Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper. You are live from the path.

And you're listening to Live From The Path. We're joining from The Pathway Studios here in Johnston Proper. Yeah. I've been here before. You don't know what goes on here. I'm here all the time. You don't know this place. You don't know what goes on. Okay. Here's what got I I gotta I gotta get the show moving because we we we squandered away

the prime hours of the day with technical problems. Classic. Yeah. Yeah. Which didn't happen until Covington came in here. You know what I'm saying? Like, I've I've had we use that media computer which shows the opening of the show. I haven't had a problem with that literally for six years. Now, I can't remember the last time we saw Covington, but I mean, about that time It certainly six years ago, definitely. Probably was. Yeah. I'm just I mean, I don't believe in in coincidences. Let's just go check the cornerstone of the building. It was right before you guys started building. So Yeah. Yeah. I'm just saying, it just seems real possible that, again, the the Holy Spirit has done it. I'm not above taking credit for this. Okay. Alright. So here's what I got going on the show this evening. Well, of Covington's here. Yeah. He sabotaged everything, but he's there he is over there. He has done good things apart from his saboteur. Yes. Here's the thing.

He he released it's it's a is it fair is it fair, Sean, to call it a Christmas song? I believe so. Yes. Okay. It's definitely intended to be oriented in the direction of Christmas. Okay. Okay. So so so vying for the Christmas hit of the season? Yeah. I'd say so. That's not overselling it. No. Okay. Bails. Yeah. Bails is what it is. I took I took a listen. I got a a a I mean, like, a hot off the press copy of this thing at the same time everyone else did. Pre release. It was pretty special. Yeah. And it's it's it's very good. It is good. I'm excited for you guys to hear it. And so we'll we'll play that song for you, we'll give Sean a bit of an opportunity to describe the tune and and cajole you into perhaps purchasing it. Yeah. Or streaming it for free. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, whether you because you like the song or or you you if you're watching the video, you see how how good of a dresser he is and you think yourself, I wanna contribute. I wanna do something positive in someone's life for the Christmas season. Wait a Is there a music video?

There's not a no. There's not a music video. But you can imagine. When you hear his voice, you think to himself, he could probably use a few bucks, pick up a new pair of pants. Actually, after you listen to it, imagine him coming around the side of a building with a guitar, troubadour style Yeah. Like, as the snow falls and you and you watch the main scene happening, but he kinda just, like, intersperses it, like Gilmore Girl style. He just troubadours himself around, and then it turns to, like, there's snow in his beard. He's like a bard. Yes. A bard. This is true. Actually, I've heard many many of Covington's numbers. He is bard esque. Yes. Okay. That's true. Okay. Do you do you have you ever or are currently engaged in smoking like an old man pipe? I'd love to. My wife would kill me. That sounds like a maybe. I am I am a I am a disciplined ex smoker. I understand completely. Wait. Of old man pipes or just in general? Cigarettes.

Okay. Yeah. Okay. Here's the thing. It's like they I don't know what happened to the PR train on the tobacco, but it's way cooler to smoke an old man pipe than it is to smoke cigarettes anyway. I don't know. I I I'm not willing to wager on that one. Okay. He's staying out of the water. Here's the deal. I will take up both,

and then you guys judge. It be purely objective. This is Purely scientific? Yes. Six month study. So I guess I'm the control in this case. Yeah. I'll send you TikToks

of me Perfect. That's perfect. No. Every time I sort of we went to South Dakota for our family vacation this year, and we were going through

the wall drug. Yeah. I think everybody in Iowa went to South Dakota this year. I did too. Yeah. I ran into a half of them. They all went every time. And I I kept kinda dropping like, I wonder if they sell, like, carved pipes here or something like that. I think that'd be kind of she'd just look at me and Yeah. Get me the evil eye and Hey. Well, we'll we'll look at this here. Carved buffalo. Yeah. I like that. I've been trying the exact same tact over the last three weeks. I've been dropping hints that maybe I should take up a pipe. Yeah. And, boy, my wife is not grabbing a bait either. She's not. I mean, it speaks of refinement and discipline. I I kinda actually like the smell of it. Dan will come over and visit. He gives yourself a pipe. I mean, how am supposed to I'll I'll just watch you. How am I supposed to think about things accurately without a pipe? I know. There's all, like, all kinds of ideas I'm not coming up with because of my lack of pipe. Okay. So, anyway, that's we're gonna do Covington. That's item one on the docket. K.

Two, Mike's got some Pope's preview on the Pope style, Mike. It's fear. It's fear. Fear. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Three, we got into a conversation at the just before the show started

about Nehemiah. Yeah. And but there was there was something else. It had elements of beard pulling, toleration of things,

unity amongst the the church or God we'll call it God's people. Unity amongst God's people. Okay. Okay. Okay, alright. So we're gonna try to get to that. Okay. Pulling beards, bringing people together. Yeah. When unity fails, it's beard pulling time. It's beard time. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay, good. And then we'll do some Oh, I may have an article. I'm not sure. I've debating whether I care to bring this up or not. Because the content of the article is not really what I wanna care about, but it's like it's what people get involved in. But it's the possibility of, like, what

you're being with the type of information you're getting and how you probably need to take it easy with it. So we'll see. If we have time for that, we'll do it. If not, I might just let it go. The spirit might say, look, Ben, this is dumb. You don't wanna bring this up. Okay. And then we'll do advice on dear life from the path, we'll cut it out. That sounds good. Okay. Good. Also, just for context, and I decided I should start doing a play by play. Like, if you're on the if you're listening ever listen to a football game on the radio, they tell you what's going on. They say, look. The Cyclones got the book got the ball. They're driving from from left to right. K? So they give you some context. So here just just so you know, starting from left to right, I got Sean Covington, Dan Hudson, Nathaniel Carson, Mike Foust, and then I I stand in the middle. Yeah. So there you go. If that if that helps how you're thinking about the home game, that's what the layout of the scene. I'm kind of on the 50 yard line. Yeah. Dan's in the center. If I had to take the temperature of the room on this pipe smoking, though, I mean, where would you say we're at? Be more specific. Like like, am I for you committing to smoking a pipe full time or just picking up casually? Casually pipe smoking.

Yeah. I'm all in. I have an addictive personality. It's something to keep in the back of your mind. Yeah. But I are you gonna give up other addictions so you can do the pipe? No. No. I can't support it. Just piling on? I think you can trade out. Here's the deal. You can you can swap out marijuana for crack cocaine, and you can switch to pipes instead of cigarettes. But I can't have you it can't be additive. You can't say I'm gonna do crack and marijuana. I'm not currently engaged in the cigarettes. But I do I mean, what if I drink I'll drink a lot of coffee. Are you are you just saying that for the crowd? No. Like, you don't have any smokes in your in your truck right now? Uh-uh. In the gas tank? I might have some. Okay. That's what I thought. I'm I'm not sure where they are though. That's how that's Having them is not the same thing as smoking them, That's that's how familiar I am with Security blanket. What that says to me is Covington's got some in his attic. No. Not anymore. I smoked them. Okay. Carry

a pack for a long time after I stopped smoking. I don't know. It was a dumb idea. Like, you couldn't you just couldn't like, you weren't smoking them, you kept waiting waiting for the urge to come back. Yeah. Yeah. Wait. And it didn't come back? I got it's a miracle. I shouldn't tell you because it's it's not fair. What do mean? Hit me. Okay. Now you gotta say it. You gotta hit us with it. I I what do you want? What do you mean? Do you want? The the lowdown on Whatever was the miracle. Yeah. Whatever wasn't fair. That's the interesting part. I got incredibly vomitous. I barfed my guts out for it's it's it's more than that. I had been sick for several days and

I was heavy laden with with anxiety because I had believed that I would have an opportunity to play with somebody in town that I thought was gonna be profitable for me to play with. Yeah. And I was excited about it and then I got sick. I had like this chest cold that sort of had like a flu feeling to it and I couldn't do it so I was all wound up about it. Anyway, long story short, I went to bed super early

and of course when you're super sick especially with like a chest cold, smoking it's it's a necessary evil, but it's not an enjoyable one. Yeah. And so I, you know, I didn't have a cigarette before I went to bed, and it was quite early. And I should preface this I should preface this by saying I had attempted to quit smoking by various means

many times prior to this. How long had you been a smoker up to this point? Probably smoked for fourteen years. Okay. So so a good decade and a half? Uh-huh. Yeah. And it was probably around the around at the rate of about a pack a day at that point, maybe a little less. This all sounds familiar to me. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Lucky Strikes or or or Virginia Slims? Pass. So anyway It was totally Virginia Slims. Everybody

admits to Lucky's. It was it was it was the sale of choice. So it was usually like parliaments, Marlboro lights, camel camel lights, whatever was on sale. Today's American spirit. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That was never on sale. No. That's premium stuff. But I got to bed super early

and then I woke up in the middle of the night and my fever broke. I thought, oh, okay. Maybe I'll be able to go to work tomorrow morning, set my alarm, get up at regular time, fix myself, pot of coffee and set outside for my regular morning cigarette. Well, I sit down on the step and I smoke that thing and I hadn't had a cigarette in quite a while.

And I stood up after smoking it and I felt very dizzy. And I thought, wow, that's what you get. And a little morning buzz there. And then I walked inside and it got worse

and I made it to the sink and it was as bad as I had ever felt. Barfed my guts out for twenty five minutes probably, sweating profusely and I never smoked after that. That was it. Wow. That is an awesome story.

My that's that's almost to the tee how my dad quit smoking back in the early seventies and became a vigilant ex smoker. Sure. Sure. So I always kind of fantasize that that's how it would be. Boy, howdy, did it come riding up on a stallion.

Yeah. Bonus. A big green one. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway Now, mean, just for context, like, had you been have you been, like, actively trying to to to quit around that time? Can't remember. I I I I can't answer that. I I will say that, you know, like I said, over the over the years, especially since my kids were born,

it just felt like something I needed to do. I had a lot of guilt about it as a worship leader. I recognized at one point that I was comfortable letting church start late so that I could have a cigarette. Right. Yeah. And

it didn't occur to me for quite a while that that was its own form of idolatry. I put myself and my comfort and my entertainment and whatever else you wanna call it in front of starting church at a decent respectable time. I'm not saying I left him hanging for ten minutes but like two minutes didn't bother me. Anyways, it felt irresponsible for me

to to stand in front of the church smoking and then go up and lead worship. And we could debate about freedom in Christ all all you want. At that time, to me, it felt very irresponsible and I felt a lot of guilt about it. Yeah. So I had tried to quit through, like, accountability groups, the American Lung Association, Wellbutrin,

the Nicara, whatever. You did the ringer, really. You you went through all the options? Oh, sure. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Cold cold turkey was never one of my favorites. I was like I was always like a cut down kind of guy, but a cut down kind of guy only lasts for a little while and then it turns into a stressful situation and turns into you're back to normal. Right. Anyhoo, so, yeah, that's kind of the background of that. That's a good story. Yeah. That is a good story. I like that. And so but but your hesitation to tell it was, it's not really a strategy. If someone else is going, hey, what do I do? And like, barf at the sink. Yeah. Like, that may or may not That's true. It's not it's not only that. It it, on a certain level, diminishes the effort that somebody is trying to put into quitting smoking. Right. I don't wanna disclose. Struggle. Because it's I mean, it's a struggle for most people. I I have not And that yours got to get put away with a one and done act. Yeah.

Yeah. I can see that as hard to take in. But but that's a that's a holistic approach to go, look, man. I'll tell you the story, but I need you to realize it's not a measure of your success, you know, based on you didn't vomit it to sink. Right? Absolutely. And and I'm before I tell anybody that I just quit cold turkey like that, I I want them to know that I tried to quit probably 12 times before Right. You know, and and just failed abysmally. Yeah. Yeah. So it was really a grace a grace from God. And so there have been times, you know, we're talking about this pipe thing. I did not even remotely resent

that my wife is like, you just can't do that. Yeah. Right. Because like I fully recognize that for me to pick up a pipe and start smoking it would be equivalent to me winning the lottery, getting paid in 1 dime, in one in one coin and then standing over a sewer grate and flipping it. I might catch it 10 times, I might catch it 20 times but someday I'm gonna drop that coin. What kind of idiot would I Yeah.

To have given up something of such value. Yeah. That's a really good point. Like of all the the types of things people struggle with, like you gotta know who you are and you gotta know where he came from. And like back to back to the notion of freedom of Christ, some people might be able to do a pipe. If that ain't you, you gotta know that ain't you. Yeah. We talk about this a lot when we talk about like those triple x church guys or guys that that can go hang out at at adult entertainment conventions, right? And not get all triggered. Right. Yeah. There's people that can go. There's people that cannot go. And it's cool if you're not one of those people. It's best you stay at the pool. You don't like it? There's no you're not it's not it's not a martyrdom thing. Right? I'm not sure the pool is the best place, actually. Maybe

the maybe the buffet. Yeah. Just stay out. Just stay out of there. Stay where you don't belong. And here's the thing, it's like you have freedom in Christ not to put yourself in a situation you shouldn't be in. That's legit. That's a legit freedom. And I don't find the Holy Spirit shoving people in places they don't wanna go or they don't belong being in. So yeah, that's a good point. Yeah. Alright. Well, you're listening to Live From The Path. That was How to Stop Smoking Definitively

by Sean Covington. That's the part. Yeah. He's got a new book out called You Loser? Yeah. Do it My Way. Alright. Okay.

That was not on the agenda you mentioned earlier. I just wanna say that. Already off topic. I like the benefit of not doing any show prep at all. We get these gems of gold. What do you say pipe? Run that hill. Okay. I tell you what, let's before we destroy the program, let's talk about this Christmas tune. Yeah. So what would do we wanna hear it first? Do think? I think we should. Yeah. Okay. Let's do this. Give it give it a spot. I've not heard it. I'm on the edge of my seat.

Me too. Oh, man. I hate when the expectations are so Okay. Okay. He's making Covington nervous. He's gonna break out a pipe. Alright. So so this is Bells by Sean Covington. I'm gonna let it rock, and then we're gonna come back and we're gonna chat on you're listening to Sean Covington on Live From The Path.

When the shadow of a church bells chime reached me across the snow. I was suddenly transported to another time

when worries weren't my daily bread or fear my cup of wine. Memories of a day that shines

because a bell was meant old familiar sound. I almost didn't hear the ring, though the feeling was profound. Something old had been awakened,

something I Alright. Yeah. Yeah. That turned out really nice, man. Thanks, Mike. That was really good.

Thank you. Now hold on. People can dig on this throughout the all of the Christmas season on on Amazon, on the Apple Music Store That's right. On Spotify Yep. On Deezer. Oh, yeah. I don't do anything on Deezer. Oh, it's on Deezer too, buddy. You better believe it's on Deezer. I don't know Deezer. I've never heard of it. No. I don't know what Deezer is, but it is on there. It feels like they they punch you in the face with music. That's what it feels like. Is it? Well, I might have to check it out. Welcome to Deezer. It is on Deezer. Hold on. Here was the list. Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon, Deezer, and Napster. Napster? I didn't even know Napster was still around. Napster's still here? Yeah. Hey.

It's a deal. On Myspace. Yeah. Well, that way I get to reach every demographic. Yeah. Boy, I'd like to meet the dudes that are still on Napster going, this platform is still the best. Yeah. It closed down, and then it reopened. Really? Under new management? Well, I don't know about that. Under lawful management now. It's not about, like, stealing music. Well, I mean, that's the only reason I used it back in the day. Yeah. That's you can't do that anymore. Okay. Well, good. I like fences. Okay. Alright. So I I

I really enjoyed that song. Well, thanks, John Covington. I thought it was great. Yeah. So so did you have the idea for the story before you wrote it or as you wrote it? Or you, like, you kinda had the framework for the tune and it evolved from there? How did it show up? Right. So I I full disclosure,

I I think I wrote this song, like, in 2011. Mhmm. And I was working,

I think, with a pastor who was crafting a message for for a particular week during the Christmas season and it was using the symbol of bells. So if I'm being perfectly frank with you, I don't remember the exact circumstances

under which I wrote the song. What the inspiration of the song was. I do remember though what the story tells. Yeah. And I think that's really what got my attention when I started thinking about recording a song this year.

I initially started out recording another song. And I started working on it and I was talking with a couple of friends.

A couple of guys you know, you guys have met Micah Smith Yeah. From the August Guns. Mhmm. And you met Ali Crumme. Mhmm. And I was talking with both of them. Just because I'm really I I I stepped out of music writing and and production and stuff like that for a pretty long period of time. And during that period of time, the market changed a lot.

And so I felt very much like a stranger when I sat up this year and decided, I'm gonna write a I'm gonna write a song and record it. And so they were they were sort of like, you should maybe think about I mean, the timing of this. You're you're recording in the fall

with a, you know, a a final date that's gonna be like in October or November. You're gonna get totally clobbered by Christmas carols if you try to release the song that late in the year. So you're probably gonna wanna release it next spring. And I was thinking, I was like, man, I really don't wanna do that. And so just over the next couple of days, was kind of just ruminating

on on what what would be wise. And I was like, wait a second. Christmas song. Christmas song. I've got a Christmas song. And I pulled it up on my iPod iPhone.

That's what the kids call it these days, I think. Yeah. And I listened to it and it was so just boring. And it was a really basic demo that I'd recorded, you know, forever ago and forgotten about after its week had passed.

And the more I thought about it, the more I was like, wait a second. This makes total sense. This makes perfect sense. So the story of the song made sense to me in the context of 2020 and COVID

and just the assault on truth and objectivity and just everything seems so,

like, bad. Yep. And and the story of the song just made sense to me in that context. And so that was like, I'm gonna figure out a way to make this song work. So

just kept demoing it and working around different problems I had with the song and and got to a point where I felt like, yeah, this is ready to go. Let's do it. And so Lynton cranked it out. Would you would you say is it substantially different from where you started? I would say it's finished

compared to where I started. Okay. Okay. Okay. Where I started was like one guitar part and one vocal part and just one, you know, kick drum snare

part. It was just boom Yeah. Chick, boom, chick. It had no personality. It wasn't finished. It wasn't until we started playing with the lap steel guitar that I felt like, oh, wait. There it is. That's what the song sounds like. Yeah. And

then I went in and started working with Brian a little bit with the vocals and the drums. He came up with that drum riff which I just thought was perfect. And it started to feel like something that people could enjoy and

that would yeah. It would have an opportunity to actually talk. I do like here's the thing, it's like I do like songs that have a feel to them because they tend to have a feeling. Right? And so like, it is one of those songs that puts you in a space and puts you environment where there's a lot, especially Christmas music, right? Like, you're already in the snow, there's already these fancy horses coming by, there's already lights up, right? And so you can listen to a Christmas station for three hours and you're still in the middle of

a old town walkway with the same setup. Mhmm. And this song doesn't allow that. Right? It kinda you kinda end up walking down a side street. Right? It just it moves you out of out of a a spot and puts you in a different environment. And and that part, I think you achieved

a very good feel of the song in the fact that it doesn't sit with everybody else in this loud Christmas Christmas Christmas area. It doesn't. It has a feeling to it. It has a mode to it and and and that's what I really enjoyed about it. Yeah. There's there's a story that progresses Yeah. In in there. And that's one of the things I think that made helped it make sense for me was, you know, it starts with a person who is just they're just doing their life. They're like it's

the worst I think this is the worst aspect of the song is the first line. I was standing at a crossroads. Oh, well, how many millions of stories or songs have started with a crossroads? Right. But that's where we're at. You know, as a community of people, we have to decide and that's that's a crossroads. Right? And so it's like this guy is he's just doing his life. He's just trying to get through and he's caught up in in worry and anxiety. He he doesn't see a path out of it. He's just living in it. And then there's this this sound that is so familiar that he almost

it doesn't even really register. But then, wait, there's like this there's this moment of nostalgia where he remembers something before worry, where he remembers something before just being tied up in knots about everything. And then it's that need to figure out like,

how does this nostalgia how does the joy that's hidden in this nostalgia make sense and why does it why is it still there? And pressing into that, you know, he finds it's it's a church bell. Okay. So now he's pressed to find out like why is the sound of this church bell

have this feeling to it that I need to figure out, you know. And he he recognizes that inherently in the sound of a bell. There's this is kind of a flaw in the song, but inherently in the sound of a bell is one of two things, joy or terror. Right? If you hear bells,

somebody's married. Right? Or somebody's, you know, the like I always thought of Fred Flintstone and the toot, you know, he gets off work and he's headed home ready to see Wilma and the gang.

Or or the sound of bells means somebody's attacking. Right? I think of that as like or something bad is happening. Right. Right. Right. It's a call. It's an alert. Yeah. It's an alert. Okay. So I'm sort of skipping that part and I'm just focusing on the celebratory aspect. You know. We have the celebration

of finishing a a good work day. The celebration of a wedding. The celebration of somebody returning from a dangerous place safely. And this guy sort of runs into this sound to try and figure it out. And then he's confronted with this truth about a joy, about a celebration that is it transcends

the circumstances. Right? So we have this picture of a baby who's born and there's no big celebrating happening on that particular day but we have the benefit of time knowing that this baby born is going to change the world. And that he's going to change it in a way that we can have a hope that withstands

whatever circumstances are immediately in front of us. That they don't stand a chance compared to the hope presented by Christ. And so that that story just felt like it made sense in 2020. Yeah. I think it does. And I think and I think the image of it's it's weird

that you can pull so much from from a bell when you kind of alluded to this earlier that like it's it's so our our lives are no longer regulated by that. Mhmm. Like, mean, you you push back time a good hundred, hundred and fifty years. Right? Like, the the town runs on the bell. Mhmm. You know, that your your workday does. What you have no idea what time it is unless the bell rings, why the church bells are doing that. Like there was a service that it there's a service that the church had in regulating in regulating life and like now it could go off and you and you it doesn't even draw your attention. But like there is a nostalgia to being drawn back into the the weight of even something so simple as a sound that everyone hears at the same time. Mhmm. Right? Like we're we didn't know like everyone gets the the news alert that something happened and everyone turns around and you're sharing a moment like it's that's much different than everyone is in some sort of vicinity of which the whole town

can hear the bell ring and like everybody gets to react to that in that moment. So you have something that is so communal but then something that is so personal like with the guy in the song. Right? Like everyone is hearing that in some means or another. It's drawing different things upon their mind. If you didn't have anybody on the ship coming in, there's no sense of worry. The ship is just back. But if you're waiting for someone who was on that ship and you don't know what happened to them, it's different. It's different. So I I don't know. It's just a it's just a very for something such so simple, it is a very deep thing.

Something to symbolize that has has a lot of sinews into life that like, you just don't contemplate until until you're until you're brought with the opportunity to. And so frankly, I I don't know, like, that that the ship thing stuck with me because that's where the images of like the pervasiveness of sound and its impact to the people around it and every everybody's taking it together but everyone's taking in maybe slightly differently. And the ambiguity of what it's announcing, you don't even know what it's saying necessarily, like on the other end of that. You just know that you're gonna know something. Yeah. Something is to be known. And so

anyway, it was a very it was just an interesting space. It was an interesting place to have taken that I didn't expect to be taken in the song just by thinking that is this simple. So I don't know. I I like I I thought it was I thought it was really good. Now let's talk about the let's talk about the music itself. Sure. How many Sean Covington's are we listening to? Oh, well, there's

three. There's four electric guitars in the in the back section of that. Okay. There's the acoustic guitar, my vocal part, I'm playing the bass.

Great guy I met through the process of doing this is Brian Vanderpool, he's playing the drums and and then his wife is just a fantastic keyboards player. So she's playing

there's is it a Rhodes? Yeah. It's a Rhodes keyboard in there and then they have a genuine b three organ in their basement which I just think is amazing. That must have been such an ordeal getting everything down there. Oh, man.

And then he also supplied some fantastic harmonies in there that I thought just were just buttery. Just buttery. They were buttery. Mm-mm. Yeah. Okay. So lots of lots of Covington and then And Friends. And Friends. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Alright. And so so so a reminder, you can pick this up. You can buy it legit style. You can spin it on the Spotify or the Deezer That's right. Or the Or the Amazon. Or the Amazon. What was the other one? Napster. Napster. Nathaniel loves Napster. Yeah. Do you use it, Nathaniel? I in the past.

For nefarious reasons? No. No. No. Back back when they when they were first, like, coming back. Yeah. The Coke rewards. You remember the Coke rewards? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. About the codes on the cap? If you got enough caps Yeah. Like, you could go to Napster and Well, you're a cheap man, aren't you? Yeah. Mean, I was in, like, high school. I didn't have any money. Like, how many $2 Cokes do you gotta buy to buy a $1 soda? What I would do is I would get other people who drank Coke on the regular,

and I would say, Hey, you just throw these caps out. Right? And they say, Yeah, throw them out like a normal human being. Even it's a legit business that leads to Now, the one time, Sonya Wright Yeah. Came into Pathway, and she knew I was doing this. And she brought me in, like, a box load of

like, her her mom or something like that Yeah. Drank a lot of Coke. And she brought in a box load of, like, the tabs off the the cartons and the bottles, like, I had free music for forever after You spun tunes forever. You could put you could put Covington on repeat and just let it fly while you took a bath or whatever. No problem. Yeah. Doesn't offer that, Dieser. Yeah. Don't even know if Napster does that anymore with the Coca Cola, but that's what I did back in the high school days. Okay.

Alright. So anyway, if you're like Nathaniel and you like live to on the cheap and easy, you can still pick it up on the Napster. I don't know about the easy. You gotta manually It was a lot of work. You gotta suffer through all that coke first. Yeah. It would've been a lot less work to, like, for me to get a job and go there and then pay for music. Instead of Grafton. Possibly could have written the song yourself.

Yeah. So wait. Actually, that sorry. Interesting by road then. Has anybody ever gotten outside of Nathaniel's cap collection? Have you ever got involved in, like, collecting something to send in for rewards? Oh, duh. The star on the lollipops. On the Tootsie Tootsie Pops? What no. How many did you have to collect and what did you get? Oh, heavens. I don't remember. Was it worth it? Like, do you remember thinking like, do did you feel accomplished? I remember the joy of finding a rapper with a star on it. I don't remember I didn't remember you. Sent that in. I thought it was just like, you got a lucky one. It was like a big deal, but I didn't know why. I thought, oh, look at that. And they threw it Well, that explains why I don't remember any of that. I sent it off to them, and they threw it away. They're like, why are you sending us these wrappers back? Why do you keep Our our church used to do the Campbell soup once, and, like, they would send it to a mission. All these churches would send all these Campbell soup labels, and then they'd get, like, equipment and stuff for their whatever their mission was. Children's home or something, and and they'd get cars and I mean, like, big time stuff. It was really kinda cool. Oh, it a big time. Still to this day, I'll I'll reach for the Campbell's first thing, and I better get that label. Think, I don't think anybody collects those anymore,

and then I'll go to the Hy Vee. Remember those tabs? Did they do that at at at the school? Like, the Ronald McDonald's They were the the tabs for yeah. The Yeah. Yeah. What was that? What were they That was for Ronald McDonald's. Yeah. Ronald McDonald's house. Yeah. Right. But why were why were they collecting the tabs? Was it, like, for recycling purposes? They scrap the aluminum at, 0.01¢? Why wouldn't you just want the whole can at that point?

Well, you can't string the whole can up. You know? They start rattling together, it looks like a cheap wedding present. I think people were too cheap anyway. They wanted the nickel but they said they might sacrifice the tab. Yeah. Because they'll give you the nickel without the tab. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Test it Yeah. Win

I've never participated in this. You never collect anything and turned it in for big points? No. No. They used to get buy one get one. They used to get a free 20 ounce Mountain Dew on 20 ounce Mountain Dews like under the cap. Oh, yeah yeah. And that didn't increase or decrease the amount of Mountain Dew I drank. I was just excited to get one. Do you guys remember, was it Pepsi who had the campaign that you'd open the can and a $100 bill would pop out? Oh. Oh. No. I don't know. And it was like this big game to figure out like which cans were loaded. Every time. You ever do McDonald's Monopoly? That's why I kinda thinking of Monopoly. Remember that one. I would expect the boys to remember. I don't remember this 100

pop up Pepsi can. This sounds like a farce to me. Magic cans were special mechanical cans used by the Coca Cola company in The US as a part of their $100,000,000 magic summer ninety promotion. Yeah. Coca Cola pop up fan contest. I wasn't born. And I feel like I'd be upset. Like, I wanted a cool refreshing soda, and then you threw a $100 out of me. A thousand $100. Couldn't you tell by the weight of the can? No. I think that it was magic. Is there a battery in brother say.

Magic can. They had to put liquid in there too, didn't I feel like I'm And then you got a soggy 100. Yeah. I don't want no soggy Franklin. I just want this soda I want. Glass. I mean, I wouldn't reject it. I mean, you could just go buy another one, I guess. Don't don't drink that $100 if you don't want that to be. Hold on. Punch card. Hold on. Punch card? For what? For, like, anything. Like, ten months free. Place right now. Jiffy Lube. Okay. Jiffy Lube. Yeah. You get Haircuts?

You said actively. You're actively in the middle of a card, both of you. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And it's still like the punch card. It's not like In Briar? At the at the gas station down in Moberly, they had a punch card for the coffee. And every, like Oh, yeah. Tenth coffee was free. Yeah. And then they threw them out. They said, we're doing away with these. We got these plastic cards. It's our reward card. You get coffee and soda now. I said, I don't want that. Brewers used to do that.

The the punch card? Yeah. Yeah. Everybody's always I love the punch card. See, I I'm alright with the rewards programs. No. I don't like them with the punch cards. I always would say to to to the people, they say, you wanna sign up for the rewards? I said, no. I don't want the government tracking me. It was a joke, obviously, but they didn't think it was funny. Said Ready for a free haircut right now. Oh, man. Dan's ready to go. Supercuts. At the Supercuts.

Okay. Just for just to to tie this one up on that magic can. So the number of cans had problems, folk colon. The pop up mechanism malfunctioned, jamming, or a faulty seal released some of the chlorinated water mixture into the can itself. Yeah. A widely reported incident involving an 11 year old boy in Massachusetts drinking the foul tasting liquid used to replace actual cola. Yeah. This is the dumb idea. Despite initial fears, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health determined that the water was not harmful, containing a lower concentration of chlorine than the water in a typical swimming pool. It's a much higher concentration, I think. Worried about the bad publicity and potential product liability lawsuits, Coke immediately placed television and newspaper advertisements in 50 large United States markets. The full page ads, run only once, warn consumers that a very small number of cans contain a foul smelling but harmless water that should not be ingested. The ads were headlined Take a good look. And in smaller type, it read You could have a magic can.

Wow. Okay. I just gotta I just gotta say, I I have been astounded. I was this is totally it might seem off topic. I'll just I'll I'll cut to it. Okay. My garbage can has directions on it. What do mean?

So here's what I'm saying. Like this side up or It's gotten so bad Yeah. That my garbage can has directions on where to put my hands and what to do after I've set my hands in the correct place. They tell me how to move my garbage can. I'm just thinking, if I open a can and I smell something foul,

am I gonna drink it? Yeah. Well, I did find instructions that warned me not to drink it if it smelled foul. But I said to myself, it is a can. To be fair, gave you a brain that interprets foul smelling things and your instant reaction is, I'm not gonna drink that. Not drinking that. Stick's bad. I'm not gonna have it. Right? And but this 11 year old boy goes,

that's terrible. I'll have swig. A delicious Coke can. What could go wrong? What could go wrong here? You know? That's all I'm saying is like, do we really need instructions for this? Here's the thing. I know you say that, but then people drink bubbly. Have you had that bubbly? Okay. Now look. It's very it's very I was drinking a lot of drinks. No, coming to no. To be honest with you. That's terrible. Yeah. Basically what it is is

fart water. It's just the right amount of of crispy bubble Uh-huh. To take your money and give you nothing. And to satisfy my my desire for a Krispy Bubble. No. It's a gypsy wagon. They're selling they're selling dad's moonshine made out of whatever they found in the last town. I'm telling you that bubbly is disgusting. It tastes like baking soda. It's not so in fairness,

I'm I'm taking this to be a general statement about the Essence drinks in general. Yeah. What's the I'm not gonna defend Bubly as a brand. Yeah. I'm I'm a LaCroix man. There's no such thing as a There's an ah. Oh, I beg to differ, sir.

I beg to differ, sir. With a Virginia Slim. Gross. Yeah. Now listen. That's neither confirmed nor denied. I'm a Lacroix man. There's no such thing. That's classic. That is that's that's Mike for you. Always willing to embarrass you in public on

the Internet. Nobody listens to the show, Kevin. There's there's nothing to worry about. I I saw you guys. You got lots of subscribers. Listen to me. That is a soda can dressed in a Halloween costume. It's not real soda. It's a it's a fool. It's it's it's a Copeland blowing in there. Little bit of bubbles, little bit of water, put a little baking soda in it, and then it's one squeeze of lemon. They're like, look at this fancy drink. It's gonna be a dollar 75. You're like, I can buy the completely full of cancer soda for 85¢ and feel refreshed. Okay. So until the cancer kicks in. To clarify, Mike, your comparison is LaCroix is like Pentecostal

televangelist. Yes. That's what it is. It's televangelist water. Yes. That's exactly what it is. That summed it up perfectly. That's pretty deep. I'm not gonna lie. Yeah. Yeah. I think you're wrong, but it's deep. You know why? Because LaCroix is in a surface well. Because there's no depthness to it. It's just disgusting. It is not good at all. Yeah. Do you drink that flavored water? I no. No. No. I like it. So Don't let him scare you. I'd rather punch myself in face. Also, I don't pay for it on my own dime. Like, I was buying it by the case I was getting the $52 a day from the work Yeah. To travel. I was I That's brought what you bought with it? Yeah. I bought I bought, like, 10 cases home when I was up in Oh, wow. When I was up in Even Covington is disgusting. Hold up. Good cases. That's a bit much. Now you're now you're storing it, though. This is Yo. No. Yeah. I was I was buying all sorts of food to bring home. Like, would buy a you know, like, you know, like smoked paprika,

stuff that I wouldn't buy, like, on my own dime because it's expensive. Smoked paprika and LaCroix by the case. On my regular paycheck. But on the company's dime, I'm getting a smoked paprika. Paid up on the national. Boy, you're like a caricature of yourself.

You got book rewards and for paprika. I'm living high life. You were I like the guns. That's good. No. These two stories that I've told have made me seem like a real cheapo, but I'm really not like that. You wanna go out to dinner with us, Nathaniel? No, man. I'm going to the local Piggly Wiggly. They got throwback from me on sale. Bring them home to the kids. Sometimes Ben and I go out to the Perkins for breakfast. Uh-huh. And I

this week in the in the mail, I got some some coupons from the Perkins, and I got I got I saved, like, four of them or five of them because it was buy one get one free entrees. Yep. So I was like, you know, this has been great.

You've talked me into the moons over Miami. I'm so cheap. Okay. Oh, sorry. So while we're on the so when's the last time you used a coupon? Covington, are you a coupon man? Afraid not. No. No coupons. Dan, couponer? I mean, like an online thing that says put in this code. I'll use Okay. You might online code, man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mean, yeah, but I can't think of it. But if you had to, like, show physical evidence of your chintziness, you're not doing it. I mean, I'm not opposed. I just

don't have anywhere where I find coupons these days. Nathaniel poses for he's, like, wanted and caught coupon user. I mean, I'm not, like, hard when I worked at the Walgreens in my youth, there was, like, people who would spend forever. They had booklets, binders full of coupons. Uh-huh. And they would get, like, $300

worth of items for, like, $20. And it would take forever to check them out. It was a big hassle, and I hated it. I did not think nice thoughts about them in my head. So I'm not like you are. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it came in the mail. I was it sounded like I was How like the tables have turned. Now feel I I feel really bad when I go to the Long John Silver's, and they say, do you have a coupon? I think, crap. No. I don't. No. I go to the Harbor Freight with a if you go to the Harbor Freight without a coupon Okay. But look. If you're Harbor Freight, they give you the coupon in line. That's what I'm saying. Suppose that's It's not like I gotta do anything. I'm Actually, you still don't have to do anything. The gal will cut it out for you. Hey. There's a coupon for that. Let's ring you up for it. They'll just open the thing, scan it. You don't even have to act like you care about coupons. No? Yeah.

I will not use coupons because I don't like the store telling me what's on sale and what I want. If I want Of course. Of course. Mike won't be bullied into buying a certain thing by cheap prices. You won't make me save money. I won't. They're like, hey. We got we got 85% lean hamburger on sale. I'm like, I want the nineties. I don't want no 80. You ain't gonna tell me what to buy. You're you're there's has to be something to it. I don't trust it, and I don't use coupons for that exact reason. So anytime that you've ever come home with something, just a normal person goes, hey. Would you get that? Oh, it's on sale. That's the phrase Mike will never use. That's true. I won't be bullied. Yeah. In fact, when I the the wife says when when I go to the store, I double the bill because she says she she I mean, she at least waits to see if we're on sale or, like, plans a meal out, and I'm like, I want Chips Ahoy. That's when I get Chips Ahoy, I'm like, but I want it. I have a full time job. I want Chips Ahoy cookies. That's what we're gonna buy. I won't be bullied by these discounts. Yeah. And by the time we get through all the aisles, I've added a $100 worth of crap. I mean, I bought waffle cones, no ice cream. I just like to eat the waffle cones. That's me too.

To the what kind of peanut butter? Want I want red peanut butter. I don't know why. She'll send me to, you know, Costco or or some place, you know, for for for milk. And then she, like, shakes her head at me when I walk in the door like this. Yeah. Yeah. Milk. That's what I said. Milk. Yeah. I bet he was given out the sweatshirts. You've got belts. Free samples of Jimmy Dean's treasure sandwiches. I'm like, he's pretty good. I don't even like those hot dogs. Yeah. I only bought 10 things. It was $838.

Welcome to the Costco. Yeah. That's Costco. Alright. Hey. You're listening to Live From The Path. We're talking to Sean the Bard Covington Mhmm. On his new release, Bells. You can like I said, you can pick that up on Amazon, Spotify. Napster indeed. Napster, which runs by they've got a pull start to that web server every day to get a runner, and it's Napster.

Again, the guy comes in at 05:30. Okay. Good. So that this is this is great. Now, Bart, is there

did you record other things at the time? Like, you got other other Yeah. Stuff cooking to hit the whack? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I actually started out with another song altogether. Brought in a bunch of friends to come in and help and started it and didn't get it finished and just totally sidetracked into this totally different song. Did Bells got it finished. So I'm going in actually on the eighteenth, I believe,

to hopefully wrap up You See Me, which is a song I'm I'm genuinely excited about finishing and and getting out into the world. Hopefully, I'll have that ready to release in the spring. Now are you gonna go Weird Al style and just do singles from here on out, or do you got, like, a full one cooking? So I don't know. I don't really know what the best strategy is on that. If I'm being perfectly transparent,

it seems like what they call horizontal or lateral release is kind of the the MO of the day. Yeah. Especially with streaming services and stuff, you just keep things coming out, trickling out and it keeps people paying attention

which in theory, I guess, generates streams which generates its own revenue. In contrast to releasing, you know, eight or nine songs all at once, boom, then you have, you know,

a nice nice flow of traffic for three months and then it kinda tapers off. So I I don't really know what I'm gonna do. I'm still kinda waiting for the Lord to kinda help direct my my attention on that. Because on the one hand, just constantly recording and releasing music, it feels to me like something that could potentially turn into a distraction. And

so I I'm still trying to kinda work out the degree to which the Lord is calling me to this Yeah. And still be faithful with the other things that I feel called to do. Right. Could you would back you like you alluded to earlier, you would backed away for a bit and so

dipping your toes back in the water, the question is is how deep you go swimming? Sure. Well, and and I I think one of the things that I found out is that it's pretty easy to tie your your flag to the wrong thing.

And your identity starts to become contingent on the success of a song Right. On people's perception of you as a performer, as a musician, your credibility, your perception of your credibility and those things can become terrible masters.

So yeah, I don't wanna put myself in that position again. I was talking with my wife about this the other day. It's like, part of me very much

wants to be a responsible steward of of the strengths, the gifts, and the interests that the the Lord's given me. Yeah. And I don't want to be negligent of those things.

On the other hand, I also don't want them to become my masters. So trying to sort of feel that out. I'm really like I said, I'm I'm eager to finish this song that we started before we finished Bells because it it also is a product of,

you know, shutdown quarantine and the headspace of that and is dear to me. Yeah. But yeah, how to proceed beyond that, I'm still kinda waiting on the Lord to show me

which way to go. Okay. I think that's fair. Yeah. I think that sounds good. Alright. Well anyway, pick it up. Pick it up, let it spin. Put it add it to your holiday playlist. I don't know how you get it to lobby like Amazon to do they like, I don't know who puts together the playlist. Well, there's a lot of different ways playlists are made.

There are what they call influencers. Right? Guys like you. Yeah. That's me. Yeah. Who compile your own sense of,

you know, what's what's hot and what's trendy, what's cool. And then people, of course, wanna be like you and they they wanna listen to the things that you listen to. And then Spotify has their own sort of, I think algorithmic ways of building

playlists, you know. If a song goes from zero to a 100 in no time flat, they put that they they notice that and they put it on a playlist. I mean, no danger of that happening. We'll see what's hot. We'll just fire it up on every device you have and let Yeah. I'll fire up at my house before I leave I'll the just let it go all day. Let the water run all day, right?

So that's one way. And then, obviously, you know, artists build their own playlist. In fact, I've I've built a playlist out of other Christmas songs that I thought were inspirational or similar in tone or quality to my song. And so if you visit my

profile as an artist on Spotify, you'll see there's a playlist there with 15 songs on it. I think that I put together from the likes of We Are Messengers and Andrew Peterson. Oh gosh, who else?

Like I said, there's there's several songs on there that I felt like connected with Bell's in some way, form or fashion. Oh, Mission House. Mhmm. Jess Ray and Taylor Leonhart. Great great couple. Great writing couple. They do fantastic work.

Alright. So yeah. I mean, I suppose look for it in on its singular but also, I mean, on playlists. You bet. Put it in your Yeah. So that Spotify knows you dig on it in that way. That's exactly right.

Alright. Mike, let's do let's do a One advice. Let's do one advice. We're gonna have to split. Yeah. Here we go. Okay. Here we go. Here wait. Hold on, man. Nope. Nathaniel, don't look at your watch. It's rude. Oh, sorry. I'm about to read a thing. Sorry. Sorry. Dear okay. Yeah. This is lighthearted. Chuckles. Dear life from the past. For the last twenty years, I've been sending my four nieces and nephews birthday and Christmas cards with checks enclosed.

They are adults now with jobs and families. How can I gently tell them that I wish to discontinue the checks in their cards? I'm ready. Step one, do not put check-in cards. Step two,

mail checklist cards. Step three. Yeah. Cut anybody out of the will who mentions it.

Yeah. What the heck? I think as long as you Venmo the money, it's okay. Yeah. What's the matter, grandma? We're doing Venmo this year? What's happening? PayPal, tell me the deal. I'm 20 years old. You still owe me money. I mean, it's a sweet thing to ask, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. Just explain. Hey, you guys were growing up. When you were kids, I was able to do it. I'm older now. I'm on fixed income. You're 20. You're 20. You gotta check I mean, what's my $15 anymore

anyway, you know. You go to McDonald's one time. Thanks, grandma. Right. Yeah. And this year, in lieu of money, I'll be sending smiley faces. Love, grandma. There you go. It'll even look cute. I'll be spending your money and I'll see it. You know, a check is such a hassle. What? Not even a gift. Right? Doctor coupon? What is this thing? I gotta go all the way to the bank for this? Well, no. Now you can do the digital

Yeah. Deposit where you take the picture and send it off and presto change it. Oh, man. To that point, I got so I I have an HSA through work and like I paid a bunch of medical bills and then I need to reimburse myself and so I got to I had them send me a check. And like the formatting of this check is in such a way that I can't deposit it online. And I was incensed. Wait. I gotta I'm like, what do I gotta mail this in like a rube? Like I gotta to the bank like an idiot? Yes, sir. Find

a pen and sign it like a chump? I took I took, I mean, no joke, 28 pictures of this check. I'm like, somehow the software is gonna recognize this. And like, by the by the fifteenth picture, I'm like, I know exactly what's going on. This is an HSA company. They're not a bank. They're not used to printing checks in a specific way to accommodate these type of standards. And so like, it's just that there's something about the numbers in the bottom left that are like, they don't have that special sign so the software can't recognize it. Like, know exactly what the problem And I thought about just trying to write it in. Like, I'm I'm gonna print it myself on this check. I thought, no, then no one's ever gonna catch it. But like, I mean, I was outraged at this thing. My rights. I have to find a darker background. It's gotta be the lights in here. Venti black. I moved

to, like, three different rooms and eight different services. I said, I will not go to the bank. So much easier than going to the bank. Well, then you gotta go during certain hours. Yeah. You gotta put the mask on. You gotta make the appointment. Right. Bankers hours are no joke. These guys work when everyone else is working. Like, I have to it's a it's an event. I gotta take off. I gotta be gone from work for two and a half hours to go to the bank. Yeah. You gotta make an appointment in at my bank. I ran into that at the at the the local post office in Pleasantville. Here's the deal, they open at 09:30, they go to lunch at eleven,

they take a two hour lunch, they come back work from one to like four. That's it. That's And at eleven right on the dots, they closing the blinds. You ain't coming in here. I mean, I I think it was 11:03. I strolled in there, and they're like, close. Be back at one. I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. Any other advice? We so everyone thumbs up. Grandma, just do what you gotta do, Granny. Yeah. I just I wouldn't even make mention of it, honestly. I would just stop including the checks. Stop. Yeah. I'd let them gossip about you. Hey, Did you get a check this year? No, man. I can go check it there. They think she's they think they think she's finally losing it. Yeah. That old bird stopped sending me the checks. Really? Yeah. Yeah.

That's how I knew it was finally time. Graham was finally losing it. Yep. She stopped slipping the checks. Slipping that Hamilton in there. She always sends a check. Something funny. Alright. Secular says, all you need to do is remind them, lovingly, that because they are adults now with jobs and families of their own, you would like to exchange cards on special occasions rather than send money. Many parents do this when their children reach adulthood.

I mean, that's silly. You're already exchanging cards on special occasions. You're just not including money. Yeah. You kinda BS that, Granny. Yeah. I I mean, I'd just stop doing it. I don't think we need to make a big production out of everything. Just stop sending the money. That's it. It's done. Yeah. If they if one of them calls you on it, you'll know which one's the spoiler bread. You'll see. And you're like, that's all. Yeah. Yes. Then they don't get a Tom didn't call me, but old Jim, he was right on it. Where's my check, grandma? I think you might have left out that 10 spot. Yeah. Alright, man. Hey. Thank you so much for hanging out with us. We do appreciate it. If any of the show rubbed you the wrong way, which it did, give us a call or text on the complaint line. (515) 517-0085.

If it's specifically at Covington, hashtag the bard if you're gonna send us a a text so that we know it's directed at him. Yeah. If Or not say the bard. That would be fine. Yeah. Yeah. I I have the following problems with the bard. Now, if it's not about Covington, which I've heard from you, then there's no necessary hashtag. We recognize that it's directed at us. No big deal. Yeah. Alright? (515) 517-0085. That's the Life From The Bub. Bob Eisenhower, Life From The Path Complaint Line. Call or text will work. Big thanks to Sean Covington. It was great to see you back in the studio. And make sure you go check out Bill's Yeah. On all your favorite streaming or digital purchase platforms. And I mean, if you really, really beg him, if you can find his house and pound on the door sometime before 9PM, he might even sing it as Pope's style advice to get you off his lawn. That's not a guarantee. It's a might. It's fifty fifty. It's a might. Yeah. It happens. But you never know if you try. In the meantime, be faithful in the means. God will handle the ends. You've been listening to Live From The Past. I

did it too early. Okay. Bye. There was hope where I'd had none