Posted by admin on August 4th, 2011 — Posted in Uncategorized
Tags: 090218, Dodson's, gospel, heights, lifts, Operation, Rising, star
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Operation Rising Star lifts Dodson’s gospel to new heights 090218
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PHOTO CAPTION: Operation Rising Star winner Joyce Dodson sings Faith and Hope written by U.S. Army Soldier Show director Victor Hurtado and David Ylvisakir, as part of the Steven Roberts Learn to Sing Gospel Workshop and Concert Feb. 7 at the First Presbyterian Church in Pasadena, Calif.
(Photo by Tim Hipps, FMWRC Public Affairs)
www.armymwr.com
Operation Rising Star lifts Dodson’s gospel to new heights 090218
Story and photos by Tim Hipps
FMWRC Public Affairs
PASADENA, Calif. – Operation Rising Star lifted Army Family member Joyce Dodson’s singing career to new heights during a whirlwind week in Southern California.
Dodson celebrated her victory in the Army Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command-sponsored singing contest Feb. 5-12 by recording a three-song, gospel CD at DMI Studios in Old Pasadena, attending the 51st Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and singing in a Black History Month concert at a church in Santa Barbara.
The recording session was the grand prize, the Grammys a pleasant surprise, and the church gig a tune-up for her “gone-Hollywood” experience.
Dodson, 25, a gospel singer from Danville, Va., knew she would be cutting a demo CD in California, but was surprised by the perks added to her prize package and the professionalism that awaited her at Firehouse Recording Studios.
“I did know there was a grand prize three-song demo being done in Los Angeles, but I had no idea all the work that goes into that,” Dodson said. “I never knew how much work goes into each song on each CD. A lot of work and a lot of love went into this demo, most definitely.”
Dodson said she felt blessed to work with some of the best in the recording business.
“I must truly say that every single person I worked with here is truly a professional and an expert in their gift and craft,” Dodson said. “The musicians, my vocal coach, the engineers and technicians all worked very hard and long. They put their heart and soul into everything they do – just awesome, awesome professionals.”
DMI Music’s engineers and producers have recorded artists like Patti Labelle, Chaka Khan, Patti Austin and Foreplay. Aretha Franklin recently recorded a Christmas album there. When Dodson arrived on Monday morning, staffers were still glowing in the aftermath of client Natalie Cole’s Grammy victory on Sunday.
“They gave me the best of the best,” said Dodson, whose drummer, Burleigh Drummond, played for Ambrosia of “Holdin’ On” fame. “There’s no second-hand going on here.”
Dodson stepped to the microphone and performed like she was right at home with the best of the rest.
“I just tried to listen to everything they told me,” she said. “If you can’t listen, you can’t grow. So I tried to listen to what they told me, tried to do it, and got better and better. Singing is my passion. That’s what I love, so that part was easy.”
The Grammys – originally called the Gramophone Awards – are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry. U.S. Army Soldier Show director Victor Hurtado, a voting member of the association and co-host of the televised Operation Rising Star production, made arrangements for Dodson to attend the awards ceremony that featured performances by prominent artists.
“We went to the Grammys and the official after-party at the convention center,” said Dodson, who was accompanied by husband Sgt. Marquis Dodson. “I had a good time but I had to leave early because I had to prepare to come to the studio this morning.
“We got there early because we wanted to get a good seat, and the stars came in late. I got to see Blair Underwood. I had the opportunity to talk with him, but I didn’t. … I didn’t want to go star-struck on him.
“We also saw Paula Abdul and Robin Thicke. It was like a big, live concert. My favorite was Stevie Wonder and the Johannas Brothers.”
The next day, Dodson became one of the Firehouse Studio staff’s favorite first-time recording artists.
“She doesn’t need any help,” said vocals coach/producer Terry Wood, a studio background singer. “She’s got a beautifully developed sense of herself and her instrument is gorgeous. She’s got a great feel. She has no pitch problems that I can hear of at all.”
The long day began with Dodson and four musicians laying down the music, making sure it was on point and ready for more vocal tracks.
“I sang along with the live band just to give them a real feel of what I’m singing so they can feel it better by hearing me and how I sing it – nothing fancy, just something for them to go by,” she said.
That process consumed most of the morning. By midday, they were mixing more instrumental riffs, followed by more mixing. By nightfall, the group moved onto background vocals, which Wood and Hurtado sang into the wee hours of Tuesday morning – long after Dodson had retreated to the hotel.
“Jet lag is kicking my butt,” Dodson said after completing a 12-hour day in the studio. “Today I did a lot better than Saturday, but it’s still a nine-hour difference between here and Germany.”
Dodson returned to the studio on Tuesday to sing lead vocals.
“She was so inspiring, that the vocal coach asked to sing with us on the background vocals,” Hurtado said with a proud smile.
Wood was amazed with Dodson’s poise as a novice in the recording studio.
“You don’t sound the same to yourself in the headphones,” Wood explained. “It can be scary because you can hear flaws and pitch and things that you don’t hear live because you feel it more than you hear it, but that was not the case with her at all. In fact, I treated her like a session singer doing the backgrounds. I never even considered her not being a studio singer. I talked to her just like I would talk to one of my peers in trying to accomplish something. I never pulled any punches with her.
“I think she just might have a future.”
Engineer Les Cooper, who mixed Dodson’s vocals with the music, agreed.
“Absolutely wonderful,” he assessed. “You see a little shyness out of her, but once she started singing the leads, she was absolutely wonderful. As long as she knew where she was in the song – because the songs were rearranged and it was a little difficult for her in the beginning – but once she got the hang of it, man, I’ll tell you, that girl can sing. She doesn’t need much help.”
Ditto from pianist Tim Heintz, who produced and arranged Dodson’s CD.
“She’s just got such a natural gift,” he said. “She’s got chops. She can bring it. And she’s so eager – with eyes wide open. She was a dream to work with because the studio can be very intimidating, but she didn’t seem fazed by it at all.
“She hopped right in, opened her mouth, and a great voice came out.”
Hurtado and David Ylvisakir wrote “Faith and Hope” especially for Dodson.
“He told me that I inspired him to write that song,” Dodson said. “It reminded me of when I was in the finals of Operation Rising Star competition. I remember Victor asked me, ‘What drives you?’ And I said, ‘My faith drives me. That’s what pushes me and keeps me going.’”
“New Beginnings,” Dodson’s favorite of the three songs, was written by Army veteran Linda Dummars, who participated in the Army Festival of the Performing Arts under the direction of Joe Leavell, FMWRC’s new talent coordinator.
“That song has so much feeling and so much passion you can tell that it was written from a sincere heart with a true love for God,” Dodson said. “I really love that song. To me, it just really describes what’s going on in my life – this is a new beginning.”
Dodson’s rendition of the song brought tears to Carpenter’s eyes while he mixed the music and vocals.
Dodson’s third song, “Stand by Me,” was written by Grammy Award-winning gospel composer Steven Roberts.
“I just love that song because I got a chance to meet Mr. Roberts at the concert on Saturday and he is an awesome man of God,” Dodson said. “The song is traditional, yet modernized. That song helped me be more diverse so I have material for the young people, yet I can still reel in the more traditional-sounding music, as well. I have fun singing that song. It reminds me of back home at church.”
Hurtado, too, was visibly proud of Dodson’s poise in the studio.
“When you consider that between the Operation Rising Star video auditions and the show we only saw Joyce sing for a total of 5 ½ minutes, you realize how fortunate we were to end up with Joyce,” he said. “You could tell that Joyce had been a Soldier. Even though she was the artist, she completely gave herself to the direction of the producers and vocal coaches.”
Dodson performed alongside the Steven Roberts’ Learn to Sing Gospel Music Workshop Choir in a Black History Month Concert at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Barbara two days before entering the studio.
“It was a workshop, so they had only been working on those songs for two days,” Dodson said. “But Mr. Roberts had that choir sounding awesome. It was like everyone coming together for a common cause. I truly enjoyed myself.”
Dodson sang “Faith and Hope” solo before being joined by Hurtado and the choir for an “up-tempo, modernized version” of “Lord Prepare Me.”
“We had so much fun with that song,” Dodson said. “I really did. I think it helped loosen me up a little bit to do the concert before [heading to the studio]. It was like, ‘OK, you can do this’ in a different atmosphere around different people.
“Take me back to the church so I can get ready to do what I do.”
Dodson, a four-year Army veteran who deployed to Iraq, works at the in- and out-processing center in Schweinfurt, Germany, as a Department of the Army civilian.
Hurtado hopes her journey will inspire more Soldiers and Family members to compete to become the Army’s next singing star.
“Joyce Dodson has the potential of being a force to reckon within the gospel genre,” he said. “The work she did here will do more than validate her as an artist – it validated the work done by the folks at Operation Rising Star.”
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www.Twitter.com/FamilyMWR
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Operation Rising Star lifts Dodson’s gospel to new heights 090218
Image by familymwr
PHOTO CAPTION: Operation Rising Star winner Joyce Dodson sings Faith and Hope at DMI Music’s Firehouse Recording Studios in Pasadena, where she recorded a three-song CD as part of her prize package for winning the Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command-sponsored singing contest.
(Photo by Tim Hipps, FMWRC Public Affairs)
www.armymwr.com
Operation Rising Star lifts Dodson’s gospel to new heights 090218
Story and photos by Tim Hipps
FMWRC Public Affairs
PASADENA, Calif. – Operation Rising Star lifted Army Family member Joyce Dodson’s singing career to new heights during a whirlwind week in Southern California.
Dodson celebrated her victory in the Army Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command-sponsored singing contest Feb. 5-12 by recording a three-song, gospel CD at DMI Studios in Old Pasadena, attending the 51st Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and singing in a Black History Month concert at a church in Santa Barbara.
The recording session was the grand prize, the Grammys a pleasant surprise, and the church gig a tune-up for her “gone-Hollywood” experience.
Dodson, 25, a gospel singer from Danville, Va., knew she would be cutting a demo CD in California, but was surprised by the perks added to her prize package and the professionalism that awaited her at Firehouse Recording Studios.
“I did know there was a grand prize three-song demo being done in Los Angeles, but I had no idea all the work that goes into that,” Dodson said. “I never knew how much work goes into each song on each CD. A lot of work and a lot of love went into this demo, most definitely.”
Dodson said she felt blessed to work with some of the best in the recording business.
“I must truly say that every single person I worked with here is truly a professional and an expert in their gift and craft,” Dodson said. “The musicians, my vocal coach, the engineers and technicians all worked very hard and long. They put their heart and soul into everything they do – just awesome, awesome professionals.”
DMI Music’s engineers and producers have recorded artists like Patti Labelle, Chaka Khan, Patti Austin and Foreplay. Aretha Franklin recently recorded a Christmas album there. When Dodson arrived on Monday morning, staffers were still glowing in the aftermath of client Natalie Cole’s Grammy victory on Sunday.
“They gave me the best of the best,” said Dodson, whose drummer, Burleigh Drummond, played for Ambrosia of “Holdin’ On” fame. “There’s no second-hand going on here.”
Dodson stepped to the microphone and performed like she was right at home with the best of the rest.
“I just tried to listen to everything they told me,” she said. “If you can’t listen, you can’t grow. So I tried to listen to what they told me, tried to do it, and got better and better. Singing is my passion. That’s what I love, so that part was easy.”
The Grammys – originally called the Gramophone Awards – are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry. U.S. Army Soldier Show director Victor Hurtado, a voting member of the association and co-host of the televised Operation Rising Star production, made arrangements for Dodson to attend the awards ceremony that featured performances by prominent artists.
“We went to the Grammys and the official after-party at the convention center,” said Dodson, who was accompanied by husband Sgt. Marquis Dodson. “I had a good time but I had to leave early because I had to prepare to come to the studio this morning.
“We got there early because we wanted to get a good seat, and the stars came in late. I got to see Blair Underwood. I had the opportunity to talk with him, but I didn’t. … I didn’t want to go star-struck on him.
“We also saw Paula Abdul and Robin Thicke. It was like a big, live concert. My favorite was Stevie Wonder and the Johannas Brothers.”
The next day, Dodson became one of the Firehouse Studio staff’s favorite first-time recording artists.
“She doesn’t need any help,” said vocals coach/producer Terry Wood, a studio background singer. “She’s got a beautifully developed sense of herself and her instrument is gorgeous. She’s got a great feel. She has no pitch problems that I can hear of at all.”
The long day began with Dodson and four musicians laying down the music, making sure it was on point and ready for more vocal tracks.
“I sang along with the live band just to give them a real feel of what I’m singing so they can feel it better by hearing me and how I sing it – nothing fancy, just something for them to go by,” she said.
That process consumed most of the morning. By midday, they were mixing more instrumental riffs, followed by more mixing. By nightfall, the group moved onto background vocals, which Wood and Hurtado sang into the wee hours of Tuesday morning – long after Dodson had retreated to the hotel.
“Jet lag is kicking my butt,” Dodson said after completing a 12-hour day in the studio. “Today I did a lot better than Saturday, but it’s still a nine-hour difference between here and Germany.”
Dodson returned to the studio on Tuesday to sing lead vocals.
“She was so inspiring, that the vocal coach asked to sing with us on the background vocals,” Hurtado said with a proud smile.
Wood was amazed with Dodson’s poise as a novice in the recording studio.
“You don’t sound the same to yourself in the headphones,” Wood explained. “It can be scary because you can hear flaws and pitch and things that you don’t hear live because you feel it more than you hear it, but that was not the case with her at all. In fact, I treated her like a session singer doing the backgrounds. I never even considered her not being a studio singer. I talked to her just like I would talk to one of my peers in trying to accomplish something. I never pulled any punches with her.
“I think she just might have a future.”
Engineer Les Cooper, who mixed Dodson’s vocals with the music, agreed.
“Absolutely wonderful,” he assessed. “You see a little shyness out of her, but once she started singing the leads, she was absolutely wonderful. As long as she knew where she was in the song – because the songs were rearranged and it was a little difficult for her in the beginning – but once she got the hang of it, man, I’ll tell you, that girl can sing. She doesn’t need much help.”
Ditto from pianist Tim Heintz, who produced and arranged Dodson’s CD.
“She’s just got such a natural gift,” he said. “She’s got chops. She can bring it. And she’s so eager – with eyes wide open. She was a dream to work with because the studio can be very intimidating, but she didn’t seem fazed by it at all.
“She hopped right in, opened her mouth, and a great voice came out.”
Hurtado and David Ylvisakir wrote “Faith and Hope” especially for Dodson.
“He told me that I inspired him to write that song,” Dodson said. “It reminded me of when I was in the finals of Operation Rising Star competition. I remember Victor asked me, ‘What drives you?’ And I said, ‘My faith drives me. That’s what pushes me and keeps me going.’”
“New Beginnings,” Dodson’s favorite of the three songs, was written by Army veteran Linda Dummars, who participated in the Army Festival of the Performing Arts under the direction of Joe Leavell, FMWRC’s new talent coordinator.
“That song has so much feeling and so much passion you can tell that it was written from a sincere heart with a true love for God,” Dodson said. “I really love that song. To me, it just really describes what’s going on in my life – this is a new beginning.”
Dodson’s rendition of the song brought tears to Carpenter’s eyes while he mixed the music and vocals.
Dodson’s third song, “Stand by Me,” was written by Grammy Award-winning gospel composer Steven Roberts.
“I just love that song because I got a chance to meet Mr. Roberts at the concert on Saturday and he is an awesome man of God,” Dodson said. “The song is traditional, yet modernized. That song helped me be more diverse so I have material for the young people, yet I can still reel in the more traditional-sounding music, as well. I have fun singing that song. It reminds me of back home at church.”
Hurtado, too, was visibly proud of Dodson’s poise in the studio.
“When you consider that between the Operation Rising Star video auditions and the show we only saw Joyce sing for a total of 5 ½ minutes, you realize how fortunate we were to end up with Joyce,” he said. “You could tell that Joyce had been a Soldier. Even though she was the artist, she completely gave herself to the direction of the producers and vocal coaches.”
Dodson performed alongside the Steven Roberts’ Learn to Sing Gospel Music Workshop Choir in a Black History Month Concert at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Barbara two days before entering the studio.
“It was a workshop, so they had only been working on those songs for two days,” Dodson said. “But Mr. Roberts had that choir sounding awesome. It was like everyone coming together for a common cause. I truly enjoyed myself.”
Dodson sang “Faith and Hope” solo before being joined by Hurtado and the choir for an “up-tempo, modernized version” of “Lord Prepare Me.”
“We had so much fun with that song,” Dodson said. “I really did. I think it helped loosen me up a little bit to do the concert before [heading to the studio]. It was like, ‘OK, you can do this’ in a different atmosphere around different people.
“Take me back to the church so I can get ready to do what I do.”
Dodson, a four-year Army veteran who deployed to Iraq, works at the in- and out-processing center in Schweinfurt, Germany, as a Department of the Army civilian.
Hurtado hopes her journey will inspire more Soldiers and Family members to compete to become the Army’s next singing star.
“Joyce Dodson has the potential of being a force to reckon within the gospel genre,” he said. “The work she did here will do more than validate her as an artist – it validated the work done by the folks at Operation Rising Star.”
Connect with us:
www.Facebook.com/FamilyMWR
www.Twitter.com/FamilyMWR
www.YouTube.com/FamilyMWR
Operation Rising Star lifts Dodson’s gospel to new heights 090218
Image by familymwr
PHOTO CAPTION: Operation Rising Star winner Joyce Dodson listens to herself Feb. 9 during a recording session at DMI Music’s Firehouse Recording Studios in Pasadena, Calif., where she cut a three-song CD as part of her grand prize for winning the Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command-sponsored event.
(Photo by Tim Hipps, FMWRC Public Affairs)
www.armymwr.com
Operation Rising Star lifts Dodson’s gospel to new heights 090218
Story and photos by Tim Hipps
FMWRC Public Affairs
PASADENA, Calif. – Operation Rising Star lifted Army Family member Joyce Dodson’s singing career to new heights during a whirlwind week in Southern California.
Dodson celebrated her victory in the Army Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command-sponsored singing contest Feb. 5-12 by recording a three-song, gospel CD at DMI Studios in Old Pasadena, attending the 51st Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and singing in a Black History Month concert at a church in Santa Barbara.
The recording session was the grand prize, the Grammys a pleasant surprise, and the church gig a tune-up for her “gone-Hollywood” experience.
Dodson, 25, a gospel singer from Danville, Va., knew she would be cutting a demo CD in California, but was surprised by the perks added to her prize package and the professionalism that awaited her at Firehouse Recording Studios.
“I did know there was a grand prize three-song demo being done in Los Angeles, but I had no idea all the work that goes into that,” Dodson said. “I never knew how much work goes into each song on each CD. A lot of work and a lot of love went into this demo, most definitely.”
Dodson said she felt blessed to work with some of the best in the recording business.
“I must truly say that every single person I worked with here is truly a professional and an expert in their gift and craft,” Dodson said. “The musicians, my vocal coach, the engineers and technicians all worked very hard and long. They put their heart and soul into everything they do – just awesome, awesome professionals.”
DMI Music’s engineers and producers have recorded artists like Patti Labelle, Chaka Khan, Patti Austin and Foreplay. Aretha Franklin recently recorded a Christmas album there. When Dodson arrived on Monday morning, staffers were still glowing in the aftermath of client Natalie Cole’s Grammy victory on Sunday.
“They gave me the best of the best,” said Dodson, whose drummer, Burleigh Drummond, played for Ambrosia of “Holdin’ On” fame. “There’s no second-hand going on here.”
Dodson stepped to the microphone and performed like she was right at home with the best of the rest.
“I just tried to listen to everything they told me,” she said. “If you can’t listen, you can’t grow. So I tried to listen to what they told me, tried to do it, and got better and better. Singing is my passion. That’s what I love, so that part was easy.”
The Grammys – originally called the Gramophone Awards – are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry. U.S. Army Soldier Show director Victor Hurtado, a voting member of the association and co-host of the televised Operation Rising Star production, made arrangements for Dodson to attend the awards ceremony that featured performances by prominent artists.
“We went to the Grammys and the official after-party at the convention center,” said Dodson, who was accompanied by husband Sgt. Marquis Dodson. “I had a good time but I had to leave early because I had to prepare to come to the studio this morning.
“We got there early because we wanted to get a good seat, and the stars came in late. I got to see Blair Underwood. I had the opportunity to talk with him, but I didn’t. … I didn’t want to go star-struck on him.
“We also saw Paula Abdul and Robin Thicke. It was like a big, live concert. My favorite was Stevie Wonder and the Johannas Brothers.”
The next day, Dodson became one of the Firehouse Studio staff’s favorite first-time recording artists.
“She doesn’t need any help,” said vocals coach/producer Terry Wood, a studio background singer. “She’s got a beautifully developed sense of herself and her instrument is gorgeous. She’s got a great feel. She has no pitch problems that I can hear of at all.”
The long day began with Dodson and four musicians laying down the music, making sure it was on point and ready for more vocal tracks.
“I sang along with the live band just to give them a real feel of what I’m singing so they can feel it better by hearing me and how I sing it – nothing fancy, just something for them to go by,” she said.
That process consumed most of the morning. By midday, they were mixing more instrumental riffs, followed by more mixing. By nightfall, the group moved onto background vocals, which Wood and Hurtado sang into the wee hours of Tuesday morning – long after Dodson had retreated to the hotel.
“Jet lag is kicking my butt,” Dodson said after completing a 12-hour day in the studio. “Today I did a lot better than Saturday, but it’s still a nine-hour difference between here and Germany.”
Dodson returned to the studio on Tuesday to sing lead vocals.
“She was so inspiring, that the vocal coach asked to sing with us on the background vocals,” Hurtado said with a proud smile.
Wood was amazed with Dodson’s poise as a novice in the recording studio.
“You don’t sound the same to yourself in the headphones,” Wood explained. “It can be scary because you can hear flaws and pitch and things that you don’t hear live because you feel it more than you hear it, but that was not the case with her at all. In fact, I treated her like a session singer doing the backgrounds. I never even considered her not being a studio singer. I talked to her just like I would talk to one of my peers in trying to accomplish something. I never pulled any punches with her.
“I think she just might have a future.”
Engineer Les Cooper, who mixed Dodson’s vocals with the music, agreed.
“Absolutely wonderful,” he assessed. “You see a little shyness out of her, but once she started singing the leads, she was absolutely wonderful. As long as she knew where she was in the song – because the songs were rearranged and it was a little difficult for her in the beginning – but once she got the hang of it, man, I’ll tell you, that girl can sing. She doesn’t need much help.”
Ditto from pianist Tim Heintz, who produced and arranged Dodson’s CD.
“She’s just got such a natural gift,” he said. “She’s got chops. She can bring it. And she’s so eager – with eyes wide open. She was a dream to work with because the studio can be very intimidating, but she didn’t seem fazed by it at all.
“She hopped right in, opened her mouth, and a great voice came out.”
Hurtado and David Ylvisakir wrote “Faith and Hope” especially for Dodson.
“He told me that I inspired him to write that song,” Dodson said. “It reminded me of when I was in the finals of Operation Rising Star competition. I remember Victor asked me, ‘What drives you?’ And I said, ‘My faith drives me. That’s what pushes me and keeps me going.’”
“New Beginnings,” Dodson’s favorite of the three songs, was written by Army veteran Linda Dummars, who participated in the Army Festival of the Performing Arts under the direction of Joe Leavell, FMWRC’s new talent coordinator.
“That song has so much feeling and so much passion you can tell that it was written from a sincere heart with a true love for God,” Dodson said. “I really love that song. To me, it just really describes what’s going on in my life – this is a new beginning.”
Dodson’s rendition of the song brought tears to Carpenter’s eyes while he mixed the music and vocals.
Dodson’s third song, “Stand by Me,” was written by Grammy Award-winning gospel composer Steven Roberts.
“I just love that song because I got a chance to meet Mr. Roberts at the concert on Saturday and he is an awesome man of God,” Dodson said. “The song is traditional, yet modernized. That song helped me be more diverse so I have material for the young people, yet I can still reel in the more traditional-sounding music, as well. I have fun singing that song. It reminds me of back home at church.”
Hurtado, too, was visibly proud of Dodson’s poise in the studio.
“When you consider that between the Operation Rising Star video auditions and the show we only saw Joyce sing for a total of 5 ½ minutes, you realize how fortunate we were to end up with Joyce,” he said. “You could tell that Joyce had been a Soldier. Even though she was the artist, she completely gave herself to the direction of the producers and vocal coaches.”
Dodson performed alongside the Steven Roberts’ Learn to Sing Gospel Music Workshop Choir in a Black History Month Concert at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Barbara two days before entering the studio.
“It was a workshop, so they had only been working on those songs for two days,” Dodson said. “But Mr. Roberts had that choir sounding awesome. It was like everyone coming together for a common cause. I truly enjoyed myself.”
Dodson sang “Faith and Hope” solo before being joined by Hurtado and the choir for an “up-tempo, modernized version” of “Lord Prepare Me.”
“We had so much fun with that song,” Dodson said. “I really did. I think it helped loosen me up a little bit to do the concert before [heading to the studio]. It was like, ‘OK, you can do this’ in a different atmosphere around different people.
“Take me back to the church so I can get ready to do what I do.”
Dodson, a four-year Army veteran who deployed to Iraq, works at the in- and out-processing center in Schweinfurt, Germany, as a Department of the Army civilian.
Hurtado hopes her journey will inspire more Soldiers and Family members to compete to become the Army’s next singing star.
“Joyce Dodson has the potential of being a force to reckon within the gospel genre,” he said. “The work she did here will do more than validate her as an artist – it validated the work done by the folks at Operation Rising Star.”
Connect with us:
www.Facebook.com/FamilyMWR
www.Twitter.com/FamilyMWR
www.YouTube.com/FamilyMWR
Posted by admin on August 2nd, 2011 — Posted in Uncategorized
Tags: Girls, Meet, Nice, photos
Some cool how to meet girls images:
1871 Murder of Emily Gardner Wellesley Road, Cheltenham
Image by brizzle born and bred
The execution of Fredrick Jones
H.M. Prison Gloucester Monday Jan Monday 8th 1872 aged 20 years – hanged by Calcraft
Murder of Emily Gardner
‘The sentence of the Court upon you is, that you be taken from this place to a lawful prison and thence to a place of execution and that you be hanged by the neck until you are dead; and that your body be afterwards buried within the precincts of the prison in which you shall been confined before your execution. And may the Lord have mercy on your soul. Amen.’
The words changed little from when it was first used until the death penalty was abolished in the late 1960s. Since the middle ages the above death sentence was passed in British Courts on people convicted of murder. Over a quarter of a century has passed since the last person was hanged in Britain following the abolition of capital punishment in 1965.
The last scene in connection with the terrible tragedy enacted in Cheltenham a month ago was witnessed by a few persons within one of the airing yards at the County Prison at eight o’clock on Monday — almost before daylight. Frederick Jones was then executed for the murder of Emily Gardner. He was twenty years and eleven months old on the day of his execution, his victim was only eighteen.
Jones could neither read nor write, he had been sent to school when young, but had always avoided it and run from school duties. On the evening after his trial, feeling that he had no hope of life, he began to make to the Chaplain the confession about the murder. He never insinuated anything reflecting upon his victim beyond the incidents which aroused his jealousy.
He said he loved her passionately and again and again he protested that he desired to obtain the forgiveness of the family of the dead girl. As he could neither read nor write so his confession made from time to time was written down by the Chaplain and read over to him on Sunday night, when he ascertained it was accurate. ‘I had been very jealous of her for some time and for a month or more it used to come into my mind very often that if I could not have her, nobody else should.
This was because I thought she used to make more free with the lodgers than she ought to. She used to tell me about the larks and bits of fun with this chap and another, and this made me jealous of her.
About a week before it happened a young fellow told me that her and her sister had certain bad books called I thought it was wrong for respectable girls to have such books and spoke to them about it, but they denied it and it was agreed between me and the girls that the next time we met this young fellow again Alice would question him and then pitch into him.
This made me feel very jealous and I swore that if I caught her speaking to anybody I would kill her.
On Friday night before it happened, I was going through the kitchen of her father’s house and as I passed I saw one of the lodgers and her sitting together. He had his hand on her knee and she was asleep or pretending to be asleep. This made me very savage because I thought that it showed there was something else between them.
There was Mrs , a neighbour who lives opposite, in the house at the same time, and as we left the house together I asked her if she noticed it and if she thought it the right thing to do. I thought more of this than anything else. Emily was drawing some beer and one of the lodgers reached over her shoulder to draw some for himself.
The Murder of Emily Gardner
I spoke about his leaning over her shoulder and he called me jealous. On the Sunday afternoon it happened she went and sat in the same room with the lodgers. I asked her several times to come and sit where I was. She would not, but stopped in that one room all the time. I was drinking most of the day and all that afternoon. I went to my tea and returned about 6 o’clock.
It was then that I took the razor from the place where it used to be kept and after a bit Emily and Alice said they were going for a walk and asked me if I would like to go with them.
They said ‘Now Fred, are you coming along?’. I said I would. We walked towards Swindon but did not go quite all the way and I had the razor in my pocket all the time.
I felt inclined to throw it away several times, but something seemed to keep me from doing it. We came back again and I went home to have my supper. After I had it I went over to their house again. When Alice was ready to go home, Emily put on her things to go with her, and they asked me to go along.
After we parted from Alice and were going on home again it came to my mind I would kill her if she would not tell me she cared for me and I said to her ‘You seem to care for those humbuggin lodgers more than you do for me, for you have been sitting in their company all the evening’.
I also told her of having seen Jack’s hand on her knee on Friday night. She said ‘Don’t bother me, I shall do as I like’. I said ‘Do you care for me or not?’, but she would not tell me.
I said ‘I will make you tell me or I will cut your throat with your father’s own razor’. She then screamed murder three times and I said ‘I will murder you if I am to hang for it the next minute’. I then placed my hand across her chest, she stood against the wall and I was too much for her.
I cut her across the throat and she fell against me and knocked me down and we fell together and that was how I was covered with blood. Somehow or other in the scuffle my face got cut. I was determined to kill her and I cut her again.
I dragged the body, as they said, to the ditch that it would not be run over or that and went home.
I never know any harm by her in all my life and I love her now. I should not like to live and do not dread what is before me, and I pray every hour for the Lord to have mercy upon me and forgive me.’
Executioner Calcraft
The morning of the execution arrived, the prisoner having slept soundly awoke at 6 o’clock. As the time approached for the prisoner to leave his cell he accepted a piece of cake from one of the Warders and asked for a little brandy, which he was given.
He then walked down the winding staircase to the pinioning room and resigned himself to Calcraft the hangman.
At a few minutes to eight he walked into the Courtyard; at the foot of the scaffold he halted, he then kissed the Chaplain and ascended the steps and stood erect on the platform.
The few seconds which elapsed before the hangman’s preparations had been completed seemed almost an age.
The culprit stood unsupported, but the deathly pallor upon his countenance showed how great the effort he was making to meet his death with calmness.
Though he stood wonderfully firm there was nothing of hardihood or bravado in his demeanour.
The rope was put around his neck and in another second or two the bolt was drawn and with a jar to the framework of the gallows, as the rope tightened, the murderer was dead.
There was a convulsive throe and then, with the exception of a few slight convulsions, all was over. Death, as a surgeon present stated, was instantaneous.
The body remained suspended for the time prescribed by law and then was taken down and a formal inquest was held upon it by Mr Ball acting coroner for the district. At the inquest Captain Wilson, Governor of the Prison stated that he was present at the trial and condemnation of the prisoner — that he had witnessed the execution and the body of the man the Jury had viewed was that of the man who had been so condemned, and executed.
A singular coincidence has been noted as being connected with the day of the execution. The first evening lesson for that day presented in the new Dictionary and as read in the Cathedral was the chapter in Genesis wherein God says to Noah —’Who so sheddeth man’s blood by man shall his blood be shed for in the image of God made he man’.
(The first private hanging took place on the 8th of January 1872 when 20 year old Frederick Jones was put to death by William Calcraft for the murder of his girlfriend, Emily Gardner, on a raised scaffold in the prison yard. (This was the same gallows as had previously been used on the roof). There were steps the prisoner had to climb to reach the platform some 4 to 5 feet high.)
Excerpts from The Gloucester Journal 1872 by Senior Prison Officer White P.R.O.
See Cheltenham Murder Walk
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Army Arts & Crafts Contest deadline is June 30 090616
Image by familymwr
PHOTO CAPTION: Laura Irick won 3rd Place in the Novice Mixed Media, 2-D division for her entry, “Tea Shop in Belgium”
www.armymwr.com
Army Arts & Crafts Contest deadline is June 30 090616 (Posted June 16, 2009)
By Rob McIlvaine
FMWRC Public Affairs
Last year’s winners at the Army Arts & Crafts Contest in both categories brought intelligence, imagination and whimsy to the easel or workbench and elevated craft to fine art through their execution of design and technique.
Their works of art ran the gamut from representational and Trompe-L´œl to abstract, expressionism and surrealism.
The deadline for the 2009 Arts & Crafts Contest is June 30, 2009. Only authorized MWR patrons, except Arts and Crafts employees, are eligible to enter.
The annual contest has two separate groups – Group 1 (Novice-no formal training) and Group 2 (Accomplished-formal training or awards from professional competitions) – with 11 categories, including ceramics, drawings, fibers and textiles, glass, metals and jewelry, 2-D and 3-D mixed media, oil- and water-based painting, prints, and wood.
“It always amazes me how talented our Army Soldiers and Civilians and their Family members are. The annual Army Arts and Crafts contest is a wonderful way to showcase those talents and give them the recognition they deserve," Linda Ezernieks said.
Ezernieks is Community Recreation Directorate Arts and Automotive Program Manager at the U.S. Army Family and MWR Command.
Ten people won two awards each, including Yang Hand at USAG-Yongsan, Karen Reshel at Stuttgart and Natalie Lucht at Fort Detrick. Many of the garrisons had multiple winners with USAG-Yongsan garnering 13 awards, Stuttgart receiving eight, and Redstone Arsenal bringing home five awards.
Sgt. Maj. Steven Carter, a chaplain’s assistant who will retire this August, entered the Accomplished Metals and Jewelry category last year and won 1st Place for his bronze sculpture, “Waiting to Evolve.”
“I received a B.A. in Fine Arts in College and was a painter for about 10 years until I got into making knives for another 10 years as a member of the American Knifemakers Guild,” he said.
But Steve has a restless personality and likes to try new things.
“I went over to the crafts shop at Fort Lewis in ’83 to ’85, sometime around there,” Carter remembered, “and got hooked on the bronze foundry they had there. Those crafts people were the best, teaching me everything about the trade.”
The bronze piece, “Waiting to Evolve,” grew out of a lump of clay sitting on his desk.
“I started playing around with it until it began looking like someone sitting there. So then I thought, ‘what’s he thinking about?’ Well, we’re always evolving to be better, maybe not actually doing something about it, waiting, kind of like “waiting for Godot,” Carter said.
Asked why he likes to make art he replied, “I don’t have a choice. If I can’t make something, I get anxious so I just start trying to work with clay until something happens.”
This year’s contest will see more of his work.
1st Lt. John Arteche began his career with a degree in computer graphics design but now is a platoon leader in Korea.
“I’ve been working with art for about four years, primarily in digital media. With math and physics you spend forever and a day learning it, only to be tested on who can get the same answer more efficiently. Art, on the other hand, has no answer. It simply just comes to a point where the creator likes where it’s at. The pay, if any, is so-so, the hours are dreadfully long, but in the end it’s just the satisfaction of putting your ideas down on a piece of paper. It’s one of the things in life that can never be wrong.”
Asked how he came up with his winning entry, “Meeting of an Orange & a Venus Fly Trap,” he laughed.
“The idea was to take something ordinary and make it extra ordinary. Initially, I had absolutely no idea what to make. But after three days of chicken scratch and a whole lot of caffeine, I opened my fridge and saw an orange that looked bright, fragrant, healthy and inviting.”
The coffee and lack of sleep must have tipped him over the edge.
“I took each of those components and made it the opposite. You take an orange and supersize it and now it’s unnatural and freakish in dimension. Adding candy corn teeth makes it unhealthy and almost foul. I kept its distinct bright feature because now its orangeness served a different purpose…not to inspire health and wellbeing, but to draw you closer so it can chomp on you.”
Laura Irick and her daughter, Sarah, both Family members in Wiesbaden, Germany won 1st Place and 2nd Place, respectively in the Novice Drawing category. In addition, Laura won 3rd Place in Novice Mixed Media, 2-D and Sarah won 2nd Place in Novice Prints.
“We’ve been doing art our entire lives,” Irick said of herself and her daughter. “However, when Sarah was 14, she drew a portrait of a young girl with a pencil and we both realized she was likely headed for art school. My ambition for art paled in comparison with my passion as a mother to help shape my daughter’s character, and that was what kept me interested in doing art with her.”
This year’s contest won’t include entries from Sarah.
“Sarah is taking a sabbatical by working at a ranch in Arizona for the summer and will be making a decision about college. I’m preparing to return to America so I wasn’t going to enter this year,” Laura said.
But for these artists, art is life, or as the logo for a major motion picture company puts it, “Ars Gratia Artis,” – Art for Art’s Sake.
“Somehow I found time to enter the art contest again,” Irick said, “and I’ve also entered the Army photography contest, concluding this fall.”
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ks100910
Image by half alive – soo zzzz
sunday:
worked until 3, helped my dad a bit with the hot water heater, biked to remedy, got jordan to come meet me there, I bought him a chai, a girl asked me about my book that was sitting on the table and she said she has been meaning to read it and I told her how nice it is and stuff and jordan was like "you’re so trendy and friendly" lawl, we chilled and laughed for a couple hours, he put my bike in the back of his truck and drove me home, got home aroundddd 11:30pm? (I dunno?), I had a bath, talked to candice, went to sleep.
monday:
working a shift for larissa at 3 (which is in 30 min), leaving after I write this, bike to work, 10:30 I will bike back home and go to bed. /cry
(my roll of film is almost complete, and cliff from Red Bike ordered me a huge front bike light.. FUCK YES!)
