Oh man is it hot here in Mallorca.

As long as we are all lazing around our computers on this hot day, perhaps
I might be permitted to invite you to listen to some very different music,
and at the same time lend a small helping hand to someone in need.

Ludmila Volodina lives in Volski, Russia.  She was a schoolteacher and her
husband a lawyer.  Like so many of their compatriots, there comfortable
middle-class Soviet life has disintegrated to nothing, no job, almost no
income.  They rent out a room of their flat and take payment in onions and
potatos.

When the USSR collapsed, the Orthodox Church rose, and Ludmila, like many
others, rediscovered the faith that had been throttled for so many years.
She became deeply involved in the church, and began to write music
expressing her faith.  Some of those songs are now on the internet.

Please point your browser to http://mp3.com/ludmila to hear her music.
If you don't have an mp3 player yet, there are detailed instructions on
the site.

If enough people listen, she will begin to make money on mp3.com's Payback
for Playback plan.  If her rankings of listens are high enough, the income
generated could make a real and significant difference in the life of her
family.

I won't hide my personal relationship with this artist, she's my
mother-in-law.  We help them, of course, they basically survive on the
money we send, but they need all the help they can get.  I think Ludmila's
voice is lovely, rich and evocotive, and that perhaps her music may help
lift their standard of living along with her spirits.  She's visiting us
now, and is amazed at all this technology and the fact that her songs can
be heard by so many, all over the world.  Let's see if we can give her a
boost.

Thanks from the bottom of my heart.

Dave Runnion
http://www.serafinotrio.com