December 7, 2015 Podcast

Show intro and tonight's lineup

Produced intro voiceover ('Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper') followed by the host welcome. The host lays out the evening: Dear LFTP advice letters are coming, and hammer-dulcimer player Ted Yoder is in the studio.

Meeting Ted Yoder and the hammer dulcimer

The hosts introduce Ted Yoder, whom they first met years earlier at the Spirit Midwest Music Festival, where his hammer-dulcimer rendition of 'Eleanor Rigby' caught them off guard. They joke about the dulcimer being the instrument's draw ('a bit of a cleavage') and Ted sets up his first tune, Rich Mullins' 'You Gotta Get Up', describing how his family of nine sleeps on the living-room floor by the Christmas tree all December.

'You Gotta Get Up' performance

Ted Yoder performs Rich Mullins' 'You Gotta Get Up' on hammer dulcimer and vocals, introduced on-air as his tune for the season. Lyrics about Christmas morning anticipation.

Ted's new album, the Mellotron, and 'Ted Head' shirts

Post-song banter about the Christmas-tree sleeping tradition, then Ted describes his brand-new fifth album (self-titled 'Ted Yoder'): he sent his hammer-dulcimer tracks to a producer who added world-class session players for free creative rein. He explains what a Mellotron is (a keyboard playing tape-recorded sounds per key, used by the Beatles on 'Norwegian Wood' and 'Here Comes the Sun'), discusses the one original song 'Whispers in the Trees' entered in a songwriting competition, and jokes about his 'Ted Head' caricature-face T-shirts.

'Calling Out Your Name' performance

After a short intro noting the tune was requested, Ted performs Rich Mullins' 'Calling Out Your Name' on hammer dulcimer, with harmony vocals on the refrain.

Social media talk with Ted

The hosts ask Ted about his social media habits (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter; not Snapchat, 'I'm 43'). A host riffs on the pointlessness of posting mundane life moments: 'if I wanted to be eating a bowl of soup with you, I'd invited you over.' The segment closes as the Dear LFTP letters begin.

Dear LFTP: trimming the holiday party guest list

• How do we politely exclude a couple from our annual formal holiday party?

A listener writes that she and her husband throw a formal annual holiday party, want to cut a couple that has 'fallen out of favor' and tends to spout off when offended, and feels uneasy about excluding them. The hosts roleplay a frank conversation (one host, addressed as Mike, playing the offending couple), then land on the principle that loving someone does not equal accepting their bad behavior — address the behavior directly and honestly rather than using the party as the 'bat'. Ted weighs in that he would rather have them come and address issues in the moment than disinvite on the sly. The hosts reject the 'Secular' answer's no-excuses brusqueness as jerky and insist on owning the decision honestly.

Dear LFTP: 16-year-old wants to attend a friend's wedding against her mom's wishes

• How can a 16-year-old convince her mom to let her attend a friend's wedding?

A 16-year-old writes that her grammar-school friend is marrying at 18, she was invited, but her mother forbids her to go or even talk to the friend. The hosts argue the mother is using love as a bargaining chip: disagreeing with someone's choices does not license withholding love, and the mom should have the conversation rather than forbid. Ted adds that as a parent he would want to be respectfully confronted by his kids. Consensus: the girl should approach her mom honestly and respectfully — but if the mom still says no, she must respect the decision and live under it gracefully, a life skill. The 'Secular' answer is read and criticized as needlessly cruel (implying the marriage will fail so the girl can watch from afar).

Dear LFTP: estranged brother of fourteen years

• How should I reconnect with my brother who hasn't contacted me in fourteen years?

A listener living in a group home writes that his only sibling, his brother, has not contacted him in fourteen years; a cousin claims it was because the listener once called incessantly, which he does not recall. The hosts note there is not enough information for substantive advice, caution against growing 'homegrown hate' in the silence, and recommend writing the brother a plain letter — 'I miss you, I'd like to talk' — without shaming or guilting, and only when the heart behind it is honest. The 'Secular' answer agrees on the letter.

Outro, sponsor read, and 'Saint Basil's Hymn' intro

The hosts plug the advice email (info@lifefromthepath.org), the website, and sponsor Bob Eisenlauer ('go to eisenhowerteam.com'), then Ted tells the story behind the closing tune: a Hungarian monk who preempted a warlord's tribute, after which the village baked coins and jewels into pastries to redistribute them — hence the Hungarian New Year's song 'Saint Basil's Hymn', 'highly yoderized' for the new album's cello choir.

'Saint Basil's Hymn' performance (untranscribed)

Ted Yoder's closing performance of the 'Saint Basil's Hymn' from his new album. The song itself is not transcribed in the source transcript — only the spoken intro and the post-song reaction exist as transcript segments — so the timestamp range covers the untranscribed music gap between them.

Thanks, plugs, and sign-off

The hosts react to the closing song, thank Ted Yoder and plug tedyoder.com (album, tour dates, social media — 'except for the Snapchat'), joke about the 'angry loon' bit, plug lifefromthepath.org, and close with the standing sign-off: 'Please be faithful to the means. God will handle the ends.'