One thing my kids and I like to do on school breaks is to come up with silly video ideas. This past February break we filmed what was going to be our first musical parody video. We rewrote the lyrics to the Jane’s Addiction song “Been Caught Stealing” to make it “Been Caught Reading,” and mapped out what shots we wanted to take to go along with our new lyrics. Our pals at Print Bookstore let us take over for an hour before they opened one morning, and Eli put on his very handy ghillie suit and ran around in February without shoes on. It was fun!

I think it’s really important for creators to be credited for the work they do. I love the notion that art is for everyone, but bristle when people take that art without asking. To that end, it was important to me to get permission to use the song. How hard could it be?

REALLY SUPER HARD. My initial intention was to release this on March 4 for Read Across America Day. HA. I have been emailing with various rights owners and music rights people and record contract folk since February. They were all the correct people to ask; it’s just that apparently there are a lot of moving parts involved in asking for and getting rights.

And then last week, they said no.

Well. Sure. I mean, they have the right to. We had asked, they can say no. I am all about saying no! Say no! Don’t steal art! These are important lessons.

That is the long intro to tell you that’s why this video I’m releasing in June has snow in it. I am happy to be using a song legally. If you are lucky enough to have an independent bookstore in your area, you should shop there and be nice to everyone inside.

And despite being disappointed that we couldn’t make a parody video (and never will! holy wow I’m not trying that again!), we had an absolute blast filming this thing. My kids are fun.