diff --git a/Pipeliner.py b/Pipeliner.py
index 4ef391a..1bc82a3 100755
--- a/Pipeliner.py
+++ b/Pipeliner.py
@@ -13,12 +13,18 @@
 from inspect import getframeinfo, stack
 import threading
 
+
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
+
+stdout_handler = logging.StreamHandler(sys.stdout)
+stdout_handler.setLevel(logging.INFO)
+logger.addHandler(stdout_handler)
 
 
 def run_cmd(cmd, ignore_error=False):
 
-    logger.info("Running: " + cmd)
+    logger.debug("Running: " + cmd)
     try:
         subprocess.check_call(cmd, shell=True)
     except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
@@ -47,21 +53,29 @@ def __init__(self, checkpoint_dir):
 
         self._checkpoint_dir = checkpoint_dir
 
+        fhandler = logging.FileHandler(os.path.join(self._checkpoint_dir, "pipeliner.log"))
+        fhandler.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
+        logger.addHandler(fhandler)
+
+
 
 
     def add_commands(self, cmds_list):
 
         for cmd in cmds_list:
             # check it's a proper Command object
-            if not (isinstance(cmd, Command) or isinstance(cmd, ParallelCommandList) ):
-                errmsg = "Pipeliner::add_commmands - Error, cmd {} is not a Command or ParallelCommandList object".format(cmd)
-                logger.critical(errmsg)
-                raise(RuntimeError(errmsg))
+            if (isinstance(cmd, Message)):
+                self._cmds_list.append(cmd)
+            else:
+                if not (isinstance(cmd, Command) or isinstance(cmd, ParallelCommandList)):
+                    errmsg = "Pipeliner::add_commmands - Error, cmd {} is not a Command or ParallelCommandList object".format(cmd)
+                    logger.critical(errmsg)
+                    raise(RuntimeError(errmsg))
 
-            if cmd.get_checkpoint() in self._unique_checkpoints:
-                raise ValueError('Duplicate checkpoint {}'.format(cmd.get_checkpoint()))
-            self._unique_checkpoints.add(cmd.get_checkpoint())
-            self._cmds_list.append(cmd)
+                if cmd.get_checkpoint() in self._unique_checkpoints:
+                    raise ValueError('Duplicate checkpoint {}'.format(cmd.get_checkpoint()))
+                self._unique_checkpoints.add(cmd.get_checkpoint())
+                self._cmds_list.append(cmd)
 
 
     def num_cmds(self):
@@ -120,7 +134,7 @@ def run(self, checkpoint_dir):
         checkpoint_file = os.path.sep.join([checkpoint_dir, self.get_checkpoint()])
         ret = 0
         if os.path.exists(checkpoint_file):
-            logger.info("CMD: " + self.get_cmd() + " already processed. Skipping.")
+            logger.debug("CMD: " + self.get_cmd() + " already processed. Skipping.")
         else:
             # execute it.  If it succeeds, make the checkpoint file
             start_time = time.time()
@@ -137,13 +151,21 @@ def run(self, checkpoint_dir):
             else:
                 end_time = time.time()
                 runtime_minutes = (end_time - start_time) / 60
-                logger.info("Execution Time = {:.2f} minutes. CMD: {}".format(runtime_minutes, cmdstr))
+                logger.debug("Execution Time = {:.2f} minutes. CMD: {}".format(runtime_minutes, cmdstr))
                 with open(checkpoint_file, "w") as f:
                     f.write(cmdstr + "\n")
 
         return ret
 
 
+class Message(object):
+    def __init__(self, message):
+        self._message = message
+
+    def run(self, checkpoint_dir):
+        logger.info(self._message)
+
+
 #############################
 ## Parallel command execution
 #############################