Last Waltz for Rodgers

It was the end of an era last night, as the Improvables took the stage at Rodgers Memorial Theatre in Centerville for one final show - last one for 2010 and last one at RMT, anyway.

More than 130 paying customers, plus a handful of family members and friends getting in via comp. tickets (I would have to estimate the total crowd size at close to 150), showed up for our send-off performance, and it was good to hear their enthusiasm, laughter, and cheers throughout the evening. I took the stage with Biz, Bryan, Ian, Jana, Scott, and Steve, along with Grant and Parker on music and Jeff in the tech booth.

Among the many games played were fan favorites "Late for Work," "Advice Panel," "Town Hall," and "Greatest Hits," as well as "Musical Fairy Tale," for which I was assigned to sing the country music portion. Scott followed soon after, with an operatic number:



One of the other highlights of the evening was playing "Slide Show," perhaps our number-one requested fan favorite, for which two audience volunteers - including my niece Kylee, who turns 13 years old today - joined us on stage. Here is a shot of the obligatory - and always very funny - slide that was turned upside-down:


Yesterday was, in fact, a day filled with Improv; earlier on, in the afternoon, Biz, Guy, Ian, Steve, and I performed at an assembly for an estimated crowd of 500 to 600 students at West High School - alma mater of President Thomas S. Monson, among other famous Utahns - in Salt Lake City. We were impressed with the extraordinarily outgoing treatment we received from WHS faculty and student leaders, and though there was some good-natured heckling and rowdiness during the show, the kids responded positively to it and enjoyed themselves a lot.


I'm glad to have discovered, now on a firsthand basis, that WHS is not the gang-infested, profanity-filled, graffiti-covered cesspool that some people make it out to be. It's actually a very pleasant place.

I managed to capture this very impressive spit take by Biz during the show:


Though the Improvables will be taking a brief leave of absence as we prepare move to the new CenterPoint Legacy Theatre, we will be back in February 2011. I'm glad that the powers-that-be are still letting me do this (alongside no fewer than five family members at one time or another) and that I get to be associated with not only some of Utah's most talented performers but also good people and great friends - both on and off the stage.

"What Shall We Give?"

I particularly enjoyed this latest Mormon Message by Pres. Monson and the video that accompanies it. I hope you take a look at it if you haven't already done so:

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year Returns!

I am officially feeling the Christmas spirit now. A most enjoyable weekend, one full of holiday-themed festivities, has helped me to get into the holiday mood.

I was assigned to M.C. Friday night's Improvables show, for which we played our first game of the Christmas season, called "Deck the Halls." Then yesterday afternoon, it was our Improvables Christmas party. Somehow, I walked away with a brand-new Snuggie from the white elephant gift exchange.

Some guys have all the luck!

Last night, Biz and traveled down to Provo for our monthly performances with the crew at ComedySportz. Even more Christmas-themed games were on the docket.

Thanks to my good friend Pepe, still going strongly as a devoted member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, I was again given tickets to attend this evening's First Presidency Christmas Devotional at the Conference Center in Salt Lake. Pres. Monson, Pres. Eyring, and Pres. Uchtdorf, in their respective unique ways, each delivered inspiring holiday messages. The music by the MoTabs was, likewise, most inspiring.

Following the conclusion of the devotional, we strolled around Temple Square to gawk, "ooh," and "ahh" and at the holiday lights. No matter how many times I have seen them, they never cease to amaze me - especially the orange ones surrounding the Assembly Hall.

And we're just getting started! More Christmas-related festivities, including performing Improv at various Christmas parties, the ward Christmas party, and seeing Scrooge at Rodgers Memorial Theatre, are directly ahead.

My Grown-Up Christmas List

If you read my recent post on Christmas music, then you already know that Amy Grant's Christmas tunes are among my favorites of the holiday season. One of those songs is "My Grown-Up Christmas List." The chorus is as follows:

No more lives torn apart,
That wars would never start,
And time would heal all hearts.
Everyone would have a friend,
That right would always win,
And love would never end -
This is my grown-up Christmas list.

I wholeheartedly echo those sentiments.

I don't have a whole lot on my Christmas wish list this year. I'm pretty much happy with whatever anyone chooses to give me. As I write this on Christmas Eve, I have a few other items on my own grown-up Christmas list (assuming I were a grown-up, that is):

- A world not-yet-gone-to-pot for my seven nieces and nephews

- Independence from worry, doubt, and fear

- Some of Lucy Pevensie's miracle-cure firefly juice for all of the injured players on the Jazz roster

- A blonde to share a sleigh ride with. Or a nice redhead. A brunette would be great, too. Most any girl with a pulse will do, really. (I may as well ask for one for my brother Steve while I'm at it.)


- For BYU Cougar QB Max Hall not to fumble nor to have his Christmas gifts intercepted when he passes them out tomorrow

- To wake up Christmas morning and find my car's brakes replaced

- Open message to GEICO: Please, for Pete's sake, stop the caveman commercials. That goes for you, too, Furniture Warehouse (the "Road Redwood" people).


- To just once be able to beat Biz in "Scramble"

- A nice mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich

I hope it's not too much to ask. We can always dream, right?

What's on your Christmas list this year? Assuming you reply on or after Christmas, did you get it? Pres. Monson also once asked an important question: "What did you give for Christmas this year?"

As Tiny Tim would say: God bless us, everyone.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

The whole Halloween to New Year's stretch is actually my favorite time of year, so I think of the Christmas/New Year's season as kind of the grand finale of it all. As I write this, it is (finally) snowing outside and making things look like a true winter wonderland.

One of my favorite holiday traditions is wearing Christmas socks. This tradition was inspired by both the Christmas episode of "Mr. Bean," in which Mr. Bean gets a pair of Christmas socks, and a gift from my friend Jacob Lowell in high school, which was the result of a gift exchange in our A.P. Spanish class. (Some of you know Jacob's brother Jonathan, aka J-Lo.) Jacob gave me a pair of red socks, on which Santa Claus was playing basketball.

After that, I began to collect Christmas socks of all kinds. I even had a pair that played a rap song by Santa Claus - until they went through the wash. I now have six or seven pairs of Christmas socks that I rotate throughout the month of December.

Someone at church yesterday pointed out my mistletoe socks, and it wasn't long before a handful of girls were gathering around and commenting how much they liked them. (Yeah, so, you can see now why I wear them.)

Thursday night, I attended the ward Christmas party. In spite of what I mentioned in my last post about a little incident that occurred at dinner, it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening spent with many good friends and ward members. I am still not the world's greatest gingerbread house construction worker, but I was sorted onto a team with a professional architect in charge for the gingerbread house-making contest and was happy to take orders and try to help my group out as best I could.

For Saturday's Improv rehearsal, I got to play Santa Claus in one of the games, with my brother Steve and my buddy Ryan Huff as some of Santa's helpers. You really had to be there to understand it - the game ended with Santa dying when a child stopped believing in him, coming back to life at his funeral as a zombie, and going out to kill the Easter Bunny - but Improv, likewise, is now helping me to enjoy the holiday season.


In ward choir, we are rehearsing four excellent numbers: Mozart's "Jesus Savior," "The First Noel/Pachelbel Canon" medley, "Were You There?", and one of my all-time favorite Christmas songs, "Still, Still, Still."

Pepe once again gave me two tickets to attend last night's First Presidency Christmas Devotional at the Conference Center. The Tabernacle Choir sounded great, and the talks by Presidents Monson, Eyring, and Uchtdorf were all fantastic and really helped me to put some things into perspective. After the meeting, my date and I wandered around Temple Square, gawking at the Christmas lights and enjoying the holiday air. Among other friends, I ran into my old Institute choir leader, Bro. Paul Hanks, and his wife, Jean, both of whom I hadn't seen for a few years. It was great to see them both.

Incidentally, since a few of you have asked me about how I have been handling the Person A/Person B situation, I asked Person C - meaning someone else entirely - to go with me to the devotional. I am still trying to figure out Person A and Person B's personalities, and someone who is nice all of the time seemed like a better choice.

In the next few weeks, I'm looking forward to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert, family festivities, watching my nieces and nephews open their presents, egg nog, bowl games (way to go, Cougars and Utes!), Christmas caroling, friends' birthday/graduation parties, and the like. There are so many things out there to enjoy.

Anger Management

People all over the place are really angry about a lot of things right now. I read about several of them tonight as I perused the pages of today's Deseret News. (There was an excellent article on the same topic in last week's paper by columnist Doug Robinson: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705262181,00.html)

You see these irate people everywhere. They are on TV or on YouTube. They are even picketing around Temple Square and the state capitol building. And they are definitely not afraid to hide that fact that they are hopping mad about, well, almost everything.

The anger thing isn't going to get any better this week. The annual BYU vs. Utah football game is coming up this Saturday, and we all know what that means: The Mr. Hyde in many Cougar and Ute fans will be coming out for a visit.

Bring up any number of topics, and - want it or not - you will get their opinion on any number of current events, often with clenched fists, beet-red faces, and little volcanoes emerging and erupting from the tops of their scalps. Some of these topics include, but are not limited, to: the release of the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince film being postponed until next summer (okay, not so much of a problem, really), George W. Bush being responsible for everything wrong with this country, having to endure living on the same planet and breathing the same air as Sarah Palin, gas prices, the economy, and - oh yeah - the LDS Church's involvement in California's Proposition 8, which passed in the election held two weeks ago.


If you dare disagree with these Proposition 8 people, in their book, you are therefore labeled (by people who largely don't want to be labeled) "homophobic," "intolerant," "bigoted," "hate filled," "ignorant," and a "hypocrite," plus you will be told that you need to come out of the cave and into the 21st century and/or you must die a horrible, painful death - possibly by being smothered in peanut butter and being dropped onto a pile of killer ants, like those in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - at the earliest possible moment.

They use big words like these, while at the same time their actions show that they are clearly the ones who are full of hate and intolerant.

In Peru, they have a saying: El ruido de tus acciones no me permite oir tus palabras. Loosely translated, it means: "The noise from your actions blocks out the sound of your words." I think it applies here.

The Proposition 8 protests have saddened me a lot. The election is over, but they refuse to accept the results. (Just imagine what would happen if John McCain acted in a similar manner and encouraged his supporters to send hate mail to the president-elect.) Their demonstrations are also being directed at my church, even though the LDS Church was just one of several in a coalition to support Proposition 8.

My Improv colleague Tonia wrote a letter to the editor in defense of Proposition 8 that appeared in Thursday's Deseret News. Saturday night, I performed in a show with Tonia's husband, Curt, and mentioned to him that I had read the letter.

"We've already received hate mail," he replied.

Over the past two weeks, LDS meetinghouses in Utah have been vandalized. At one building, a copy of the Book of Mormon was set on fire. Last week, an envelope containing white powder - at first feared to be anthrax - caused an evacuation of Temple Square.

Yes, whoever is doing it is using terrorism.

So, what can we do about it? What do we have left to "turn" when we have used up your "cheeks"?


I recently read an excellent article by Paul Bishop that sheds important light on the subject. Bro. Bishop writes from personal experience about the protests that have been held outside of the grounds of the Los Angeles temple. If you haven't already done so, I hope you take a look at it:

http://www.meridianmagazine.com/ideas/081110hate.html

Reading this article created all kinds of emotions inside of me. I felt sad, then annoyed, then angry, and then the cycle started all over again. Ultimately, though, Bro. Bishop concludes his article in just the right spirit. He quotes Elder Robert D. Hales on the true spirit of tolerance. He also adds the thought that Pres. Monson, in the face of this kind of persecution, knows what's going on and is leading us in the right direction.


I'm very grateful to have both a prophet and an exemplary man to whom I can look for guidance and counsel.

Fighting anger with anger and hate with hate has never solved anything - at least, not since Old Testament times. As the scripture says:

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Galatians 5:22–23).

I am also reminded of this excerpt from the life of Elijah:

"The Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:

"And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice" (1 Kings 19:11-12).

I know from experience that you can win converts to your cause - so to speak - only by kindness, civility, and rational thinking.

And that speaks louder than words.