November 23, 2025 • 39 mins
Ian and Patrick are leading a unique project that will put to music the words of 12 letters sent home from troops. The letters span a period from the Revolutionary War to the Gulf War.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
We all owe them, but very few of us know them.
They are the men and women of our military and
first responder communities, and these are their stories. American Warrior
Radio is on the air.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, all ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to American Warrior Radio.
I'm your host, Ben buler Garcia. If you've been thinking
about getting a suppressor for one or more of your weapons,
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(00:46):
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dot com. I played the trumpet for fourteen years from
elementary school on up through college. I thought I was
pretty good until I auditioned for a music scholarship at
the University of Arizona, and that's when I found out
that I was not a musician. I was just a
(01:06):
pretty good trumpet player. I also grew up overseas and
we principally spoke German and Spanish at home. English came
later when I moved to the United States, and I'll
never forget my mother, who is a pianist, once told me,
when you look at ink on paper and then translated
into a series of sounds that converse directly to the spirit,
you're speaking a fourth language. I certainly wouldn't compare it
(01:29):
directly to the military, but in band, there's also some
of those if you know you know moments, like when
special bonds are formed after hours of rehearsal, mistakes and corrections,
and then it comes together, everyone in tune, everyone playing
their part with confidence, and you nail it from the
first note on the page to the last, and the
audience responds. I share that to explain my excitement when
(01:49):
I heard about a unique project that combines two of
my personal passions, music and honoring our veterans, military members
and their families. It's called The Letters from the Front,
and today you're going to meet two of the driving
forces behind this special initiative. First, a classical pianist who
was praised by ground Phone magazine for his keyboard brilliance
and has performed all across the country, including Carnegie Hall.
(02:10):
He also serves in the Illinois National Guard, currently holding
the rank of major, and he's the executive director of
Letters from the Front. Ian Gindez, Welcome to American Warrior Radio.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Hey Ben, good morning. How are you doing.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I'm just peachy if I can get away. I was
teasing that, you know, I appear to be going through
a second phase of puberty with my voice cracking. But
I hope folk will be a patient.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
With this now.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I And I'm sure there's lots of Majors in the
National Guard who are also nationally touring classical pianists. Right,
that's a diamond dozen.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Or this is a rather unorthodox thing. Yeah, and I'll
tell you it's it's been great to actually have that,
to have the military too, because a lot of the
military folks are very supportive of musicians, you know, and
just what I do specifically, And yeah, when I came
in when I first enlisted in uh, and I was
(03:03):
at Fort lenar Wood in Missouri, I think they some
of them kind of like in your musician, why are
you here? So it was but uh, I think it
really was good to have that and to share that
amongst my my colleagues in the military.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Well, but you didn't answer the question why are you there?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Why?
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Why why the National Guard?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Well then, oh so the National Guard. When I initially
joined in four I wanted to do I wanted to
really help with natural disaster relief. That was one of
my things. I really wanted to help out and give back.
And I knew that, you know that that was one
of the things I wanted to do. And plus, hey,
you get to you get to shoot weapons and throw
hand gardes. I mean, who does that, you know? Like
(03:45):
and and honestly, it really my father was very instrumental
in helping. He's like, hey, you should think about doing this,
and and uh, you know, this would be really good
for you. It disciplines you. It really gets you to,
you know, to have a lot of respect, you know,
for things that you generally don't think about from day
to day. And you get to meet all kinds of
(04:05):
excellent people and from different cultures. It's it's I thought
it was a very good idea. So I ended up
getting in and I'm here, I am twenty one years later.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And folks can learn more by visiting letters from the
Front dot net. And I just I can't tell you
how Honestly, I was so excited when your organization contacted
us because this this is a very I wouldn't I
don't know if it's the first ever in the world,
but it is a very unique project. Tell us, how
did this idea? Where'd the idea for Letters from the Front?
(04:36):
How did that initially come about?
Speaker 3 (04:39):
So about five years ago I met with the former
general manager from WFMT, Steve Robinson, and WFMT is our
classical music station here in Chicago. We sat down and
he knew that, Wow, you have a very you know,
interesting background. You're a concert pianist and you're in the military.
And he saw that. He said, you know what you
should do? You know, I did a program. He did
(05:02):
a program that uh that he actually did uh called
war Letters and uh so during that actually he had
a bunch of letters that were that were that were
read to there were made by soldiers that were that
(05:22):
were written to their loved ones, and he said, you
should set this to music, and so that's what happened.
I actually took the letters five years later and we
started working to putting those to music and sending them
to vocalists and vocalists to seeing them. But it was
Steve initially who originated the idea, and he said he
and it wasn't set to music initially, it was just
(05:42):
read on their radio station. And then he said, hey,
you should take this and put it to music.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Now, does I understand he had a collection of six
hundred letters. I mean, that's that's a ton. How did
you how did you synthesize? How did you narrow that down?
I mean, did someone actually read all six center of
those letters and said, Okay, this has got the most
heart here and this is the most sobering there, and
this is heartbreaking. You know, how did you do that?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
He he actually he did. He Actually that was the
thing that was excellent about it, because Steve did a
lot of the research for us, you know, so he
actually went through even before he was at WFMT, he
was at i think another radio station in Nebraska, and
he thought, hey, instead of doing like playing sousa during
this during you know, these holidays, Veterans Day and so forth,
(06:31):
why don't we read letters that were written by soldiers
to the loved ones in time of war and read
those on the air. And that basically became what he
did on WFMT. So then yeah, they went through and
just went yeah, and they thought, okay, this letter he
would go through and this would be more emphatic, this
is actually really a good letter. And he would sift
(06:52):
through about yeah, six hundred of these things and found
the ones that were the most presentable. And then that
came that program call War Letters on w f MT,
and then uh yeah, and it spanned all different types
of wars. He was really into it.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Well as I understand it. Even I think I saw
an interview did where you said Stud's Turkle actually did
read some of these letters. And if you know, some
of our younger audience might not be familiar with him,
but he's an actor, historian, a broadcaster. I think he
actually had a Pulitzer Prize for one of his one
of his books that he wrote, So that's a pretty
big name.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
No, Studs Tirkle. Actually, Steve told me a great story
aboutue of it, and I hope your listeners can appreciate
it was actually kind of funny because back in the day,
you know, it was you know, there was some pretty
choice language in some of those letters. And I think
that Stud's called him up one time it he said, Steve,
I can't read this on the air. It's like, I
(07:48):
can't do this, and it's like, well, we'll kind of
we'll minimize it. We'll take some of the wording out
because some of it was harsh language. You know, these
guys were writting back to their families, and you know,
they're very honest letters. And I think that was one
of the thing I was talking with with the with Patrick,
and with Patrick really enjoys to our composer is that
(08:09):
you know, these letters come from the heart and they're
they're not like they're not trying to hold back anything.
Of course, we made them, you know, you know, safe
in a sense that you know there we don't take
verses that are very you know, violent, and I don't
think that that's what this project was. But we specifically
wanted to make sure that you know that the letters
(08:29):
and the and the the content was still there and
the meaning was still there. But anyways, it was kind
of funny because Studs Trickle did call up Steve and
he was arguing with him to try to put this together,
and I think actually Steve put the narration together himself
on w f M T and they got they got
a couple of awards for it too, from what I
recall what he was telling.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Me, Well, I'm very sensitive to that because obviously we're
a regular old fashioned radio show and we've got our
friends at the FCC we have to watch out for.
And then, if you're not familiar with the end of
Street Folks, is called the dump button, which is the big,
big red button right there by the microphone that we
press when a guest doesn't say something family friendly, and
it's kind of a chuckle. I've been doing the show, gosh,
(09:13):
probably eight nine years in and I had never had
to press that dump button, and my first guest that
and you know, I get a lot of marines on
I get a lot of you know, I get some salty,
salty critters on the show. But the first guest or
we actually had to press the dump button was actually
a female atf agent and she was describing a particular
shootout that got very sporty. So anyway, so that's that's
(09:37):
a different story.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
So there's a time and place for those things.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
There we go. When we come back, we're gonna introduce
you to Patrick Zimmerly, who's the composer on this project.
Stick around. We'll be right back, hy of.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
And lie away cat night, lookon and stars and thinking
that way are the side and stor.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
That shine on you.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Welcome back to American Warrior Radio. Ladies and gentlemen. This
is your host, Ben Butler Garcia. What you just heard
is a sample of one of the compositions that's being
put together as part of Letters from the Front, a
very unique initiative taking place right now. You can learn
more of visit Letters from the Front dot net. Next
joining the conversation, we've got the composer Patrick Zimmerlee. Patrick
(10:46):
is a New York and Paris based composer, producer, and saxophonist.
Since winning the inaugural The Loneius Monk Composers Competition in
nineteen ninety three, he's released twelve albums of his own
music and has written, recorded, and performed with many of
the leading lights both the classical and jazz world's Patrick,
Welcome to the conversation here in American Warrior Radio.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
Thanks thanks so much for having me Patrick.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I'm curious you know Ian is currently serves in the military.
He's a major in the National Guard. You and I
are both civilians who never served. What was your initial
reaction when you were approached about this project.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
Well, you know, my involvement actually comes from a previous
project that I was involved in on the life and
work of Alan Seeger. I don't know if you know
who Alan Sieger is. He's a World Oh yeah, he's
a World War One veteran, and he was He's a
very interesting guy because he was living in Paris. He
(11:40):
was kind of a poet, and he was living in
Paris at the time of the outbreak of the First War,
First World War in nineteen fourteen, and rather than waiting
for the US to join the battle, he signed up
for the foreign legion to go and sort of fight
and defend his sort of French brothers and sisters in battle.
(12:03):
And he went to went went to went to training,
and went to the front and saw action in several
several on several fronts. And and during this time he
was writing this poetry on that that the theme of
which was like the the importance of sort of self
sacrifice to defend the ideals of freedom and and he
(12:27):
also wrote some magazine articles that came into the New
York Times. And it was in part due to his
sort of attitude that the US eventually entered the war
in nineteen sixteen. So and he he himself died on
July fourth of nineteen sixteen in battle. So so, this
guy was a very interesting figure and is very dear
(12:49):
to the French people. And so since my wife is
French and she's involved in production, she suggested we do
a piece dedicated to his life and work. So so
I also, I always had this background, and you know,
for me, it's I mean, this kind of impulse to
self sacrifice so that people like me and you can
have like the lives that we lead. I mean, I'm
(13:13):
quite grateful, you know.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
So so.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
I thought this was a great idea, and so we
did this piece, which you premiered in Paris and in
New York the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine there
and Steve Robinson, who I also knew sort of was
attached to that. So he was the one who connected
me with Ian. And when Ian approached me, and Ian
and Steve actually approached me about this, it seemed like
an amazing project and something that I would I was
(13:38):
very very happy to get involved with.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Patrick Ben gets one dumb question at least one dumb
question a show. So here you're the winner of Ben's
dumb question, So go for it. I clearly in this instance,
because you're writing, you're composing these songs based on letters
written either home from people in the military or family
members writing them, and so in this case, the lyrics
(14:05):
came first and the music comes second. How often is
it the reverse where you've got the notes and the
music is like, now, what's an appropriate lyric for this?
And I'm sure kids nowadays can go online and find
an artificial intelligence lyric generator. But I'm an old guy.
That's not the way. I mean, how, how, what percentage?
(14:26):
Which way does it go?
Speaker 5 (14:27):
I think that really depends from composer to composer and
experienced experience. Personally, I've never had anyone set my lyrics
to music, except in jest. Maybe like three or thirty
or four years ago, people made some joke lyrics to
one of my songs that was particularly difficult, and that
was concerning them, so they were they wrote some kind
(14:49):
of joke lyrics. But other than that, that's never happened
to me. I've always only had had a libretto or
a or a set of lyrics, and I've set those
to music. But I think that really varies from quo.
I don't think I'm necessarily typical. Like I think songwriters
maybe come up with songs and then you know, in
the pop or music medium, and then then they'll have
(15:10):
someone put some lyrics of that that that can also happen.
But I wouldn't. I would not hazard a guess as
to percentages. I have literally no idea.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Well, I mean, you know, there's there's a joke about
you know, the country music songs. You know, my my
wife left with the dog, and I repossessed my truck
and you know, kind of all of that stuff. But yeah, I.
Speaker 6 (15:26):
Mean, if someone gave me those lyrics, I would be
able to hit that out of the park. But I
don't think that any I don't think that anyone would
be able to retrofit any of my personal melodies with
those kinds of lyrics.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Person Well, again, we are we're talking classical music here,
so but I mean that this, this is different in
that this is not something that was inspired ten years
later by my my first love, you know, or a sunset.
So I'm writing a song about her the sunset. I mean,
these are these are the words of people right there
in the moment. Yes, and in one of the most
(16:00):
difficult times in their life. And do do you think
that adds to the credentials, if you will, of these productions.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
Oh well, I mean one hundred percent. For me. That's
the that's what makes it so compelling because, like like
Ian was saying earlier, I mean, you know, when your
life is in danger and it's all you never know
if you're going to wake up tomorrow. You know, you
tend to write really direct, think the things you right,
(16:28):
tend to write things that are that are very sincere.
And you're not trying to win any poetry prizes, you
know what I mean. This is not sort of self
consciously artificially literary in any way, and I kind of
really prefer that personally. It's very direct kind of speech.
And I mean I've never I've been fortunate enough not
to be in any of these situations personally. But you know,
it's the composer's job to be able to convey and
(16:49):
support like the emotion of the text that you're setting.
And that's and in this case, the it's so these
letters are so powerful to me that it's it's it
makes my job in a way.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
See, I don't know Patrick or Ian if you want
to answer this, but I'm curious. You know, some of
these letters are not We're not written to be songs obviously,
so they're not two and a half, three minutes, four minutes,
six minutes long as a read. Did you have to
edit or sample, for lack of a better term, some
of these letters to get to that final composition, that
(17:21):
final message you wanted to share to Yeah.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
Do you mind if I take this in? Because absolutely absolutely?
I mean, in fact, so there's so uh, you know,
there was a process of taking the letters and sort
of whittling them down into and making them sort of
like song like, and we, in fact Mirabel Ordinaire, this
French director who also happens to be my wife. I'm
(17:44):
I'm I'm biased to her work, but she actually helped
us out to shape this this set of letters into
a singable libretto that I then that I then wrote.
So so absolutely that's you. If you if you sort
of try to set a letter itself to music, it
can be sort of long and a bit boring. It's
better to sort of like fit them into kind of lyrics,
(18:05):
lyrical segments. And that's what we did with these with these.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Letters Okay, I tell you what, when we come back,
we're going to introduce our listeners to some of these
letters and some of the authors of the letters, and
also talk more about what you and your teams are doing.
I tell you, gentlemen, I'm very very proud of you.
I'm very excited to hear hear the final product when
we come back. Lace and gentlemen, there's your host, Ben
Dila Garcia. We're talking with Ian Gindez who's the executive producer,
(18:28):
and Patrick Zimmerlee, who was the composer of just a
really fascinating project called Letters from the Front dot net.
You can visit that website. You can hear some samples,
get more background on the team and some of the
stories where this is all coming from. Stick around. When
come back, will introduce you to some of these letters themselves.
(19:13):
Welcome back to American Warrior Radio. Lasion. Gentlemen, this is
your host, Ben Biler Garcia. We're coming to you from
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We're being joined today on American Warrior Radio by Ian
Gindez was the executive producer and Patrick Zimmerlee, who is
the composer on just a really really cool new project
coming soon to a Amazon CD, coming soon to a
(19:58):
place near you. It's called Letters from the Front and
that what this team has done is they took letters
written by people serving in the military all the way
from the Revolutionary War on up to the Gulf War,
and they've now composed music and they're putting these people's
feelings into song. And it's just well, let me go
before introduce people to some of these letters. Ian, you
(20:20):
I saw an interview he did. You said you were
aiming for an American sound inspired by Aaron Copeland. Could
you sort of expand on that and particularly for the
non you know, composer band geeks like me out there
explain what that means.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Sure, So when I think about American music, and I
think generally everybody in the classical sphere would say this,
like Aaron Copeland was the founder of this American sound.
And again, when he started composing this, this is not
something that people thought, Oh, this is the American sound.
So when you hear a lot of Copland's music in
westerns and stuff like that, you're like, is this really
(20:56):
the Western sound? But he actually was the founder of
that and a great inspiration, I would think in that sense.
Some people can argue otherwise. But I think when Patrick
and I sat down and we started talking about what
this composition was going to look like, I said, hey,
we need to kind of you know, I want it
to be nostalgic and you know, remind us of America.
(21:20):
And certainly I guess Copland just kind of creeps into that,
you know, regardless of what a composer does. And I'll
have Patrick kind of hit on that a little bit.
But I guess the thing is is that we wanted
to have it in that that type of inspiration in
that way. And another thing was is that classical music
has kind of gone different ways over the course of
(21:42):
the last hundreds of years, it's become I don't want
to say abstract, but very difficult to understand. Melodical lines
are not as important, and that's something that I didn't
want to have happen. I wanted to have a nice
melodic line that people can follow, that there's continuity in
the music, and I wanted I just wanted that to
(22:03):
be a part of, you know, people's experience. This was
not necessarily for classical music levers, which we all appreciate
for sure, but it's also for everybody that everybody can
understand it, and that was that that was the conception
that I talked with with Patrick.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
So the goal here is not just for I mean,
this is for the general public to be able to enjoy.
I enjoy, you know, it's it. It's interesting. I sometimes gentlemen,
people ask me about a show and they say, well,
what's you know, what's the favorite guest you've ever had?
And sometimes it's difficult because I mean, if we're doing
a show about veterans, suicide or you know, some some
(22:42):
of us are pretty tough subjects, so I don't use
the word favorite. And I kind of am getting a
similar sense of this I appreciate what you're doing. I
don't know, and we'll talk about this little later. You know,
given some of the backstories of some of these letters
and these people, it's not all celebratory, you know, it's
(23:04):
actually there.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
There was, actually there's a great story to that. And
I'll keep it really quick. That we had one individual.
It's actually the letter is about a gentleman having a baby,
and that was in nineteen forty four. I'm going to
mess up the day. I think he he ended up
dying in an air.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Raid r July third, nineteen forty four.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Yeah, I'm going to get to him.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Yeah, thank you, thank you. Gosh. So, anyways, gressiic. It
was funny because how letters go, we don't We had
to get the copyrights to We had to get the
permissions from all these letters and to do this, and
we didn't necessarily have to get the one for Gressick
because how copyright works is after the person dies at
(23:53):
seventy five years after that point, then it's basically in
the public domain. But and my wife, she was really
awesome about this. She went ahead and researched it anyway,
and she found this this lady who was located in
Texas and she had a bio and she said, my father,
(24:13):
I'm very proud of him. He died in World War two.
And Anne came up to me, she says, I think
we found I think we found his daughter, because again
he never got to see his baby. And so this
was this was a story about a man who basically
was writing about his child and he ended up dying
and he never got to see her. And so I
(24:34):
actually got her on the phone after going through the
university and having them you know, can can you have
me speak to her because I didn't know how to
get in contact with her because I think she was
actually teaching at Rice University if I'm not mistaken. But anyways,
she got back with me, and it was unbelievable to
get her on the phone and to talk to somebody
whose father actually didn't and he ended up not being
(24:56):
able to see her, but she was so proud of him,
and that I I just you can't put a price
tag on that. It's something that makes you feel that
we're doing the right thing here to really honor these soldiers,
and particularly that one, you know, specifically that that really
reaches the heart.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
That one jumped out of me too, because I've often
wondered about you know again, you know, nowadays, you know
the troops they go into the you know wherever it is,
they're at the forward Operating base, and they can do
you know, internet email, that kind of stuff. But you know,
back then you write the letter, it might be weeks
months before that letter arrives with your wife, with your
(25:35):
family members, and I've often wondered about that tragic situation
where by the time the letter is received and read,
the person who penned that letter is no longer with us.
And that's precise the case here with Hermann Gressik and
just I just yeah, powerful, powerful stuff. But Patrick, that
coming back to you that makes me think about this.
(25:56):
I sometimes heard people say that that sounds have colors,
and I don't know if that's scientifically true or not.
But as you're sitting down there at your desk and
you're so you've got these words, and you've got Herman's
words about writing about his new daughter marry Victoria, and
you know that Herman didn't make it. Does that influence
(26:22):
the types of notes and the pitches that you're going
to be using in the song or the tempo of
the music.
Speaker 5 (26:28):
Well, in that situation, In that case, you know the
emotion of the letter. I mean, you have to you
have to imagine yourself in his frame of mind. He
doesn't know that he's not going to make it back, right,
He's just like it's an extraordinary situation because he's given
birth to a child while he's far far from home,
(26:50):
and you know, like the excitement that he's feeling, and
also like the longing that that that he's feeling to
like be part of that experience, and you know, the
hope that he's feeling that he will be Those are
the kinds of things that to me colored colored the songs. Yeah,
I do think that music is suggestive color. But it's
very different for different people. I know a lot of
(27:11):
people have what's called synesthesia where they really associate very
strongly certain notes with certain colors. But but yeah, those
calls for me, those those are the emotions of the
song that I kind of that I kind of dealt
with more than the sort of tragic end which he
wouldn't have known about, he would have been ignorant of.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Well, it's called blues for a reason, right, true, exactly,
there you go, Well, I want to talk. I want
to come. So there again, Ian real quickly got about
a minute before the next break. So there you've got
twelve writers composers of the letters. How many songs did that?
Will that translate into in the final product?
Speaker 3 (27:51):
So it's six and you have to correct me if
I'm the wrong, Patrick, it's sixteen songs altogether, and it's
a there's a finale sixteen songs and then a finale
and then the finale. Actually, I don't know if you
want to discuss how that is, Patrick, or do we
want to leave that as kind of a prize at
the end or oh whatever? I mean, yeah, no, as
(28:12):
you wish, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (28:15):
Because I think I think I think in in the
throughout throughout the sort of like sort of evening length songs,
there are certain themes that come back, and there are
certain letters that kind of come back like wafting. Like
there's the cycle starts with a mother writing to her
son and saying, you know, look, I'm I miss you,
I'm really proud of you, and I'm please write.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Yeah, let's talk about that when we come back after
the break. Then that sounds like a good lady, ladies
and gentlemen, this is your host, Ben Biler Garcia here
on American Warrior Radio. Don't forget to visit Letters from
the Front dot Net. We'll be right back. Welcome back
(29:11):
to American Warrior Radio. Leason, gentlemen, this is your host
Ben Dila Garcia. Just a real pleasure today to be
speaking with Ian Gindez who's the executive producer, and Patrick Zimmerley,
who is a composer on a really cool new project
that's coming soon, Letters from the Front dot Net. Ian,
real quick, just timing wise, how does this You're planning
to release this in time for our nation's two hundred
(29:33):
and fiftieth birthday, So kind of maybe walk us through
that calendar. Are you in studio recording right now yet
or soon to come? And then what do you actually
have a release date in mind?
Speaker 3 (29:44):
So we're going to be recording in January. We haven't
started the recording yet, the official recording that starts twelfth,
thirteenth and the fourteenth of jan And then I think
what we want to do is and me and Patrick
were talking that we want to get it somewhat released,
probably not right on fourth of July, but maybe a
(30:05):
little bit before that in June. So we have a
little bit of time, maybe the last week of June.
It's still up in the air. It's not really we
haven't really decided specifically, but it is for that day,
for the two fiftieth, and certainly that special day for
America's birthday that we wanted to get it to coincide
with that, the celebration of the two fiftieth.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
And when you say released, is this something I'm ordering
a DVD off of your CD off your website or
am I going to is iTunes even exist anymore? And
that's how old I am at is what a risk
called this week.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
No, it's going to be available in hard copy, and
it's going to be available on all I guess you
would say all radio prefit electronic platforms, so Spotify, iTunes,
Apple Music. It will be available all those all those areas.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Okay, before we get back to your thought, Patrick, because
I want to wrap that up, there also a couple.
So the very first, well, I should say, the earliest
letter is James Davenport, who joined the Continental Army in
seventeen seventy seven, and the song Preparation for Battle is
excerpted from his letter from August of seventeen eighty when
(31:12):
he was in camped in Hackensack, New York, a place
where the Continental Army and the British regularly had encounters.
And then on up to the last one is a
Colonel Bill Logo, if I get that right, who served
in the Gulf War. His grandson was so inspired by
his service that he's now a United States Marine, and
the song A Minute Doesn't go By honors both of
(31:34):
their service. I don't this is a huge left Patrick,
I don't see how you're pulling this off.
Speaker 5 (31:44):
Well, you know, you'll have to check it out and
let me know how you think I did. But yeah,
I mean, you know this is I mean, I've been
writing music for like many decades now, so this is
something that I'm really used to doing. But it's definitely
a process. It takes time, and internally you're like, is
this going to work? Is this going to be is
(32:04):
this the right tone? And you you sweat it. But
by the end, by the end of the process, it
took me, you know, four or five months to write
these in the beginning of the year, and by the
end of the process you hope that you come out
with something that people are really going to love.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
Patrick it's it's interesting when I'm going to I'm doing
my show prep for an interview, I based on who
the guest is, or what the topic is or their
book or whatever it is. I've got a general idea
going into the interview of the pace of the show
and what I'd like to talk about, but very often
it goes in a completely different and unexpected direction. Does
(32:42):
that happen in music composition as well? I mean, you
might be one third into it and it's like, wait
a minute, let's let's do something different here.
Speaker 5 (32:50):
Oh yeah, absolutely, there's a kind of improvisational quality that's
that when you're when you're kind of coming idea, coming
up with ideas, and our ideas are coming to you.
You have to honor all the ideas that come into
your head and see where they take you. I mean,
and then in later stages you might you have to
sort of put your editor's hat on and say, well,
that might not have been the best idea I've ever had,
(33:11):
let's put that one on the cutting room floor, and oh,
this one was really worth pursuing, and I wouldn't have
expected that. So absolutely that you have to you have
to honor anything that might come in and and and
hope that some really inspired things come, even if by accident.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Tell us a little bit more about your team. This
is principally piano and then four singers. I think we
know who plays the piano and all this, right, we
met that guy. Ye are the of your four vocalists?
How are they selected? Are any of them veterans by
any chance?
Speaker 3 (33:42):
No, none of them are veterans. I believe John Risen
was actually in a military production. And actually he really
wanted and he's our tenor and he wanted to do
this actually, and the and the funny thing about that
was is that when he came to me and he
he wanted to do this, he actually sent me a
picture of himself in army uniform on stage. He's like,
(34:05):
I gotta do this, so and it was kind of interesting.
But yeah, none of them are veterans, but wonderful singers.
Here we have Desiree Hassler. Desiree and I are actually
colleagues from the University of Illinois. We both actually got
our doctorates and music from the University of Illinois. Angela
Borne I met here here through Chicago through a mutual
(34:28):
contact with our videoographer. Actually Matt and met Angela and
he's you know, and that just really hooked us into Angela.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Dave Governson was suggested to us by another mutual friend,
and then John obviously, So a lot of these folks
came from mutual contacts and and the folks that a
lot of them wanted to sing Americana and they specialize
in it. So Desiree Hassler specializes in Americana music, and
so does Dave, and you know, I thought that they
(35:02):
were perfect for the role. And and and we kind
of slipped through me and Patrick, I mean, we didn't
start there. There were other singers that we came through, like,
that's not gonna work. I don't think that this is
going to be the right color for this, And so
me and Patrick went back and forth. It was it
was pretty tough for us to kind of figure out
who who we needed and who would actually work so well.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
And I hope that your release timing there, that that
should be right about in time for the Grammy nominations, right, Yeah, Yeah,
I'm just I'm just throwing that out there, fellas we're
kind of run out of time, I'd be I'd be
kind of curious, though, Patrick, Do you want to do
the big reveal on the on the finale or do
you want to wait till the release happens and folks,
your choice. We don't have to do it here now.
Speaker 5 (35:43):
Oh you know it's the finale. You have to wait
for it. You know it's it's it's you have to
listen to all the songs. But when if you do,
it's you're you're gonna you're gonna be glad you did.
It's just no, it's just kind of a resume with
all four singers kind of singing bits from all the songs,
and it kind of all games to do a giant
rich trap isy there.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
It's going to love okay with a nice, nice pretty
bo Ladies and gentlemen. This stuff is not inexpensive. I
encourage you to visit Letters from the front dot net.
You can contribute, you can help support this project. I
hardly endorse what this team is doing. I think is
very special. Let's real quick, let's I want to hear
from both of you. We've got about three minutes left. Ian.
What would be your mission accomplished moment for this project?
Speaker 3 (36:26):
I think that the most important thing for this is
again to get it out there to have veterans really
enjoy this, and you know what to you know, this
should bring some kind of closure to some veterans too,
to understand because as you know, and I'm sure you
obviously have interview a lot of veterans, a lot of
them go through hardships. It's very difficult. And when they
(36:47):
understand that music has been made on their behalf and
it's for every soldier and everybody, but particularly soldiers, and
they understand that, then they're like, wow, hey, I did
do something important, and this makes me feel really proud
of what I do because, as you know, a lot
of them come back and they're like, why did I
what was I doing over here? You know, and it's
(37:07):
very difficult to conceptualize it. And I talk to a
lot of soldiers that have gone over and they're like
they come back, they're like, I just feel like I'm
ignored and and that's and that's not right. And and
I really think that this music should reach them and say, hey,
this I did do something important, you know, I was
a part of something special. And and for the the
(37:28):
whole general public, I hope that they actually enjoy it
from the fact that hey, you know, I'm glad I
give support to these folks and then I back these
people up. So that's that's the ultimate goal for people
who enjoyed the the idea, and I think that Patrick
put it in such a light that people can really,
you know, relate to it.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Okay, Patrick, what are your thoughts on that being?
Speaker 5 (37:51):
I think I'd just be better off seconding that motion.
I mean, amen to that. I don't want to tell
you how badly Ian wants the Grammy, And that's actually
another goal to because I think that because he's putting
a ton of work on this and he's been doing
a fantastic job like pushing it through and pushing through
a lot of barriers, and he deserves the Grammy as
(38:13):
much as anyone for sure.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
I well, you know, if I can, then Ian, I've
had veterans, on very successful veteran entrepreneurs on my show,
and you know they've shared that with me. It's like, hey, Ben,
you know, we're glad you're doing this. It's we know
it's a labor of love for you. But it's okay
to have some success. So it's okay to do a
great thing Ian and Patrick and still get a Grammy.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
We got We've got well, I think at the end
of the day for musicians, I mean, at the end
of the day, we're doing a great thing, but we
have to put food on our table, right, We have
to feed our families too, So it's just, you know,
it has to come from somewhere. So the hard work
that we do, yeah, it's it's labor intensive and it
is a job, so you know, you know, yeah, but
I think I should yeah.
Speaker 5 (38:53):
If I if I just add one thing. There are
also performances being planned. Sure, there are several performances being
planned throughout the United States, and I think that the
project is going to tour and they are going to
be There're gonna be public performances throughout throughout the nation
also coming up in time.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Well, gentlemen, thank you so much for sharing your time
with our listeners today and I wish you much success
and maybe we'll check in with you again after the release.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
Thanks so much, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
Hey you go, ladies, and gentlemen, Ian Gindiz and Patrick
Zimmerlely don't forget to check out letters from the front
dot net and support this great project. I can't wait
to hear the final product. Until next time, all policies
and procedures are remain in place. Take care of me.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
You've been listening to American Warrior Radio. Archived episodes may
be found at americanwarriorradio dot com or your favorite podcast
platform
We all owe them, but very few of us know them.
They are the men and women of our military and
first responder communities, and these are their stories. American Warrior
Radio is on the air.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, all ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to American Warrior Radio.
I'm your host, Ben buler Garcia. If you've been thinking
about getting a suppressor for one or more of your weapons,
there's never been a better time to do so. For
a limited time, our friends at silencercentral dot com will
pick up the cost of your tax stamp on selected silencers.
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(00:46):
They can then help you complete all the paperwork and
ship right to your front door, making silence simple. Silencercentral
dot com. I played the trumpet for fourteen years from
elementary school on up through college. I thought I was
pretty good until I auditioned for a music scholarship at
the University of Arizona, and that's when I found out
that I was not a musician. I was just a
(01:06):
pretty good trumpet player. I also grew up overseas and
we principally spoke German and Spanish at home. English came
later when I moved to the United States, and I'll
never forget my mother, who is a pianist, once told me,
when you look at ink on paper and then translated
into a series of sounds that converse directly to the spirit,
you're speaking a fourth language. I certainly wouldn't compare it
(01:29):
directly to the military, but in band, there's also some
of those if you know you know moments, like when
special bonds are formed after hours of rehearsal, mistakes and corrections,
and then it comes together, everyone in tune, everyone playing
their part with confidence, and you nail it from the
first note on the page to the last, and the
audience responds. I share that to explain my excitement when
(01:49):
I heard about a unique project that combines two of
my personal passions, music and honoring our veterans, military members
and their families. It's called The Letters from the Front,
and today you're going to meet two of the driving
forces behind this special initiative. First, a classical pianist who
was praised by ground Phone magazine for his keyboard brilliance
and has performed all across the country, including Carnegie Hall.
(02:10):
He also serves in the Illinois National Guard, currently holding
the rank of major, and he's the executive director of
Letters from the Front. Ian Gindez, Welcome to American Warrior Radio.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Hey Ben, good morning. How are you doing.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I'm just peachy if I can get away. I was
teasing that, you know, I appear to be going through
a second phase of puberty with my voice cracking. But
I hope folk will be a patient.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
With this now.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I And I'm sure there's lots of Majors in the
National Guard who are also nationally touring classical pianists. Right,
that's a diamond dozen.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Or this is a rather unorthodox thing. Yeah, and I'll
tell you it's it's been great to actually have that,
to have the military too, because a lot of the
military folks are very supportive of musicians, you know, and
just what I do specifically, And yeah, when I came
in when I first enlisted in uh, and I was
(03:03):
at Fort lenar Wood in Missouri, I think they some
of them kind of like in your musician, why are
you here? So it was but uh, I think it
really was good to have that and to share that
amongst my my colleagues in the military.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Well, but you didn't answer the question why are you there?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Why?
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Why why the National Guard?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Well then, oh so the National Guard. When I initially
joined in four I wanted to do I wanted to
really help with natural disaster relief. That was one of
my things. I really wanted to help out and give back.
And I knew that, you know that that was one
of the things I wanted to do. And plus, hey,
you get to you get to shoot weapons and throw
hand gardes. I mean, who does that, you know? Like
(03:45):
and and honestly, it really my father was very instrumental
in helping. He's like, hey, you should think about doing this,
and and uh, you know, this would be really good
for you. It disciplines you. It really gets you to,
you know, to have a lot of respect, you know,
for things that you generally don't think about from day
to day. And you get to meet all kinds of
(04:05):
excellent people and from different cultures. It's it's I thought
it was a very good idea. So I ended up
getting in and I'm here, I am twenty one years later.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And folks can learn more by visiting letters from the
Front dot net. And I just I can't tell you
how Honestly, I was so excited when your organization contacted
us because this this is a very I wouldn't I
don't know if it's the first ever in the world,
but it is a very unique project. Tell us, how
did this idea? Where'd the idea for Letters from the Front?
(04:36):
How did that initially come about?
Speaker 3 (04:39):
So about five years ago I met with the former
general manager from WFMT, Steve Robinson, and WFMT is our
classical music station here in Chicago. We sat down and
he knew that, Wow, you have a very you know,
interesting background. You're a concert pianist and you're in the military.
And he saw that. He said, you know what you
should do? You know, I did a program. He did
(05:02):
a program that uh that he actually did uh called
war Letters and uh so during that actually he had
a bunch of letters that were that were that were
read to there were made by soldiers that were that
(05:22):
were written to their loved ones, and he said, you
should set this to music, and so that's what happened.
I actually took the letters five years later and we
started working to putting those to music and sending them
to vocalists and vocalists to seeing them. But it was
Steve initially who originated the idea, and he said he
and it wasn't set to music initially, it was just
(05:42):
read on their radio station. And then he said, hey,
you should take this and put it to music.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Now, does I understand he had a collection of six
hundred letters. I mean, that's that's a ton. How did
you how did you synthesize? How did you narrow that down?
I mean, did someone actually read all six center of
those letters and said, Okay, this has got the most
heart here and this is the most sobering there, and
this is heartbreaking. You know, how did you do that?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
He he actually he did. He Actually that was the
thing that was excellent about it, because Steve did a
lot of the research for us, you know, so he
actually went through even before he was at WFMT, he
was at i think another radio station in Nebraska, and
he thought, hey, instead of doing like playing sousa during
this during you know, these holidays, Veterans Day and so forth,
(06:31):
why don't we read letters that were written by soldiers
to the loved ones in time of war and read
those on the air. And that basically became what he
did on WFMT. So then yeah, they went through and
just went yeah, and they thought, okay, this letter he
would go through and this would be more emphatic, this
is actually really a good letter. And he would sift
(06:52):
through about yeah, six hundred of these things and found
the ones that were the most presentable. And then that
came that program call War Letters on w f MT,
and then uh yeah, and it spanned all different types
of wars. He was really into it.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Well as I understand it. Even I think I saw
an interview did where you said Stud's Turkle actually did
read some of these letters. And if you know, some
of our younger audience might not be familiar with him,
but he's an actor, historian, a broadcaster. I think he
actually had a Pulitzer Prize for one of his one
of his books that he wrote, So that's a pretty
big name.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
No, Studs Tirkle. Actually, Steve told me a great story
aboutue of it, and I hope your listeners can appreciate
it was actually kind of funny because back in the day,
you know, it was you know, there was some pretty
choice language in some of those letters. And I think
that Stud's called him up one time it he said, Steve,
I can't read this on the air. It's like, I
(07:48):
can't do this, and it's like, well, we'll kind of
we'll minimize it. We'll take some of the wording out
because some of it was harsh language. You know, these
guys were writting back to their families, and you know,
they're very honest letters. And I think that was one
of the thing I was talking with with the with Patrick,
and with Patrick really enjoys to our composer is that
(08:09):
you know, these letters come from the heart and they're
they're not like they're not trying to hold back anything.
Of course, we made them, you know, you know, safe
in a sense that you know there we don't take
verses that are very you know, violent, and I don't
think that that's what this project was. But we specifically
wanted to make sure that you know that the letters
(08:29):
and the and the the content was still there and
the meaning was still there. But anyways, it was kind
of funny because Studs Trickle did call up Steve and
he was arguing with him to try to put this together,
and I think actually Steve put the narration together himself
on w f M T and they got they got
a couple of awards for it too, from what I
recall what he was telling.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Me, Well, I'm very sensitive to that because obviously we're
a regular old fashioned radio show and we've got our
friends at the FCC we have to watch out for.
And then, if you're not familiar with the end of
Street Folks, is called the dump button, which is the big,
big red button right there by the microphone that we
press when a guest doesn't say something family friendly, and
it's kind of a chuckle. I've been doing the show, gosh,
(09:13):
probably eight nine years in and I had never had
to press that dump button, and my first guest that
and you know, I get a lot of marines on
I get a lot of you know, I get some salty,
salty critters on the show. But the first guest or
we actually had to press the dump button was actually
a female atf agent and she was describing a particular
shootout that got very sporty. So anyway, so that's that's
(09:37):
a different story.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
So there's a time and place for those things.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
There we go. When we come back, we're gonna introduce
you to Patrick Zimmerly, who's the composer on this project.
Stick around. We'll be right back, hy of.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
And lie away cat night, lookon and stars and thinking
that way are the side and stor.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
That shine on you.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Welcome back to American Warrior Radio. Ladies and gentlemen. This
is your host, Ben Butler Garcia. What you just heard
is a sample of one of the compositions that's being
put together as part of Letters from the Front, a
very unique initiative taking place right now. You can learn
more of visit Letters from the Front dot net. Next
joining the conversation, we've got the composer Patrick Zimmerlee. Patrick
(10:46):
is a New York and Paris based composer, producer, and saxophonist.
Since winning the inaugural The Loneius Monk Composers Competition in
nineteen ninety three, he's released twelve albums of his own
music and has written, recorded, and performed with many of
the leading lights both the classical and jazz world's Patrick,
Welcome to the conversation here in American Warrior Radio.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
Thanks thanks so much for having me Patrick.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I'm curious you know Ian is currently serves in the military.
He's a major in the National Guard. You and I
are both civilians who never served. What was your initial
reaction when you were approached about this project.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
Well, you know, my involvement actually comes from a previous
project that I was involved in on the life and
work of Alan Seeger. I don't know if you know
who Alan Sieger is. He's a World Oh yeah, he's
a World War One veteran, and he was He's a
very interesting guy because he was living in Paris. He
(11:40):
was kind of a poet, and he was living in
Paris at the time of the outbreak of the First War,
First World War in nineteen fourteen, and rather than waiting
for the US to join the battle, he signed up
for the foreign legion to go and sort of fight
and defend his sort of French brothers and sisters in battle.
(12:03):
And he went to went went to went to training,
and went to the front and saw action in several
several on several fronts. And and during this time he
was writing this poetry on that that the theme of
which was like the the importance of sort of self
sacrifice to defend the ideals of freedom and and he
(12:27):
also wrote some magazine articles that came into the New
York Times. And it was in part due to his
sort of attitude that the US eventually entered the war
in nineteen sixteen. So and he he himself died on
July fourth of nineteen sixteen in battle. So so, this
guy was a very interesting figure and is very dear
(12:49):
to the French people. And so since my wife is
French and she's involved in production, she suggested we do
a piece dedicated to his life and work. So so
I also, I always had this background, and you know,
for me, it's I mean, this kind of impulse to
self sacrifice so that people like me and you can
have like the lives that we lead. I mean, I'm
(13:13):
quite grateful, you know.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
So so.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
I thought this was a great idea, and so we
did this piece, which you premiered in Paris and in
New York the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine there
and Steve Robinson, who I also knew sort of was
attached to that. So he was the one who connected
me with Ian. And when Ian approached me, and Ian
and Steve actually approached me about this, it seemed like
an amazing project and something that I would I was
(13:38):
very very happy to get involved with.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Patrick Ben gets one dumb question at least one dumb
question a show. So here you're the winner of Ben's
dumb question, So go for it. I clearly in this instance,
because you're writing, you're composing these songs based on letters
written either home from people in the military or family
members writing them, and so in this case, the lyrics
(14:05):
came first and the music comes second. How often is
it the reverse where you've got the notes and the
music is like, now, what's an appropriate lyric for this?
And I'm sure kids nowadays can go online and find
an artificial intelligence lyric generator. But I'm an old guy.
That's not the way. I mean, how, how, what percentage?
(14:26):
Which way does it go?
Speaker 5 (14:27):
I think that really depends from composer to composer and
experienced experience. Personally, I've never had anyone set my lyrics
to music, except in jest. Maybe like three or thirty
or four years ago, people made some joke lyrics to
one of my songs that was particularly difficult, and that
was concerning them, so they were they wrote some kind
(14:49):
of joke lyrics. But other than that, that's never happened
to me. I've always only had had a libretto or
a or a set of lyrics, and I've set those
to music. But I think that really varies from quo.
I don't think I'm necessarily typical. Like I think songwriters
maybe come up with songs and then you know, in
the pop or music medium, and then then they'll have
(15:10):
someone put some lyrics of that that that can also happen.
But I wouldn't. I would not hazard a guess as
to percentages. I have literally no idea.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Well, I mean, you know, there's there's a joke about
you know, the country music songs. You know, my my
wife left with the dog, and I repossessed my truck
and you know, kind of all of that stuff. But yeah, I.
Speaker 6 (15:26):
Mean, if someone gave me those lyrics, I would be
able to hit that out of the park. But I
don't think that any I don't think that anyone would
be able to retrofit any of my personal melodies with
those kinds of lyrics.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Person Well, again, we are we're talking classical music here,
so but I mean that this, this is different in
that this is not something that was inspired ten years
later by my my first love, you know, or a sunset.
So I'm writing a song about her the sunset. I mean,
these are these are the words of people right there
in the moment. Yes, and in one of the most
(16:00):
difficult times in their life. And do do you think
that adds to the credentials, if you will, of these productions.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
Oh well, I mean one hundred percent. For me. That's
the that's what makes it so compelling because, like like
Ian was saying earlier, I mean, you know, when your
life is in danger and it's all you never know
if you're going to wake up tomorrow. You know, you
tend to write really direct, think the things you right,
(16:28):
tend to write things that are that are very sincere.
And you're not trying to win any poetry prizes, you
know what I mean. This is not sort of self
consciously artificially literary in any way, and I kind of
really prefer that personally. It's very direct kind of speech.
And I mean I've never I've been fortunate enough not
to be in any of these situations personally. But you know,
it's the composer's job to be able to convey and
(16:49):
support like the emotion of the text that you're setting.
And that's and in this case, the it's so these
letters are so powerful to me that it's it's it
makes my job in a way.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
See, I don't know Patrick or Ian if you want
to answer this, but I'm curious. You know, some of
these letters are not We're not written to be songs obviously,
so they're not two and a half, three minutes, four minutes,
six minutes long as a read. Did you have to
edit or sample, for lack of a better term, some
of these letters to get to that final composition, that
(17:21):
final message you wanted to share to Yeah.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
Do you mind if I take this in? Because absolutely absolutely?
I mean, in fact, so there's so uh, you know,
there was a process of taking the letters and sort
of whittling them down into and making them sort of
like song like, and we, in fact Mirabel Ordinaire, this
French director who also happens to be my wife. I'm
(17:44):
I'm I'm biased to her work, but she actually helped
us out to shape this this set of letters into
a singable libretto that I then that I then wrote.
So so absolutely that's you. If you if you sort
of try to set a letter itself to music, it
can be sort of long and a bit boring. It's
better to sort of like fit them into kind of lyrics,
(18:05):
lyrical segments. And that's what we did with these with these.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Letters Okay, I tell you what, when we come back,
we're going to introduce our listeners to some of these
letters and some of the authors of the letters, and
also talk more about what you and your teams are doing.
I tell you, gentlemen, I'm very very proud of you.
I'm very excited to hear hear the final product when
we come back. Lace and gentlemen, there's your host, Ben
Dila Garcia. We're talking with Ian Gindez who's the executive producer,
(18:28):
and Patrick Zimmerlee, who was the composer of just a
really fascinating project called Letters from the Front dot net.
You can visit that website. You can hear some samples,
get more background on the team and some of the
stories where this is all coming from. Stick around. When
come back, will introduce you to some of these letters themselves.
(19:13):
Welcome back to American Warrior Radio. Lasion. Gentlemen, this is
your host, Ben Biler Garcia. We're coming to you from
the Silencer Central Studios. Silencer Central is the nation's largest
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(19:34):
can help you complete all the paperwork and ship your
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offers for a limited time only, visit Silencercentral dot com today.
We're being joined today on American Warrior Radio by Ian
Gindez was the executive producer and Patrick Zimmerlee, who is
the composer on just a really really cool new project
coming soon to a Amazon CD, coming soon to a
(19:58):
place near you. It's called Letters from the Front and
that what this team has done is they took letters
written by people serving in the military all the way
from the Revolutionary War on up to the Gulf War,
and they've now composed music and they're putting these people's
feelings into song. And it's just well, let me go
before introduce people to some of these letters. Ian, you
(20:20):
I saw an interview he did. You said you were
aiming for an American sound inspired by Aaron Copeland. Could
you sort of expand on that and particularly for the
non you know, composer band geeks like me out there
explain what that means.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Sure, So when I think about American music, and I
think generally everybody in the classical sphere would say this,
like Aaron Copeland was the founder of this American sound.
And again, when he started composing this, this is not
something that people thought, Oh, this is the American sound.
So when you hear a lot of Copland's music in
westerns and stuff like that, you're like, is this really
(20:56):
the Western sound? But he actually was the founder of
that and a great inspiration, I would think in that sense.
Some people can argue otherwise. But I think when Patrick
and I sat down and we started talking about what
this composition was going to look like, I said, hey,
we need to kind of you know, I want it
to be nostalgic and you know, remind us of America.
(21:20):
And certainly I guess Copland just kind of creeps into that,
you know, regardless of what a composer does. And I'll
have Patrick kind of hit on that a little bit.
But I guess the thing is is that we wanted
to have it in that that type of inspiration in
that way. And another thing was is that classical music
has kind of gone different ways over the course of
(21:42):
the last hundreds of years, it's become I don't want
to say abstract, but very difficult to understand. Melodical lines
are not as important, and that's something that I didn't
want to have happen. I wanted to have a nice
melodic line that people can follow, that there's continuity in
the music, and I wanted I just wanted that to
(22:03):
be a part of, you know, people's experience. This was
not necessarily for classical music levers, which we all appreciate
for sure, but it's also for everybody that everybody can
understand it, and that was that that was the conception
that I talked with with Patrick.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
So the goal here is not just for I mean,
this is for the general public to be able to enjoy.
I enjoy, you know, it's it. It's interesting. I sometimes gentlemen,
people ask me about a show and they say, well,
what's you know, what's the favorite guest you've ever had?
And sometimes it's difficult because I mean, if we're doing
a show about veterans, suicide or you know, some some
(22:42):
of us are pretty tough subjects, so I don't use
the word favorite. And I kind of am getting a
similar sense of this I appreciate what you're doing. I
don't know, and we'll talk about this little later. You know,
given some of the backstories of some of these letters
and these people, it's not all celebratory, you know, it's
(23:04):
actually there.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
There was, actually there's a great story to that. And
I'll keep it really quick. That we had one individual.
It's actually the letter is about a gentleman having a baby,
and that was in nineteen forty four. I'm going to
mess up the day. I think he he ended up
dying in an air.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Raid r July third, nineteen forty four.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Yeah, I'm going to get to him.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Yeah, thank you, thank you. Gosh. So, anyways, gressiic. It
was funny because how letters go, we don't We had
to get the copyrights to We had to get the
permissions from all these letters and to do this, and
we didn't necessarily have to get the one for Gressick
because how copyright works is after the person dies at
(23:53):
seventy five years after that point, then it's basically in
the public domain. But and my wife, she was really
awesome about this. She went ahead and researched it anyway,
and she found this this lady who was located in
Texas and she had a bio and she said, my father,
(24:13):
I'm very proud of him. He died in World War two.
And Anne came up to me, she says, I think
we found I think we found his daughter, because again
he never got to see his baby. And so this
was this was a story about a man who basically
was writing about his child and he ended up dying
and he never got to see her. And so I
(24:34):
actually got her on the phone after going through the
university and having them you know, can can you have
me speak to her because I didn't know how to
get in contact with her because I think she was
actually teaching at Rice University if I'm not mistaken. But anyways,
she got back with me, and it was unbelievable to
get her on the phone and to talk to somebody
whose father actually didn't and he ended up not being
(24:56):
able to see her, but she was so proud of him,
and that I I just you can't put a price
tag on that. It's something that makes you feel that
we're doing the right thing here to really honor these soldiers,
and particularly that one, you know, specifically that that really
reaches the heart.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
That one jumped out of me too, because I've often
wondered about you know again, you know, nowadays, you know
the troops they go into the you know wherever it is,
they're at the forward Operating base, and they can do
you know, internet email, that kind of stuff. But you know,
back then you write the letter, it might be weeks
months before that letter arrives with your wife, with your
(25:35):
family members, and I've often wondered about that tragic situation
where by the time the letter is received and read,
the person who penned that letter is no longer with us.
And that's precise the case here with Hermann Gressik and
just I just yeah, powerful, powerful stuff. But Patrick, that
coming back to you that makes me think about this.
(25:56):
I sometimes heard people say that that sounds have colors,
and I don't know if that's scientifically true or not.
But as you're sitting down there at your desk and
you're so you've got these words, and you've got Herman's
words about writing about his new daughter marry Victoria, and
you know that Herman didn't make it. Does that influence
(26:22):
the types of notes and the pitches that you're going
to be using in the song or the tempo of
the music.
Speaker 5 (26:28):
Well, in that situation, In that case, you know the
emotion of the letter. I mean, you have to you
have to imagine yourself in his frame of mind. He
doesn't know that he's not going to make it back, right,
He's just like it's an extraordinary situation because he's given
birth to a child while he's far far from home,
(26:50):
and you know, like the excitement that he's feeling, and
also like the longing that that that he's feeling to
like be part of that experience, and you know, the
hope that he's feeling that he will be Those are
the kinds of things that to me colored colored the songs. Yeah,
I do think that music is suggestive color. But it's
very different for different people. I know a lot of
(27:11):
people have what's called synesthesia where they really associate very
strongly certain notes with certain colors. But but yeah, those
calls for me, those those are the emotions of the
song that I kind of that I kind of dealt
with more than the sort of tragic end which he
wouldn't have known about, he would have been ignorant of.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Well, it's called blues for a reason, right, true, exactly,
there you go, Well, I want to talk. I want
to come. So there again, Ian real quickly got about
a minute before the next break. So there you've got
twelve writers composers of the letters. How many songs did that?
Will that translate into in the final product?
Speaker 3 (27:51):
So it's six and you have to correct me if
I'm the wrong, Patrick, it's sixteen songs altogether, and it's
a there's a finale sixteen songs and then a finale
and then the finale. Actually, I don't know if you
want to discuss how that is, Patrick, or do we
want to leave that as kind of a prize at
the end or oh whatever? I mean, yeah, no, as
(28:12):
you wish, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (28:15):
Because I think I think I think in in the
throughout throughout the sort of like sort of evening length songs,
there are certain themes that come back, and there are
certain letters that kind of come back like wafting. Like
there's the cycle starts with a mother writing to her
son and saying, you know, look, I'm I miss you,
I'm really proud of you, and I'm please write.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Yeah, let's talk about that when we come back after
the break. Then that sounds like a good lady, ladies
and gentlemen, this is your host, Ben Biler Garcia here
on American Warrior Radio. Don't forget to visit Letters from
the Front dot Net. We'll be right back. Welcome back
(29:11):
to American Warrior Radio. Leason, gentlemen, this is your host
Ben Dila Garcia. Just a real pleasure today to be
speaking with Ian Gindez who's the executive producer, and Patrick Zimmerley,
who is a composer on a really cool new project
that's coming soon, Letters from the Front dot Net. Ian,
real quick, just timing wise, how does this You're planning
to release this in time for our nation's two hundred
(29:33):
and fiftieth birthday, So kind of maybe walk us through
that calendar. Are you in studio recording right now yet
or soon to come? And then what do you actually
have a release date in mind?
Speaker 3 (29:44):
So we're going to be recording in January. We haven't
started the recording yet, the official recording that starts twelfth,
thirteenth and the fourteenth of jan And then I think
what we want to do is and me and Patrick
were talking that we want to get it somewhat released,
probably not right on fourth of July, but maybe a
(30:05):
little bit before that in June. So we have a
little bit of time, maybe the last week of June.
It's still up in the air. It's not really we
haven't really decided specifically, but it is for that day,
for the two fiftieth, and certainly that special day for
America's birthday that we wanted to get it to coincide
with that, the celebration of the two fiftieth.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
And when you say released, is this something I'm ordering
a DVD off of your CD off your website or
am I going to is iTunes even exist anymore? And
that's how old I am at is what a risk
called this week.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
No, it's going to be available in hard copy, and
it's going to be available on all I guess you
would say all radio prefit electronic platforms, so Spotify, iTunes,
Apple Music. It will be available all those all those areas.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Okay, before we get back to your thought, Patrick, because
I want to wrap that up, there also a couple.
So the very first, well, I should say, the earliest
letter is James Davenport, who joined the Continental Army in
seventeen seventy seven, and the song Preparation for Battle is
excerpted from his letter from August of seventeen eighty when
(31:12):
he was in camped in Hackensack, New York, a place
where the Continental Army and the British regularly had encounters.
And then on up to the last one is a
Colonel Bill Logo, if I get that right, who served
in the Gulf War. His grandson was so inspired by
his service that he's now a United States Marine, and
the song A Minute Doesn't go By honors both of
(31:34):
their service. I don't this is a huge left Patrick,
I don't see how you're pulling this off.
Speaker 5 (31:44):
Well, you know, you'll have to check it out and
let me know how you think I did. But yeah,
I mean, you know this is I mean, I've been
writing music for like many decades now, so this is
something that I'm really used to doing. But it's definitely
a process. It takes time, and internally you're like, is
this going to work? Is this going to be is
(32:04):
this the right tone? And you you sweat it. But
by the end, by the end of the process, it
took me, you know, four or five months to write
these in the beginning of the year, and by the
end of the process you hope that you come out
with something that people are really going to love.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
Patrick it's it's interesting when I'm going to I'm doing
my show prep for an interview, I based on who
the guest is, or what the topic is or their
book or whatever it is. I've got a general idea
going into the interview of the pace of the show
and what I'd like to talk about, but very often
it goes in a completely different and unexpected direction. Does
(32:42):
that happen in music composition as well? I mean, you
might be one third into it and it's like, wait
a minute, let's let's do something different here.
Speaker 5 (32:50):
Oh yeah, absolutely, there's a kind of improvisational quality that's
that when you're when you're kind of coming idea, coming
up with ideas, and our ideas are coming to you.
You have to honor all the ideas that come into
your head and see where they take you. I mean,
and then in later stages you might you have to
sort of put your editor's hat on and say, well,
that might not have been the best idea I've ever had,
(33:11):
let's put that one on the cutting room floor, and oh,
this one was really worth pursuing, and I wouldn't have
expected that. So absolutely that you have to you have
to honor anything that might come in and and and
hope that some really inspired things come, even if by accident.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Tell us a little bit more about your team. This
is principally piano and then four singers. I think we
know who plays the piano and all this, right, we
met that guy. Ye are the of your four vocalists?
How are they selected? Are any of them veterans by
any chance?
Speaker 3 (33:42):
No, none of them are veterans. I believe John Risen
was actually in a military production. And actually he really
wanted and he's our tenor and he wanted to do
this actually, and the and the funny thing about that
was is that when he came to me and he
he wanted to do this, he actually sent me a
picture of himself in army uniform on stage. He's like,
(34:05):
I gotta do this, so and it was kind of interesting.
But yeah, none of them are veterans, but wonderful singers.
Here we have Desiree Hassler. Desiree and I are actually
colleagues from the University of Illinois. We both actually got
our doctorates and music from the University of Illinois. Angela
Borne I met here here through Chicago through a mutual
(34:28):
contact with our videoographer. Actually Matt and met Angela and
he's you know, and that just really hooked us into Angela.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Dave Governson was suggested to us by another mutual friend,
and then John obviously, So a lot of these folks
came from mutual contacts and and the folks that a
lot of them wanted to sing Americana and they specialize
in it. So Desiree Hassler specializes in Americana music, and
so does Dave, and you know, I thought that they
(35:02):
were perfect for the role. And and and we kind
of slipped through me and Patrick, I mean, we didn't
start there. There were other singers that we came through, like,
that's not gonna work. I don't think that this is
going to be the right color for this, And so
me and Patrick went back and forth. It was it
was pretty tough for us to kind of figure out
who who we needed and who would actually work so well.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
And I hope that your release timing there, that that
should be right about in time for the Grammy nominations, right, Yeah, Yeah,
I'm just I'm just throwing that out there, fellas we're
kind of run out of time, I'd be I'd be
kind of curious, though, Patrick, Do you want to do
the big reveal on the on the finale or do
you want to wait till the release happens and folks,
your choice. We don't have to do it here now.
Speaker 5 (35:43):
Oh you know it's the finale. You have to wait
for it. You know it's it's it's you have to
listen to all the songs. But when if you do,
it's you're you're gonna you're gonna be glad you did.
It's just no, it's just kind of a resume with
all four singers kind of singing bits from all the songs,
and it kind of all games to do a giant
rich trap isy there.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
It's going to love okay with a nice, nice pretty
bo Ladies and gentlemen. This stuff is not inexpensive. I
encourage you to visit Letters from the front dot net.
You can contribute, you can help support this project. I
hardly endorse what this team is doing. I think is
very special. Let's real quick, let's I want to hear
from both of you. We've got about three minutes left. Ian.
What would be your mission accomplished moment for this project?
Speaker 3 (36:26):
I think that the most important thing for this is
again to get it out there to have veterans really
enjoy this, and you know what to you know, this
should bring some kind of closure to some veterans too,
to understand because as you know, and I'm sure you
obviously have interview a lot of veterans, a lot of
them go through hardships. It's very difficult. And when they
(36:47):
understand that music has been made on their behalf and
it's for every soldier and everybody, but particularly soldiers, and
they understand that, then they're like, wow, hey, I did
do something important, and this makes me feel really proud
of what I do because, as you know, a lot
of them come back and they're like, why did I
what was I doing over here? You know, and it's
(37:07):
very difficult to conceptualize it. And I talk to a
lot of soldiers that have gone over and they're like
they come back, they're like, I just feel like I'm
ignored and and that's and that's not right. And and
I really think that this music should reach them and say, hey,
this I did do something important, you know, I was
a part of something special. And and for the the
(37:28):
whole general public, I hope that they actually enjoy it
from the fact that hey, you know, I'm glad I
give support to these folks and then I back these
people up. So that's that's the ultimate goal for people
who enjoyed the the idea, and I think that Patrick
put it in such a light that people can really,
you know, relate to it.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Okay, Patrick, what are your thoughts on that being?
Speaker 5 (37:51):
I think I'd just be better off seconding that motion.
I mean, amen to that. I don't want to tell
you how badly Ian wants the Grammy, And that's actually
another goal to because I think that because he's putting
a ton of work on this and he's been doing
a fantastic job like pushing it through and pushing through
a lot of barriers, and he deserves the Grammy as
(38:13):
much as anyone for sure.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
I well, you know, if I can, then Ian, I've
had veterans, on very successful veteran entrepreneurs on my show,
and you know they've shared that with me. It's like, hey, Ben,
you know, we're glad you're doing this. It's we know
it's a labor of love for you. But it's okay
to have some success. So it's okay to do a
great thing Ian and Patrick and still get a Grammy.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
We got We've got well, I think at the end
of the day for musicians, I mean, at the end
of the day, we're doing a great thing, but we
have to put food on our table, right, We have
to feed our families too, So it's just, you know,
it has to come from somewhere. So the hard work
that we do, yeah, it's it's labor intensive and it
is a job, so you know, you know, yeah, but
I think I should yeah.
Speaker 5 (38:53):
If I if I just add one thing. There are
also performances being planned. Sure, there are several performances being
planned throughout the United States, and I think that the
project is going to tour and they are going to
be There're gonna be public performances throughout throughout the nation
also coming up in time.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Well, gentlemen, thank you so much for sharing your time
with our listeners today and I wish you much success
and maybe we'll check in with you again after the release.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
Thanks so much, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
Hey you go, ladies, and gentlemen, Ian Gindiz and Patrick
Zimmerlely don't forget to check out letters from the front
dot net and support this great project. I can't wait
to hear the final product. Until next time, all policies
and procedures are remain in place. Take care of me.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
You've been listening to American Warrior Radio. Archived episodes may
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