MY MOST RECENT COVERT OPS MISSION: 
Sneak an audio recorder into the choir loft. 

A little over two years ago, the church building I had attended for three years was destroyed by fire. It was an intense day. And ever since that happened, I have missed that building. I missed the beautiful windows. I missed the steeple. I missed seeing Longfellow's house every week. I even missed the satisfaction I felt after scoring a decent parking place in the mayhem that is Harvard Square.

UNTIL TODAY!

Our beautiful building in Cambridge, Massachusetts was completed! The re-dedication was today and I had the amazing opportunity to sing in the choir that rang in the occasion. It was a pretty big event for us folks in the Mormon world. Henry B. Eyring and Boyd K. Packer spoke to us and ol' Henry offered the dedicatory prayer. I felt so privileged to be a mere five people away from these sensational dudes (mega inspirers in my spiritual world). 

To mark the day, today's Sunday Sound is five times longer than usual. I successfully hid my Tascam DR-100 in my purse and recorded our performance of Brahms' "How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place." We sang this particular song because it was also performed at the original dedication of the building in 1956. The recording is far from perfect due to the whole "not quite sure if I was allowed to sneak in an audio recorder" thing, but you get the idea. Today is a blessed day.

THE SUNDAY SOUND: June 19, How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place.
For those following along in an RSS reader, click through to the original post to hear today's piece.

ONE.
Sealed, the radio documentary I did on my family's elegant demise, was purchased by Public Radio Remix. Public Radio Remix is an experimental radio stream that airs on KPBZ 90.3 in Washington, WREM 88.7 in New York, XM 123 and via the stream made available by Public Radio Exchange.

TWO.
I am now the Copy Editor for Linescratchers (check out our Staff page to see a public admission of my raging OCD!). Our tagline: "LDS Musicians who don't write LDS music." Essentially, our contributors write about (and interview) all the Mormons in music who survive and thrive in the wider music industry. There is also an associated podcast done by Arthur Hatton, the founder and COO. Linescratchers is also working to launch a web portal to feature content from Mormon musicians and/or enthusiasts who operate outside the religious music sector. Like us on Facebook, yes?

Today's sixty seconds polishes off my mini-series. I am the baby of the blood siblings, so we end with my brother Derek. Derek loves me. We all went to an arcade once. We earned tons of tickets; collected them all in one communal pot; divided the spoils at the end. Derek spent his substantial earnings on the cutest little blob of a killer whale I've ever seen and handed it to me. This ball of cuteness now resides on my bed. His name is "Belugs" (in honor of the punk kid taking our tickets who insisted my gift was a Beluga whale. It clearly WAS NOT. Trust me. I know killer whales. Just listen to last week's post). 

Since I just spoiled that story, I had to go with something else. When I was interviewing my siblings for Sealed, I asked the question, "How do you think our parents' divorce affected each of the siblings?" Each one then commented on what they perceived in the others. This was quite the experience. In his own words, here are some of Derek's thoughts on yours truly. This is Derek's piece because he has always tried to understand my motivations. And he has always worried about remaining close to me. I love him.

THE SUNDAY SOUND: June 12, There's Something About Blood, Part Three
For those following along in an RSS reader, click through to the original post to hear today's piece.

Today's sixty seconds of sound is the second part of a mini-series I call There's Something About Blood. You can read about the conception of this series in last week's post. 

Of all the people in my life, my sister Crys has worked the hardest at remaining close to me (and trust me, at times that has been no easy task). She flew to Boston this past weekend for no other reason but to visit me and I absolutely loved having her around. We even tossed in a trip to New York City. We were there for twelve hours and did Times Square, Central Park, a bit of 5th Avenue, Battery Park, Ground Zero, Wall Street, and the East Village. I'm still not sure how we managed that.

Crys has always been the most involved person in my world and has always been infinitely supportive of everything I do. And, unfortunately for her, she is the only person who I am a raging B**** around. Probably because I know she'll still love me. I'm working on that.

THE SUNDAY SOUND: June 5, There's Something About Blood, Part Two
For those following along in an RSS reader, click through to the original post to hear today's piece.