The Cricket and Seagull Fireside Chat

Welcome to Adobe GoLive 6 BYU Professor Ron Simpson receiving the Lifetime Achievement Pearl Award from the FCMA (photo by Scott Thompson for The Daily Universe) Places to look and listen: Every year the Faith-Centered Music Association, the FCMA, gathers for the annual Pearl Awards -- recognizing excellence in recorded music. This year's ceremonies in the BYU Fine Arts Center featured the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to the very-deserving Ron Simpson.  He's an LDS musician, songwriter, player, studio owner, teacher, music publisher, record label general manager, columnist for Meridian Magazine, and so much more.  A man who has made a difference in the church and in the world with his own music and in the way he has mentored and encouraged others. Today we'll bring you the audio of that presentation, including live and phoned-in comments from (in this order) country singer Dave Lemmon, performer/writer/arranger Clive Romney, composer/producer Merrill Jenson, studio owner Cliff Maag, director of BYU's Living Legends Janielle Christensen, sound company owner Joe Anderson, BYU Young Ambassador director Randy Boothe, managing director of BYU's Tantara Records Ben Fales, member of Diamond Rio Dan Truman, singer Wendee Jensen Truman, songwriter/artist Mindy Gledhill, songwriter/playwright/broadcaster Steven Kapp Perry, songwriter/producer Staci Peters, singer/songwriter Cherie Call, and songwriter/producer/arranger Tyler Castleton. That's this week on The Cricket and Seagull...   Reach. Lift. Inspire. The Cricket and Seagull Fireside Chat is a Podcast bringing music and interviews to Latter-day Saints and their friends worldwide. Steven Kapp Perry features the unique voices of authors, artists, musicians, scholars, and fellow Saints. Pull up a chair and join us for The Cricket & Seagull Fireside Chat! You can always find the most recent edition at MeridianMagazine.com/Radio. To get the free subscription URL for your Podcatcher, click the icon: For free "One-click" instant subscription through iTunes, click the icon: Click the banner for info on music, talks, scriptures, and books for your .mp3 player!  

Welcome to Adobe GoLive 6 Happy pioneer day! Music has been a part of the Mormon tradition from the very beginning.  Whether it was hymns or folk songs, it seems there was music created to mark most important occasions.  For instance we have the dedication of the Kirtland, Ohio, temple to thank for "The Spirit of God" in our hymn books today. And the migration West was no exception.  The wagon company of 1847, nearly 160 years ago, was hardly under way before William Clayton came up with his new version of "All is Well" which we know as "Come, Come Ye Saints."  And it was 150 years ago when the first of many handcart companies set out for the Rocky Mountains.  They pushed and pulled their way across a continent finding strength in "The Handcart Song." This week in celebration of Pioneer Day on July 24th-- a state holiday in Utah -- we feature Mormon folk songs from the Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture.  These examples were recorded in 1946 and 1947 by Austin Fife and his wife Alta on a trip covering Utah gathering songs passed on in the folk tradition -- either learned firsthand from the writer or passed down in families and communities through the generations. That's this week, on the Cricket and Seagull... Guitar instrumentals taken from: The Cricket and Seagull Fireside Chat is a Podcast bringing music and interviews to Latter-day Saints and their friends worldwide. Steven Kapp Perry features the unique voices of authors, artists, musicians, scholars, and fellow Saints. Pull up a chair and join us for The Cricket & Seagull Fireside Chat! You can always find the most recent edition at MeridianMagazine.com/Radio. To get the free subscription URL for your Podcatcher, click the icon: For free "One-click" instant subscription through iTunes, click the icon: Click the banner for info on music, talks, scriptures, and books for your .mp3 player!  

Welcome to Adobe GoLive 6 She was born in Mexico City but was raised in the States, loves singing with a Mariachi band but has a recording contract with an inspirational label, is learning to bring the same passion to singing in English she feels in Spanish, and is all about putting message over the messenger. That's BYU student and performer Rebecca Lopez, and today we talk about her first solo CD "When You Believe," including songs in both English and Spanish. That's this week, on the Cricket and Seagull... -SKP   Places to Look and Listen: Rebecca Lopez The Cricket and Seagull Fireside Chat is a Podcast bringing music and interviews to Latter-day Saints and their friends worldwide. Steven Kapp Perry features the unique voices of authors, artists, musicians, scholars, and fellow Saints. Pull up a chair and join us for The Cricket & Seagull Fireside Chat! You can always find the most recent edition at MeridianMagazine.com/Radio. To get the free subscription URL for your Podcatcher, click the icon: For free "One-click" instant subscription through iTunes, click the icon: Click the banner for info on music, talks, scriptures, and books for your .mp3 player!  

She's a practicing attorney, city councilmember, life coach, real estate investor, writer, and professional speaker--all of which she does part-time while helping her husband raise their family of four boys. She speaks at BYU Education Week and Time Out for Women, authored "The Parenting Breakthrough: A Real-Life Plan to Teach Your Kids to Work, Save Money, and Be Truly Independent" and now she's set her sights on marriage -- improving it, that is. This week Merrilee Browne Boyack talks about her new book, "Strangling Your Husband Is NOT an Option: A Practical Guide to Dramatically Improving Your Marriage." That's this week on The Cricket and Seagull...

He does back flips onstage off the grand piano, plays while lying upside on the bench, has been known to wear wigs and hats onstage and even use a giant slingshot to shoot prizes into the audience. So naturally Jon Schmidt is doing -- a CD of hymns? "Hymns Without Words" is the latest from one-of-a-kind composer, pianist and showman, Jon Schmidt. This week he talks about hymns, why piano students drop out, why we're on the same team with good people throughout the world, and much more. That's this week on The Cricket and Seagull...

When Desirae and Deondra Brown left Alpine, Utah -- headed for Juillard to pursue their classical piano studies -- there was no way of knowing that their three piano-playing siblings and even their parents would soon follow suit, making New York City their temporary home base. Since the release of their self-titled first CD, The 5 Browns have been making news on the classical circuit, drawing audiences across the generations, including some more likely to be found at rock concerts. Today Desirae and Deondra talk about their musical beginnings, becoming a group, being known as Mormon musicians, and their contagious passion for classical music. That's this week on the Cricket and Seagull... - SKP

Every summer thousands of LDS teenagers descend on campuses around the world for EFY -- that's Especially For Youth -- a sort of youth conference on spiritual steroids. And one of the perks of attending is being the first on your block to hear the new CD, since it isn't even for sale until the last session of EFY is over. Still, that doesn't mean we can't give you a sneak peek of the brand new 2006 CD with songwriters and producers Tyler Castleton and Staci Peters, the creative artists behind, "The Greatest Gift." They talk about the music, the songs, the singers, and putting on protective armor to improve your songwriting. That's this week, on the The Cricket and Seagull...

Author Virginia H. Pearce As busy as we are, hearing that "man is that he might have joy," can almost seem like one more Herculean task to add to our already-daunting to-do lists. But what if there were a way, a way to feel that joy, to feel the love of God -- daily -- without adding even one more thing to the list? Interested? So was Virginia Hinckley Pearce. A busy person, author, wife, mother of six and grandmother of twenty-two with service in the Young Women general presidency and the general board of the Primary -- she and a group of sisters found just that; a way for all of us to rediscover basic Christianity and find it right within our own hearts, by making them "Hearts Like His." That's this week on the Cricket and Seagull...

Sometimes no matter how hard you try to go down one path, you find yourself walking down another. And if you're lucky -- or blessed -- you might even find out you like it better. You might even find out it's the one the Lord had in mind for you all along. Today we talk to Producer Ken Agle and his brother Dennis, writer and co-director, and after the break we'll hear from songwriter and co-director Aaron Edson. Those three, along with Executive Producer Craig Brooksby, make up the team behind "Liken the Scriptures," the wildy popular children's musical scripture series on DVD. That's this week on The Cricket and Seagull... - SKP

Last week we began a new series on overcoming addiction through the atonement of Jesus Christ (See Archives for April 2006 for Part 1). In Part 1, author Colleen Harrison discussed the origins of her book, "He Did Deliver Me from Bondage," and her personal journey. Today we continue that discussion, talk about the fruits of writing the book, and hear from Colleen's husband, Phil, author of "Clean Hands, Pure Heart -- Overcoming Addication to Pornography through the Redeeming Power of Jesus Christ." (At the end of the last edition Colleen told of the formation of local Heart-t-Heart support groups which can be found at http://www.heart-t-heart.org) That's this week on the Cricket and Seagull... - SKP

Addiction. A word used commonly in a joke, as in, "I'm a chocoholic." And it's funny. Unless it's true. Addiction. For some it conjures images of needle marks and drunks and back alleys. Others think it's just wishy-washy people who lack will power. For the addicts themselves -- and the ones who love them -- it means a desperate daily struggle to maintain any sense of normalcy while slowly losing a life-and-death spiritual battle with a pull or compulsion now completely beyond anything as puny as will power. But not beyond the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. There is nothing stronger than the absolute power of that infinite act. Today, we join author Colleen Harrison to discuss her book, "He Did Deliver Me From Bondage," for part one of a series on overcoming addiction through the incomprehensible power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. (See Part 2 in the May 2006 Archives. In this edition Colleen tells of the formation of local Heart-t-Heart support groups which can be found at http://www.heart-t-heart.org) That's this week on the Cricket and Seagull... - SKP

It's Spring -- at least in the more moderate parts of the Northern hemisphere -- and, well, I looked out my window and what did I see? Yup. Popcorn popping on the apricot tree. So I started thinking about this song and how popular it is, and how even grown-ups can remember all the words and the actions, and how come it's included in our Primary Children's Songbook even though there's nothing religious in it, and how come it's the one Primary song singers think is safe to have a little fun with... That's this week on the Cricket and Seagull... - SKP

He's written and played themes for ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX, and the "Good Morning America" and "Today Show" themes among others. He can rock with the best of them, but seems most at home playing "Follow the Prophet" -- that's with a "ph" and not an "f" -- on the mandolin. His name is Michael Dowdle, unless you're in the BYU 127th ward and you just call him "Bishop." Today we feature music from his Beloved Hymns series, how the Lord opens doors, and avoiding being a musical Pharisee. That's this week on the Cricket and Seagull... - SKP

Imagine traveling to countries around the world always with the same destination in mind; the House of the Lord. In the course of sketching, photographing, drawing, and painting LDS temples around the world, artist and author Chad Hawkins has found himself interviewing Temple Presidents, architects, historians, builders, and LDS members around the globe, collecting the stories of faith and miracles which accompany his art to make up his new Deseret Book publication, "Holy Places." I interviewed him in his new home studio in Fruit Heights, UT. That's this week on the Cricket and Seagull... - SKP

Twice a year the FCMA (Faith-Centered Music Association) holds a music workshop at BYU in connection with BYU's Media Week. Topics covered include songwriting, the business side of the music business, and sessions with alumni who have made a mark on the industry. This week we feature Greg Hansen's Keynote Address which kicked off the workshop. Greg discusses being an LDS Musician vs. being a Musician who is LDS, how many great songs a life well-lived is worth, and much more. He's introduced here by songwriter and producer Staci Peters, current Chair of the FCMA Board of Directors. That's this week on the Cricket and Seagull... - SKP