Transcript of CS#94: The Donut Man Rob Evans Paul in a Basket

Transcript of Interview with Donut Man, Rob Evans, about Paul in a Basket.  This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

Paul in a Basket CD is available at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-gifts/5003025/Paul-Basket-Musical-Adventure-Kids-CD/

———————————
Chris Cash: This is the Catholic Spotlight, the show where we talk about what’s cool and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I’m your host, Chris Cash, director of e﷓Commerce for catholiccompany.com, your source for all your Catholic needs.

Chris Cash: And today in the spotlight, we have Rob Evans, also known as the Donutman. Welcome Rob.

Rob Evans: Hey Chris, thanks! Great to be here.

Chris Cash: Now Rob, you got an excellent new product out called Paul in a Basket. Can you tell us just a brief overview of what is Paul in a Basket?

Rob Evans: Absolutely! I just love Paul and I don’t think there’s anyone who’s ever set foot in a church or cracked open a bible that hasn’t been impacted by this great saint’s life and I wanted little children and their mommies and their daddies to meet this man in a fun and memorable way so I used my music and storytelling abilities to bring Paul in a Basket to life. Paul in a Basket, the title refers to Paul being lowered down the wall of Damascus in a basket. It’s kind of an exciting story and I happened to put it to music.

Chris Cash: Now, first off, I guess before we really dive into the Paul in a Basket, why are you known as the Donutman?

Rob Evans: Oh! Well, for 25 years now, I’ve been singing to moms and dads and kids all about Jesus and I came up with a donut repair idea whereby I put on a colorful costume. I’ve got a sidekick named Duncan, the talking donut and at the end of every concert, every video and virtually every CD I’ve made, we talked about how God fills up that empty place in us with His love, with His Word, with the sacraments and hence I became the world’s first donut repairman. I fill the hole in the donut with a round pastry donut hole, hence I am a donut repairman!

Chris Cash: Is Duncan there with you today?

Rob Evans: No, he is at McDonald’s with his girlfriend Doughnette.

Chris Cash: Doughnette, that’s…

Rob Evans: So, in other words, that’s my stock answer, Chris. You have no idea how many kids ask me, “Where’s Duncan?” And I always say, “He’s with his girlfriend Doughnette.” But don’t Éclair she’s Danish. I’ve got lots of puns so don’t get me started.

Chris Cash: Well maybe Duncan will come visit us someday on the show.

Rob Evans: Oh he would love that.

Chris Cash: So, this Paul in a Basket was written mainly because this is the year of Paul and of course, it’s going to be a great resource even after the year of Paul is over. Do you want to talk a little bit about the process that you went through in putting this together?

Rob Evans: Sure. I was inspired when I realized that Pope Benedict XVI had declared this to be the year of Paul. I thought, “Wow, I’ve got a lot of songs I’ve already written about his life.” And I started to pray about it and I started to see a pattern by which Paul’s adventures actually produced his messages. For example, we have a little segue that is, the way the album works, the way Paul in a Basket works is that you’ll have children be the storytellers, narrators, if you will, a reader. And they tell a little bit about Paul’s life and then we hear a song about one of his adventures, an adventure song followed by a reflection of “Gee, I wonder how that adventure affected his teaching?” So obviously, his life produced his message. So we’ve got a song on the CD about the earthquake then we talk about how Paul was worried about the jailer. “Hey, Mr. Jailer, don’t kill yourself. We are all still here. The Lord we serve has opened the doors. It is He whom you should fear.” And then we go from there into a song about the fruit of the Spirit which is another important aspect of Paul’s life. So half of the songs on Paul in a Basket are adventure songs and the other half of the songs are his teachings, all about being born from above, being the new creation, the fruit of the Spirit, and the finale of Paul in a Basket is 1 Corinthians 13, faith, hope, love but the greatest is love.

Chris Cash: So, Paul in a Basket can be a nice CD to listen to in the car or while you’re going to bed but it’s also has the potential to actually be a production that is put on by children at a church or some kind of a gathering as an educational tool.

Rob Evans: Absolutely. The simple CD, there’s a CD that sells for about $9.95 and that’s the one that you would listen to at home for I call it the kids and family CD. But for twenty bucks, you can get the director’s CD which gives you a director’s package which tells you how you can create costumes and rehearse the children in a way so that they recreate Paul’s adventures. For example, we have a song about the shipwreck and while we’re doing it, we have blue and white sheets rippling across the gymnasium floor, children shake them up and down while Paul and Silas or whomever are rocking back and forth in the shipwreck. So this is a play as well that can be simply reproduced and presented for your kids at the gymnasium or for a family night. Definitely. Like you said, there’s two ways to listen to Paul in a Basket. One, just as a family and then the other one, it can be performed live.

Chris Cash: Now my kids’ been listening to this and they’re pretty enthused about it as well, even my daughter who says she doesn’t like it, she goes around the house singing of the songs when you’re not looking so…

Rob Evans: Ah! So well, that’s your stubborn child, right?

Chris Cash: Yeah, absolutely.

Rob Evans: Oh yes, I have one of them too. No dad, no dad, and then she says yes and you like this music? No, no, no but they do. Well, that’s good that even the stubborn ones like it. That’s great.

Chris Cash: Well, let’s jump in and present some of this music so that people can have a feel of what Paul in a Basket is like when they pick it up and are able to do this as part of a church presentation, so…

Music: Such adventure, such faith, such love, such grace! We are here to remember and celebrate a great saint.

Chris Cash: And of course, that would be the way that Paul begins, it’s nice narration going into the first song and each…

Rob Evans: Yeah, we…I’m sorry but that’s a great way to start it out because it gives you a taste of how say a sixth-grade child can be a reader and that girl happened to be a sixth grader and so we have them tell the story and then the next song is called My Name is Paul and it is ostensibly that the whole audience is invited to pretend to be Paul and so that’s why this song is called My Name is Paul.

Chris Cash: Right. And what’s nice is that in between each song, there is this narration to kind of keep the story going and explain what is going on in each of the songs.

Rob Evans: Right.

Music: And I am happy because when I am weak, then I am truly strong. I’ve been shipwrecked. I’ve been shipwrecked. Been in prison, been in prison…

Chris Cash: And of course, that’s the My Name is Paul song. Very nice march, gets everybody up and going and excited right away at the beginning.

Chris Cash: Yeah and it is basically derived from 2 Corinthians 11th chapter where he enumerates all of the things that he has suffered but he still keeps his eyes on the Lord. So it’s a great overview of Paul’s life just before he enters the end game that is, when he is imprisoned. So what we’re actually going to do now is start with the way Paul’s adventure begins on the road to Damascus, if you recall, he was an enemy of the faith and he even helped hold the ropes of those who killed Steven. So this next song is called Saul, Saul, Why Do You Hurt Me? And it’s the story of how God spoke to Ananais and told him to come and pray for this believer named Paul.

Music: Saul, Saul, Saul why do you hurt me? Saul, Saul, Saul why do you hurt me? Saul, Saul, Saul why do you hurt me, why do you hurt me Saul? Ananais, now don’t be late. Go down to the street named straight. There’s a man who lies and waits who’s blind and cannot see.

Chris Cash: And of course, the music is just really well done and very captivating, very full, and you can play this music either with the words and music that you’re hearing here or you can play just the music track as well.

Rob Evans: Yeah, we actually, on the CD present it twice, one with the spoken stories and then just the songs so you can find your own way to enjoy it. Well, the next song is now a reflection. So now, we’re starting into the pattern of Paul in a Basket and that is, we just heard an adventure song, Saul, Saul, Why Do You Hurt Me? And it’s when God blinded him and sent Ananais to pray for him. Well, the reflection is, how did Paul feel when the scales of blindness fell off of his eyes? Surely Paul never forgot how wonderful it was when he was born from above. So if any man be him Christ, he’s a new creation, for this particular song, when we do it live, we have little children dressed up as butterflies flying around the stage celebrating being born from above. This is called the New Creation.

Music: If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. He’s a new creation. He’s a new creation. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; he’ll always pass away in both the new and star. Second Corinthians five seventeen. Come on, everybody. Sing along. Let’s do it together. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation…

Chris Cash: And of course, that’s a nice little sing-a-long there. And that’s one of your older songs, right?

Rob Evans: Yeah, that one is an older composition but it’s used for the first time in this particular application so it’s an old dog doing a new trick.

Chris Cash: And I know that I’ve seen it in at least one of your videos that my kids have so…

Rob Evans: Yeah, yeah that’s right and I think we go from here to Paul’s adventures continuing because he’s so boldly and courageously proclaim the gospel now. He got in trouble and had to escape the walls of Damascus in a basket. So here’s our title track, Paul in a Basket.

Music: Here comes down Paul in a basket, Paul in a basket. Lower him down. Here comes down Paul in a basket, Paul in a basket. Lower him down. He’s preaching in the morning, preaching at night. Preaching about Jesus in the broad daylight. Paul’s making enemies by what he’s said. Paul’s making enemies by what he said…

Chris Cash: Now that particular song also comes with some visuals, right?

Rob Evans: I’m sorry?

Chris Cash: I said that particular song also comes with some visuals, cups and lowering cups up and down, right?

Rob Evans: Oh yeah. We have the way it’s presented live is we put a puppet version of Paul in a basket and lower him over a wall all the while the preschoolers in audience have a little paper Paul doll and a paper cup and they lower him down as they sing. So the whole idea is to have physical activities to go along with the life of Paul, kind of along the lines of here’s the church, here’s the sea that will open the doors and see all the people in the way that you want to make memories with your children doing finger plays, Paul in a basket is particularly geared for children aged 4 to 10, to help them to remember the incredible adventures of the saint and then to reflect on how these adventures affected his teaching. So for the next reflection is what made Paul so brave, why Jesus made him brave, and he realized that he could do all these things through Christ who strengthens him. And so that’s our next song, Through Christ Who Strengthens Me, I Can Do All Things.

Chris Cash: And this is the one that my kids particularly will, I’ll catch them going around the house singing the first part of this one so…

Rob Evans: Oh good.

Music: Oh I can do all things, all things, all things. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Corinthians 4:15. That’s right. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. How many things? All things! Really? Three things? All things! Forty things? All things! Okay, everybody ready? Come on!

Chris Cash: And by that, I will often catch my six-year-old going around asking my four-year-old, “How many things?”

Rob Evans: All things and eat my vegetables, clean my bedroom, you’re right Chris. This is a great song for introducing the message of Paul where children live rather than this being just a bible story and you go, “Oh, that’s nice.” We actually make application right in the middle of the song. How many things can you do? Do your homework? Feed the dog? Clean your bedroom? Eat your vegetables? All things!” So God does help us do the most mundane things with joy and that’s one of the lessons of Paul.

Chris Cash: All right, well we’re going to take a short break to hear from our sponsor but we’ll be back in just a minute to hear more from Rob Evans the Donut Man about Paul in a Basket. This is the Catholic Spotlight.

Chris Cash: And we’re back on the Catholic Spotlight with Rob Evans talking about Paul in a Basket. So we had just gotten to the earthquake, I believe.

Rob Evans: Yeah, we had done I Can Do All Things, Christ Just Strengthens Me. And the next narration says, “Well, they’re going to need God’s strength for the next adventure.” Then we ask the question, “Have you ever gotten in trouble for being good?” Well, as you know Chris, the bible is full of stories of people who get in trouble for being good, that is, obeying God and living for Him. So the narration that the children present before this next song is to speculate about how God helped Paul and Silas (a) to worship and praise Him even though their backs had been whipped by the jailer and then the amazing turnaround in this next song is that the jailer would then fall on his knees and pray that God would have mercy upon him and that he and whole family were baptized into Jesus Christ. The song is called Earthquake.

Music: It’s an earthquake, the jail is erupting. It’s an earthquake, the jail is erupting. It’s an earthquake, the doors aren’t locking tonight.

Chris Cash: And of course, once again a very upbeat high-energy song going on there.

Rob Evans: Indeed!

Chris Cash: I think that tends to be your specialty, right?

Rob Evans: Well, no, you know, at this part of the musical, yes. But it’s not being loud for loud’s sake. Obviously you wouldn’t have a lullaby around an earthquake.

Chris Cash: No, no.

Rob Evans: It would not lend itself to a lullaby but the second to the last song is actually very solemn and noble but you’ll have to wait for that one, Chris. Because the next song is actually a little more mellow. It has kind of a Jamaican flavor…

Chris Cash: Which I just love personally.

Rob Evans: Oh good! Well, it’s called The Fruit of the Spirit and at the end of the earthquake song, the narrator says, “What made Paul think about the jailer at a time like that?” Here’s the jailer was the persecutor of Paul and Silas and yet they thought about the jailer and his family. Now what made this happened in him, why, it must of Fruit of the Spirit. So of course, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness…this is a classic teaching from St. Paul. And we’ve made a song out of it called The Fruit of the Spirit, aren’t you glad, yes you’ll feel very happy. Listen.

Music: Just listen, I will sing about it. Oh, do you have the fruits of the Spirit? If you do then aren’t you glad? Yes, you’ll feel very happy because these fruits will never go back. Whoa…God is a good father and He wants me to…

Chris Cash: And of course, like I said, nice Jamaican feel there, really cool island, makes you want to head down south, right?

Rob Evans: Yeah, and that’s one of the earmarks of Donut Man music, if I might say so myself. We had a march, we had a rock piece, we had a country…If any man be in Christ, that’s a country song…here comes down Paul in a basket, why that’s a show tune feel. The Earthquake was a good old fashioned rock and roll because the earth did rock and roll and now the Fruit of the Spirit, why indeed, we go to Jamaica. The next song is called Shipwreck and it’s kind of a Motown R&B thing where they all cry out in despair shipwreck but the chorus of this song is how the angel then comes to Paul and says, “Do not fear. Everyone is getting out of here.” And the reflection for this song is have you ever been used as an instrument of peace in the Lord’s work?” And so, that’s the marvelous thing about the story of the shipwreck, the way the angel came to Paul to put everyone’s mind at ease. Listen to Shipwreck.

Music: Paul was on his way to Rome but he got shipwrecked! It didn’t look like he’d get home because he got shipwrecked! Everybody was starting to cry. They were sure they were going to die. But an angel told Paul, “Don’t fear…”

Chris Cash: And I’d like to say there really is a wide variety of styles across this album and I don’t anybody could accuse you of just recycling the same song over and over.

Rob Evans: No, no, no, no. That’s been my handiwork for all of my albums, donutman.com is a place where 30 or 40 of my CDs can be listened to and every one remarks about the sheer variety of the musicology behind what I do. I work with great arrangers from LA, Nashville, and so these are no modest productions. These are top-drawer with some musicians from LA Philharmonic, for a matter of fact so there’s some very, very good musicianship and great arrangements in these stereo recordings, of course. Well, we’re almost done our journey in Paul in a Basket and our next reflection, second to the last song, is as Paul’s life was coming to an end, as he was in the Roman jail looking at the window, perhaps at the very place of his execution where he was to die for the message of Christ. It was there in Rome that he sent some of his greatest letters and he said, “I want you to remember that Christ died for our sins.” And so this next song is a very noble, solemn processional, so our second to the last song is where we lift our eyes to heaven and reflect on the Lord whom Paul served for his whole life and then of course, was martyred for the cross of Christ.

Music: I want you to remember. I want you to remember the good news I brought to you. I’ve passed on to you what I was…

Chris Cash: And that’s a very nice mellow song once again.

Rob Evans: Yeah, it’s written with heavenly chords. For any musicians out there who uses tone shift so you think you’re in the key of A but you’re really in the key of E and it gives it kind of a transcendent musical feel and then our finale is a real celebration, before we go to the last narration presents to the audience, how would Paul want to end this musical? What would his last words be? Well, we prayed about that and we were quite convinced that as we looked at all of the letters that Paul wrote to the Corinthians, to the Ephesians, Colossians, Thessalonians, to Timothy, to Titus, this is someone who made a lot of friends and so we are convinced that Paul’s last words would be, “Faith, hope, love, but the greatest is love.” First Corinthians 13 and music.

Music: Faith, hope, love, but the greatest is love. Faith, hope, love, but the greatest is love. Faith, hope, love, but the greatest is love. Faith, hope, love, but the greatest is love. If I should speak, if I should speak in the…

Chris Cash: Well I think anybody who wants to teach their parish or children about the life of Paul, this is absolutely an excellent resource to get them started on that.

Rob Evans: Thanks Chris, there’s nothing like it. Fr. Mitch Pacwa of course, has his DVDs and his marvelous productions on the life of Paul and he endorsed it. He said there’s nothing like it and there really are no musicals out there who would ever think of…that the life of Paul could be put in musical form in a way that’s not frivolous or too stiff and as you can hear from these little samples, we struck a good balance, Chris, between content and creativity and we’re all done, your children, your family will be catechized with ten different Scriptures, five songs of his adventures, and five songs from Paul’s message. The greatest is love and that’s what we found out in Paul in a Basket.

Chris Cash: Now, Rob you have recently become Catholic. What about…two years ago, right?

Rob Evans: Three years ago this Easter.

Chris Cash: Care to share anything about that with our listeners?

Rob Evans: Yeah, I, in no way, am backing off of my wonderful Protestant experience. We focused on Jesus for 35 years. I met Christ in the Protestant realm and went to literally thousands of bible studies and I’m very, very grateful for the foundation of Scripture that I have under me. It’s just that there were certain things that were just omitted. You do not meet Christ in the sacraments in a Protestant church. I know enough about church history to know that there was a split, what we now know as the Reformation and unfortunately, there’s a divide by which one group tends to emphasize Scripture to the neglect of sacraments but I love the balance that I have found in a Catholic Mass. You’ve got the first half is the Liturgy of the Word and then the second half of the Mass is the Liturgy of the Eucharist which is sacramental. So there are two wings that we need to be heaven-bound and to get ourselves, to break the bonds of gravity, so to speak, and the left wing is Scripture and the right wing is the Sacraments. So, when I discovered that the church that Christ handed to Paul, I’m sorry, Peter; I’ve got Paul on my mind, but the church that Jesus handed to Peter and the other apostles but the preeminence of Peter…you’re Peter and upon this rock and I give you the keys and what you bind is bound, what you lose is lost. The magisterial that we discovered to still be alive and well 2000 years later, I must admit Chris, that I had a mind that the real church would only be found in heaven and that we would have a united church only after Christ returned. But when I started to go to Mass in the Catholic Church, I discovered an ancient church that is alive and well and so I’m bringing one of those separated brethren that Vatican II addressed and so now, I’m bringing my gifts, my songs, my stories now into the Catholic Church and I hope you’re glad I’m there.

Chris Cash: Oh, I’m extremely enthused!

Rob Evans: Thank you, Chris.

Chris Cash: I fell off my rocker when I heard that you’ve come over to the Church so…

Rob Evans: Well, then you’re supposed to say, “Welcome home!”

Chris Cash: And I do. I say, “Welcome home, we’re very glad to have you on the continuing journey because you’ve been on the journey for quite a while.”

Rob Evans: That’s right. Well, Chris, thank you.

Chris Cash: Now, you do also still do concerts and such in parishes, right?

Rob Evans: I do. I do Protestant and Catholic churches and I’m not insensitive obviously to the Protestant emphasis on Christ and the Scripture and so, I honor that tradition and now, wonderfully and richly in the Catholic Church, my concerts tend to orbit around the way Scripture helps us to understand the Sacraments. For example, one of my concerts, I do in parishes, I call Hide and Seek. And of course, the Scriptures begin with a hide-and-seek story. Do you know what that is, Chris?

Chris Cash: No!

Rob Evans: Who hid from God?

Chris Cash: Oh gee, I think maybe Adam and Eve.

Rob Evans: There you go. And Seek is the story of God’s love in pursuit of us. So we’ll go from a song about creation and then we’ll do hide and seek, it’s a song; hide and seek, God looked for Adam and he looked for…so we sing about that and we go through the story of Abraham and Moses and David and Christ and the finale of my hide and seek concert is the Eucharist song. So in the Eucharist, Christ comes to us under the appearance of bread and wine but He comes to us, His real presence in the Eucharist and so, the finale of that concert is called The Eucharist Song. So that’s kind of a summary of what I do when I’m invited to parishes to perform.

Chris Cash: And if somebody’s interested in having you come out to their parish, how would they get a hold of you?

Rob Evans: Donut Man. At Donut Man, my email is donutman and my website is donutman so just remember D-O-N-U-T-M-A-N dot com so you can email me donutman@donutman.com and I’ll get it and we’ll talk about coming to your parish. Obviously, the two concerts that I offer these days are Hide and Seek and then the first one we talked about today, Paul in a Basket.

Chris Cash: Well, thank you very much, Rob, for coming on and sharing with us about Paul in a Basket as well your concert experiences and if there’s nothing else you want to share?

Rob Evans: Well, Chris, I would just like to say congratulations on your new little girl, her name is Anna?

Chris Cash: Adeline.

Rob Evans: Adeline, I would just like to be the first one on the air to welcome Adeline to the planet and just how happy I am for you to be such a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed young daddy and I’d just like to thank you for taking this time today to help me showcase my Paul in a Basket project. Well done, Chris. Thank you.

Chris Cash: Well, thank you, Rob. And for all you Catholic Spotlight fans out there who want to help us out a little bit, please do head on over to PodcastAlley, vote for us, leave us some reviews over at iTunes and help us to get in front of a larger audience and it’s also putting links on your blogs and websites over to the site. It helps us to bring in more people as well and thank you so much, Rob. We look forward to hearing from you when your next project comes out.

Rob Evans: Thank you, Chris.

———————————

Transcript of Interview with Donut Man, Rob Evans, about Paul in a Basket. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

Paul in a Basket CD is available at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-gifts/5003025/Paul-Basket-Musical-Adventure-Kids-CD/