Thursday, October 14, 2010

Looking Back on the October 12th Chapter Meeting

(Thanks to Alan Wile for taking notes while YeEd had to slip out for a couple hours for an important board meeting.)

We had a great crowd for our annual meeting and election of officers.

The guys had a little trouble getting the risers out from under the stage where we store them. So some of the guys had to ride the “riser car” back under the stage with tools to tighten some wiring that had gotten loose and was hooking up on the risers. But the crew fixed it and we are back in action.

Dick and Carolyn Hall were back at their stations, (Yeah.) selling scrip cards. Chapter members and family members should plan ahead for Thanksgiving and other holiday needs and use the scrip cards from the chapter – for the holiday ham or turkey, gifts to send out of town, home repairs before the holidays, trips to visit relatives, or just to treat yourself whenever you pass a Starbucks!

Entertainment books were on sale. Sodas and water on sale by the chapter FRIENDS group.

Good to see Patrick Kim on the risers during the run of the musical, Altar Boyz, which he is appearing in at Gunston Theatre in Arlington. And great to have Terry Reynolds with us after a marathon work session for the last few weeks or so. He reports the project “went live” and so far all is going great! Congrats. The “masked man” was TJ Jones who didn’t want to spread his cold. Good idea.

Michael Gellert was with us tonite to provide private voice lessons again as part of the chapter’s musical education program.

This week’s chapter meeting period was the annual meeting and election of officers. The meeting was conducted by current president, Dick Newton. The nominating committee was chaired by Immediate Past President Brad Jones and committee members were Ken White, Will Cox, Mark Klostermeyer and Dennis Ritchey. Secretary Buechler confirmed there was a proper quorum and that no additional nominations had been received. Brad introduced the slate, listed below, who were properly elected. Congrats to all!

President – Steve Murane
VP Chapter Development – Phil Ashford
VP Operations – Mark Klostermeyer
VP Music & Performance – Terry Reynolds
VP Shows – Ken White
VP Marketing and PR – Steve Lingo
Secretary – Chris Buechler
Treasurer – Dave Welter
Member At Large 2010-2011 – Noah Van Gilder (actually completing his term)
Member At Large 2010-2011 – Phil Ferguson (actually completing his term)
Member At Large 2011-2012 – Ken Henderson
Member At Large 2011-2012 – Ian Poulin
Immediate Past President – Dick Newton


The 7 pm start time launched the singing session with assistant director Tony Colosimo doing the official warm ups. Director Joe was cheered for coming back from his “hard duty” in Hawaii.

Our musical directors took the chorus thru the songs for the show this weekend in St. Mary’s County, MD. Several visual team guys also helped remind guys of the presentation plans – TJ Jones, Chuck McKeever.

Before break, Mark Klostermeyer recognized the birthdays and welcomed the FRIENDS group back from their meeting. He also plugged the show this weekend and the special afterglow at Dave Reyno’s home on the way home from the show.

Show producer Greg Tepe was on hand to give all the details about arrivals, uniforms and routes and such for the Sat. show.

Secretary Buechler presented new member materials to Adam Bradley.

Before introducing the group of guests who had arrived, Ken White reminded all about the important guest nite on Oct. 26th with the emphasis that we should bring singers, fans, supporters, sponsors. Ken welcomed Jerry TePaske who had to leave early.

Break was busy with guys lining up quartet rehearsals, guests meeting other members and working on getting auditioned, and everyone raiding the goodies table and coffee. (Don’t forget to bring in some cookies for the guest nite. The cupboard is empty.)

After break, President Newton encouraged all members to be prepared to pay for their registration for next summer’s International convention (it will be in Kansas City). We need to all pay for our registrations so that the chapter can order a huge block and get the early-bird prices of $139 each for adults. Carl Kauffmann is contact for this effort. Don’t delay.

Alan Wile continued the Harmo Heroes project and pushed for guys to get in their info who are behind in submitting.

Tony Colosimo spoke about the upcoming rehearsal and appearance of CAPITAL FORCE – the youth chorus we support. They are gonna appear on the DC chapter show Nov. 6th. Some of our guys also sing in the youth chorus. CF plans to compete at the youth chorus festival at the BHS midwinter convention in Vegas, Jan. 2011. One way to help support the cost of getting them to Vegas is to buy tickets for the DC show – see Tony. He had a huge handful of tickets with him.

Other announcements were about the weigh-in for the 7-11 weight loss program this year leading up to Intl. and a reminder of learning materials available online.

The second block of chorus rehearsal for the evening was mostly work on the contest uptune, “What Do I Need With Love.” We did run thru the zany Ed Sullivan piece.

Joe also reflected more about his visit and coaching session in Hawaii. There are a lot of current members of our chapter who have sung with the Sounds of Aloha Chorus.

Coach Michael Gellert directed the closing song, “Keep The Whole World Singing” to close out the nite.

While most of the guys chipped in to put stuff away in the meeting hall and load the truck to go to MD this weekend, there were guests practicing in quartets and some lined up outside the kitchen area for their turn to audition. Another good crowd adjourned to the afterglow at Ernie’s Crab Shack. There was a buzz when Joe arrived at the afterglow with news that the three guys who auditioned passed!!!

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.)

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