I'm home again!
This has been a very long week, and I'm glad to be back home. But there were two events, no... three musical events that were very special to me. I can't thank the people responsible for them enough. Their superhuman efforts on my behalf made for some very memorable times. Thanks to Kent, Sam, and their families.
Last Thursday, I had the chance to drive up to Phoenix from Tucson, where I was staying with Jodi and Brendon. There, I got to hang for a while with Kent Olmstead, of Fast Sundae fame. We took my kids through the Phoenix Zoo, and talked all kinds of cool music ideas while we did.
After that, he took us out to dinner, and we met with a couple of more guys from the LDSMusicians.com email group, Clay Whipkey and Jeff Valenta. Those of you who are MRKH superfans (both of you) might recognize Jeff's name as the one who played the lead guitar (smokin' stuff) on "Thank You" and "The First Step". It was a lot of fun to meet with them both and talk musical stuff for the night.
The next wonderful event happened last night, as I was driving back from Arizona. Not wanting to do it in one gruelling day, like I did on the way out, I was lucky enough to find lodging at the home of Sam Payne. He's one of my songwriting idols, BTW.
So, that night, as my kids and his were becoming friends in his "Jedi Knight Training Space" (his family room), he and I played songs to each other. Great fun.
Then, he asked me to come and perform for his seminary classes (he's a teacher) at the Tuacan School for the Performing Arts. So... Let's look at this. I get to play my songs, in front of three seminary classes full of student musicians, dancers, and actors, with one of my favorite songwriters of all time....
Yeah, I think I'm down with that.
He also let me do some guest lecturing in a couple of those classes, going over D&C sec. 4 and talking about how it applies to the creative arts. Cool stuff. Ask me about it sometime.
Then, he posts this to the LDSM list: "Hey Gang! Guess where I am right now? I'm watching Mark Hansen teach my seminary class! No kiddin'! Nothin' cooler. I'm thinking of hiring him full-time : ). It's been music and the gospel all afternoon. Lovin' it."
What an opportunity. What a day! One of the musical highlights of my life, to be sure.
MRKH - Mark Hansen
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