12 Days of Preston, May

Good morning, everybody. Merry Christmas. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it.

It's the Twelve Days of Preston, and this is day number five, but most importantly it's Christmas.

Yeah, I'm a little giggly here. It's great to be with you.

I'm Preston, and this is our Christmas gift to you that we're taking a little time away here with you, presenting the year in review. Now, I will confess on the front end this shows a little different. I will explain why in just a few moments, but let's begin with where we are here. It is Christmas Day, Luke two thirteen said, and suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God. You know, this is the time of year that we would say

And so that's how we start. Now.

I mentioned that this show is going to be different, and here's why, or maybe I should say, well, let me go with the why. Even though this is a year in review and being the fifth day of the day, twelve days of Preston, it's the month of May, and there were some great stories and interviews in the month of May on the Morning Show with Preston Scott. I can't get past the fact that it's Christmas. We're celebrating the birth of Jesus today. So that's going to be

Wow.

Can you imagine a president in this day and age uttering such words before the nation, boldly proclaiming what is true that today we celebrate Jesus Christ and his birth his coming is advent. I mean, say what you will about President Harry S. Truman on that day, Christmas Day in nineteen forty nine. He laid it out, and he laid it out brilliantly. That's what today is all about. Today is about the world pausing. And though not everybody bows to Jesus now one day all will. But today,

Least, everything just kind of stops. And I recommend that as we begin our time together this morning, for however long you can join us, and I hope you do. This is going to be a fun three hours, ending with the traditional way that we end our Christmas show and our last show of the year, which happened a week or so ago. We always end with the Man and the Birds, a great parable, a parable about the

Well, most people know about the Lewis and Clark expedition and that concluded in eighteen oh six, and how that's sort of for the first time we got glimpses of what the West was, the American West was like. But along came after the Lewis and Clark was an explorer

We hear the expression manifest destiny. It's maybe barely touched on in history classes anymore in middle and high schools, let alone college explain manifest destiny.

Manifest destiny was a concept that basically the European descent people who were up on the Eastern Party United States were moving west to populate and settle and farm and run businesses and begin towns in the Western Party United States. And it was sort of like our destiny as a nation to do that, to go from the east coast what most of our population was, to go west across the country and hook up with our population on the

You mentioned Meriwether, Lewis William Clark. Was Jedediah Smith aware of their exploits, what they.

Were doing very much.

So, you know, Clark especially had published journals about the adventures of the Lesid Clark several years after the expedition, and it was very inspiring to a young man like Jedediar Smith. He wanted to He not only wanted to emulate them to do what they did, he wanted to do more than they did, which he eventually did. You know, Like I say, he made three trips coast to coast

Why is the story of Jedediah Smith so important?

Well, I think, like you said, you referenced history books before and the schools Jedediah Smith has a lot of ways lost in the midst of history that allose accomplishments. He died when he's still fairly young, and a lot of his journals some existence, some survived, some did not. I think we need to know, not need to know. I think we want to know about Jedediah Smith because he was such a courageous and resilient man, and he's

Tell us what we know about Jedediah Smith, Well, we know he.

Came from upstate New York, a family that traced its generations even back to the Mayflower and was mostly a farming family. And he was the one, he was a child of the Smiths family that was the explorer. He wasn't going to be a farmer. He wanted to head west and find out what was out there, and made his way to Saint Louis, and there was an expedition being put together to go basically, you know, beaver hunting, and that sounds like kind of a frivolous thing. I

Yeah, you talk about having to, I guess prepare for the unknown when you're making a trip like this. How did he prepare? I mean, what was known to him about his trip west and where he was actually going to try to set foot.

The only thing really known at that time, well in two ways. One you had the journals of Lewis and Park, which were very helpful. However, they had gone to the west coast, had come back basically along the same route, same route, so you only knew what they had seen. There were a whole you know, hundreds of thousands of acres,

Was it known to him that not all North American Indian tribes were going to be welcoming to him?

Well, you know, again you had the stories that were working their way back to Saint Louis that there were some tribes who were considered friendly because they liked the trade with the mountain men. But there were others like the Black Feed for existence example, and the Sioux Indians. They they were not welcoming to the white adventurers and explorers and fur traders, and so you really had to

Tom what did you learn about the people that joined him on these trips to the west.

They were really courageous people because they were adventurers, They were resilient, they were survivors. They were courageous because they didn't have to do this. They could have stayed home and operated farms and opened up a dry good store and don't know, maybe even become teachers, because some of these people were really quite intelligent, but they wanted to see what this place called America was. What Louisiana Purchase had bought these millions of acres from France when Jefferson

How do you write a book like this with somebody else? How do you divvy it up and do it?

You know, Bob is the most frequent collaborator I've had. I think this is our eighth book together, and we determined very early on, like when we did our first book together called Halsey's Typhoon, a World War two Navy story, that you can't have four hands on the keyboard, and we both realized his more muscular writing style suit of the material better. So basically, I do you know, like eighty percent of the research. I prepare everything, organize everything,

Well, these are New York Times best selling books and again Throne of Grace in this case dealing with jededi of Smith. What would you list as some of the accomplishments that maybe history hasn't taken note of as a should that Jedediah Smith and his trips to the West accomplished.

Well.

One is that the journals that survived were telling us giving us information about the American West. In a lot of the American West, he saw that that knowing European descented man, that white man basically had ever seen before. So it really opened our eyes to what was out there. It was It wasn't just a great vast desert. It was mountains, there was woodland, it was rivers, it was streams. There was so many wonderful things, and the other thing he did is one specific thing is that he discovered

How did he handle the I mean, you're traveling west. There's not an abundance of water out there. I lived out there for about two decades. How did he get through? How did he do it?

You know, that's a great question because it's one of the things that is I think one of the most interesting parts of the Throne of Grace is that the resilience of Jedediah Smith and his colleagues. He rarely traveled alone. He was just off the leader. But you know, people at the rounta man like Jim Bridger and Tom Fitzpatrick or right beside him, and they always managed at the last minute to find the source of water, or to find a way that they can get through this snowy

In the book author Tom Clavin, the book Throne of Grace. My guest in May. It's the Twelve Days of Preston. It's the month of May, which means day five, which means today also is Christmas Day. Don't leave us, got a special guest next immediately, you know something's different here. Yeah, I've saved the best for Christmas Day. It's not a typical show today. How could it be, because yes, it's

Well? We brought in our good friend Marvin Goldstein.

Hello, sir, how you doing, Preston.

It would not be Christmas without hearing your raspy voice.

Let me lower it a little bit. I don't know how to do that.

Now you're doing just exactly what we talked about doing exactly. It's but it just fits. I mean, we've been doing the Christmas Show and it's been early. It's just this is different because even though we're recording this early. I have to tell you, because I know this is airing on Christmas morning morning, this feels different to me.

It just does.

It feels like even better, doesn't.

Yes, it does. So here's what we're gonna do. We're going to we're gonna talk, We're gonna share stories. He has no idea the stories we're going to share that he's gonna share. Just trust me, he will share stake something you usually do. And so we're gonna play the songs, the music of the season. There's no doubt about that. We're gonna take you on an incredible journey. I'm gonna ask questions, I'm gonna do what I do. I'm gonna share some Christmas memories that I have. Marvin will share

Now.

We are gonna put one clip each hour. We've already done one this hour, We'll do one next hour. In the third hour from an interview that I picked out from the month of May, just to keep us a little bit on track of things that were going on in the month of May twenty twenty four as we look back. But I cannot, I can't just ignore the fact it's Chris mistake. So Merry Christmas, everybody.

Oh yeah, they're just getting up a lot of them.

Yes, yes, And we wanted to make this kind of a special surprise gift, and that is that you can gather around the radio and Okay, if for those little segments next hour, in the hour after that, we are doing interviews and you want to turn that off, that's fine, But we're gonna be doing Christmas.

We're gonna be.

Talking Christmas because this is this is a day and we've talked about this before, Marvin, this is a day, the only day of its kind that literally the world recognizes, even if they don't.

Believe, absolutely the best day, the true day of the year.

It commerce shuts down, does everything just quiets.

It's reflective, yes, good.

Yes, And let's face it, the Birth of Christ. Did it happen on the twenty fifth of No, it didn't, probably not, but it happened. It happened, and it was magnificant enough that we've split time based on the birth of Christ bc AD. It's based on the birth of Christ. That's how significant it was. So let me ask you this. You've been playing since you were how old?

About eight years old?

Do you remember the first Christmas song you ever learned and played?

Oh? Yes, yes, okay, a good Jewish boy learned to all those Christmas music, yes he did.

Okay, but now a good Jewish boy, Yes, what Christmas songs?

Did you learn.

Anything that would pay me a few bucks?

So even at the age of eight, you're learning what many of us know as the standards, the classic hymns of Christmas.

But it was not a religious perspective at that time.

Right, right, you're eight years old, You're just playing the music everyone wants to hear, right, exactly what was the first song?

It was this one. There were not many notes in it, so that was an eight year old and it probably wasn't even that many notes, it was less. I was lucky to get those out. That was my first They might have been one of my first songs I had ever learned.

Actually, So if we fast forward, yes, all these years later, you won't say how.

Many, No, it's a few.

Yeah, yeah, for both of us. It might be a little depressing.

Yeah there, okay, those simple notes, how would you embellish it now?

If?

I mean you're just you've got a great keyboard, By the way, our thanks to music Masters. We want to mention them throughout the program because they've provided an incredible Yamaha keyboard.

Here, beautiful eighty eight Yamaha.

Yeah, and less than the team I've known less since the late nineteen eighties back aways as well. So with this beautiful keyboard and the ability to kind of embellish, how would you play that now?

Well, after so many years of learning music theory and how to embellish, how to play more behind accompanying myself melody right hand and mostly a company on the left with a little few notes, here we go. Here's that would come out a few years later. Here's a few years later, then a few years, a couple of decades later, and a few more decades.

Later, and a decade or two from now? What was I playing anyway?

Here?

And here's what it would sound like? Yeah, that's it. We've the home, damn it. One lifetime, one song.

Here you go, do you.

Remember your first Christmas concert solely Christmas concert?

Oh my gosh, yeah. I don't think that would have been for a good twenty years.

Okay, so you were in your late twenties.

Yeah, yeah, Christmas concert and still not believing in the day at that.

Point, just playing the songs because it was the season, and that's what you did because you had a gig.

And I knew many of the songs. They're simple, they're beautiful, meaningful, and they talk about the meaning of.

The day and people smiled, right, I mean, it's a song. This is the thing about this type of music, the Christmas standards, even to young people, they remind them of something familiar home. It just reminds you of something that matters, and you can't necessarily pinpoint it unless you know Jesus. But for everybody that doesn't, it still is meaningful these songs.

It's also causes people to go, how is this making me feel? This kind of music? What does it feel like? Why do people treat it as a religious religious experience? Almost?

Do you remember with the song you used to end that concert?

Let's see what might you have ended a concert like that back then with? Because I'm gonna let you take us to break with that. Okay, this is the Twelve Days of Preston. This is day five, and folks, Merry Christmas. It's Christmas Day. And Marvin Goldstein is with me in studio.

In Lands.

And say, so you know what you're listening to as you're just tuning in. Good morning, Merry Christmas. Welcome to the Twelve Days of Preston. This is the month of May, but it's Christmas Day, so we've got to stay focused on that, don't we. And with me is none other than our friend concert pianist for you us, So Marvin.

Goldstein with us playing, not singing.

Well, it's funny you say that.

Because I wrote down in my notes my first Christmas concert.

No, yes, yes.

You remember it right, You remember.

That, dude. I still have nightmares.

We might be having something shortly.

It could be.

Now, let me tell you the backstory to this. The church I was attending in Phoenix had a young college group and there were some really talented people in that group. And I had been doing radio, and so I'm viewed as this outgoing guy. I do the narrations with the choir, and I sing in the choir and all that, and so I'm you know, they they approached me about being in a quartet really, and I looked at them as

On your first outing as a singer, really, dude, what tell me?

And I don't sing, I'm not a no. But they talked me into it, and I'm like, oh, come on, and they're giving me all the tips. Okay, raise your eyebrows, to stay on pitch, you know, all those little things that they tell singers to try to do. And I just remember being utterly petrified. The parts came easier. I was able to cover the parts because I can sing bass and I can sing baritone. But the lead was second tenor in that song, in that portion.

And what age is this?

I would have been in my early twenties.

And no background in music.

Oh, good grief, No, no, no, I listened to music, sports sports my background in music.

Oh yeah, Actually a lot of people have that background.

Yes, So for old time's sake, I'm not singing, but a little let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow. No, no, no, I'm not gone, but but I'd love to hear you play it.

Oh yeah, yeah, come on, that could be your pardon.

And I trust me when I say that sounded a heck of a lot better than my singing.

Did that?

Oh?

Can I show them how it might have sound?

No, let's not do that.

I do want to know, though, because there's certain songs that we hear at Christmas time, whether it's something like that or jingle bells or whatever it might be, there are some songs that just are so inherently happy.

Do you do you do you feel that.

Level of joy playing those songs when you're playing them?

Or are you?

I mean, are you thinking about the notes or do you get to enjoy the music that you play.

That's a very good question.

Well that's why I do what I do.

Yeah, man, you get yeah right at it. It's good playing these music. I am experiencing it as I'm playing it, equal to those that are hearing it. It's coming out split second after. I have to feel what it's about and know what it's about to then get musically what I need to how to play it for people to feel it.

We have done it in the past where we'll get people sending in suggestions for music, right, and you do this in live concerts where people will suggest songs and you will assemble a medley of those songs at the moment.

At the moment, yeah, how well, and.

I want you to demonstrate. Let's let's you pick whatever three songs you want. We got three minutes left in this segment.

You picked the three songs that would be better. I'm about to try that first.

Noel, Okay, do you know a little drummer boy?

Yeah?

And Frosty the Snowman.

Okay, okay, what's weird? My challenge is to figure out what you just said.

Verse no, well, verse no wel.

Okay, why you may have to prompt me during this right?

Here we go third, one, third, one fast to the Snowman.

Yeah yeah, frum the one. Now that just sounds like the other one I just played. Actually blend together. Watch then it sounds like they all go together just beautifully. They were written that way.

Right, take us to break top of the hour.

News is coming up, but we'll take you out with Marvin Goldstein here on the Twelve Days of pressed him.

Merry Christmas, everybody.

This is the twelve Days of preston the month of May.

We're doing it. We're treating it a little differently.

We will have an interview segment in the next segment give you just a little flavor of the month of May twenty twenty four. But it's Christmas Day and with me in studio is Marvin Goldstein. And he has a beautiful eighty eight key Yamaha digital piano courtesy of our friends at Music Masters, and a whole.

Orchestra in it, right, I mean, really, you can sound like a whole orchestra on this thing.

You know.

Last hour I asked you about Christmas concerts, right, have you ever been in a foreign country at Christmas time, Yes, does the music change? In other words, are they stylistically different that might match the area that you're the region of the world you're in.

Well, Christmas music will always sound like Christmas music all over the world. It's whether it's in there's some in a minor key. I'm major key. Mostly in the major keys, but in the if you were to kind of say, how would a canter the cynthy gugue sing one of these songs? Okay, how would he like the chant? Like we were listening to who was the guy listening to Adam Sandler? Right? Yeah, he makes up a song and

In seriousness, let me ask you, and we've talked about this before. Music found in the Middle East, and certainly in Israel, it is in those minor keys frequently, it is, if not always, and I personally this is I'm no music expert, but when I hear those keys, it immediately evokes a somber kind of feeling. It does, and the history of Israel is one of tears. It's it is, it is one of somberness.

Is that? Why is that?

Why that music has become so identifiable with the people of Israel.

Well, it was originally a pentatonic scale. It was even preceded a piano keyboards for okay, decades, for hundreds of years, so it would all come out in a pentatonic way. It would come out fund mental. It's a really deep conversation about harmonies, Middle East and composers of the day and this and that. But yes, this would be the national anthem of the state of Israel. Actually, if we're talking about Hanakkah, time is this.

And by the way, Hanakah it begins tonight, Oh yeah, Christmas night. It just happens to be tonight and runs through January twod sundown.

Yeah.

Yeah, Now that one's all about Israel. In Hebrew, Jerusha Liam is the Hebrew translation how you would say Jerusalem, and that song is the national anthem from over there.

Tell me this when you're playing in Israel? Yes, have you been there at Christmas time?

I have been once. Yes.

Is there a song that's requested? What's the song that is most requested when you're playing overseas.

Well, it depends on what country you're in. In Israel, for the most part, it's not necessarily Christmas is celebrated for the most part understood there. But the most requested song is more or less popular music, not even not classical music. And there's not even one song I could come up with that would but say this is the most requested song there. I don't know of one.

When you think of Christmas songs, what song do you think of first?

Oh, the first one?

And this is gonna this is gonna maybe transcend into another segment we're gonna do or we're gonna talk about your favorites. But what song do you first think of when it's Christmas season?

Well, I'll show you. I fix my pedal.

Yeah, we we. It should be pointed out we do not have a concert setting here.

We are.

We are improvising with this massive keyboard, and we've had to bring in boxes to make sure that we've got the h the pedal where he can reach it and and still the stool at a height where he can reach the keyboard. The first time we sat him down here, he was reaching up like he was a three year old and reaching way above his head to get the keys. That didn't work when we put them up high enough for the keyboard to be real comfortable, couldn't reach the pedal.

Hey, you know, i'd pay you to not do a concert here.

I can't reach the pedal.

Okay, So the song we're talking about is this is the one that I think of first?

And why do you think of it first? Is it because you enjoy playing it or because it's just steeped in your memory.

This is the big, most beautiful, biggest presentation of a Christmas season, and especially the night we're the night we're talking about December twenty fifth and forward. Okay, here's the first one I think of.

We're gonna let this take us to break here on the twelve Days of Preston.

And the.

Welcome back Twelve Days of Preston Day number five. Merry Christmas. If I'm the first to say it to you, yay for me? Yeah, Merry Christmas, everybody, Thanks so much for joining us. Now this show's a little different. We've got Marvin Goldstein with us. We're reminiscing, we're playing some Christmas songs literally live here in the studio. I mean, it's just it's great fun to have someone with Marvin's giftings available to share Christmas with. And we'll get right back

The world ablaze.

Yeah, so I had a theory. I've had a theory for the past few years now. That's the greatest form of voter fraud, the biggest form of voter fraud that occurred in twenty twenty And I really wasn't sure how much of this actually had occurred when I came up with this idea. Was a voter fraud within a household.

What is the fallout from this information? What are you hearing from officials in states and local municipalities federally?

Yeah, the media response to this has been absolutely incredible. You know, you mentioned the Tucker Carlson interview that was seen by millions and millions of people. It's something like five million people or so saw that. We had millions of other people hear about it, like on this show, Glenn Beck's show, Mark Levin's show, you know, Fox News, all the I mean almost every big name in conservative media talked about this. But as far as policymakers go,

I'm curious. Does the fact that that lawmakers, especially Republicans, the House Speaker, the Senate minority leader, does there silence just buttress the idea that we are more and more working with a monolith of a political party, sort of a uni party.

I would say that the silence at the state level is even more appalling and proof of that fact, because you would think that in these deep red conservative states

New Ingridge said that Republicans are going to have to outperform Democrats at the voting precincts by a significant margin to overcome the kind of well outbar the term from the left, the systemic cheating that is likely to happen. Have you figured have you guys done some number crunching to determine first whether he's accurate and secondly what that number would have to be.

When you say at the voting precincts, do you mean like actually voters people showing up? Yep, Yeah, I actually think that based on the numbers we're seeing, because you can remember the election, the presidential election is going to come down primarily to a handful of states, just like it did last time. And the reality is that in those states like Georgia, Arizona, for example, Pennsylvania, mail in

Given that fact, you know, one of the discussions that happens in groups that you know, I hang out with and talk to and interact with different people is, you know what Republicans, Conservatives, they need to start doing things the way Democrats do it when it comes to mail in balloting. Do you just if you're the GOP, do you just really push mail in voting and don't push legally doing it?

You know?

And by that, I'm simply saying highlighting the legal ways to do it versus what Democrats do, which is they don't care.

Yeah, I mean, I think you have to push mail in balloting unfortunately, because I just don't see any other way to get to get the kind of votes they're getting in the Democratic Party, and every single vote is going to count because the election is going to could come down to thousands of votes. I mean, if you look at the last election, three states for the most part, three states Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona decided that that election, and in total it was decided by less than fifty thousand

On your phone with the iHeart radio app and on hundreds of devices like Alexa, Google Home, Xbox, and Sonos, yes, and Ihearts radio.

Station failing to secure mail in ballots though. If that's not done properly, basically, we'll just see a repeat. They'll stop the counting, figure out how many they need, and they'll come up with more.

Right.

I mean, I think that we're in a situation where when the election is close, and I said this prior to twenty twenty because it seemed obvious to me that this was going to happen, I just don't think you can say with any certainty that you know who wins, because it's just it would be too easy to commit fraud. And you only need a small, tiny percentage of fraud in some of these states, like one percent or less to completely swing the election one way or the other.

And of course, by now we know how that election turned out. But we're not really here to talk about that today because it's Christmas Day. And again, Merry Christmas everybody. This is the Twelve Days of Preston and we'll be back with more with Marvin Goldstein next if you're just joining us welcome, Merry Christmas. Yes, it's the Twelve Days of Preston. Yes, we're doing a couple stories from the month of May because it's the fifth day of the Twelve Days of Preston.

But it's Christmas. I can't possibly ignore that.

You know how much I love Christmas as well as we should all love Christmas. Everything stops on Christmas Day. But I recognize you are listening to us, and the US is my friend Marvin Goldstein keyboard courtesy of Music Masters and me, I'm Preston Scott.

Welcome. This is our Christmas gift to you.

Merry Christmas.

Yeah, what's your earliest memory of Christmas?

The earliest memory of Christmas would be learning Christmas music in a Jewish household. Seriously, absolutely seriously.

Because it's a Jewish household. You're not celebrating Christmas.

No, but we really felt like we wanted to with our neighbors. All of our neighbors were not.

Jewish, Okay, So it was a social thing.

It was it's like, what are we missing out on? What are we missing out on? And so it was It's not anything religious. It was more for kids about presence, you know, and sure and the tree and everything.

But see, that's why I wanted to.

I think everyone's story is different totally how they get there, and they're meaning unwrapping the real gift of Christmas because it's it's very much like a present under a tree in that it's not qualified as a gift until it's received and opened.

Right, Yeah, of course.

I mean that's the same thing as the Christian holiday of Christmas. It doesn't mean anything unless you receive it and you open that gift up and you take that upon yourself and you say, yeah, that's mine. And so I've always been fascinated by in your case, Jewish background, right, and your earliest memories are, well, this is the music that people sing and play, so I guess we'll sing and play it.

And there's a lot of joy around it. There's a lot of happiness around it.

Is that how it was for your family? Joy was around this music, and this time it was.

As they didn't have anything against it. It was just like we don't celebrate Christmas for the reason that our neighbors are.

But you got swept up into it, swept.

Up into it and learned the music because it made people happy around me. When I played their music.

If you know what I mean, I do.

And you were playing at you know, we've already documented you were playing music at eight Yes, when would you say that you looking back, people were really enamored at your gift. Were you still single digits or were you in your early teens or.

Well, I would imagine when I was about sixteen, okay, that I would be traveling in some parts of our country. But then at eighteen, when I went to Tel Aviv in Israel, I would I would then be accompanying dancing all over the country with a with Israeli dancing. And I learned on not the piano, on the accordion.

And we've had the accordion here with us from top to movie.

And then you know, somebody said, well, what's the difference in the accordian and roadkill? I don't know, you've run over that one first. I don't know which one. And it's so funny because nobody knows about an accordian. But yeah, that was my first instrument, actually was an accordion, not a piano.

When did Christmas mean something more?

Well, it didn't mean anything like it does to you now for me until I was probably in my thirties.

Why what happened? What took place?

Without just briefly, sure, it's studying, it's watching, learning, seeing, feeling, more feeling and no understanding what's around me, and also being taught about Christianity, which I then would accept when I got to be thirty five years old.

You know, it's interesting because a lot of people look at the traditions of Christmas and I'll be very careful here, because we have children, and we have families celebrating and you know, special visitors in the night.

That kind of thing.

Yes, you know, and a lot of people will downplay that and they'll say, well, that's not really important, and I don't disagree. But at the same time, that experience brings back so many incredible memories for me. And so while I share a couple of my memories, you play whatever music comes to your mind as I play them. Okay,

And we had this massive.

Stone fireplace, and it was down at the bottom in our lower level, and we had a try story where you entered on a little landing and then you went up or you went down. And so this downstairs fireplace, covered in stone natural stone, was where the family would have its Christmas tree. We had a showy tree on the top floor, but this one down below.

I woke up on Christmas morning and my eyes got so big.

Because snagged on one of those stones was a piece of red velvet and there was some white fluffy stuff on it, as if somebody had something torn off their jacket all but it didn't stop there. Cool there were boot prints in the ashes of the fireplace, and those bootprints with the ashes went through that downstairs den and went around the Christmas tree. I went downstairs and saw that, and then ran upstairs and I grabbed a Polaroid camera, you remember those, And I snapped a photo and woke

That is gorgeous.

That's wonderful, And that's how much my mom wanted to make sure that I held on for at least one more year. So that's my Christmas memory. There's been a lot of other Christmases since, obviously, but that's that's my favorite.

Oh that's a beautiful story. Very nice. It's cool to watch you right now. Tell it? Yeah, is the best?

Yeah, Yeah, it's a sweet memory I have of my mom.

Just hearing it is great. But what if I could have show a film abuse you. Yeah, it's a treat. It's a treat being here.

Take us to break. We got about a minute here where we take a break. We've got more, won't come back. We're going to talk Christmas traditions and how they express themselves in music. It's the Twelve Days of Preston. This is day five. Yes, it's the month of May, but for all intents and purposes, we know what it is. It's Christmas Day. Merry Christmas, everybody more to come Marvin Goldstein with me, And it's the Twelve Days of Preston. This is day number five, which puts us right there.

Hey, Preston, can they just pick a day they want to celebrate on the twelve Days of Preston. Can they go to a certain day or is it all mixed in?

No, it's it.

For example, the first show was last week, and that was day one, and so the second show day two. So day one covered the month of January. Correct, day two February, and so forth.

I get it.

That's why we're playing. For example, next hour we'll have a little interview segment from the month of May.

But it's Christmas Day.

And you know me well enough to know at this point, especially you know me a little bit better now given my story about Christmas, going back to this is Christmas, and I have to be focused on Christmas. It's Christmas Day. It's just a day of great joy. I love Christmas Morning and that's why my mom instilled the joy of Christmas morning. And it wasn't you know you talked about

Are doing here.

It is you know, we're we're talking about and playing music that makes people smile and evokes memories and and and let's let's be honest, there's for some people this is a tough day because they they've lost loved ones and circumstances are such that they're not home, they're separated

And I want to tell your people on your audience.

Yeah people, my people know you've got a lot of people.

My people, they are yours. They definitely are. You got tons of them.

You are my people. Oh yeah, people, go ahead.

Unlike most of your audience, HI went to your home on a Christmas morning a few years ago. I got to see a happy family that I played the piano for at your house.

It was one of the most joyful mornings ever, not just Christmas ever.

I just showed up.

He didn't just show up. He said, hey, would you like And I was like, are you kidding me?

Left?

And we do have a keyboard. My wife plays a little piano and she was a vocal performance major, and so yeah, that was like a no brainer having Marvin come over because he was kind enough to offer to come for a few minutes.

And it was just joy.

But if I were to ask you, did you establish any traditions once you came to know Christ as it relates to Christmas? I have some silly ones, I mean, like ridiculous ones, but I'm just curious about you, not.

Anything specific, but yet just to teach family talk talk about the day.

Did you play music?

Oh, I play You played a lot of music.

I mean for your family on Christmas Day?

You have your absolutely Actually if this is.

Funny because I wonder some you know, they talk about a painter's house is always the ugliest house because it's like I paint all day long and the mechanics car doesn't run. Does a pianist play a piano in his home?

This is this will be hard for somebody to believe. I live in a house where I had to sell my dining room set to fit the piano in.

Oh, I believe that very It's seven and.

A half feet long. It well, yeah, it's like a black tabletop and so yeah, I can play music well while I eat with one hand.

There you go.

It's great. Yeah, it's wonderful. But yeah, the traditions that we that we celebrate is no different now than than any other Christian household. It's about it's all the same. It's wonderful, it's a wonderful time, it's a wonderful day. It's a wonderful month to have. Then a perspective of Jewish, being brought up Jewish and then celebrating christ is a whole feeling that many will never have to have the both of those traditions.

We always open a few gifts from out of town family on Christmas Eve, and on Christmas Morning, I tell my kids they're all grown now. I tell them we're doing Christmas at this time. Come if you want. If you can't, come, come when you can. But this is what we're doing right and on Christmas Eve, this is gonna just you're gonna die. I have pizza every night.

Wait, wait, every night.

Christmas Eve, every Christmas Eve, well I would if I could, I eat pizza. We have pizzas a family every Christmas Eve. It started when I was a kid.

Again.

There was a place in Phoenix called Pizza Pharrows and and and they would be open on Christmas Eve and my mom would always go and get a pizza from Pizza Pharrows on Christmas Eve and they would always know I was calling always and I have done it ever since, almost every Christmas Eve because it reminds me of being a kid and something my mom would always do. And so now as a family, we eat pizza on Christmas Eve. And then on Christmas Morning it's it's or Derv's.

It's just it's just.

Everybody brings something and we all put it out there and you just have this massive or nerve table and tray and of different types of things. And we always before we open any gifts, we always talk about Christ. We always talk about Jesus. We always talk about why we're doing this.

And I'm sorry to interrupt you.

One thing we don't eat on Christmas Eve? Ham?

Really yeah, and that's like a big thing, is Christmas Ham?

No? Well, I'm the Ham, but we don't eat ham. Yeah. No, but sort of a funny joke because Jewish household.

Well, yeah, I know the thing with pork. I get pork, but do you eat it on Christmas Day?

No? I don't him. I'm not used to it.

Okay, I like pizza, though, you'd get it eat I'm going to start.

Yeah, you think about that one.

Do pineapple on your pizza?

No? No, my wife might, but not me. No, I'm meats cheese. That's me.

You know, one thing your audience will love. If they could ever have seen you in action, they would have a different way to think. You teach a lot of good things to your people. Thank you for what you do.

I appreciate that they don't want to hear that. Now we've got about a minute and a half we do, yep. So pick something to play to take us to the next break, and then we're already at the third hour. We're already in the final hour coming up next. But for now, Marvin Goldstein, it's Christmas Morning, and on behalf of us, our families to you and all of us here on the Morning Show with Preston Scott. Merry Christmas. Good morning, I everybody, welcome to the radio program this morning.

Sounds of the season.

It's the third hour of the Twelve Days of Preston and it is Christmas Day. And alongside Marvin Goldstein in the Morning Show band, we say to you, Merry Christmas.

Look at me like we're done. Oh no, no, no, no, palt We're not done. You're gonna keep playing.

You keep playing.

He looked at me like I'm done.

No, you're not.

You're not even close to Doug Pale. There we go. I sound like a jerk for laughing during this song. No, No, it's a beautiful song. Mary.

Did you know.

This morning show with Preston Scott more Christmas music.

In the back.

In the bunk, oh.

The bu it's the sisters to say.

He's just playing Harvey Goldstein with me in studio. We've got a break in a couple of minutes, but he's just gonna keep playing. He just wrote down a bunch of songs and I challenged him make a list and turn.

It into him Medley And that's what you're listening to.

It's day five of the Twelve Days of Preston and it's Christmas Morning.

Merry Christmas everybody. Well, good morning friends.

If you're just joining us, it's the Twelve Days of Preston and we have a special guest with us, Marvin Goldstein. We're just playing some Christmas music, sharing some thoughts and memories and traditions.

But I'm also.

Putting in just a few little nuggets from the month of May, because it's our fifth show of the Twelve Days of Preston, and so we're chronicling the month of May. But it's Christmas Day, so that is where our focus is still. We always have great guests, and one of my favorites is former intern on The Morning Show with Preston Scott. He is the author of the Fifty Things books. He's a dear friend of ours personally, and he's the

Every fifth visit. You asked me this story, and it's you know, outside of like the Back to the Future, which is really like a trilogy. It's hard for me to pick one thing, but gosh, you're forcing me. I can't even do it right because I want to say Diddy because it's it's a hot story and it leeds into so many narratives. But I will say just the business of Hollywood. Hollywood has as I've said before, it has a brand issue. You know, many of the most famous and most beloved stars, as you put it out

The lead story being Sean Diddy Combs and his latest problems, and now the spotlight back on an incident in twenty sixteen, How do we tie these two together? It would seem that the culture that gave birth to Sean Combs isn't dead.

Hello, good lord, hit the mute, didn't forget it? Sorry? Yeah, you're exactly right, boy.

I'm gonna do some editing there.

The entertainment industry just has a brand issue, and the brand is very toxic. And you know, I mentioned the studios teaming up sort of one Big three and another Big three, right, because because that is evident people fewer people are going to the movies, you know, people when people you give people choices and they don't have to pay their money to the affirmative action that is a cable subscription or satellite subscription, and they can pick and

But was.

A predator and an abuser for a very long time. And just because we see a two minute video of Sean Combe's beating the HG double hockey sticks out of a woman who was trying to flee is very abuse. It it it it It is only the tip of the iceberg, and it's emblematic of a very very toxic industry filled with very good people, but certainly a lot of bad apples at the top.

People don't support Marvel anymore because they hate the actors playing their heroes.

Yeah, and and and it's not to say that Bob ker isn't a smart man. You don't become the CEO of the largest media and and and travel and entertainment and and and theme park conglomerates, not once but twice by being by being a silly, stupid man. Barb Viker's ego is the size of Jupiter.

He had.

He made more than one attempt pressed than Bob Biger did to be the ambassador to China.

And I just hold, I.

Guess, a special regard for individuals who want to tie themselves to what I truly believe to be the closest thing to a Nazi regime that we've seen since the Third Reich. And whether that's you know, I may upset some people listening Elon Musk. I mean starting and tying your electric vehicle company to a regime that is fomenting slave labor all over the country. It is anti Christian. It is just evil. What the people who run the government of China are doing in Beijing. And that's what

I mean, no, really, no, no, no, hold on, hold on, they can't buy their own goods over there.

Who cares?

I mean, they can't buy eighty percent of their own goods.

We do, they can't, So why why do they care?

But they but they have the theme parks and those people. The theater and moviegoing market in Asia, specifically mainland China has just been a thing for fifty years. And it's been the one or one A or one B priority for studios to uh to koutout to China to get their movies past the Chinese censors. And that's a decision that Disney made thirty years ago. If Bob Iger was all on board with it and and so you know, no,

I think that's a radiation exposure due to you, Gamma Ray, it may be worth We'll be back with Marvin Goldstein as we continue the Christmas Day edition of the Twelve Days of Pressing. My thanks to Jerome Hudson, always a great guest. Don't leave us, The Man and the Birds. More Christmas classics still to come. Merry Christmas, everybody, No.

Bound, don't.

You shook your head. You shook your head.

I did at fourteen thousand notes and I had got one eyes so embarrassed.

Marvin Goldstein with us, and this is our final segment before we get to the last segment of this show, and it's Christmas Morning. We hope you've enjoyed hanging out with us, and that's what we've really been doing here. We've just been hanging out, talking and thinking back through memories and traditions, favorite moments, favorite songs. And what's coming up in just a few minutes is our presentation of The Man and the Birds. I won't take a bunch

Oh my gosh, this is you know, actually taping this for everyone talking about all this is just like having Christmas now.

Yeah, for me, well, it is because we're celebrating Christmas. Yeah, we're doing it a few weeks early. But the fact of the matter is, you know I was telling you that I play Christmas music off and on all year long. It makes my heart happy, and I circle back to the fundamental reason for Christmas, you know, the advent of Christ. For those of you that wonder what had been It's Latin for coming, the coming of Christ's it celebrates him.

Absolutely that day, celebrate it. Have everyone that's opening presents at some point, maybe hold off a few presents and talk about the reason for that day.

Yeah, that's kind of the whole point of the Man in the Bird story. I've always believed that that story just was such wonderful modern parable for why Jesus came, and it's why we do it. When you do a Christmas concert, what's your favorite part of it? Is it when people just throw out songs and you create something.

Is there is there like.

A moment a song that you know you're going to play and you just know God just tends to work through it.

What is it?

You just described it? So I'll play and I will talk in between. If it's in a church, I'll play some maybe six seven minutes and get up and just walk over to pulpit and talk for a few minutes about what I just played or what's in my mind. There's no rehearsal right, it's like impromptu, and it's by if they say it, by the spirit. And so it's amazing how it could be organized and not even don't fear what.

You're organized without planned.

Organized without playing. And so I'll say about it. I look out there and actually watch people how they're reacting to what they just heard. That steers me to what should happen next.

So you're basing what you're going to say off the look and reaction of the people in the room totally. And I don't know if you heard me right. I meant organized without being planned. That's something that God does. You know, we plan, and you know Scripture talks about the plans of man kind of messing things up and getting in the way of God's purposes. Oftentimes you're talking about the music, and Scripture teaches music lays the groundwork

The music.

The musicians were first. And it's amazing how music brings down walls for people to hear a message.

When when speak. When speaking fails, music can fill in the rest of it.

If I were to ask you to pick a song, We've got just over three minutes. Three minutes, yeah, three and a half minutes. But if I would ask you to pick a song to communicate your Christmas message for everybody today, which is Christmas Day, what would you pick?

I have it. It's called O Come Emmanuel.

I leave it to you, folks.

Marvin Goldstein and our final segment together here we have one more segment to go on the Twelve Days of Preston.

Black.

All right, we've done it.

We have managed to give you a taste of the month of May, shared three interviews with you during this particular show, the fifth of the Twelve Days of Preston and being the fifth show, it's the month of May. But I couldn't focus on news other than the good news that this is the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus. It's Christmas Day, So Merry Christmas, everybody. We started the show talking about where that expression even came from, and I recognize that it's a message that is difficult

Reds.

Imagine a Norman Rockwell portrait of winter in any of the small towns that make up America in the nineteen fifties. It's Christmas Eve and families are busy getting last minute Aaron's done. Some weary shoppers pick out gifts for the hard to shop for at the Olsen Brothers five and die. For others, there's cooking to do, so it's a walk through the brisk winter wind and a stop at Jerry's to pick up a few groceries. But by six o'clock

No it's not that story.

The one that starts with twas the night before Christmas. No, this story is not yet written. It begins with a short drive outside of town to a farmhouse, a modest home, warmly decorated for Christmas. The children's pony is stabled for the night, and it's a good thing, because that winter wind is growing colder and it's bringing with it the promise of snow. Inside, the sound of crackling wood can be heard. The kids are playing checkers one minute, getting

You, he told his wife.

But I simply cannot understand this claim that God becomes a man. It doesn't make.

Any sense to me.

It's Christmas Eve. The kids are now dressed and ready, the hair is brushed or combed, and his his wife and children prepare to head to church for the midnight candlelight service. They were hopeful that this might be the year he said yes. However, he declined to accompany them. I'd feel like a hypocrite, he explained. I'd rather stay home, but I'll wait up for you, honey. Shortly after his family drove away in the car. The expected snow began to fall. He went to the window and watched the

He thought.

I told you he was a kind and decent man, But how can I help them? Then he remembered the barn where his children's pony was stabled.

It would provide a warm shelter, he thought.

He warmed his hands one last time and put on his coat, tried to capture some warmth before buttoning it bottom to top. Then came the galoshes, and he trampled through through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the door wide and turned on a light, trying to create an illuminated guide for the flock. But the birds

If only I could become one of them, they'd understand.

Just at that moment, the wind fell calm, and the new glistening snow reflected the glorious radiance of the night. Then church bells began to ring. He stood silent for a while, listening to the bells, peeling the glad.

Tidings of Christmas. Then he sank to his knees in the snow. Now I do understand, he whispered, Now I see why you had.

To do it.

He remained for a while, motionless but filled with emotion, hands lifted hardened. Soon the headlights of his family arriving home revealed a most unexpected but long hoped for gift. Christmas was never the same for the family and the farmhouse outside of town. How could it be? The man and the birds