30. PANDEMIC MEMORIES II - MY CHRISTMAS CONCERT

This past weekend, at the funeral luncheon for the Palmer family, I was standing at the serving table when I looked up and saw my old friend, Greg Bell. It was a wonderful surprise. Greg served as Mayor of Farmington before my husband. He mentored Dave, and so many others. Its one of his many gifts. He also served as State Senator and Leiutenant Governor for Utah as well.

"Thank you!" He said.

"For?" I asked.

"Thank you for televising your Christmas concert a few months ago. We were afraid we were going to have to miss it with this Covid madness. But we just loved watching it in our own home."

He and JoLynn have been wonderful and encouraging fans for a long time. I always enjoy seeing them and the varied grandchildren they bring year after year, as a holiday date. 

I realized I have not recorded the joy and labor my Christmas concerts are for me, because I'm always busy doing it at the time, and I forget about it later. So, for the sake of memory, and perhaps posterity (who may or may not ever be interested), here's a simple recollection of doing my Christmas concert during a worldwide pandemic.

What I designed for my postcards this year.
(Well, I guess it was last year, now)

Last September I received a call from my friends at Farmington Parks and Rec to come visit with them. I’ve taught guitar and ukulele through them for a dozen years, and they have hosted my Christmas concerts for I can’t even remember how long. I know them pretty well, and they have always been good and gracious to work with. Truth is, they are beyond good and gracious, they are pretty darn fun to work with. So when I drove down and walked in, all masked up and sanitized cuz that was the mode of most of 2020, it was pretty exciting to sit with Neil Miller and Tia Uzelac and discuss the possibility of doing a holiday concert. Because of the pandemic all public performances were cancelled, and no new ones planned. We were in an instant cultural drought. The plague was not just a threat to our bodies, it froze the dimensions of our souls as well. 

I had resigned myself to breaking the tradition of my Christmas concert. No one else was doing any. All the venues has shut their doors, by order of the Health Department. But early autumn brought a crack in the window, and the powers-that-be allowed for up to 100 people to gather in the large open space of the Community Arts Center, as long as people were masked and kept 6 feet social distance. We could cluster families that had been spending time together already and separate them from other groups.

The problem was that in order to afford the production of our show, at the level we were accustomed to providing, 100 people in the audience could not cover costs at any reasonable ticket price. Neil and Tia had that figured out. The city would take less than usual, because they wanted to provide some tiny portion of normalcy in this crazy time. And they would offer the option of a virtual concert for people who could not, should not, or would not come into public space because of the pandemic. With a small grant they had purchased a quality video camera, and Tia had studied out formats for offering the concert online.

So, starting later than normal, we moved forward. I called my musical cohorts, Mark Robinette and Kelly DeHaan. We set the date, and I set to work.

My computer files for prior concerts.

I don’t know if I have ever recorded my personal process in creating my annual concerts, but here’s a rough outline. 

I begin by pondering a theme for the concert. The last year had been “Love Letters from Home”. I based the advertising, décor, stage design, song selection and song introductions on that theme, sharing a “letter” as an introduction for each song. My concerts are a cross between music and storytelling, and whatever theme and format I choose facilitates combining the two in a fluid manner. I have to plan this early on, usually in early summer normally, so I can create the advertising and marketing materials to be printed and mailed out in advance.

I decided to play off the theme of social distancing in our safe little villages. “From my village to Yours… a Troubadour’s Journey”. 

Like any storyteller who is conscious of pacing and production,
I write out my set lists and introductions. I don't always follow them exactly,
but a plan always helps. This year, for the second set, we "winged it" with requests.

I designed and ordered 1500 postcards, ordered them, and stamped and labeled each one. It takes educated guesswork to know when to mail them.

I wrote personal letters to people who in the past had bought tickets in groups of 10 or more. I have some of the most warm-hearted faithful followers who buy dozens of seats and bring their families and friends to my concerts. I kind of feels like a family reunion to me, and I love it because I love the feeling of “family”, even if that family is made up of friends. I mailed out something like 20 or thirty of these letters, inviting people to purchase “villages” for their groups to attend the live concert under safe covid conditions. We arranged for three nights. We were only allowed 100 in the audience each night, so the three nights sold out pretty quickly.

Rehearsing with wonderfully talented friends is half the fun.
"My Boys" had covid beards in rehearsal, but shaved them for the concert.

Then we opened it to the public virtually. Turns out one camera would not do it for us. It felt just too sterile and stiff. So between the city and Mark we ended up with various cameras and Tia learned how to produce the show from various cameras. Doug Wayment actually bought his own awesome cameras and ran them each night for us. Tery Binkered produced the lighting. Eric and Bryce Robinette produced the audio, and we Zoomed the show around the world for the first time ever. 

I invited the audience to text me some requests during intermission and we performed some of their requests in the second set, so each night was different. We had requests from Africa, Tokyo, New England, Arizona, California, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and multiple other places. It was stunning, and very moving for me. There were so many texts coming in I could not read all of them during intermission backstage, but every one of them were precious to me in the end. They felt like little kisses being blown from all different directions.

These darlings in Tokyo sent this text requesting
Heavenly Choirs, so their girls could sing along.

Part of every concert includes raising funds for two non-profits that are dear to our hearts. I often alternate raising funds for these two organizations. Because of increased needs in the orphanage in Africa, I focused the fund raiser on the Gardner Granny Orphanage and school this year. They are located in Kenya, Africa. We have two particular siblings that we raise funds to educate every Christmas. Ezekiel and Rose. They are beautiful, radiant, intelligent brother and sister orphans who love school, and who would not be able to attend without our help paying for their tuition. The orphanage needed additional supplies, as their population is growing, and the pandemic is making it difficult in many ways. So, we put on our aprons and set to work. We decided to offer Orphan Care Packages to raise funds. For $50 donation you could get a loaf of fresh baked home-made bread, a jar of fresh raspberry freezer jam, a large can of Stephens hot cocoa, marshmallows and candy canes and one of my CD’s. We ended up selling nearly 100 of these, which was a LOT of baking for my sister Ann Marie. I had been working at making jam but had to go buy more raspberries and make 12 more batches of jam after rehearsal. It was so moving to see so many people willing to help our orphans. 

The Crew, aka my family, assembling
orphan care packages.

Set up for the stage involves creative thinking on a budget. That's the nature of Folk music, generally. Sometimes it shows. I hope it’s more charming than it is hokey.  I wanted the stage this year to feel warm and cozy, like we were bringing the audience into our living room, since most of them were watching in their own homes. I found these cool large window inserts in an online classified and drove up to Park City to get them. I found photographers fabric scene backdrops of a winter landscape and ordered those. I stretched and stapled them to the backs, so it looked like a lovely snowy day outside our warm cozy stage room. I had purchased a large fireplace mantle that I donated to the city a few years ago. In truth, it is the top of a very large hutch, but it makes for a deep and inviting fireplace on stage. We put fake bricks going up to the top of the stage on top of the fireplace. I used foam insulation over orange Halloween light, painted with fluorescent orange and gray spray paint, to make a nice warm cindery fire in that fireplace. We dragged chairs and pillows and tables from our own family room, and it felt just dandy up there on stage.

Instant outdoors. What a great illusion.

I had also found 20 little side tables at a thrift store. People who had purchased villages for the live audience (we sold those seats in groups of 4,6,8 and 12) were seated in little clusters with a table that held a name sign, a candle, an order form for CD’s and refreshments during intermission (all for the orphanage), water and licorice. I really quite loved the cozy feeling in the hall this Christmas. I wish we could afford to do it that way every year.

These were the signs we put on each village table.
Family name was added.

As usual, while we are up there making music on stage, my family is behind the scenes making everything else work. Included in that “family” are a few friends who have been faithfully helping for years. Dave is forced to sing Joseph and Mary with me every year. Libby oversees all the product sales. Ann Marie and Mike organize and facilitate everything. My kids bake and package like crazy. Then sell concessions. All that they earn goes to our orphans, or to Families Helping Families, the other non-profit we support. They facilitate Mexican families taking ownership in building their own houses in Mexico. They understand that requiring a family to participate in building their own home gives them more pride in ownership, so American families go help Mexican families build from the ground up. It feels absolutely eternally sound and is beautiful to see unfold. Donations help fund supplies for those homes. American families donate their time, energy and travel.

This year was the first year I can recall when we did not have a Heavenly Choir - little angels with tinsel halos and flickering candles singing along with us on stage. Stupid pandemic.

A past Heavenly Choir.
We missed the joy of pure children's voices this year.

I think back on all the years we have been doing these concerts, decades now. It is a highlight of my year. I see people I would not otherwise see. I feel their kindness and their tender hearts and see them embracing the people they love who attend with them. There truly is not audience to compare with these holiday music gatherings. I was afraid I would not have that energy exchange this year. I was certain the pandemic would take away our live audience. Do you know how hard it is to share your heart when there are no eyes looking back in yours? I am grateful that, even though the audience was small this year, we were actually able to have immediate feedback with a live audience at our Christmas concert.

I don’t know for sure how many more Christmas concerts are in my future. I am on the short end of my career, I fear. So, I cherish each one, with a grateful heart. But even more, I celebrate the relationships that enrich and define my life because of the magic of music.

Team work, 2021.
Left to right: Doug Wayment, Eric Robinette, Tia Uzelac,
Tery Binkerd, Dave Connors, me, Mark Robinette, Kelly DeHaan