Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW

    It's a very different Christmas this year, due to the isolated distancing we observe in response to the threat of CoVid.  I thought we might listen to "When Jesus Was A Kid" from my CHRIS MOOSE HOLIDAYS album to helps us focus on caring about others, sung magnificently by my daughter Willow.   While listening to a conservative Christian talk radio show, where the host made mean-spirited comments about a number of people who he described as sinners, one of my kid songs that teaches kids to set healthy boundaries by "just saying no!" popped into my mind, and I thought, "if Jesus was a kid and He was here right now, He would 'just say NO!' to you!"  If we pay close attention to the kids in our lives, and listen to them, we might sense the holiness, the sacred specialness of being alive together here on this planet, and consider ways we could work to love each other a bit more. Happy holidays to you all.  (To see this music video, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hXL1cPBzYI&t=2s 
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* E-mail/ Website ~ peter@peteralsop.com  ~ https://www.peteralsop.com 
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    Today our song is "Christmas Cheer", from my CHRIS MOOSE HOLIDAYS album, sung by my nephew, Marshall McDaniel when he was a wee-little tyke!  "Christmas Cheer" is the code name for 'alcohol during the holidays'.  It's a tradition in many cultures, and for generations kids have watched adults celebrate with alcohol, and then do stupid and dangerous things.  Most kids just accept it.  They feel powerless to change anything, but it’s scary, and lots of kids just want us to stop it.  Or they copy us and want some for themselves.  We can't help "modeling" behavior for our kids.  They love us and look up to us and copy us.  One of the most sobering things I can think of though, is that every year, between Christmas and New Year's in this country, an average of 300 people die in drunk driving accidents.  It behooves us to remember that we can have goodwill and holiday cheer without having to "drink" it.  If you haven't finished your holiday shopping, you might consider one of my albums that you haven't heard yet!  Download any of them in an instant from online sources, including my brand new "CAMPING WITH DADS".  This weekly SONGS TO CHEW podcast is free!  So share some of our joy, fun and music this year!  Have a warm & safe holiday!  Bye for now!
* Subscribe to this Songs To Chew podcast ~
    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peter-alsops-songs-to-chew/id1446179156 
* My new CAMPING WITH DADS album! ~
    https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1?
* E-mail/ Website ~ peter@peteralsop.com  ~ https://www.peteralsop.com 
* www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop 
* Youtube.com/peteralsop ~ videos
* Patreon.com/peteralsop ~ support my music, podcast & other artistic endeavors
* CDs & downloads ~ http://www.peteralsop.com/music 
 

    Today's song is 'unusual'.  Actually, many of my songs fit into that category!  "Buy Me Something" is on my CHRIS MOOSE HOLIDAYS album.  It's great for discussing the trappings of capitalism, and how we and our children can become trapped and addicted to shopping for things obsessively and compulsively.  After hearing this song, parents would often say, "My children already know this song!  They wrote it!  Are you sure you didn't follow us around in a mall somewhere, because it sounds exactly like them!!"  Lines like, "Buy me things of great value, stuff to save, I want giant collections of everything, ever made!" may sound familiar to you too!  We discuss how having and owning things in our culture, is an external way we've learned to measure our own worth, not just our financial worth, but our sense of valuing who we are, our importance to our family and community, and how the capitalistic system reduces our lives into quantifiable dollar amounts, and that is what truly impoverishes us; emotionally, socially and spiritually.  Check out my SONGS TO CHEW podcast. It's free.  I'm Peter Alsop.  I'll be back with a new song each week.
* Follow this Songs To Chew podcast ~ subscribe - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peter-alsops-songs-to-chew/id1446179156 
* My new CAMPING WITH DADS album! ~
https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW 
* E-mail/ Website ~ peter@peteralsop.com  ~ https://www.peteralsop.com 
* http://www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop 
* Youtube.com/peteralsop ~ videos
* Patreon.com/peteralsop ~ support my music, podcast & other artistic endeavors
* CDs & downloads ~ http://www.peteralsop.com/music 

   This week begins our 'Happy Holidays', so from my 'Chris Moose Holidays' album, we'll listen to "The Night Before Hannukah", about Santa showing up in a Jewish home.  I received an invitation to a 'Weinukkah' celebration from a couple of wonderful actor friends.  I asked what a 'Weinukkah' celebration was, and they said an old German refugee woman told them she didn’t know she was Jewish when she was a child.  Her family didn't practice Judaism in Germany because of the Nazis.  Once they were safely out of Germany, they celebrated 'Weinukkah' as Hanukkah and Christmas together.  They were grateful for both faiths in their lives, and they wanted to keep both secular traditions alive.  My friends were doing the same!  This world of ours is so full of wonderful, diverse human traditions and beliefs and stories, that can enrich all of us.  Especially the stories about how we struggle to make sure that more dominant cultures do not gobble up and absorb our own sacred stories and traditions. That's called 'cultural appropriation'!  All of our many cultures are equally remarkable and valuable.  If we share and pass things on with an alive curiosity and educate each other about the sources of our stories and songs, we can protect each other's heritage stories, which show us the many paths we've taken to arrive at where we are now.
* This weekly Songs To Chew podcast ~ subscribe - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peter-alsops-songs-to-chew/id1446179156 
* My new CAMPING WITH DADS album! ~ https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW 
* E-mail/ Website ~ peter@peteralsop.com  ~ https://www.peteralsop.com 
* http://www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop 
* Youtube.com/peteralsop ~ videos
* Patreon.com/peteralsop ~ support my music, podcast & other artistic endeavors
* CDs & downloads ~ http://www.peteralsop.com/music 

    On SONGS TO CHEW today we'll check out "Let's Go On Safari, Into My Sister's Nose".  As a performer, if I want to get kids' attention, I just have to mention "boogers" or "underwear", and they'll start laughin'!  It never fails!  This is a great song to let our imaginations run wild, and it also gives us a chance to think about 'teasing'.  Teasing is "playing with someone else's pain without their permission."  When we make fun of someone, about something embarrassing they've done or some characteristic they have, it can really hurt.  I think it's okay if friends tease each other, because there's a caring relationship that exists.  If we go too far, they can say,  "C'mon, that's not funny for me right now.  It still hurts."  Our response hopefully would be, "Okay, yeah, that was too much.  I'm sorry.  I won't do that again."  Often our excuse is, "I wouldn't tease you if I didn't 'like' you."  And the response to that is: "If you like me so much, why don't you just tell me, instead of teasing me."  It's easier for us 'guys' to tease someone than it is to reveal our real feelings.  Hopefully we can change some of that and be more careful about 'playing with other people's pain'.  I'll be back next week with another song. Bye for now!
* Songs To Chew ~ subscribe - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peter-alsops-songs-to-chew/id1446179156 
* Get my new CAMPING WITH DADS album! ~
https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Peter%20Alsop%20Camping%20With%20Dads
* E-mail/ Website ~ peter@peteralsop.com  ~ https://www.peteralsop.com 
* www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop 
* Youtube.com/peteralsop ~ videos
* Patreon.com/peteralsop ~ support my music, podcast & other artistic endeavors
* CDs & downloads ~ http://www.peteralsop.com/music 

   Today we'll listen to a song called "Eulogy".  It touches on how we feel when there's been a significant loss in our lives. Fans tell me they've played this song at funerals for their loved ones. With all the CoVid deaths soaring around us, our mortality is very present in ways that it wasn't before this pandemic hit.  Death is very scary for most of us. I've lived with Death standing just off my left shoulder since I was seven years old.  All Death had to do was reach out and touch me from an arm's length away, and I'm gone.  Having Death as a companion, without being morbid or obsessed about it can be very helpful for us.  Having Death that close to me, has helped me choose how to live my life.  I'm in the middle of a heated argument with my wife about something, and I look over and see Death reaching out slowly toward my shoulder, with a little grin.  Suddenly my "need to be right and win this argument" seems amazingly petty and unimportant.  So, I choose to stop, and give my wife a hug.  And Death, with a little shrug, slowly withdraws its boney finger.  And I'm still here, "fiddle-dee-dee!"  My SONGS TO CHEW podcast is free and weekly.  Hope you stop by.
* Songs To Chew ~ subscribe - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peter-alsops-songs-to-chew/id1446179156 
* Get my new CAMPING WITH DADS album for your family! ~ help Dads teach our sons!  https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Peter%20Alsop%20Camping%20With%20Dads&qid=1602558931&s=dmusic&sr=1- 
* E-mail/ Website ~ peter@peteralsop.com  ~ https://www.peteralsop.com 
* www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop 
* Youtube.com/peteralsop ~ videos
* Patreon.com/peteralsop ~ support my music, podcast & other artistic endeavors
* CDs & downloads ~ http://www.peteralsop.com/music
 

   Today we'll listen to a song I recorded back in 1981 on my UNIFORMS album, "Hopelessly Heterosexual".  I first played it in public at the 5th National Conference of the National Organization of Men Against Sexism.  I'd written lots of songs about gender and human sexuality, and I wanted to make sure that my humor wasn't inadvertently stepping on anyone's toes, or being politically insensitive.  The discussion after the concert was wonderful and eye-opening.  I've had many wise women and gay men in my life who've helped me understand that even though I have privileges as a heterosexual male, I don't have to accept or indulge myself with them.  Amen!! 
* Get my new CAMPING WITH DADS album for your family! ~ help Dads teach our sons! https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1?602558931&s=dmusic&sr=1-
* E-mail/ Website ~ peter@peteralsop.com  ~ https://www.peteralsop.com 
* https://www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop 
* Youtube.com/peteralsop ~ videos
* Patreon.com/peteralsop ~ support my music, podcast & other artistic endeavors
* Songs To Chew ~ subscribe - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peter-alsops-songs-to-chew/id1446179156
* CDs & downloads ~ http://www.peteralsop.com/music
 
 

    On today's SONGS TO CHEW podcast we'll listen to "Dads 'N Boys" from my CAMPING WITH DADS album.  We grow-up in patriarchal cultures from all around the world, and we learn that 'real men' NEVER do anything that a girl does, like 'caring for others'.  We learn that's 'not cool!'  This song lists many traits that Dads and boys have, and it reminds us that to build a more caring world, Dads and Boys need to learn to 'widen our own circle of caring', instead of staying stuck in a childlike focus on ourselves, where our "circle of caring stays the size of our belt".  Check it out for a laugh; share with your friends, and stop by again next week for another Song To Chew!  Bye for now!
* Get my new CAMPING WITH DADS album for your family! ~
https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Peter%20Alsop%20Camping%20With%20Dads&qid=1602558931&s=dmusic&sr=1- 
* E-mail/ Website ~ peter@peteralsop.com  ~ https://www.peteralsop.com 
* www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop
* Youtube.com/peteralsop ~ videos
* Patreon.com/peteralsop ~ support my music, podcast & other artistic endeavors
* Songs To Chew ~ subscribe - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peter-alsops-songs-to-chew/id1446179156 
* CDs & downloads ~ http://www.peteralsop.com/music