Looking Back on the June 21st Chapter Meeting

The Harmonizers were busy over the weekend again as reported earlier. But the guys came “back for more” and worked hard all nite.

Usual set up was done in time, including hauling in the prop boxes – what a task each week! Chuck McKeever did his class to help guys refresh details of the moves for show and contest songs. Ian Poulin sold afterglow tickets for this weekend. Bob and Maggie Eckman distributed scrip cards that guys had bought to use in paying their Hyatt hotel bills in KC. Bob Rhome passed out the very thorough and complete Intl. Week Harmo Handbook with a special envelope to hold each person’s convention registration/ticket. Thanks to Dixie Kennett for the hard work in making the booklet so complete. Carl Kauffmann passed out BHS Convention t-shirts guys ordered. The FRIENDS group sold cold drinks. Jack Cameron took orders for contest chorus photos. Keith Jones was issuing tickets for the convention week Togetherness Breakfast.

It was great to see Tom and Emily Kraus and new son, Ben, who got his first-time visitor pin! He had on his “My Dad Is a Barbershopper” t-shirt. Great to have Thom Faircloth back and on the risers after the weekend health scare. Bill Sowers and Eric Hughes stopped by to check out the contest package. And Bert Szabo came to see us after being at HCE as a coach. Bert is a long-time friend of Bob Wachter. Bert has done hundreds of contestable arrangements, was a Society staffer and a leading advocate of “keep it barbershop” over the years.

Tony Colosimo did the warm ups and when Director Joe took over, he was quick to thank the guys for their truly hard work on Saturday, “It was a truly beneficial day for us in preparation for International.”

Singing period included songs for the East Coast Harmony Show this coming weekend – “In Harmony” which we will sing with other performers, and a drill of “Stars and Stripes” which we will use in our portion of the show.

For work on the contest songs, Joe invited the section leaders to use a few minutes to spot clean some things. Then everyone worked to retain all they had learned over the weekend.

Before break, Steve White conducted the chapter meeting time as he was substituting for K12. He recognized special forces guys Bob Wilson and Pete Frank with us tonite. Membership guy, Phil Ashford, introduced the guests (as listed above).

The goodies supply this week was a class project of the Class of 2011 -- including the homemade cherry pie by Nick Leiserson. Other guys in the chapter also responded to the “empty cupboard” plea. Thanks to all.

Our meeting time resumed after the break. Secretary Buechler presented Edris Qarghah his three year membership renewal.

After the break, Geri Geis was on hand to help recapture the visual points made over the weekend. She offered just a couple suggestions to make things look better or work easier. Steve White thanked her publicly for her very sincere letter after HCE. Music and performance vp, Terry Reynolds, also thanked all the work crew it took to pull off the HCE class, coaching event, and show.

Shows vp, Ken White, and producer, Brad Jones, provided many details for Sunday’s show. For sure, we need to sell a lot of tickets – including for the afterglow! Watch for a complete email with reporting times, parking info, and uniform plan. SELL TICKETS.

Then back to work on the contest songs. We used the closed eye drill that Geri is famous for to get more of the emotion to come out in the ballad. It also helped the guys know themselves and their feelings for the song.

Then work, work, work til 10 pm. The electric fans helped a little after the 9 pm shut off for the AC!

YeEd or the Mother Hen offers more ideas for planning your trip to Kansas City in July. Take a swim suit – the Hyatt has a nice outdoor pool on a deck area. Plan ahead for travel into the city on July 4th – some huge firework displays will be going on. In fact, some places will be closed on the 4th around town.

Then just as we put it all up before the meeting, we had to take it all down. Bob Blair managed to grab some strong guys to load the props. And a good crowd came over to the Hilton for the afterglow.

See you at George Mason Concert Hall on Sunday.

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.)