Monday, December 3, 2012


Looking Back on the Nov. 27th Chapter Meeting

Lots of great news coming from the Harmonizers this week. The SOLD OUT Holiday shows for starters!! Maybe our first ever sell out.

(YeEd thinks it is pretty neat that Steve Lingo stepped up to the plate and is managing a wait list for holiday show tickets. If you need to unload or acquire some, send him an email with the details and he’ll attempt to connect the dots with a reciprocal party. Include: which show, number of tickets, and the class of each ticket. And if you're trying to unload, let him know if you personally have possession of them or if they are Will Call.)

 

Assistant director Will Cox did warm ups and he kept us guessing as to what clapping routine he was gonna follow.  When he turned the chorus over to director Joe Cerutti, Joe stepped to the front with more exciting news about the 100+   guys signed up for the International chorus contest in Toronto in 2012, and 90+ singers signed up to make the 2014 trip to Normandy, France.  (Joe was pleased to introduce a friend and guest tonite who sings barbershop and is from France.)

Joe was also fired up about the post-show schedule for December – the caroling around Old Town on Dec. 4th; another fun Put-Together-Quartet Contest on Dec. 11th on the stage in Durant; and then a show at the Masonic Temple for kids and families sponsored by the George Washington National Memorial and Federal Lodge No. 1. (It will be mostly our holiday show.)  And all these events with 85-90 guys on the risers.

After working a couple of the  big numbers for the show like our new “Sleigh Bells” piece and then a drill with the “monks” for Hallelujah chorus, we embarked on a sing-thru of the show with the speaking parts and comedy.  Thanks loads to the character actors and soloists and others who have been working to learn their parts.

Mark Klostermeyer conducted the chapter meeting. There had already been a lot of “business” at the admin tables between 6-7 pm.  But he reminded us all to take care of things you need like scrip cards for holiday spending, entertainment books and White House Ornaments for gifts.

Calvin Schnure reminded guys to get a quartet ready to sing in the chapter contest on Dec. 11th.  There are trophies for the top three comedy quartet, trophies for the top regular quartet and trophies to the top overall quartet.  Lew Klinge is preparing material for his usual emcee job that nite. There is also a trophy for the guy who sings in the most quartets that nite – it is named after George Azzam who sang in many each year and one year had pictures of himself as he tried to sing all four parts!!!

If any of the new guys wanna give it a shot (and they should),  let Calvin or Joe know you are interested and want ideas of other guys to sing with.

Chapter secretary Chris Buechler presented membership renewal cards to Gerry Fuller for two years and Dave Hood for 15 years.

Membership vp Phil Ashford welcomed the guests for the evening.

Show announcements included reminders to bring wrapped boxes on Thrus nite for the dress rehearsal that starts at 6:30.  Decorating crew is needed Fri at 10 am to work with Roger Day.  Bob Blair asked for helpers 5 pm Wed. nite to load and unload the huge amount of decorations we have in storage and will use to convert the church hall into Santa’s workshop. 

Also there was a reminder each guy to bring 4 doz. good cookies for the dessert part of the meal.  Bring them on Friday (or Thursday if you wish) and give them to Jack Pitzer.

Josh Roots announced the tech nite session on Wed. He pledged an email would come to all members about staging for the show.

He announced times for things:

·        Thrus dress rehearsal (tho not really wearing our costumes or uniforms) – 6:30 pm

·        Fri eve show – chorus call is 6 pm (plan for traffic, get rides from the Metro, etc.)

·        Sat matinee show – chorus call is 11 am

·        Sat nite show – chorus call is 4:30 pm

Nick Leiserson will lead us in tear down after the show.  Don’t destroy the wrapped boxes as they will be hauled away by Potomac Harmony Sweet Adelines to use for their show.

Brad Jones reported solid sales so far in the online auction.  That phase of the auction will end at 9 pm Thrs. nite. Show patrons will have an auction catalog on their table to place orders for items.

After break for refreshments, we heard from package show producer GregTepe about the Dec. events mentioned earlier.

Then it was back to work on the risers singing and polishing and giving soloists a shot at doing their work with the chorus.

We actually got done before 10 pm and a good crowd went over to the Hilton for a quick afterglow. YeEd expects we will all go someplace next week after singing in Old Town. Wear scarf and gloves – check the weather as we walk from restaurant to restaurant and sing for their patrons.  Meet at Durant at the usual time and we will go from there.

Joe promises that one nite in December we will get a sneak preview of our contest songs for Toronoto!!

Risers were put away and some guys started working on quartets for the Dec. 11th contest!

For the many new guys in the chapter, note that there will be no rehearsal on Dec. 25th nor Jan. 1st.  However there will be the annual barbershop gathering in MD for guys and family members to enjoy some quartet singing and food/drink/and/fellowship. It is hosted by the Dundalk Chapter and held Thurs. Dec. 27th at 7:30-11:59 pm, at Michael’s 8th Avenue, 7220 Grayburn Dr., Glen Burnie, MD  $15 fee. Last year there were a lot of Harmonizers there and many of them sang in quartets in the impromptu quartet contest.  Maybe some of our chapter put-together quartets will go enter.  

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. —YeEd.)