As Seen In Salt Lake Magazine!

“The magazine: glossier cousin of the newspaper. Like an iPad you can read in the bath”

– The Guardian

…Remember those? Well, now I can say “Mormon Soprano: As Seen In Salt Lake Magazine”.

A while back (maybe July or early August?) I got a call from Church PR asking if I would represent the MoTab as a “social media savvy Choir member” and be willing to “take a few questions” from a reporter. I gulped and said “yes”, which turned into a lengthy interview via phone with a really-nice-guy reporter named Jeremy, which also turned into a photo-shoot with another really-nice-guy professional photographer named Adam (all so TOTALLY out of my comfort zone!)

And then my busy life went on, the weeks rolled by, and I pretty much forgot all about it.

Flash forward to Monday when an excited co-worker stops by my desk breathlessly squealing “I saw you in Salt Lake Magazine and you’re great!”.

Oh!

Unfortunately, she didn’t have the magazine with her, so I had to wait several [agonizing] hours to finally get my hands on one, my heart rate ever increasing, afraid of what I might find, and sincerely hoping I hadn’t completely shamed myself.

If you live in the greater SLC / Utah area, you can pick up a copy of Salt Lake Magazine’s December Issue and check it out. For everyone outside UT, the articles aren’t available online yet – possibly because it’s their holiday issue? [Maybe keep checking their website?]

Here’s what the cover looks like:

I know Barnes & Noble has a stack (well … um, ok it’s a lot smaller stack now after I shamelessly bought a few). But, you’ll probably find it anywhere that sells books and magazines [at least in Utah].

Do you remember the good old days when we used to get all our recipes, gossip, pop culture, fashion advice and generally most-important-information from magazines?

“Like an iPad you can read in the bath.”

Salt Lake Magazine in print is one of those wonderful big beautiful “old fashioned” heavy-as-a-book kind of publications filled with lots of wonderful big beautiful glossy photos, classy ads and stylish reporting. As a lover of all things beautiful & artistic, I’m totally crushing on them. 

The new Mormon Tabernacle Choir article is a nice special feature including photos, side bar and an info-graphic with a focus on how the Choir has now entered the “digital age” and how its using social media as well as popular songs to reach a much broader, diverse and global audience.

I HAD NO IDEA what I was getting into when I agreed to “take a few questions”, but it’s been interesting to see which small bits the reporter chose to use from our lengthy chat. I really like how he weaved all of his research together to create a very fun and informative read.

It has been, and remains an incomparable blessing to be a member of the venerable Mormon Tabernacle Choir organization. Next week will mark 7 years since my letter of acceptance arrived for the Chorale at Temple Square (the “boot camp” prerequisite to becoming a full-fledged member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir), and my life changed forever. It’s hard to believe how much has happened since then, and yet how fast the time has flown.There’s always something new to learn, something new to prepare for, some new way to serve, and some new surprise around the next corner.

For example, I recently found out I’ll be singing with Elmo and the gang for Christmas. 🙂

It’s a completely immersive, endlessly relentless, utterly exhausting, and fantastically rewarding adventure being in “the MoTab”. It’s nothing like I ever envisioned! I’m ‘living the dream‘ for my Grandpa Red, and for so many others, and I really do feel it’s a sacred trust. As a choir member I’ve been trained to “blend in”, so it’s automatically embarrassing to do anything to “stick out”. Being featured in a magazine article as “the choir member” is more than a little uncomfortable. Yet, I am honored to represent all of my fellow choir members who are each so amazing.

And, yes, I have to admit I was VERY startled to open up the magazine last night and see my mug placed side-by-side our fearless leader & incomparable musical genius Mack Wilberg.

Epic.

Somebody better pinch me. – MoSop

P.S. And speaking of magazines… while I was raiding the rack at B&N I spotted yet one more reason I can hardly wait until Christmas!