Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW

About Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW

Humor, wisdom & commentary by Peter Alsop on his award winning songs and stories; some for kids & families, some for teens and adults! peteralsop.substack.com (https://peteralsop.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Peter Alsop

Category

education · music

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

7 Dec 2018

Latest episode

13 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

2 of 255 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   13 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Abiyoyo

   Musician Peter Alsop shares the African tale of "Abiyoyo," highlighting how courage and community overcome seemingly impossible challenges.

2. 

   17 May 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Making Ebenezer

   EBENEZER’S MAKE OVER A Feature-length Musical Video by Peter Alsop Suitable for: Gender & Women’s Studies • Social Work • Psychology • Counseling • Literature • Human Services • Ethics • Theatre • Political Science My audiences told me, “This will help save the world!” They said, “You have to get this video to as many people as possible!” “Okay,” I said, “Here we go!” In 2003 there were bunches of ‘make over’ themed television shows. ‘Queer-eye For The Straight Guy’ was one I found particularly delightful. Four or five gay men would descend on a heterosexual man who had agreed to have his life restructured. With their aid and advice, by the end of the show, … he was transformed! He wasn’t exactly gay, but he was happy! After watching the show, I remembered Charles Dickens’ classic story, ‘A Christmas Carol’, and realized it was basically a ‘make over’ story about Ebenezer Scrooge! One day he was a greedy old man who “Bah-humbugged!” the idea of Christmas at every opportunity, … and the next day, after being visited by three Spirits in the night, he had become delightfully cheery and generous, with the ‘milk of human kindness, running by the quart in every vein!’ My next thought was, “There are so many men these days who could use a ‘make over’, … about their sexism, patriarchy, racism, capitalism, religion and general self-centeredness!” A year later, in 2004 I released a musical CD called ‘Ebenezer’s Make Over’ using Dickens’ structure in the form of a radio show. I replaced the original themes of greed and generosity with a sharp, humane, and often hilarious examination of sexism, gender socialization, patriarchy and what happens to everyone when men don’t change. I used actors from our local theater company, the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, and folded the story around amazing songs by my many wonderful feminist songwriter friends, Holly Near, Geof Morgan and Charlie Murphy to name a few. Holly Near & Peter Alsop. Geof Morgan Now we jump ahead twenty years or so, and I was upset about the ultra-conservative, sexist, racist dictator-type environment that was surging up in the world. I had to do something to help myself and others around me cope, and ‘Ebenezer’ popped up again and got my attention. I decided to make the story into a play, and to film it so thousands of people could watch Scrooge’s transformation, and hear the songs and think about what we might do, individually and/or collectively to turn the tide back to more ‘kind-hearted’ ways of treating each other. In the winter of 2025, I redid the script and worked with my bestie friend and musical director Greg Hilfman to pull together the actors and musicians. We had some rehearsals, never with everyone there at the same time, … and in May we performed for our live audiences with a couple of cameras. It took two months to edit. The sound was difficult as we were on an outdoor stage while the springtime tree frogs serenaded us throughout all the footage. When we finished, I realized that the benefits of the show were not going to be appreciated by standard media outlets and distributors because I wanted to make it free for everyone, … educators and thought leaders, gender & women’s studies, and basically everywhere! I also didn’t want to show this video to one person at a time, … through a ‘screen’. After CoVid, we learned how important it is for us humans to interact with each other in person, rather than just staring at our own individual screens. The most beneficial part of this project occurred when our play audience ‘broke the fourth wall’ on the stage and sang, laughed and clapped-along together with the cast and musicians. By the end of the play our little community felt like a much safer place than it did when they first took their seats. Our show was designed to build community and generate conversation, not just get applause. The Theatricum shows ended with lively talk-backs where audience members, cast, and invited guests had an open dialogue about the show’s questions. As a community, we had all experienced watching Scrooge’s transformation, and our discussions after the shows were noticeably deeper because of that sense of community and safety. When a live video audience watches this video, we encourage the teacher or facilitator to invite the video audience, their class or conference attendees or group members, to join in and sing with the people in the video. It works to make your after-show discussions much more rich and rewarding. We’re now looking for teachers or department heads from high schools, colleges or universities to facilitate and show this video as adjunct material or main curricula for Gender Studies, Men’s or Women’s Studies, in Sociology, Social Work, English, Psychology, Education, Counseling, Religion, Political Science or Theater. We will provide a free streaming link for the full video along with a ‘Facilitators Guide’ to help people facilitate their own presentation. Please send us any information about anyone you know who might be interested in showing it to their students or clients! If you’re interested, please contact Peter for more info (https://peteralsop.com). We also have a full Episodic Version that divides the show into 14 different short episodes, each with it’s own title. I prefer this version because it creates stopping places for people to pause and talk about what they’ve just seen. (You can get both versions for free.) Maybe after a dinner with friends, to share with each other. Maybe they just saw an idea to gently help Uncle Larry lessen his sexist behaviors at the next dinner. Maybe it allows folks to take a bathroom break, or get something to drink, or deal with kids or a phone call. If the video’s used in a full semester course that meets once a week, each episode could focus on a specific issue that Scrooge deals with in each episode. Maybe, it’s just to help people remember where they stopped, so they know where to start it up again next time! BINARY MALE BRAINS Because men live with our binary favoring brains, in a binary favoring system, when we feel stuck, there’s huge pressure to make a simple binary choice. But when we do that, we miss other more nuanced choices that can’t get in, because we’ve already decided on our simple binary choice. Sometimes, when we don’t know exactly what to do, it helps to just sit and wait to see what comes in. It’s difficult, but this is one of Scrooge’s lessons. Pay more attention to how others are feeling. Here’s my poem ‘Good News!’ about this. GOOD NEWS! Good news! Good news! It’s NOT all black and white! See it that way if you want to, but it’s NOT right! ‘Cause when we see things ‘either-or’, … or ‘friend-or-foe’, or ‘win-or-lose’ But we find no simple answers, … then we think, … “We have to choose!” It’s hard to make decisions. Us humans struggle with our lives, But it’s ‘good news’ to know, there’s always more than just two sides. That’s where it all begins! That’s where the problem starts! Men’s brains love simple choices, and we forget to use our hearts! We grab one side or the other, ‘cause there’s pressure to decide. Hey guys, … think about your mother, before you pick one side. Most mothers understand, there are lots of ways to find How we can ‘work things out’ keeping everyone in mind! Often life ‘ain’t easy’. There are ‘nuances’ we need To try to keep things peaceful, so no one has to bleed! So maybe there’s no winner, … but everyone pulls through. It’s not “my way or the highway!”, and it’s not just ‘me and you’, It’s ALL the living people, the animals and plants! Living here in ‘our community’, learning how to dance! We all feel fear and anger, but we also feel love. The ‘Good News’ is, we can choose to lift each other up And we can start on this today, if we learn to change our ways. When we begin to help each other, we’ll all see better days! Written by Peter Alsop, Copyright 2026, Moose School Music (BMI) Please DONATE (https://www.filmmakerscollaborative.org/ebenezers-make-over/) - if you can! We intend for ‘Ebenezer’s Make Over’ to be FREE for anyone who would like to see it, along with a FREE really helpful ‘Facilitator’s Guide’. Hopefully you will share it with others. Any funds that come in will go to support people who show this video to their group or their class or congregation and who need help with advertising their event or to pay for a facilitator to help them guide the after-show discussion. We have also partnered with the Filmmakers Collective SF - a 501(c)3 non-profit media organization with a mission to catalyze positive change through the power of filmmaking. So your donations are tax deductible as allowed by Federal and State regulations. Please let us know if you know anyone who might find this video useful, … (we already know that it’s humorous and entertaining, … we’d love to hear how you or others you show it to, … are impacted by seeing it, so we can share those thoughts as we spread the word. Thanks! Bye for now! Peter Thanks for reading Peter Alsop’s Substack! This post is public so feel free to share it. Peter Alsop’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. You don’t need to pay to Subscribe. You will simply get my newest posts and you can browse through all my other materials for free also. If Substack asks you to donate as a patron, … please only do so if you can afford it. Thanks so much! Enjoy. Peter For Peter Alsop’s audio posts & podcasts - SONGS TO CHEW (https://peteralsop.substack.com/podcast) For Peter’s albums, songbooks & dvd’s (http://peteralsop.bandcamp.com) Get full access to Peter Alsop’s Substack at peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe (https://peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

3. 

   15 Jul 2025

   Peter Alsop's "Ebenezer's Make Over"

   Have you ever laughed, cried or sung-along with one of my songs? If so, I’m guessing you’ll like this full length feature video of my new play-concert “Ebenezer’s Make Over”! It’s about a modern-day Ebenezer Scrooge who is visited by three spirits in the night. They shake him awake with passionate and humorous songs written by Holly Near, Geof Morgan, Charlie Murphy, myself and other cultural workers from the feminist men’s and women’s movements. Scrooge learns what will happen to him and the rest of us if we don’t change our sexist behaviors! You can watch the whole show here on Substack. Here’s what a couple of our audience members said right after they saw the play. “Wow! Peter’s “Ebenezer’s Make Over” was truly brilliant, moving, creative and effective. It represented the best of what the Theatricum offers, powerful social impact, education, wisdom and fun!!” “You have to take this show on the road immediately! Everyone in the country needs to see this NOW!!” The entire show is on the video I’ve uploaded. So find a friend or two, and something to sip and eat. Turn off your phone. Sit back and enjoy! I know that Substack is loaded with folks who like to read, … so for this particular post, I was going to print the song lyrics for every one of these songs, … and then I realized that I’ve already captioned the entire video! So you can read to your heart’s content, while you are actually watching the show! Now all you need is some company and some pop corn! Bon Appétit! (Remember you can enlarge the image to ‘Full Screen’ once you’ve started the show!) Oh! One more thing, … on Thursday morning July 17th, the National Organization of Men Against Sexism (NOMAS) will showcase this video at their National Conference in San Antonio Texas. Allen Corben, co-chair of NOMAS will open the session as a Zoom meeting, making it available to anyone in the world who would like to watch the video with us and hopefully participate in a :20 minute talk-back discussion at the end. The Zoom Session starts at 8:45a -10:15a = Western time (Mountain=9:45-11:15a) (Central=10:45-12:15p) (Eastern=11:45-1:15p). Here's the link to Allen Corben's Zoom Room: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7918832439 (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7918832439) Click on ‘Launch Meeting’, and you’ll be admitted to the ‘waiting room’. Allen opens it five minutes before the session begins. I’ll be on the Zoom call to say “Hello!” and speak with people to answer questions. Anyone can log into this Zoom meeting. Watch “Ebenezer's Make Over” on your own computer during the session. Please text, call or write me (peter@peteralsop.com (mailto:peter@peteralsop.com)) with any questions or other ideas. Thanks!! And I want you to know that you will never have to pay as one of my subscribers. I do greatly appreciate that some old friends have paid something into my Substack fund, and it helps defray the studio costs I incur putting these video projects together. That’s it for this post! Enjoy! Bye for now, Peter All albums (https://peteralsop.bandcamp.com) Peter’s ‘Songs To Chew’ Audio Podcasts (https://peteralsop.substack.com/podcast) Thanks for reading Peter Alsop’s Substack! This post is public so feel free to share it. Peter Alsop’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Peter Alsop’s Substack at peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe (https://peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

Inside a recent episode

Abiyoyo

Published 13 Sept 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] Some would be doing a hard day's work. Father come up with his magic wand, zoop, no saw. Come to someone about to have a big cold glass of something. Father come up, zoop, glass would disappear. Come up to someone about to sit down after a hard day's work, zoop, no chair. People said, you get out of here, too. You take your magic wand and your daughter. And the little girl and her father were ostracized. That means that they had to live on the edge of town. On this town, people told stories. The old people told stories about the giants that used to live there in the old days. They told a story about a giant called Abyoyo. […]

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

22 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 27 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

33

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

51