Archive for June, 2009

Special Delivery

Monday, June 29th, 2009
John Egbert delivers a combat flag to YLDSR's Sam Payne

John Egbert delivers a combat flag to YLDSR's Sam Payne

Some months ago, we published a blog post called “Amid the Woes of War” – a post detailing our rich email conversation with Master Sergeant John Egbert, who at the time was deployed to Afghanistan (his sixth deployment there). A few months ago, John and his crew flew an American flag on their airplane during a combat mission, in honor of YourLDSradio.

John Egbert and crew display a combat flag flown to thanks YLDSR

John Egbert and crew display a combat flag flown to thanks YLDSR

We were delighted to be honored in that way, and even more delighted to meet John in person. He and his wife visited us to deliver the flag that John’s crew had flown for us in Afghanistan.

Some of the staff of YLDSR, together with Brother and Sister Egbert, displaying the flag flown in combat in Afghanistan.

Some of the staff of YLDSR, together with Brother and Sister Egbert, displaying the flag flown in combat in Afghanistan.

It was a great pleasure to get acquainted, and I think John would agree that the music of the station had bound us together as friends before we met. In John, we discovered someone who feels deeply the wartime cost in human suffering. Over the course of a morning, we spent quiet moments and ebullient ones, sharing stories of the comfort that the gospel brings amid the difficulties of the world.

Our meeting was covered by a reporter and a photographer from Mormon Times. You can read the article here.

We had always hoped that the music here at YLDSR.com was making a difference in the world. Our experience with John made that hope tangible. It was a dose of perspective that we continue to cherish.

Feather in the Wind, by Mindy Gledhill

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

Always committed to the great work contemporary LDS artists are doing, we thought we’d introduce you to this video, the title track of the album “Feather in the Wind,” by terrific LDS artist and mother-of-two, Mindy Gledhill. Mindy’s music is characterized by thoughtful and sophisticated lyrics, and ultra-classy pop production (in this case by Scott Wiley, of June Audio).
Look for more of Mindy’s music on her debut album, “The Sum of All Grace,” (produced by Kenneth Cope), and on this year’s EFY album, as well.

Lessons learned on stage with Marvin Goldstein’s gang.

Saturday, June 13th, 2009
Marvin Goldstein checks out the piano before the gig.

Marvin Goldstein checks out the piano before the gig.

by Sam Payne

Pianist Marvin Goldstein, it seems, has been around for a long time. It became apparent when I got the email announcing his “50 years of performing” concert in Provo, Utah. 50 years? Who knew. And then, a phone call: “Sam, this is Marvin Goldstein. I’m looking for help producing my 50 years of performing show. Whaddaya say?”

And so it was that – after weeks of coordinating with performers, running errands after everything from flyers to fog machines, after hanging posters and cutting audio tracks in the studio – I found myself on stage, directing a choir made up of a few dozen of the folks Marvin has performed with over the last 50 years. There was Pam Laws, a gospel and jazz singer from Tallahassee, who has guested with the Tabernacle Choir. There was Thomas Cook, a show singer whose clientele includes ambassadors and presidents. There was Kenneth Cope, whose musical dedication to the Savior and to the Restored Gospel has made him an LDS treasure. And more, and more, and more – all there, singing the big finale number together.

And me, directing them. And facing that group, I was reminded of something:

Flashback. High School. Clique city. Next to my locker is the locker of a heavy metal fan. What we would have called a “head banger.” Next to his locker was a cowgirl – a country-and-western fan. A few lockers down was a new waver, head all bobbing to whatever Psychadelic Furs record might be spinning in his head. We never talked to each other. Boundaries were pretty clearly drawn. And in retrospect, I can see that the territory was divided up largely along musical lines. We were all committed to our music, and, in a sense, divided by it. That was high school.

Now, as an adult, having worked on stages and in studios, I find those memories of high school a little ironic. After all, there I was at the Marvin Goldstein show, standing with musicians from all backgrounds – purveyors of all styles of music and entertainment – all standing side by side, hand-in-hand, singing and smiling along.

Whatever cultural divisions music might have been responsible for among my high school classmates, it seems important to me now to remind myself that among the people who actually make the music, differences tend not to matter so much. Musicians, it might do well to note, are quick to make themselves family.

Christ, of course, loves the head-banger and the new waver and the cowgirl. And me. And as he has loved us, so we ought to love each other. That, anyway, is the commandment. And in that regard, as I stood on stage at the Marvin Goldstein show, I wondered if we all might do well to take a page from the musicians’ playbook.

In the Good ol’ Sumertime

Friday, June 12th, 2009

by Sherri Schatz

So it’s summer, have you noticed? That’s why your kids have been hanging around the house
more lately. So what do we do with them? I only have two teenage boys at home now and I gotta tell you they are great! However, my youngest can definitely get sucked into the TV zone if I don’t have things for him to do. It amazes me how much happier he is if he is “doing things” — anything, really. Even WORK.

Usually, at the beginning of every summer, the kids and I write a list of the things we would like to do before summer ends. We try to do most of the things on the list before they return to school. They are not earth-shattering or budget-breaking things. Rather, they are usually things like “go on at least one picnic,” “visit the farm stand,” “go on a bike ride.” or “cook something together.” I have found that although we assume that these things will happen over the course of the summer, time seems to be in warp drive. If I don’t write simple things down that I would like to see happen, life gets in the way. Before I know it, it is a week before school and we are shopping for clothes. It’s actually pretty depressing. I have recently become acutely aware of the reality of empty-nester syndrome. I want to make sure to savor the time I have with the boys right NOW! It really is just about being together, plain and simple.

I’m sure all of you out there could give me great advice on what to do with kids in the summer. I would like that a lot actually. What do you do with yours? Write me and let me know!

And in case one of the things on your list is to do something in the kitchen, here something easy , cool and refreshing for you. Happy summer!

Super Easy Strawberry Sorbet
4 cups frozen strawberries
¾ to 1 cup any fruit juice
A couple splashes lime juice
Sugar or splenda to taste
Mix thoroughly in blender , freeze in paper cups end enjoy. Double yum!

Talk to you soon,

Sherri Schatz

Success for our friends Jon Schmidt and Steve Nelson

Monday, June 8th, 2009

Once in awhile, you get to be a part of something magical. Jon Schmidt and Steve Nelson know that. After all, together, they created the track and music video combining Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” and Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida” as a piano-cello duet that really rocks. Chances are, though, that this won’t even come as news to you. After all, the YouTube video created by Schmidt and Nelson has been viewed nearly a million and a half times, and it’s a good bet that you’ve seen it! We want to congratulate our musical friends on their success. Way to go, guys!

A Broken Heart

Sunday, June 7th, 2009

by Sherri Schatz

Has your heart ever felt broken with love for children who are hurting — broken with the suffering that they feel, or the pain they won’t let go?

How does one fix a broken heart? The only way I know is to give it to the Lord. It’s true. My mom always said to me that in times of need and suffering, I needed to “let go, let God.” She was an alcoholic for as long as I can remember, and then turned the corner of sobriety and did just that: gave it up to the Lord. Her life was never the same after that — full of love, happiness and joy. The world didn’t bother her anymore. Her friends grew to be many.

So why can’t we do the same? Is it stubbornness? Or maybe just free will? Is it my husband’s fault, like everything else?

I search for the answers, and just when I feel I have it figured out, something bad happens, and I’m right back at the beginning. When I look back on those reversals, I realize that I didn’t really give those hardships up to my Savior. Instead, I just responded myself to the questions I asked the Lord, with the answer I wanted to hear.

And while it could be the hardest thing I ever do in this life, I need to remember more often what my mom used to say: Let go, let God.

Talk to you soon,
Sherri

…nor hear heard

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

bach_shades

by Sam Payne

When I was a kid, my dad sat me down at the piano and taught me the melody from Bach’s Pasacaglia and Fugue in C minor. It was an academic exercise, but it changed everything for me. I took a lot of pleasure in being able to tap out a melody that made musical sense. I relished it. And for a long time, it was enough.

Truth is, I learned to plunk that melody out long before I had ever heard a real performance of the piece, and it wasn’t until I was in high school that I blew the dust off of our old “Ormandy Conducts Bach” album and discovered the fugue for the first time as something more than a single line on the piano. How much more? Can’t describe it. It lifted me right out of my skin. Opened up a whole new world.

I can remember other musical experiences like that — pieces that I heard one way as a kid and thought that was all there was, then — as an adult — discovered them again, and found them to be richer than I had ever remembered.

The best music is like that. The more experience you bring to it, the more it gives back. It’s not just that you keep enjoying it over time, but that it gets richer and deeper — it teaches you more as you come back to it again and again.

You may have had that experience with the scriptures, too. Come back to a passage you’ve always enjoyed, and it looks different you remember it. It’s grown along with you.

Even beyond music, and beyond scripture, I sometimes find myself thinking of what the Lord has promised in the end to them that love him: things that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man. And if I thought Bach had surprises in store when I finally heard the full range of one little fugue, just think of…wow. Imagination overload.

I’ve got a pretty good imagination. But in the end, God’s dreams for me are bigger than my own. And in the face of such a notion, why would I hang onto my poor little piano melody when the Lord stands ready to drop the needle on the whole darned Philharmonic orchestra?