Humanitarian Service Project

The wheelchair project is one of my favorite charities. When you give to the LDS Church Humanitarian Fund, they obtain the chairs at an incredible price, buying in bulk with donations from companies. The result is that our dollars go much further when combined with such a project as this.

MoTab Concert - perfect start to Christmas

Yeah, start is right - I am just getting started.  Taxes and new furnace, added to already existing debt has caused me to seriously delay Christmas shopping.   This will be the longest procrastination I've ever experienced.  I'm also feeling very broke and I don't like it very much!!!  The delays continue in other areas of my life as well.  I guess I'm supposed to learn patience here.  I just wish I would hurry up and learn it!  (OK, a little irony here...)  I find myself functioning on low batteries right now too.

Photo: DesNews (Jeffrey D. Allred)

photo: DesNews (Jeffrey D. Allred)

I loved the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert last night.  Aubrey and I went together and it was wonderful.  The dancers are especially beautiful but the orchestra, bellringers, choir, Jane Seymour (our favorite) and Nathan Gunn were also superb!  I was fortunate to get tickets from a friend.  I love that this is a free gift to the community.  If you want a peak, tune in to the national network broadcast  (locally it's on KSL-TV ch. 5 at 8:30 am MST):

In keeping with tradition, the Sunday broadcast of the choir's TV and radio program "Music and the Spoken Word," will feature the guest artists and selections from the Christmas concert. A "mini-concert" will follow the half-hour broadcast for those attending it live in the Conference Center.

Mormon Tabernacle Choir 9/11

Don't miss Music and the Spoken Word - with special guest, Tom Brokaw on Sunday, 9/11 - special commemoration concert.  (9:30 AM mountain time on KSL TV)

Lord's Prayer - Andea Bocelli & MoTab

Congrats to the MoTab!

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.

"The long-running broadcast on Salt Lake City radio station KSL began in 1929 with a telegraph message from the National Broadcasting Company in New York City. Within seconds, the message was relayed to the basement of the Tabernacle on Temple Square. A hand signal forwarded the message upstairs to the program director, and then on to 19-year-old Ted Kimball. Kimball, son of the choir organist, Edward P. Kimball, stood atop a 15-foot ladder to reach a microphone, and the show began. After a three-year stint at NBC, the program moved, in 1932, to a Sunday morning broadcast hour on CBS."

Unlikely combination?

Local singer, David Archuleta (2008 American Idol) has been chosen as this year's guest performer with the MoTab at their annual Christmas concert, December 16-19 (16th is dress rehearsal). The "sell-out" performance (over 80,000 tickets issued) is the Christmas gift to the community from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Last year I enjoyed Natalie Cole as the guest artist. I have seen the beautiful recording from the time Sissel was the guest. That was a magnificent performance and a DVD worth owning, available at Deseret Book. This is so much more than a Christmas concert - it's a music and dance extravaganza in the beautiful Conference Center where every seat is a good one.

The process for obtaining the free tickets is an online (and telephone) registry for a lottery, giving everyone an equal opportunity for up to four tickets. They are not assigned seats, but by general admission by section and you must arrive early because they have hundreds waiting outside as "stand-by". To go downtown during December is always magnificent with the millions of Christmas lights on and surrounding Temple Square, but to add this concert - money can't buy that! If you want to register go to LDS.org You must register by Oct. 18 to be eligible for the tickets and they are mailed to you if you are randomly selected. One request per household. I have mine in because it's a perfect birthday activity for me - free of charge at a time of year when budget is the operative word.

Sissel...




My nomination for next year's guest would be Susan Boyle.

MoTab - My First Day of Christmas (Sunday)

(Photo by Tom Smart, Deseret News)

Sunday morning I was able to enjoy the Music and the Spoken Word and Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas mini-concert of The Wondrous Gift of Christmas that followed. I tried to get tickets for one of the evening performances Thurs, Fri and Sat. but I was only able to get the Sunday show. But, it was so good, I couldn't have missed much, plus I got to watch the broadcast, now in its 81st year and the longest continuously-running program on radio.

I was once again amazed at the high quality performance, the number of people involved in making it happen, the volunteers, hosts, security, etc. In total the four performances delighted 80,000 people and it was FREE! I have paid a lot of money for shows that were not nearly as elaborate. Besides the guest performers, Natalie Cole and David McCullough, there were the bell ringers of Temple Square, the Mormon Tabernacle Orchestra, several children's choirs, dancers, a wonderful organ performance, and of course MoTab! The set was beautiful and this photo was taken from just about where my seat was. It was worth braving the rain turned to snow by the end of the show, the slush, icy roads, sidewalks, parking hassles and being stuck once!

(Photo by Tom Smart, Deseret News)

David McCullough said,

"History should not just be perceived as just politics and the military," he said. "It involves the whole realm of human expression and human experience. And to leave out music, art, literature, architecture, dance, poetry, drama is to leave out not just color and flavor and sound, but a lot of the soul of a culture. Many civilizations are known only for their art.

"That's all as much a part of the American reality and the American story as our expected protagonists of history," he said. "In this one performance we have musicians, dancers, people speaking great literature, singing, architecture, all working at once. And we should never ever take it for granted."

Like many of us, 2009 has brought trials to Natalie Cole who underwent a kidney transplant and lost a sister to the same fate as her talented father, lung cancer. She appeared deeply moved as she received thanks from President Thomas Monson and the Traditional God be with you 'Til We Meet Again by the choir. She said,

"This year has been a very emotional year for me," she said. "So to close it out working with these wonderful people is just such a feeling of goodness.

"I really think we are here to honor our Lord Jesus Christ. He will be definitely honored, and I'm sure he's pleased. It's so nice to take the I out of it and make it a team effort."

I couldn't agree more.

Silent Night - the Sunday before Christmas & the 8th day....

We are having a white week before Christmas. We have lots of snow (and cold - brrrrr). Unfortunately several of us have also caught the seasonal cold (sniff). May this be a peaceful Sabbath for all and may we all pray for peace throughout the world.

Ralph and Joan Rodgers

Sunday night Jenn, Fred, the kids and I visited with Joan Rodgers, wife of Ralph G. Rodgers, Jr. who passed away in 1996 after an incredible career in music and teaching in Utah. He also loved and served the Samoan people, having been the mission president there as well as being a young missionary earlier in his life. His resume is exhaustive. I will highlight a few things about this great man. Joan was definitely the wind beneath his wings and it was delightful to visit with her. She lives with most of her grown children and grandchildren in Arizona now so it was a rare opportunity. The Centerville Theater was renamed Rodgers Memorial Theater for it's founder after his death. There is no doubt he is directing the heavenly Tabernacle Choir even now. This man accomplished much in his short life. He passed away when just 60 years old.

Ralph and Joan Rodgers - photo taken at the time they served in Samoa as mission presidents.
I was privileged to have Ralph as my choir teacher in high school. My family got to know him through his work (Jenn at first in a performing arts class, later the theater). He had a hysterical sense of humor - a dry wit and as Jenn said, sometimes he was "scary." Intimidating might be a better word, but he knew how to get people to respond to him like few people do. He also had a mighty testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is one of my heroes and Joan is too!

A few notes about some of Ralph's accomplishments:

• Young Elder missionary in Samoa (LDS Church)
• Vocal music teacher, Granite Park Jr. High School (3 years)
• Music director, Granite High School (6 years). He taught with passion and humor and in a way he probably couldn't today - he taught values, put his arms around struggling students and lovingly advised them. He also teased them and cried with them.
• Married Joan Williams - six children - David, Scott, Steven, Becky, Mary & Adam.
  
• Popular speaker at firesides, M-Men and Gleaner programs.
• Played widower, Fennely Parsons in Promised Valley for many years in outdoor theater by the Temple. The play was written by Crawford Gates for the 1947 Centennial celebration of the pioneer entrance into the Salt Lake Valley. Joan played his wife and his three oldest children played their youngest. Summer performances were attended by millions of Temple Square visitors. (his wife, Joan, played small part as his new wife at the end of the show and his oldest three sons played his sons so it was a family venture)
  
• Wrote play, Don't Forget to Remember and Joseph and Mary, A Love Story
  
• Wrote music for LDS youth, I Feel My Savior's Love
  
• Member of YMMIA General Board (LDS Program for young men)
• Served on the General Church Music Committee & General Church Pageant Committee
  
• Sang in Tabernacle Choir with his wife, Joan
  
• Mission President - Samoa Apia mission at age 35
  
• Director of Polynesian Cultural Center (also wrote program and had been on the board of directors for eight years prior).
• Traveled extensively to the People's Republic of China to help them create a cultural center and training exchange program in cooperation with the Polynesian Cultural Center.
• Performer in many musicals in the Salt Lake Valley
• Memorable roles include Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol and Charlie Brown in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
• Manager of the Promised Valley Playhouse (theatre restored to replace the outdoor theater and to provide year-round musical performance opportunities)
• Wrote lyrics for oratorio, Moroni, and III Nephi, Joseph, and Hear Ye Him.
  
• Co-creator of Pages Lane Theater and Performing Arts School with Beverly Olsen, his sister, Margo Beecher, and his wife, Joan. (Theater was later renamed in his honor, Rodgers Memorial Theater, it was donated by the family to the Centerville Performing Arts Corporation)
• Co-chair with wife, Joan of the Utah Statehood Centennial Gala (1/4/1996) just before his death on May 6, 1996 at the age of 60.
  

This man touched my life, and that of my family as well.

Click on the title of this post to read an amazing experience he had as a young missionary in Samoa which displayed Christ-like love and service given to him, who was there to serve. He told the story many times and never without crying as he told it.

He wrote a song about Joseph Smith, a tribute to mothers.

I Went Home

It was there in my home that I learned long ago
The lessons that carried me through
All the trials and strife that stood in my path
As from child to man I grew.

It was there in my home that I learned how to play,
How to work and the meaning of love.
I learned from example the power of prayer.
I grew close to my Father above.

I remember the nights with my family so close,
How we laughed, how we sang, how we prayed.
I learned from my family the lessons of life.
And I grew with my mind unafraid.

Then on that clear spring morning
I went to the grove as a youth.
I needed to have an answer.
I went in search of truth.

And after that glorious moment,
When they had talked to me,
I rose from my knees, I ran up the path,
I wanted the world to see

That the lessons I’d learned through those fourteen years
Were not meant for me alone.
I knew what to do, I knew where to go.
I went home, I went home, I went home.

By Ralph G. Rodgers, Jr.

(Based on a talk by Elder Marvin J. Ashton)

Amazing Concert!

Steve and I (and his mom) were fortunate to get tickets to see one of the two performances of the Pioneer Day Commemoration Concert which featured the Mormon Tabernacle Choir ("America's Choir"). It was also the culminating concert of The Osmond's Fiftieth Anniversary World Tour. Marie pointed out that it was not HER 50th, however. The original four started at Disneyland, then were made famous on the Andy Williams Show. They hold the record for the longest performing group that has not changed any of its members - helps that the're family, but even families have disputes and breakups or even loss by death. They still do a wonderful job and the MoTab really rocked! I didn't follow the Osmond's closely in the 70s and 80s when they were quite big (140 albums) but I appreciate them and really enjoy them now, in their "old" age. They also paid a special tribute to their parents. For more photos and Deseret News photo credits, click on the post title.
Six of the Osmond Brothers. I also enjoyed seeing Merrill (the one with the white hair and beard) perform in Hale's The Civil War. One of the brothers has MS (Alan? Second from right) and uses a cane. He sometimes is on keyboard, especially for the high-stepping numbers. I especially enjoyed their rendition of Through the Years.The Tabernacle Choir and Tabernacle Orchestra were outstanding.
The finale was incredible - hearing impaired brothers Virl and Tom (on either end in front) joined them for I Believe and He Ain't Heavy. they signed and swayed with the rest of this amazing family.The Conference Center seats 21,000 and they were at capacity both nights with many disappointed folks who couldn't get tickets. It is the last concert the Osmonds plan to do as a family so it is the end of an era for some of them.

Although the concert will mean an end of some things, and even though the family is getting older, "we are at a beautiful time in our lives," said Marie.

"This is really the culmination of everything we've done," said Donny. "It will be the end for some. Could there be a better place for that to happen?"

12 days of Christmas - today is the first day