CeranAid and LDS Film Fest

The CeranAid concert was a pleasure to attend. There were probably 750 or so in attendance. The hall maxes out at 1,000. It would've been nice to sell it out for the Cerans, but it felt and looked like a full house, so the energy was good.

There were several musical acts. My hat goes off to each of them. I want to list them here, because each shared their time and talents without compensation. Eclipse, Alex Boye, Jenny Jordan Frogley, George Dyer, Dallyn Vail Bayles, Cherie Call, One Voice Children's Choir, Daniel Beck, Paul Cardall, Katherine Nelson, Peter Breinholt and Ryan Shupe and the RubberBand.

It was an evening of heartfelt songs. I was unfamiliar (beyond knowing their names) with a number of the acts, so it was an opportunity to broaden my understanding of the local musical talent. I continue to be impressed with how much talent is in this area. I would love to be a part of an effort to provide more opportunities for this talent to be appreciated. Must work on that.

We also released this week the CeranAid Benefit CD, featuring songs from the artists in the concert as well as some additional artists. I've had the chance to listen to it a couple of times already, and I think it is not just a nice way to bless the Ceran's lives, but the lives of the listeners as well. If you want to pick up a copy, it's $15, and every single dollar goes right to the Cerans. Find it here: http://www.likenit.com/store/product_info.php?sku=CERAN02

I wrote and submitted an article on the Cerans for Meridian Magazine. It can be found here: http://www.ldsmag.com/churchupdate/070115ceran.html

Also this week, Liken participated in the LDS Film Festival, which was held at the Scera Theater in Orem. We had a booth and a screening. The booth provided an opportunity to let many people see what the series is like. The screening was, too, for all 20 people in attendance. We didn't promote it heavily, and we were up against a presentation at the same time by the Steven Spielberg of our market, Kieth Merrill, but still the attendance was a little more underwhelming than I expected. On top of that, our invited stars either cancelled at the last minute or were too late (a blessing in retrospect), the festival's technical group couldn't figure out how to get the theater lights dimmed, and then when they did, it took them another 5 or 10 minutes for them to get the movie to play. Ah, the joys of show biz. Still, it's guerilla warfare. The 20 people in attendance were, for the most part, new to the series and in the Q&A afterwards, they expressed to us their delight in the series.

CeranAid

Since the Ceran Christmas Eve tragedy, much of our efforts have been devoted to helping this amazing family deal with the aftermath.

We are working on putting together a benefit concert and CD called "CeranAid." It is impressive to see the response from the performing arts community. We've had so many performers come forward to share their talents in one or both (concert and CD), that we've actually run out of room. The artists are all donating their time, and their labels are donating their songs. In addition, the producer, the sound team, the lighting, the local newspaper, the emcees, and more are donating their services. It's wonderful to see it all come together.

The concert will be held Thursday evening, Jan. 18, at Thanksgiving Point. It's a gargantuan project that Janna is spearheading. We're hoping to help the family raise many thousands of dollars, because it sounds like the funds are sorely needed.

The funeral was a tremendously uplifting experience. Yes, there were many tears, but there was also beautiful music, messages of encouragment, reminders of why we're here and the importance of loving one another. President Thomas S. Monson of the Church was there. He shared a message of hope, then read a letter from the First Presidency to the Ceran family. Afterwards, he presented it to Gary. I'll never forget how he bent over to present it to Gary and gave him a kiss on his cheek.