Friday, May 28, 2010

One Heart Foundation Receives 2010 Best of Orem Award

U.S. Commerce Association’s Award Plaque Honors the Achievement

NEW YORK, NY, May 21, 2010 -- For the second consecutive year, One Heart Foundation has been selected for the 2010 Best of Orem Award in the Charitable Institutions category by the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA).

The USCA "Best of Local Business" Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USCA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Nationwide, only 1 in 70 (1.4%) 2010 Award recipients qualified as two-time Award Winners. Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2010 USCA Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USCA and data provided by third parties.

U.S. Commerce Association (USCA) is a New York City based organization funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of USCA is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising.

The USCA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across America.

Congratulations to Alan & Suzanne Osmond and the One Heart Foundation for again being chosen among the finest.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Donny Osmond adds Australia

“The Donny Osmond Show,” the daily radio program from McVay Syndication, has launched in Australia. Donny recently launched in Perth and Canberra with the Capital Radio Networks of Australia. The show’s roster will be enlarged by two more radio stations, effective 6/1. According to Don Dawkins, Program Director for the group, “We’re delighted to have Donny Osmond on in Australia. He’s an entertainment icon who’s toured our country and entertained Australians for a long time. We believe the Donny Osmond Show will be great addition to our various brands.”

Mike McVay added “I’m thrilled to be working with Capital Radio Networks in Australia. They are well established broadcasters and, along with Orbyt in Canada and Citadel in the USA, enable us to expand the Donny Osmond brand even further around the world.” McVay added, “We’re currently in discussions to launch the show in the UK”.

During his career, Osmond has been a singer, actor, triple-threat television series host (talk show, game show and variety show), best-selling author, commercial spokesperson, motivational speaker and even a race car driver.

Citadel Media is McVay Syndication’s partner in the United States. The 24/7 Citadel AC channel has expanded the Osmond roster to more than 70 radio stations across America. The show is repped in Canada by Orbyt Media and is heard across the nation including Toronto, Edmonton, Hamilton and London.

SOURCE

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

A Song For Kylie

The Songs of Love foundation have helped 21,000 kids and counting.
By YVONNE BELTZER

John Beltzer, the founder of the Songs of Love Foundation came to Santa Monica this weekend to co-create a song for 10-year-old leukemia patient, Kylie Becker, who is undergoing treatment at Los Angeles Children's Hospital.

He enlisted the talents of country singer Nathan Osmond (yes, of that Osmond family) and lyricist Tony Asher, the co-writer of the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds."

Beltzer founded Songs of Love in 1996, a dozen years after his twin brother Julio committed suicide.

Just before his death, Julio had written a piece called "Songs of Love" which included the lines: "Songs of love are really what we need to take away our fear, and make the best of love."

These lines inspired Beltzer, a musician and songwriter, to create songs for sick children. He called it a simple, but powerful concept, which he then turned into the Songs of Love Foundation.

Since then, he's written thousands of songs, each one dedicated to an individual child in need of a boost.

The song he co-wrote this weekend for Kylie with Osmond and Asher was the organization's 21,000th song. The Songs of Love Foundation has a staff of 12 people -- including Beltzer -- and about 200 freelance songwriters.

While he and Nathan strummed out a melody, Asher worked on the words.

Usually, a doctor or a parent or a relative contacts Songs of Love and provides information that describes the child, her pets, her toys, her likes and her musical preferences.

Kylie was a country music fan. So they crafted a song that could have come out of the Nashville playbook:

Kylie's happy as she can be
With marbles, Gameboy, Nintendo Wii
She's got a beautiful smile you just got to see

She is dreaming of super-sized
Dr. Pepper and chili fries
A big old bowl of spaghetti lights up her eyes

Listening to country music gives her a lift
Carrie Underwood, and Rascal Flatts and Taylor Swift

==CHORUS==
Everybody loves Kylie Becker
Her friends and her neighbors and everybody she knows
Her brother Corey, her sister Sarah
And her Mom and Dad love watching her as she grows
==CHORUS==

Sara, Meagan, Krystal are her best friends
They share the kind of love that never ends
They're having wonderful times again and again

Waddles the penguin's her joy and pride
Anywhere she goes he is by her side
You couldn't keep them apart even if you tried

She really loves to watch the wrestlers fly
And her favorite show is the "Family Guy"

(CHORUS)

Mr. Kitty, Jack, Stacy and Snoopy
They got the right stuff
And Kylie may be tiny but she's tough

(CHORUS x2)

Each song costs the foundation about $250 to make and the demand continues to rise. To pay for the costs, the foundation accepts donations, both in dollars and used cars.

The real payoff for Beltzer seems to be in the difference the songs make in the children's lives and in the lives of those people who love them.

For more information about Songs of Love, check out the foundation's website, songsoflove.org, or follow them on Facebook.

Editor's Note: John Beltzer has no relation to the author of this article, Yvonne Beltzer.
First Published: May 24, 2010 11:28 AM PDT

AUDIO/VIDEO LINK

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Jimmy Osmond to star in Hastings panto

Published Date:
21 May 2010
By Rob Alderson

An international pop legend will be starring in the White Rock pantomime this year.
Jimmy Osmond, the youngest member of the all conquering entertainment dynasty, will play Buttons in Cinderella, bringing a touch of sunkissed sparkle to 1066 Country.

He was the youngest ever solo chart topper when his 1972 hit Long-Haired Lover from Liverpool made nine-year-old Jimmy a star, and his musical talents shone through in the West End, first in Grease and then in Chicago.

MORE

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

The Bay City Rollers are back! But why?

The rockers are sharing a stage with the Osmonds, David Essex and Leo Sayer. What's the enduring appeal of nostalgia tours?

In a 1973 interview, Leo Sayer told the NME that he was a blues singer. He may have imagined himself, three decades later, venerated as Sussex's own BB King. Instead, this summer he'll be sharing a stage with David Essex, the Osmonds and the Bay City Rollers in the Once in a Lifetime 2010 tour, kicking off in Manchester next month, and ending in Cardiff in July. This is an astonishing teen dream line-up – you only need add David Cassidy (and subtract little Leo) and you account for pretty much all the sales of Blu-Tack in the mid seventies.

MORE

Friday, May 07, 2010

Fireside honors Olive Osmond

MALAD, Idaho (ABC 4 News) - What was it like to grow up as one of the famous Osmonds?

Hundreds of people got a glimpse at an LDS fireside in Malad, Idaho.

The event provided an intimate look at the relationship between Olive Osmond and each of her nine children.

The Osmonds said there was love and faith in their home, and that their mother, was the heart of it.

“She loved life, and she taught and engrained in our thinking and in our life the importance of people and in loving people,” said son Jay Osmond.

MORE with Video Link to the Fireside

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Osmonds dedicate mother's log cabin birthplace

By Michael De Groote
Mormon Times
Tuesday, May. 04, 2010

SAMARIA, Idaho -- About six miles southwest of Malad, Idaho a girl was born in a log cabin on May 4, 1925. Eighty-five years later, seven of Olive Davis Osmond's nine children walked into the restored cabin.

"This is so surreal," Donny Osmond said. "You can feel her presence here"

The Osmonds were in town for the dedication of the "Olive May Davis Osmond Cabin and Museum." The cabin sits on property donated by Samaria resident Luke Waldron, a local high school teacher and history buff. It is only about 200 feet away from its original location.

Waldron carefully took the decaying cabin apart about 20 years ago -- numbering every log. The buyer of the logs never reassembled it and eventually it came back into Waldron's possession. Two years ago, he began restoring the cabin -- hoping to have it done in time for a local visit and musical performance by The Osmonds -- Second Generation.

Photos, a link to article about the fireside, and more of this article at MORMONTIMES.