Project Update - August 11, 2009

Dear all:

This is the first project update since our official launch in Aneta, ND on 6/20/09. If you are interested in purchasing a CD ($15), send request to CD request and we will ship one out to you. We are currently in the process of setting up the e-commerce module on our website. You will also find more information about the CD on the website site. Stan Engebretson rerecorded a few songs and we finally have the CD remastered and ready to go.

The launch went really well. The performances were filmed by HB Sound and Light of Grand Forks and we are anxiously waiting to see the DVD. The kids sang beautifully and the production was better than we had hoped for. Brian Opdahl did a fantastic job with the music and his performance as the King was fabulous. Stan Engebretson was able to attend and Litchville sent an entire school bus to the event. The Turkey BBQ was unbelievable, I don't know how they can feed over 2,000 people and have 300 turkeys grilled to perfection at the same time. Next year is the 50th Anniversary of the Aneta Turkey BBQ and we have been asked to return. I told Paul Retslaff (the Head Turkey) that we would be there next year and that we'd do "something big" for the event but that I had no idea what that might be yet. The BBQ is held every year on the 3rd Saturday in June so mark your calendars.

Here are the Project Plans for the near and not so near future, the time line is only an estimate of where we are hoping to be at these times:

July 2009 - Out of Nowhere Productions, Inc is now official. We are putting together the Board of Directors and Advisory Board as we speak. We have teamed up with Mayville State University as our official partner in this project.

Fall 2010 - "If Kings Can Dream - The Book" will be published in English as well as Norwegian. The books will contain the narrated version of the book with music to assist in telling the story. Video Arts Studios in Fargo, ND will record the narrator/singers for the CD in their recording studio. See http://www.videoartsstudios.com/inside/index.html for more information about this exceptional company.

Winter 2010 - "If Kings Can Dream - The Documentary" will air as a made-for-tv documentary. We feel fortunate and are again excited to be working with Video Arts Studios in Fargo, ND in the filming of this documentary.

August 2011 - A professional performance of "If Kings Can Dream - The Musical" will premier in Fargo, ND at the Fargo Theater under the direction of Producer/Director Curtis Wollan of Troupe America. (See http://www.troupeamerica.com/ for more information.) Curtis and Margie Bailey, Executive Director of the Fargo Theater are working together to make this happen. Video Arts Studios will also be involved in the musical and will record the tracks that will be used to back up the musicians. Future performances of the musical will be pending reviews and success in Fargo.

? 2012 ? - This is when the ending of the story is slated to happen. The musical will be performed in Norway for the King and we will present him with the song "If Kings Can Dream".

As always, we will be promoting the Sons of Norway and Norse Federation throughout this journey. I was very pleased that representatives of both organizations were able to join us in Aneta for the project launch. This is what it's all about.

Pamela Olson
Michael Ackerman
Out of Nowhere Productions, Inc.

From the Author's Corner

Change is in the air; change was in the air on the day of the Aneta performance too, for the day after was the first official day of summer, 2009. Now we are close to the mid-point of summer and change has become a keyword here at OONP as well! As we wind up July and begin the transition to August, gradually moving towards the beautiful season of autumn, the most beautiful season of the year, however, I admit that many do not share my enthusiasm about fall. We took a break from the project launch in Aneta; that one event represented a cumulative year’s worth of work for Pamela and myself, however, we still have a documentary to produce, a book to write and a musical to unveil, not to mention the presentation to the King :o) So, needless to say, it’s back to work.

Summer will soon begin to wane gradually changing to fall, not quickly enough for me but it’s the natural ebb and flow of things, nonetheless. I love the fall season, it is my favorite time of the year; with the leaves changing and that certain je ne sais quoi to the crispness of the air. I draw inspiration from the fall winter months, especially in the Midwest (albeit, I've only spent one winter here), probably because it’s too flippin’ cold to do anything outside so I might as well stay indoors and write! Here at OONP we have a schedule that we have devised to keep track of what we have thus far accomplished and what we plan to accomplish in the short and long-term future; our corporate goals, as it were. Most of this stuff is written in pencil for the variables seem to change rather frequently. E. G., we plan on the book being published in the fall of 2010. What that means to me is that I have approximately one year left to complete the arduous writing process of the manuscript; let alone, the editorial process that follows. Now in a perfect world that sounds like a do-able thing; but in the real world where the publishers and editors live and work, reality sets in. I am going to need to find a publisher who will want to take this book on, for one, and for two, and probably more important, an editor who has the fortitude and wherewithal to take me on as a writer! But the way things have happened with this project thus far, I suppose I can expect the publisher to fall from the sky any day now! Anyway, be that is it may, we have some exciting news to report . . .

Aneta exceeded our wildest expectations; but then again our expectations were rather wild to begin with. Personally, I used this event as a thermometer to take the temperature of what we are attempting to do; however, to date, we have yet to tip the iceberg. So this reading is very encouraging to say the least. Albeit, we still may be preaching to the choir, it showed us that there truly is an interest in this story, the music notwithstanding. It is now time for us to move on and test the waters. We need to know if this story has a broader appeal, outside of North Dakota. Everything we had penciled-in for the future of OONP has changed. But we believe that change is a good thing, especially in light of what we are attempting to do here. We read a few months ago that getting a musical produced in today’s clime is as likely to happen as getting hit by lightning on the same day you win the lottery. Did that news diminish our enthusiasm? Hardly! Did it make us timid or shy? I don’t think so. Are we ready to throw in the towel? Not yet. That’s why change is so important to us. We are taking very careful calculated steps in our process; steps that lead to bigger steps, steps that move us forward. Pamela has a vision like nobody I have ever known. She has the tenacity of a bulldog and the drive of one possessed! So come August of 2011 and the reviews start pouring in, there maybe some of you out there that just might want to buy a lottery ticket; mind you, stay away from the lightening!

m. a. ackerman

If you missed the performance...

...you can listen online to the evolution of this project:

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/ndpr/.jukebox?action=viewMedia&mediaId=844211

The big premiere

The If Kings Can Dream premiere went wonderfully -- thanks to the 275 or more of you who braved the sweltering heat and came to Saturday's performances. Held in the historic Aneta Auditorium, the cast and crew did a marvelous job.

Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the Grand Forks Central cast, anchored by music teacher and whizbang vocal performer extraordinairre Brian Opdahl (wearing the crown), rehearsing in the auditorium.



Project mastermind Pamela Morben and If Kings Can Dream author Michael Ackerman enjoyed the rehearsal from the production corner.

Lois Wiseman created authentic, custom costuming for every cast member.

And the rest, dear friends, will have to wait. A film of the premiere is currently in the works; stay tuned to the blog for future ordering details.

Listen to a live radio interview today!

Prairie Public Radio's legendary host Merrill Piepkorn will interview Pam Morben today (Thursday, June 18) at 3:00 p.m. CST on his show "Hear It Now".

Follow the web link below to listen live online, or to an archived version if you can't make the 3:00 timeslot: Hear It Now


If you're in the local listening area, here's where you should tune in:

In the news

'If Kings Can Dream': A book with a musical lead-in
By Paulette Tobin
Grand Forks Herald, Sunday, June 14,2009

The book is still being written but a performance of music written by Aneta, N.D., native and longtime music teacher Neill Olson called "If Kings Can Dream" will debut Saturday at the Aneta Turkey Barbeque and Summer Festival.

Olson, born in 1921 in Norway, came to America in 1922. A graduate of Mayville (N.D.) State College, for years he taught music in Litchville, N.D., where he wrote 18 musicals that were performed by the students of Litchville High School.

"Every summer he would write a musical for the group of kids he would have in school the next year," said Brian Opdahl, a Grand Forks Central High School music teacher who was a student of Olson's.

Opdahl said Olson was eccentric, but in a good way, the kind of teacher who loved his students and who people loved being around. The shows he wrote--including one called "If Kings Can Dream" -- were much anticipated each year, Opdahl said.

"It really became very much an anxiously awaited event every fall," Opdahl said. "The people in Litchville would call them 'the operetta.'"

At noon and 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Opdahl and 10 Central High School students will present a show of music and narration called "If Kings Can Dream" at the Aneta (N.D.) Auditorium. The performance won't be a full-length musical, but it will be based on music written by Olson.

Opdahl will sing and narrate. Student singers will include Rachel Biberdorf, Shane Harlow, Brandon Howe, Carly Johnson, Ken McGurran, Melissa Montgomery, Cody Oss, John Peterson, Sarah Shirek and Alex Sidles of Grand Forks. Marlys Murphy of Grand Forks will be their accompanist.

All of this is a lead-in to the rest of what is now being called the "If Kings Can Dream": project, including a book of the same name about Olson's life. It's being written by Michael Ackerman; plans are for it to be published in 2010, said Olson's daughter, Pamela Morben of Woodbury, Minn.

The book will tell the story of a Norwegian immigrant who faced some of life's biggest personal challenges; who was a creative, resourceful and well-liked teacher; and who had connections to some of the area's best musicians.

Olson's story, in brief, goes like this: He and his newborn baby brother were adopted by separate families after their mother died of childbirth complications and their father couldn't care for them. Olson grew up in Aneta. In high school, his music teacher and mentor was Merton Utgaard, who went on to create the International Music Camp.

After Olson graduated from Mayville State College in 1942, he moved West and married. His wife suffered from bipolar disorder. Their marriage dissolved and Olson took custody of his two young daughters, who he raised as a single father.

He taught in Litchville for many years and, at the time of his death in 1979, was teaching in West Fargo, his daughter said.

Morben was going through some of her father's music, looking for songs a friend could use in a TV production. It turned out Olson had written the music in his own unique way. To decipher it, she contacted one of her father's former students, Stanley Engebretson, now director of choral studies at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., and artistic director of the National Philharmonic Chorale.

Engebretson since has recorded an instrumental CD of some of Olson's songs, called "A Thousand Years Ago," which will be sold for $15 during the Aneta Turkey Barbeque and Summer Festival.

For his work, Morben said, Engebretson requested a painting of Olson that Morben made from a photograph of her then 18-year-old father seated at a piano. The painting now hangs in Engebretson's home over his own piano.

Morben and her sister, Shelley Qualls of Springhill, Fla., both plan to be at Aneta this week, as will various other friends, family members and folks involved in the "If Kings Can Dream" project. Several of Olson's grandchildren and other family members will sing and play in a band called the Whoa Nellies.

Morben said her father wrote all that music even though they never had a piano in their house. In fact, she's not sure he ever took piano lessons.

What's certain is that the project of her father's Norwegian heritage, life and music keeps growing and involving more and more of the people who new him. Organizers plan to release the book "If Kings Can Dream" next year along with a CD of narration and Olson's music. Norwegian heritage organizations have become interested in the story, and Troupe America Inc. of Minneapolis, which produces the Medora Musical and other shows, is talking with Morben about developing a professional production, Morben said.

For tickets to the Saturday performance in Aneta, call (701) 797-3393. For more about the "If Kings Can Dream" project, go to www.ifkingscandream.blogspot.com or e-mail IfKingsCanDream@gmail.com.

Reach Tobin at (701) 780-1134; (800) 477-6572, ext. 134; or send e-mail to ptobin@gfherald.com.

motor memories

I get a kick out of hearing the stories that continually unfold about my Great Uncle Neill. The latest one is no exception. Apparently he wasn't real good with cars. He didn't own a car until Pam was about a 7th grader, and once he got one, he wasn't a very good driver. Case in point:

From his former student Brian Opdahl:

I remember when he got his first car, a Challenger. At one point he offered to drive a few of us kids to Valley City to see the "new" motion picture of "The Sound of Music". I don't remember having any impression of the movie but what I do remember is Neill gliding back and forth across the center line paying minimal attention to his driving and participating fully in the conversation. I have never been so frightened in my life! We had several close calls.

From his daughter Pam Morben:

I think his driving could possibly take up a whole chapter of the book, ha ha. Good thing he didn't own a car until I was in 7th grade. He never should have had something as powerful as a Challenger!

I suppose he couldn't have been amazing at absolutely everything. :)