exterior door handle.  That keeps housekeeping from entering. So, if you are staying away all day, remember they won’t bring new towels and re-dress the bed if you leave the sign on the door.

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For Your Local Homeless Shelter or Rescue Mission…

They can always use the tiny soap, shampoo, conditioner and lotion.  Collect them if you really will make the trip downtown when you return.

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I hope these Slugs & Bugs Travel Tips have been helpful for you to consider.  If you’ve got any travel wisdom to share, please comment and share your experience!

Behind the Song: The Camel Song

I wanted a Christmas song around a Christmas-ish animal, and a camel has loose Christmas ties… (wise men from the East)? And camels are hilarious.  They are huge, they spit, and they have a giant hump (sometimes two)! After some thought, I realized if you need a silly Christmas song about a silly Christmas animal, the camel is the obvious choice. The donkey is a distant second.

When the idea of calling it “the camel song” was born in my mind, the chorus arrived fully formed.  Lyrics and melody happened in real time, all the way through the “what’s wrong with you” line at the end.

My hunch is, if someone had recorded me when that lyric hit my brain, you would get to see me laugh out loud for minutes at a time.  The whole package struck me as so funny, I could hardly sing it.  The melody is ridiculous, and the lyric is so cluelessly and earnestly pompous that I fell in love with it immediately.  I wasn’t sure I would have the guts to record it, but it made me laugh till I cried. I do think I remember, when I had calmed down a little, praying out loud, “Thank you, thank you,” for having been given such a gift of silliness and laughter in that moment.

For the verses, I remember first laughing at the idea of “everybody’s favorite Christmas mammal,” because it continued the theme of pompous, righteous cluelessness that the chorus began. I can’t remember how the Mark Hamill / ton-ton verse showed up.   I do remember trying to think of everything that could possibly be funny about a camel, and I was particularly looking for things that were blatantly missing the point of Christmas.

At the end of the day, if you could crack open the chest bone of The Camel Song, and slice open its beating heart, you would find it pumped full of blissful ignorance.  The Camel Song is having a great time celebrating itself, and can’t understand why “you” won’t join in on the fun.

Last week, my 11 year old daughter asked me the classic pupil question about History.  ”Why do we need to learn history?  It’s just a bunch of stuff that’s already happened.  It doesn’t matter for today.” I had fun with the answer, but I bring it up because that’s the framework for this song. The Camel Song is sure that Christmas is about “Ho ho ho,” and “The Christmas Camel.” You might say, for The Camel Song, Christmas is about me, and now.  It’s funny because we see it miss the point of Christmas so wildly and with such self-possessed abandon.

But I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about all that stuff. And I don’t expect kids to get any of it.  For them, it is a fun and silly song like Frosty the Snowman that they can sing with mom and dad.  Except, they get to sing about Star Wars.

PLAY: The Camel Song

Behind the Song: Happy Birthday Jesus

I had heard Happy Birthday Jesus songs before.  Making A Slugs & Bugs Christmas provided the challenge of writing a Happy Birthday Jesus song that would reflect the often confused and commingled motivations I bring to celebrating Christmas. I’m the dad that stops at CVS at 5:30pm on Christmas Eve for “just a few more little things.”  I worry that the the presents we’ve already got wrapped under the tree won’t have them jumping up and down with excitement.  When I take a step back, I’m concerned that they will end up like me… completely distracted by the nonsense built up by the Christmas Shopping Season, and missing the deep magic of the incarnation.

What happened on Christmas day was so extraordinary it outshines Creation itself.  Instead of kickstarting life as we know it, Christmas set in motion the Life that is our only hope. For those who hope in Christ, (and for those who don’t) Christmas revealed the full measure of God’s commitment and plumbed the depths of his unfathomable love. God made his Son a baby, to grow and dwell among us, to teach us, and finally, by his obedience to death and ultimate resurrection, to gather the wayward, hopeless and despairing, and make a family filled with hope and joy.

I love my country, and I love exchanging gifts, but as long as I live in the USA, I know I’ll have to fight and claw through the shiny sleek emptiness of “what’d ya get?” and my kids will too.  Happy Birthday Jesus is my way of flipping the lights on for myself, and anyone else who longs for a rich season of joyful reflection and thanksgiving, but instead gets duped every time.

PLAY: Happy Birthday Jesus

Here’s the lyrics to Happy Birthday Jesus

There’ve been Christmas decorations up in Target, like, forever

I can’t believe it’s finally here

I’ve been hoping for a skateboard and my sister wants a dog

The three wise men had the right idear

(singing)

Happy birthday Jesus

Happy birthday Jesus

Happy birthday Jesus

Bright and early Christmas morn

Happy birthday Jesus

Happy birthday Jesus

Happy birthday Jesus

I’m so glad that you were born

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Last year I got a yo-yo and a water gun and legos

I can still see reindeer wrapping paper thrown across the floor

Now I can’t find the yo-yo and the water gun is busted

But the legos are still cool… this year I just want some more!

Happy birthday Jesus

Happy birthday Jesus

Happy birthday Jesus

Bright and early Christmas morn

Happy birthday Jesus

Happy birthday Jesus

Happy birthday Jesus

I’m so glad that you were born

Noel, noel, born the King of Israel

Noel, noel, born the King of Israel

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We were singing Christmas carols Christmas eve

And I got a lump in my throat reminding me what I believe

How you left heaven ‘cause it’s what you had to do

To make me new

You should have heard me singing

Happy Birthday Jesus…

To order A Slugs & Bugs Christmas - Click Here

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A New Slugs & Bugs Christmas Song!

One year ago today we released A Slugs & Bugs Christmas.  Much of the cost of the production was covered by amazing fans through the Rabbit Room, and I was very proud of how it all turned out.  The always-brilliant Jeff Taylor and I produced it together, and fantastic musicianship abounds, but I still think the kids choir is what makes the record soar.

With the songs from the CD, I wrote a Christmas production that follows a family through the day on Christmas Eve.  Three churches brought in the production last year, and they all blew me away. The Childrens’ Choirs sang their hearts out and brought the songs to life with hand motions, and the actors all memorized their lines and delivered them to packed sanctuaries of parents and grandparents.

After the season, however, I decided to add another song to the production.  It needed a song that specifically addressed the Christmas story, but as an upbeat celebration, not a ballad.  So, in trying to come up with a new way to sing about the story of Christmas, the idea came to me to add a child’s perspective to the mix. What if one of the shepherds had his son with him?  What would he think about it all, and how would he remember it?

As I wrote the lyric, it felt like discovering a story.  I recorded it with my friend Alan Stricklin this past summer, and decided to re-release A Slugs & Bugs Christmas with new tracks and new packaging.  In addition to Shepherd Dad, I added a track of my daughter, Livi, reading from Luke 2.  There’s B3 underneath it, and she did a very fine job delivering the text.

This year, three more churches are putting on the full-blown production (Knoxville, TN, Hendersonville, TN and Elkhorn, NE), and I can’t wait to sing these songs with all those kids in choirs big and small.

Here’s the song ”Shepherd Dad” from the new and improved A Slugs & Bugs Christmas.

To order A Slugs & Bugs Christmas - Click Here

Mexican Rhapsody (Lyrics)

We’re working on putting together a new Slugs & Bugs website right now, with a launch sometime in January.  That website will have many cool new features, the coolest of which will be – it won’t take long to open.

I could fry an egg in the time it takes the current Slugs & Bugs website to open.  Don’t go there.  You will grow older.

But one of the other cool features of the new website will be a “songs” page that gives the lyrics and chords to each of the songs. Incidentally, if any of you have any cool ideas for a Slugs & Bugs website, I’d LOVE to hear them asap.

I tell you all this because today’s post is a response to multiple requests for lyrics to Mexican Rhapsody.  All the lyrics are printed in the CD jacket of Slugs & Bugs Under Where? (affectionately known as “the green CD”), but they do not come with a digital download.  So, for your listening while reading pleasure, here’s them lyrics.

(Cheese dip, cheese dip)

(Cheese dip, cheese dip)
Chips and salsa, chips and salsa

Gee, I wanna chicken enchilada
Gee, I wanna chicken enchilada
Guacamole, guacamole

Put it on my chicken chimichanga
Put it on my chicken chimichangaSteak fajita hold the sour cream
Jalepeño peppers on my nachos!
Rice and beans, a bit of shredded cheese
And some pico de gallo, please
what does “pico de gallo” mean?Beak of the rooster
Beak of the rooster
Sounds kinda pointy!
I don’t want to eat that!

Rooster rooster rooster
Youre the cock-a-doodle-dooster
Of the walk-a-doodle-dooster don’t you know

Keep up that cock-a-doodle keeping
While the neighborhood is sleeping
And they’re gonna turn your beak into some pico de gallo!

Pico de gallo
Fly rooster fly oh

Oh me oh my
Can roosters even fly?
Yes! But not very far.

(Cheese dip, cheese dip)

(Cheese dip, cheese dip)
Taco salad, taco salad

In a crunchy bowl of corn tortilla
How I love a bowl that you can eat-a!

Steak fajita hold the sour cream
Jalepeño peppers on my nachos!
Huevos burrito, special number five
Huevos! Huevos! What are those?
Huevos! Huevos! What are those?Eggs! Scrambled eggs!
Grade A eggs!
Huevos are eggs!
Huevos are eggs!

…Huevos are eggs!

For more Mexican Rhapsody backstory… click where it says Mexican Rhapsody backstory.

To buy Slugs & Bugs Under Where? which contains ”Mexican Rhapsody,” visit the Slugs & Bugs Online Store

Parenting Is Not For Me.

Parenting is not for the weak.  It is not for the mean. Parenting is not for the selfish and not for the spoiled.  It is not for the lazy, not for the jealous, not for the short-tempered, and NOT for the impatient. Neither is parenting for the bully or the perfectionist or the know-it-all or the nanny.  Did I miss anyone? This past weekend, I was actually sane and prayerful during a parenting crisis, but much more often I am one of the above.  Lord help us.

I was following Amy (driving with her mom) back from Thanksgiving in Alabama, and my 8 year old son was sad because he had finished the book he was reading and we had a 4 hour drive ahead.  I’ve got a few audio books on my iPhone he could listen to, so I offered that to him.  He was stoked and immediately immersed himself.

Over the course of 2 hours, the phone rang once, and then later I needed it a second time to make a call.  When I asked him for it a third time, to call Amy, he groaned.  ”Dad,” he said, “when are you going to stop asking me for the phone? It’s getting really old.”

He handed me the phone and I wanted to croak, “What?  It’s getting old? You, getting to borrow my phone is getting old?”  That would have satisfied my frustration, but instead I said, “That’s cool.  I’ll just keep it for a while.” And he started to get upset… crying a little at first, then big.  Then really big.  I just kept driving.

Both cars pulled into Cracker Barrel and everyone went in except me and my boy. He’s still crying, but I stood outside the open sliding door of the minivan and asked, “Do you know why I kept the phone?” He didn’t.  Then I asked him to remember what he said right before I took it.  He remembered, and said it again… but he didn’t see the problem.

Then I told him this story… Imagine two professional baseball players are playing catch, and your little brother comes up and wants to play.  They are nice men, so they throw him the ball a few times, but then they go back to playing catch without him.  This makes your little brother mad.  He throws a tantrum and yells and wants the ball again, so the baseball players go somewhere else to play.

I told him gently, “Buddy, I let you use my phone, which is a privilege and a treat. You were disrespecting my kindness and generosity towards you, by complaining like you did.  So I kept the phone.  Do you understand now?”

He did understand. And he cried again, but they were sorrowful tears.  He didn’t know he had been rude, and he was upset at himself.  He didn’t know.  Thank God, instead of lashing out at him, I loved him and respected him.  This time, all the circumstances alligned to allow me to think things through and show grace. But there’s usually not that much time.  We parent in real time, and it’s a mess.  This weekend I lost my cool while we were all writing letters to our Compassion kids! Are you kidding me? Lord help us.

Dragon Bug, Do Your Dragon Bug Thing

At a recent concert in Missouri, inspired pictures lined a wall by the stage.  I nabbed some photos and I thought I’d share them with you.  If you look closely, you’ll see a human bug, a helicopter bug, a car bug, and what looks like the tail of a bird bug. Then in the last pic there’s what looks to be a lobster bug and an octopus bug.

Very impressive.

Thanksgiving

This past April, Amy’s mom’s house was destroyed in the Tuscaloosa, AL tornadoes.  So, when we went down to Tuscaloosa for Thanksgiving to see Amy’s family this past weekend, I went to see the property for the first time since it had been destroyed.

We have so much to be thankful for. Amy’s mom survived the tornado and started over in Tennessee, less than two miles away from our house. She has already made lifelong friends here, and found a home church that she loves – and as a preacher’s widow, that may be the most surprising turn of all.  But that’s another story.

My middle son, the 8 year-old tender-hearted warrior, still couldn’t bear to ride by and see the wrecked land when so many sweet memories still survive in his mind.  But Amy drove me by. We got out and walked, but it was too much to take in, and yet there was nothing there.  I’ll have to wait a while before I know how to write about what I experienced, but here’s what 4 year old Ben had to say.

“Is Grandmama’s house living with God?”

“Does he have our toys?  Or do we get new toys in heaven?”

Seemed like he was OK either way.

The Wagon / Ben Day!

PLAY: The Wagon

At the Goodgame’s, today is Ben Day.  Two years ago today, I arrived home from Ethiopia with my father and my brand new son.  Last night we celebrated early by going to “The Muppets” (what a wonderful, spectacular movie, by the way).  And tonight we will go to “chicken nuggets” which means Chik-fil-a in Brentwood.

Riding in the wagon was one of the first fun things I did outside with Ben.  He came home when he was two and he still wasn’t very sturdy on his feet. It was December in Nashville, so I would bundle us up in bright lumpy clothes and pull him up and down the driveway while he giggled and gazed around. And sometimes we would sing.

Parents are always telling me about little songs they make up with their children as they work or play around the house, and that’s exactly how The Wagon was born.  At least 5 different versions existed before we settled on the melody, but Ben and I started singing about riding in the wagon on some cold Winter day in 2009.

In hindsight I realized the melody had landed somewhere between Tiger and Tractor, Tractor, but it wasn’t so close as to worry me.  After that, I didn’t come up with the swing set verse until I started thinking about a new recording. And since there are only two verses, I thought it would be fun to get creative with a vocal counterpoint arrangement.

When I was a young kid, vocal groups like The Oak Ridge Boys and Gatlin Brothers spun on the record player on the weekends, and then in high school I was smitten by the Doobie Brothers monster hit, Black Water.  The vocal jam at the end of that song burrowed into my soul and now I’m always on the lookout for opportunities to spice up a song with some weaving vocals (see the end of Bears).

Jeff Taylor played keys on this song, and did a masterful job building the song slowly and steadily.  But The Wagon really started rolling when the horn players came in.  Musically, this may be my favorite song on the record.  I haven’t been around New Orleans counterpoint horn playing very much, but I’ve always loved it.  I don’t know why, but to me, this kind of music feels like hard won joy; like joy that’s seen trouble and pain and lived to tell about it and rejoice.

And finally, the lyrics to The Wagon are so simple and sweet, I knew it needed a nudge, nudge and a wink, wink.  I came up with the Dragon / Spaceship verse ideas for AP,  and in the studio he reminded me of the “rule of three” that always makes things funnier and he came up with the Hippo idea – which was perfect. Hippos are hilarious any way you look at them, unless you’re looking at them from inside their mouth.

Happy Ben Day everyone!

Behind the Song: Mexican Rhapsody

PLAY: Mexican Rhapsody

Aedan and Jesse Peterson are Andrew’s shining sons, and they are hilarious, really great kids and I’ve known them since Jesse was in a baby carrier. They are both wildly gifted; at 13 Aedan is already a skillful illustrator and painter, and when Jesse was 11 he won first prize in a state wide building competition having created a lego Empire State Building complete with a menacing King Kong.  But from my perspective, the best thing about the Peterson boys is their kindness.  They are a good bit older than my 2 boys, and yet they always include them, always have grace for them, and relentlessly extend friendship when other older boys might want the smaller kids to leave them alone.  I will always love them for that.

And I will always love them for this: Legend has it, the Peterson family was on their way to Las Palmas in Hickory Hollow when, inspired by hunger and melody, Aedan began to sing… “Cheese dip, cheese dip, cheese dip, cheese dip.” and maybe there was something in the air conditioning of the Peterson’s old Subaru, but almost immediately Jesse joined in, “Chips and salsa….. chips and salsa!” And Mexican Rhapsody was born. To hear Andrew tell it, the car filled with laughter and joyful bewilderment at the spontaneous composition and they stretched it another line or two until it ascended into incoherent silliness.

AP and I were writing Silly Songs for VeggieTales at the time, and he brought me this mexican food song idea, which of course I loved.  Sitting at the Peterson’s old baby grand, we worked out the melody and lyrics to the first half of the song, and somehow stumbled on the idea of making separate sections a-la Bohemian Rhapsody. We parted that day intending to work on sections separately and then try to cobble them together and see what would happen.

Around that time my travels around the country had brought me to a restaurant called “Cock of the Walk”.  I had no idea what that meant. (Incidentally, it refers to a rooster and his dominion). Not long after that, SNL’s “more cowbell” sketch with Will Ferrell was sweeping the nation, and I noticed legendary producer “Bruce Dickenson” (played memorably by Christopher Walken) referring to himself as, “The cock of the walk, baby.”

Also around that time, I learned that “pico de gallo” meant “beak of the rooster” in Spanish.  We all want to make the most of the opportunities life brings, and this mexican food song provided the perfect opportunity to exploit this new and profound knowledge. Andrew and I sent ideas back and forth to finish the song, and then we scheduled a meeting with VeggieTales .

They liked it OK, but one of them pulled up a youtube clip of a low-budget commercial that had a mexican food song in it.  They didn’t want to be seen as potentially copying anything, so they sent us back to the drawing board (lucky for me).

Fast-forward to the studio this Fall, and the ingredients of this song came together like Ron Block’s mango guacamole.  First came piano, bass and drums, and then AP and I sang (which was, hilarious). Somewhere in there, Ken Lewis added flavor with castanets, but for me, the real magic of Mexican Rhapsody comes out of Stuart Duncan’s violin.  When his blistering cadenza opens the song, I just know something awesome is about to happen.   And in the middle “rooster” section, he’s playing the old fiddle tune “Chicken Reel” underneath our vocal tom-foolery. I say, I say, I say, if I’m not mistaken that was featured from time to time in the old Foghorn Leghorn cartoons.

If you want to hear some more stunning music from Stuart’s violin, check out his new CD with Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile titled Goat Rodeo.  At the link below from NPR, forward to 3:50 – this piece is incredible.

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=142520794&m=142608987

Stuart digs in with the rhythm section and articulates with such skill and feeling, it makes the ridiculous song even funnier.  I am so proud to get to present such startlingly good musicianship to unsuspecting kids and parents as they wind through their lives in minivans across the country.

To purchase the music, visit the Slugs & Bugs Online Store

Bed Without Supper

Do any of you actually follow through on the threat to send your kid to bed without their supper?

Two nights ago, my youngest would not eat his soup.  He’s 4, and lately he has been “testing boundries”, which are code words for  “driving us insane.” He decided he didn’t like the soup (which we’ve had before) and would not eat it.  We even had Halloween candy as a desserty incentive. He cried when he didn’t get candy, but he still wouldn’t eat the soup. He had eaten 5 or 6 bites, and had been playing with it for 20-30 minutes when I finally took the bowl away.

It was time for bed, Amy wasn’t home, everyone else was done eating, and I just started the bedtime routine.  He definitely expressed being hungry a few times, but the soup option was always rejected. Eventually he went to bed jolly as ever and slept all night long.   At 6:15 he next morning he woke us up with his relentless chatter, which is only slightly tempered by his equally relentless cuteness.  But that’s the same time he always wakes us up.

So right now I’m feeling pretty good about standing my ground, but it’s the first time I’ve ever done that with any of our kids.  So I figured I’d ask around… see what others have experienced.

I’m Adopted

PLAY: I’m Adopted

(The 4th post in a “behind the song” series from the Slugs & Bugs Under Where? CD.)

Two years ago I flew to pick up my son Ben from Ethiopia. He was 2 years old, and now he is 4.  Adoption is now a huge part of my family’s story, as well as a central fact in the life of every Christ-follower, so I knew we needed a Slugs & Bugs song about adoption.  I also knew it would be a challenge.

Within the narrative of every adoption there is an echo of sadness.  Something has broken that will not easily mend, and what once was can never be again.   Something beautiful, even glorious may be revealed in time, but any adoption song I would write would need to somehow acknowledge the whole story – not just the sunny side.  Still, it also needed to fit on a fun and happy Slugs & Bugs CD.  In time, I wrote a lyric that acknowledged the truth about a hard beginning, but quickly turned to rejoice in the beauty reflected by our adoption into the family of God.

Realizing the tender subject matter, and with a deep desire for the song to serve effectively, I shared the lyric with a few friends in adoptive families, eventually bringing it to my neighborhood church group (two of whom played on the song).  They listened, prayed for me and advised me, and after a heart to heart with Amy, I decided to change the first line.

The original first line was…

I was born into a family where I could not stay, and sure I cried, I mean wouldn’t you?

Amy listened to the rough mix of the song after I had already sung the vocal.  Thankfully, she spoke up and said those words would be too hard to hear over and over again, and I began to see how they could cause real confusion and unnecessary heartache for adopted kids that were old enough to understand. Over that next weekend I found the new words, and the song was complete.  The new first line says…

I was born into a story full of twists and turns, even the scary kind, and that’s the truth.

I was telling a wise friend about my lyrical issues, and he affirmed the change by saying the first version gave facts, which are often cold and hard, and can easily wound.  The second version, he said, tells the truth without the facts, and so gives the listener the chance to hear and understand at a level they are prepared for.

I didn’t even realize till much later that the new first line really opens the song up for everyone.  Who wasn’t born into a twisting, turning, sometimes scary story?  That’s the story of humanity.

Knowing we wanted the music to reflect the third world, we spent most of a morning in the studio finding the right groove, until Paul Eckberg and James Gregory landed perfectly into a rhythm that was Gracelandesque without being a total rip-off.  But the song really came alive for me when Andy Osenga played electric guitar.  Surely the guitar player from Caedmon’s Call’s groundbreaking record Share the Well would know what to do.  Aaaand, yes.  Those clean Gretsch lines weave the song together and pull it snug like George McDonald’s magical spider web from The Princess and The Goblin. Then came Ken Lewis’s brilliant percussion, popping and snapping, inspiring clapping.  And the last instrumental touch was Jeff Taylor’s perfect pennywhistle.

I sang that little melody without thinking, on the fly at the end of a vocal pass.  Ben suggested we use it for the theme.  What a great idea!  We got Jeff to come in and weave it throughout, and now that’s what I’m hoping to play when I tour with the song live.

Finally, the choir (some Petersons and Goodgames) came in and sang their little hearts out.

In the end, I wanted this song to be a celebration.  Our stories are marked by trouble and grief, but the light of Christ chases away the darkness and his love makes strangers into family.  Ben is my son, and I am a prince in the Kingdom of Heaven. A-oh a-oh!