Looking Back on the Dec.14th Chapter Meeting

It was freezing cold in Alexandria again this Tuesday nite, but we had a good crowd of guys come out to sing in the Put Together Contest. The hall was set up with the risers facing the stage.

Early arrivals settled up on show tickets, WHO sales, and Entertainment Book sales; bought scrip cards and snacked on the spread of goodies. (Thanks Joe for bringing in a carload from the caroling party.)

There was also a buzz in the hall as we had a camera crew from a Russian television station in house filming the rehearsal and speaking with several members on camera including Joe and Rob Korsan.

Will Cox did warm ups and then Director Joe went right to work on the contest uptune. He sent the singers into sectionals to work on it more.

Meanwhile, the crew set up for the chapter quartet contest. Eric Wallen has taken on the duties as Mr. Put to assemble quartets and line up details for the contest. He had 18 quartets registered in advance! He invited Scott and Nancy Disney (he a district quartet champ several times and former Harmonizer, she in CAPRI); Michael Gellert (our vocal lesson coach); and Geri and Royall Geis (she our visual coach and he a former Harmonizer and past president) to be judges. Jack Pitzer was judging secretary. Lew Klinge was MC for the contest. The technical crew set up the mics and all and took photos. The contest is named in honor of its creator, Wilbur Sparks.

The judges ranked quartets as either regular or comedy. And then they kept track of the guys who sang in the most quartets for the George Azzam Memorial Award. Actually Matt Barnes and Joel Golden both sang in five!

Comedy quartet winners: 1st was ALTAR BOY with Rick Savage, tenor; Patrick Kim, lead; Will Cox, bari, Rob Korsan, bass. 2nd was ALMOST LIKE BEING IN TUNE with Rick Savage, tenor; Joe Cerutti, lead; Matt Barnes, bari; Steve Lingo, bass. 3rd was QUARTERASIAN with Joe Cerutti, tenor; Patrick Kim, lead; Phil Ashford, bari; Eric Wallen, bass.

Regular quartet winners: 1st was GUMBY, DAMIT! with Tony Colosimo, tenor; Eric Wallen, lead; Matt Barnes, bari; Will Mudd-Simmons. 2nd was THURSDAYS! with Randy Lazear, tenor; Chris Susalka, lead; Ken Ives, bari; Rob Korsan, bass. 3rd was ONE LEG DOWN with Drew Fuller, tenor; Kevin Roth, lead; Matt Barnes, bari; Steve Lingo, bass.

We held our chapter meeting prior to the start of the contest. Mark Klostermeyer did the usual run down on birthdays this week. Steve Lingo (who also brought in a huge crockpot of hot barbeque meatballs for the goodie table) offered quarteting opportunities for Christmas Eve Day at National Harbor.

Alan Wile continued his work on the Harmo Hero books.

Mark announced the board meeting on Wednesday nite, the music committee on Thursday nite and CAPITAL FORCE rehearsal this weekend.

NOTE: NEXT WEEK WE MEET AT 7 PM AT DURANT FOR A BRIEF WARM-UP, TEND TO CHAPTER BUSINESS AND SALES MATTERS, AND THEN HEAD IN TO OLD TOWN TO SING CAROLS AT DOWNTOWN RESTAURANTS. It is great fun and is a new tradition for the chapter. Come out and join in the fun.

THEN also mark your calendar for the BLAST on Tuesday nite, Dec. 28th, 7 – 11 pm at Michael’s 8th Avenue, 77220 Grayburn Drive, Glen Burnie MD. It’s just $15 for ticket at the door to include your beer or sodas, snacks and hotdogs. Quartets sign up and sing. CAPRI will appear, as will TOUCHSTONE (Steve White’s quartet that just won the district contest.) Get a car load and go over. YeEd went for the first time last year and it was a blast. There were over 30 Harmonizers there last year.

AND FINALLY – save the date for the annual Holiday Harmonizer Heat Glo, Sat. nite Jan. 8th at Jack Pitzer’s home. The music team is working to line up a sing out prior to the party. Save the date and stay tuned for this event for the whole Harmonizer family.

Craig Kujawa reminded all participants in the weight-loss campaign before Kansas City that there is a weigh in on Feb. 1st.

Sandy Stamps, who with Mick, heads up the huge effort to sell the White House Ornaments, asked guys to alert her if they have a supply they may not sell or need help selling. She is willing to help direct them to guys who are looking for more to sell. Do it this week as the Stamps are going out of town. AND note that we all must settle up on our sales with her by Jan. 11th.

Secretary Buechler gave new member materials to our newest guy to join – Jim Kirkland. Jim also sings with the Mt. Vernon Chapter. Chris also presented a membership renewal card to Bruce Roehm for 10 years!

Bruce was filling in for the vacationing Ken White and welcomed our guests for the evening. Jeremy Knobel was back after a hard-working session in his law school work.

President Newton alerted the membership to a possible opportunity in June when we will do a Masters’ Class at our District’s Harmony College East in Salisbury. We would be there on Saturday and also be coached by a team Joe helped select. This is in addition to the usual retreat and a huge show at George Mason again with Dundalk, Pride of Baltimore and headliner quartets. Stay tuned. YeEd hears that the board is gonna make the final call on it.

Dick also hinted that the board is considering hosting the Southern Division contest over Memorial Day weekend. He asked to see hands of guys who would help work and there were many!!

In other news from around the Society: the BHS has a new preferred number for you to use when you call them in Nashville. It is 615-823-3993. Don’t use the 800 number any more in order to save costs for the BHS.

The new Harrisonburg, VA, Harmonizers Chorus has at least four of our guys singing there now too – Gary Bibens, Dewey Feuerhelm, Michael Calhoun and Alan Durick.

Do you wanna be a BHS judge? If so, contact Chuck Harner, who is in charge of helping guys in our district sign up. Time is short tho, as the opening for new sign-ups ends on Dec. 31st.

Hope we see some of our college members next week for caroling or at the Blast on the 28th.

After the Put Together Contest, we rushed to get all the materials away and a large crowd headed over to Theisman’s for the chapter afterglow.

Until next time – editorjack!

(This message is prepared for your review if you were there, for your information if you had to miss, and as a historical record of the great things going on each week at an Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter meeting. —Ye Ed.)