For Laura's birthday, she wanted to gift Invisible Children with a jingle. That's awesome!
Invisible Children is an amazing organization started by 3 San Diego dudes that went over to Africa with a video camera and came back with opened eyes, changed hearts, and a mission: to tell the world of the LRA's capturing and brainwashing of children into soldiers and to help the Ugandans any way they could. Since their beginnings in 2003, their story has been told to millions across the world and has already helped change the history of Uganda, but there's still much to do, including permanently ending the LRA's reign of terror, help millions of displaced refugees back to their homes, and educating the next generation.
If you want to help make Laura's birthday that much more special, please check out Invisible Children, look for ways you can help, and get the word out by telling your friends, family, and people you meet on the bus about IC!
Lyrics
Invisible, Invisible Children
Open your eyes and you will see them
Invisible, Invisible Children
Open your heart and see them
There's a rebel army in Uganda
That no own wants to be a part of
The only way they can recruit is
To attack defenseless villages and capture its kids
In '03 three guys from San Diego
Discovered this injustice and couldn't let it go
They filmed their story for a movie
Hoping that it would move you and move me
They formed Invisible Children to tell the world
And show what we can do to save those boys and girls
So now that you have heard the truth
What are you going to do?
So let me tell you about a man. A man named Marty. Marty King. He's turning 58 today! Wow! He's one of the coolest guys I know. Not just because he's my dad. But because he's an awesome dad. And husband (to my mom), and father-in-law, and grandpa, and cook, and engineer, and teacher, and cook, and chef, and cook. Hope you like the song, Pops!
PS - We shot the song in only one take. Heath, the little guy, was getting too hot and had to go inside. Not sure if the heat was from the weather or those blazing harmonica solos!
Lyrics
Hey Marty, you're the King
It's more than just your name, so listen up, I'll tell you what I mean
Your wife, Mary Beth, says that you're the best
And a super dad, Julie and I can attest
K and J think you're an awesome father-in-law
And heath always loves to play with you, his Papa
And not to mention you've got some other skills
You're always working hard so you can pay the bills
With your jobs you have always excelled
From the JJ, Motorola, and the Baxter to the ATL
You've moved up the ladder to a dream career
Getting paid to fly to Munich and drink their beer
And and not to mention the food you cook,Lookout Betty Crocker, if you ever ever write a book!
From the hummus to the bread to the yearly sazitza
From the pico de gallo to the Marty King's pizza
From the chicken of the land and the salmon of the sea
From taking a steak and smoking it for jerky
So let me tell you a story about Duane. Duane meets a beautiful girl named Heidi. He thinks Heidi is pretty swell and asks her out on a date. He asks her if she's played golf before, to which Heidi responds, "Oh yes." So Duane's pretty stoked. She's hot... AND she golfs? Wowza. So they play 18 holes on their first date. Turns out that Heidi actually hadn't played golf before (maybe she thought he was talking about putt-putt), and she was horrible. Duane told me he'd never seen such a bad swing. But what he couldn't understand was how Heidi could make such a bad swing look so good. So he decided to keep his eye on her to try to figure her out. Fast forward to now: I'm not sure if Heidi's a better golfer, but Duane's decided to keep his eye on her for the rest of their lives as they're getting married tomorrow in Florida! I wonder if the ceremony's on a golf course, or if Heidi will drive up in a golf cart. That would be pretty much epic. Congrats you two!
To celebrate, Duane commissioned me to write this song about how lucky he is to have her... or was it how lucky she is to have him? Maybe it'd be better if you just watch the video. Enjoy!
Lyrics
Oh Heidi, Duane loves you so
Give him your hand and he'll never let you go
Oh Heidi, Duane's happy to be
Sharing life with you his cutie
What is that makes him love you so?
He loves you more that you'll ever know
Since that first date on the course with the number 3 wood
He'd never seen such a bad swing look so good
He loves how you always seem to be in a good mood,
Maybe it's because you always make such great food,
Although you take awhile to get ready, it's always worth the wait
When you look that beautiful, he forgets about being late
Is it your laughter that he's after or the sparkle in those big, green eyes
Or how your leg-shaking dance makes him laugh until he cries
Oh Heidi, Duane loves you so
Give him your hand and he'll never let you go
Oh Heidi, Duane's happy to be
Sharing life with you his cutie
Duane feels so lucky
To finally meet his match
After all you've heard him kareokee
You both know he's quite a catch!
Oh Duane, Heidi loves you so
Give her your hand and she'll never let you go
Oh Duane, Heidi's happy to be
Sharing life with you her cutie
To Josh Roberts: Happy 30th birthday! I hope you have a great day! I hope that you enjoy all your birthday surprises, including this little treat from your wife! Your wife loves you very much. On the jingle order form, she wrote about 3x more about you than anyone's ever written on an order form. The Dayton Charity Chicken was a distant second. But anyways, I hope you know that you're a really lucky guy. Not only do you have a loving wife, but you have great friends and family who love you. I had a blast including some of your friends' favorite quotes and other things about you, such as Turn and Burn, the Evil Knievel quote (I doubt I'll ever learn where THAT came from!), the Dukes of Hazard, the Amish beard, and so much more. I don't know if this song will make sense to anyone other than you or your friends, but that doesn't matter. It's all for you, buddy.
To everyone else: what do you think? Do you like the song, or is it just too full of random quotes that you're just totally confused? Why is it by a lake? Why was I wearing a dress shirt? So many questions...
P.S. This one was a blast! This was shot at his favorite lake near their house. He was actually fishing in it while I was heading over. In order to get distract him, she did the classic "let's got for a walk around the neighborhood, honey" and it worked like a charm. It took awhile to set up (tripod on a hill, setting the camera behind trees to shield from the wind, waiting for the lawn-mowing neighbors to stop, etc.), but once the reel was rolling I shot it pretty quickly. Just in time, too! As I was packing up, Josh and Yeva passed me. Of course, Yeva played it cool. Well done.
P.P.S. If you want a song for yourself or someone you love, let me know!
Lyrics
Chorus
Everybody loves Josh
Everybody loves Josh today
Everybody loves Josh
And if you don't then you're just crazy
Since Josh
Is the coolest guy around
Everybody everybody loves Josh
Verse 1
What is it that makes you so cool?
That every time I see you, I go gigigigidee gooo?
Is it that you dress sharp as a tack
By the way Evil Knievel called, and he wants his shirt back
Maybe it was that Amish beard
Or that you're the best fisherman here?
Or that you can turn and burn on the soccer field
Riding on those calves of steel
Verse 2
12 years you have been with Yeva,
And her love for you is stronger than ever!
You are her love and inspiration
And you make heading home her favorite destination
At Lexis Nexis you're the tech master
For troubleshooting software, no one's faster
So feel free to watch some Dukes when you're feeling lazy
Just one question, who'd you pretend was Daisy?
So Sarah's been living the life. Two little kids, Antwone and Harmony, and an awesome husband, Chad. A few months ago, she and Chad probably had a conversation that went something like this:
Sarah: Baby, life is so good!
Chad: Aw, yeah!
Sarah: Could our life get any better?
Chad: Hmmm... let me see. Ooh, I have an idea!
Sarah: What is it, Cheese? (Chad's nickname)
Chad: What if there were MORE of us? Wouldn't more family be more fun?
Sarah: Yeah, that's it! You're a genius! Let's throw some Miracle Grow on our family tree and sprout another branch (refering to the exanding family tree)!
Chad: That's what I'm talking about!
Sarah/Chad: ...
So there you have it. Little baby girl Shields is coming to a hospital near you early this summer, so stay tuned!
P.S. - Sarah's a big fan of country, so I mustered up all my country might and put it all into this one song. For all you fans, I tried to go a little Josh Turner on it. Hope you like!
Lyrics
It was just a few months ago late late late one night
Most of us had already hit the hay and turned off the light
But Chad and Sarah were celebrating putting their kids to bed
They said hey, we can handle two, let's do three instead!
You, you, you, you,
You're adding to your family somebody new
So many things to look forward to
When it's you, you, you, you and you
What happened that night was something special, or call it Destiny
Joining Antwone and Harmony will soon be baby #3
So coming up soon, maybe May or June, she'll be coming into the world
Mommy and daddy just can't wait to see their baby girl!
So this morning, I was live on Fox 45's morning news show. What a blast! I'll have to keep this short because I'm exhausted right now (I woke up at 5:45 to get to the set this morning on time, earlier than I've been up EVER in my career as a grad student), but wow, that was fun. They started off by playing a news story about me, and then we talked live for a couple minutes about YDJ. Finally, I performed a jingle LIVE about their show. They loved it! I'll have a recording of it soon, but in the meantime, check out the segment they made about me at http://fox.daytonsnewssource.com/shared/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wkef_vid_3531.shtml. Enjoy!
P.S. - I left the news station this morning thinking that Pete, Kylie, Erin, Rhonda, and Mike are 5 of the nicest, coolest people I ever met. Sure, they look friendly on screen, but I was wondering how they'd act when they weren't in the spotlight. I sort of expected them to be divas who'd look all pissy and throw fits about levels not being right or problems with the teleprompter, but alas, that wasn't the case. Off the light, if anything, they were NICER! They seemed genuinely pleased to meet me and were curious about me and really engaged me in conversation. To be honest, I almost felt like I were back in junior high and the coolest kids in school started talking with me and being all chill. I almost wanted to be like "Hey, what's your number? Let's hang out sometime," but that would've been a bit weird I think. Maybe that's the tiredness talking, but anyways, I had a great time and those guys are great! Even the production team, who let me hang out behind the scenes for about an hour until the end of the show. Thanks Fox 45. You guys almost make me want to get a TV antenna!
Lyrics
If you gotta be awake in the morning
Then start your day off right with the Fox
Dayton's News Source, it's where you live!
And with a news team that rocks
Pete and Kylie hold the fort down
While Erin's on the scene in a flash
Rhonda keeps us posted with the latest traffic
While Mike the weatherman grooms his stache
I love music. I love kids. And I especially love playing music with kids. So when I was asked to write a song for Bethel Christian Pre-School in Columbus, Ohio, I was stoked to learn that I'd have a chance to sing it with them. It was a blast! They break the kids up into ages 2-3 and 4-5, with a few classes in each age group to keep the teacher/kid ratios high and the place as non-chaotic as possible with kids that age. The kids were so cute! After warming them up with a little Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, we launched into a little Jesus Loves Me, some other originals of mine (kid's songs, though they probably would've enjoyed the Dayton Charity Chicken), and then went into this little diddy. They caught on really fast, so after a few times through the song, they were belting it out. This recording is of their grand finale. Isn't it the cutest thing ever? For more info on their school, please check out http://associationdatabase.com/aws/BETHEL/pt/sp/preschool.
Lyrics
Thank you Lord for making me,
Giving friends and family
Thanks for Bethel Christian School,
Who knew learning could be so cool?
