::: and the winner is... :::

Congratulations to the winner of the Coal Train Railroad CD! Debbie was chosen at random from those who responded to the review of Coal Train Railroad's jazz for kids album. I hope you and your little ones enjoy it, Debbie! Let me know whether you'd prefer a digital or a hard copy of the CD. If you'd like a hard copy, send me your mailing address.

Thanks to all who entered. Now, go pick up a copy of Coal Train Railroad for yourself!

::: coal train railroad: a giveaway :::

(See the end of the review for your chance to win a copy of Coal Train Railroad!) 

I didn't really mean to do it. It was just that I'd been listening to this interview with Wynton Marsalis and I was pretty much smitten with him. During the interview, he offered some suggestions for jazz to play for kids to get them all, well, all jazzed about jazz. A little bit of Louis. A tad of Thelonius. A dab of Duke. A dollop of Dizzy. It sounded so easy, so hip, so sophisticated. I could do it. I could easily introduce my children to jazz.

So I picked up a couple of albums and slapped 'em onto my girls' iTunes playlist. The next time we were sailing down the highway, I shuffled the list and couldn't wait to hear their reactions to what was sure to be their new love. Jazz.

I was especially excited about how Baby, then five years old, would receive the music. She's the most discriminating and has very sophisticated taste in music. She loves to play with her voice and can keep up with the likes of Karin Bergquist, Abigail Washburn and Leigh Nash. So when Satchmo's  Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah burst onto the speakers, I thought she would just love it.

"Skip it!" she called from her perch on the back bench seat.

"'Skip it?'" I cried. "What do you mean 'skip it?' This is the great Satchmo! This is fine American music! My darling daughter, this is JAZZ!"

"Skip it," she repeated, unaffected.

But I persisted. I told her we had to listen to it, we had to get to know it a bit. We couldn't be quick to judge, now, could we?

And so she begrudgingly endured Louis, Thelonious, Duke and Dizzy, calling out an irate and impatient "SKIP IT!" if the jamming went on even a bar too long.

One afternoon, while we were motoring along, "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)" hammered the final nail in the coffin. As soon as the first notes swelled from the speakers and filled the minivan, Baby hollered out disdainfully, "What is this? JAZZ?!?"

So I gave up. No more jazz.

When my friend Katy Bowser announced that she had just finished a kids' album, a kids' JAZZ album, I read the press release, shaking my head sadly. I love Katie's stuff, but my kids would simply not stomach the jazz. It looked like Coal Train Railroad would not grace our iTunes playlist.

But Katy persisted. Her tweets and her status updates and the glowing reviews changed my mind. I decided I had to listen to it, I had to get to know it a bit. I couldn't be quick to judge, now, could I?

I listened to the album all alone first, making sure that I wouldn't be more deeply embedding my children's disdain. And I fell in love. Katy's fun and easy style, her sweet and playful lines, the endearing way she addresses such important subjects as mouth noises, belly buttons and fruit juice had me really hoping Baby would like what she heard.

So I loaded up the iPod and one day, as I was taking the kiddoes, both young and older, out to lunch, I played Coal Train Railroad. And I held my breath.

And...

She liked it!

Not only did Baby like it, but 19-year-old Bard liked it, and ten-year-old Sweetheart liked it and 14-year-old Monet liked it. They giggled over "My Mouth and Me," nodded empathetically to "It's Hard to Listen" and car-danced to "Just the Juice, Jack." Katy had done it. She'd redeemed the reputation of jazz in our family.

And it's no surprise! In addition to Katy's sweet voice, the record is kissed by the talent of producer Chris Donohue, who has recorded and performed internationally with a broad variety of artists including Emmylou Harris, Ben Folds, Lyle Lovett, Gillian Welch, Sam Bush, Phil Keaggy, Over the Rhine, Vigilantes of Love and Sixpence. Baby didn't have a choice! She had to love it, and love it she did.

Now the songs are in our regular rotation, and the lyrics have entered our family's lexicon.

And Baby has added Katy Bowser's to the lineup of voices she loves to emulate. Just last night, while playing on the My Little Pony website, Baby vocalized in a bluesy little vibrato:

"Snuggling suits me just fine!

A cozy blanket and a friend of mine.
Can I borrow your toes?
Mine are nearly froze!
Snuggling suits me just fine!"


Thanks, Katy and Coal Train Railroad for sharing the love. Thanks to you, our family's finally all jazzed up.

For your chance to win a copy of Coal Train Railroad for your family, leave a comment. For a second chance to win, tweet a link to this review and leave a comment letting me know. For a third chance to win, blog a link to it and leave another comment. The winner will be chosen at random on Friday at midnight.

Good luck!

::: a giveaway :::

Hannah makes cookies.
Hannah makes cakes.
Hannah makes beautiful pictures.
Hannah made my blog header photo.
Hannah made a giveaway on her blog.
Go see Hannah!

::: book review and giveaway: a million miles in a thousand years: what i learned while editing my life :::

When I was a child, during those moments of intense drama, I was certain there were cameras hidden in my home, recording each moment, storing them up for the time when editing would take place and I would be the star of an after-school pre-teen melodrama. It never occurred to me that long periods of my life would be dull and uninteresting to an audience. And that is what Donald Miller and I had in common.

Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz, is thrust into an interesting situation in his latest memoir, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life, when he receives a call from a director and cinematographer who are eager to turn his years-old memoir, Blue Like Jazz, into an independent film. As Don, Steve and Ben meet to begin fictionalizing Don's story, Don comes to the realization that his life has stalled and isn't as screenworthy as he would like it to be, so he sets out to inject more intentionality into his existence. 


Miller's honesty and transparency, his acknowledgment that he is fallible, is both heartbreaking and endearing. Miller's confusion, suffering and tenderness of spirit, his King-David-like crying out to God in the depths of his disappointment, and his actions, imbued with a strong desire to create a better story and dotted with humor, made for an interesting memoir.

As an added surprise, Don's book spoke to me as a writer as he learns for himself and teaches his readers about story, protagonists, antagonists, and inciting incidents. 

But his book also spoke to me as one who is Written by the One who wants to make a better story of my life, "the One who knows a better story."


If you enjoy the works of writer Anne Lamott, or if you're feeling that your real life needs a bit of editing, or if you'd like to delve into the mind of Don the Writer, then you'll be right at home peddling A Million Miles in a Thousand Years along with Donald Miller.

For your chance to win a free copy of this new book, leave a comment in the comment field. One reader will be chosen at random on Friday, October 2nd to receive a complimentary copy of A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.  Leave your comment today for your chance to win!