Looking Back on the April 23rd Chapter Meeting

Tonite we all knew it was gonna be a workout. Especially after many of us had attended the vocal studio sessions conducted by Joe Cerutti or Tony Colosimo with Terry Reynolds on hand to keep the time-clock.

 

The stage was packed with a lot of guys trying hard to smooth-out their moves and get the focals correct for the contest package. Chuck McKeever was there to help all attendees. Carlos Barillo was on hand to work with the front row who were using the main hall floor space.

 

We thank Tony and Joel Golden for working on updated learning materials for the ballad.  We thank TJ Donahue, Carlos Barillo, Mike Vlcej, and Doug White for building the new end caps for staging the uptune.

 

Will Cox did the vocal warm ups and turned the chorus over to Joe, who went right into a review of  “Music Man.”

 

A huge chunk of the nite then was used for the two contest songs.  During the musical work time we did visual reviews and drills, we had vocal sectionals, we allowed men to tape and/or sing live for their listener. Face coach Randall Eliason gave a brief chat about the ballad and then took groups of men off the risers to work in a back room in front of one of our mirrors.

 

When Bob Rhome started the chapter meeting, he and others stressed the need to purchase scrip cards to use in paying for housing in Toronto.   Roger Day was taking orders for the Harmo polo shirts designed for our use in Toronto.

 

President Alan Wile announced a cash gift from Morgan Stanley.

 

Calvin Schnure, quartet promotion guy, called forward the many men singing in the Southern Division contest this weekend in Reston.  President Alan gave a card and recognition to each quartet.

 

There are 26 Harmonizers singing in division contest quartets April 26^th in Reston.  The number in the list below is their singing order; names are in order of tenor, lead, bari, bass; and Harmonizer names in boldface.

2. MINT CONDITION – Bob Rodriguez Jr., Kevin McKenzie, Drew Fuller, Arthur Louis

13. THE ESTABLISHMENT – John Reece, Bill Colosimo, Joe Cerutti, Dean Martin

17. MAYHEM – Matt Fellows, Neil Dingle, Mike Pinto, Ken White

18. SURPRISE! –  JC O’Donovan, John Grant, Bob Hirsh, Bruce Minnick (Seniors Contest)

21. SOUVENIR – Carl Kauffmann, Brad Jones, Drew Fuller, Roger Day (Seniors contest)

25. BLARNEY BROTHERS – Pappy DeVoe, Mike Calhoun, Ron Davidson, Tom Pearce (Seniors Contest)

26. YOUTH RECLAMATION PROJECT – Hardman Jones, Mike Wallen, Roger Tarpey, Vic Owen (Seniors Contest)

28. ACME CHORD COMPANY – Dan O’Brien, Chris Susalka, Paul Grimes, Chris Yates

29. THE MONORAIL FOUR – Kellen Hertz, Phil Ferguson, Bobby Seay VI, Andrew Havens

31. GOOD GUYS – Jim Lake, Frank Fedarko, Joel Golden, Don Dillingham

32. HANDSOME REWARD – Mike Sengco, Mike Edison, Vince Lynch, Mike Gilmore

Also there are a lot of men helping our chapter host this weekend’s contest.  Some reporting times were announced for riser crews etc. Chuck Harner is our team chair.

Rick Wagner announced plans for the Harmo Hospitality room in Toronto and the need to collect party supplies, decorations, paper plates and such – no matter what event or theme -
“anything goes.” He and his wife Peggy are collecting the supplies.

Chapter secretary Chris Buechler recognized recent renewals of members: 4 years for Andrew Havens; 8 years for Dave Branstetter; 14 years for Kevin McKenzie; 20 years for Tom Frederick; 21 years for Brad Jones; 21 years for Chris Huber; 46 years for Alan Kousen; and 49 years for Terry Jordan.

Mark Klostermeyer with help from Lew Klinge welcomed a group of guests for the week including some first timers, some family and co-workers, and an applicant.

For the coffee break, we all enjoyed a birthday cake from Dick and Carol Dangel which was also a way to celebrate birthdays for Dick, Dick Hall and Joe Cerutti Jr.

After the break, we got to hear GOOD GUYS quartet preparing to compete this weekend.

The contest preparation continued.

The meeting ended with pointers made about the mandatory attendance staring in May and June; the need to get in those vocal and especially visual self-evaluations; and the need to go onto Groupanizer to code your attendance plans.  If all else fails, be in contact with Terry Reynolds.

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 during the 65^th year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. —YeEd.)