Looking Back on the October 11th Chapter Meeting

Tuesday was a hard working nite to keep the ball rolling for the Holiday Shows set for Fri. Dec. 2 and Sat. Dec. 3. There was a good crowd of singers on hand and several non-singing members in the house for the annual meeting and election.

Will Cox did warm ups and turned the singing time over to our director, Joe Cerutti. Music vp, Terry Reynolds, helped manage the music work by operating the computer/projector.

We had lots of singing guests too. Almost all of them are applicants and eager to move along in their quest to become a member. Members can lend a hand with that by offering to help the applicants practice singing an audition song in a quartet. The musical team also has approved a few holiday songs to use for audition (sorry YeEd doesn’t have the complete list but remembers “Blue Christmas” and “Jingle Bells”). Librarian, Bob Mattes, also has volunteered to help any guest get a look at some holiday music for practice for the show and for auditioning.

With so many guys in the process of joining, we all have to help them with the music, uniforms, customs and traditions, and meeting the other guys.

Speaking of guys helping, next week is the Sweet Adeline International convention in Houston. Director Joe will be there as the director of the Pride of Balitmore Chorus. The Harmonizers all wish the POB chorus well! Several of our members with be there too as Friends of the POB which includes our membership vp, Phil Ashford. So step up and help with guests next week. Ken White and Steve Lingo are gonna fill in since YeEd will also be gone on travel.

Linda Odell reported that daughter, Erin, is competing in the quartet contest in Houston in a quartet called SHADES OF JADE.

When it was time for the chapter business meeting, operations vp, Mark Klostermeyer was in charge. He made general announcements about buying Entertainment Books, Scrip, White House Ornaments, and of course tickets for the show.

Bob Mattes is also show chairman for the holiday event. He invited guests and members to check out the various segments of the show to learn the holiday music for one or two segments. You might be able to sing a couple segments and then skip the others. Also he has plenty of tasks for guys to help with that weekend too.

Don’t forget to work on costumes. And to plan to bring 4 dozen colorful holiday cookies.

Ian Poulin is the ticket guy, so make contact if you have questions. SUGGESTION: buy a table of ten and then sell the tickets. Several of us have done that already, so tables are selling fast.

There will be a silent auction again this year and Bob is eager for someone to step up and manage it.

Chapter secretary, Chris Buechler, presented membership renewal cards to Tom Griffith for 24 years, and Phil Ashford for 34 years.

Chris also announced the slate of officers and board members as presented by the nominating committee (Brad Jones, chair; Will Cox, Ken White, Bob Rhome). The slate was elected by acclamation.

Position Name
President Steve Murane
VP Chapter Development Phil Ashford
VP Operations Scott Kahler
VP Music & Performance Dan O'Brien
VP Shows Brian Ammerman
VP Marketing & PR Steve Lingo
Secretary Chris Buechler
Treasurer Dave Welter
Member At Large 2011-2012* Ken Henderson
Member At Large 2011-2012* Ian Poulin
Member At Large 2012-2013 Troy Hillier
Member At Large 2012-2013 Nick Leiserson
Immediate Past President* Bradley Jones
* - Continuing term - not up for election.

After break, chapter IT coordinator, Scott Kahler, presented the emerging plans to switch our website and operation to Groupanizer. He expressed our chapter thanks to Nick Aiuto who had launced the out-going website for the chapter. Scott’s visual presentation helped guys get a feel for what is coming this weekend. He also offered FAQ and is willing to respond to questions via email.

The new technology has a lot of useful tools for chapter leaders and for the members as well. Thanks to Scott for the tons of work he has put into this transition, and his willingness to help us learn to use it.

After the presentation, it was back to work on the risers. Often during the nite, Joe moved vocal sections to different parts of the riser. There was a lengthy sectional rehearsal on “Hallelujah Chorus” and we also got our first shot at “Little Drummer Boy.”

Reminder of holiday show details: Fri nite Dec. 2 at 7:30 pm, Sat afternoon Dec. 3 at 12:30 pm and Sat nite at 6 pm. At First Baptist Church, 2932 King St., Alexandria 22302. A dinner theater with singing waiters. Great for the whole family. Santa likely will stop by.

Tickets at 571-969-1377 or www.AlexandriaHarmonizersPresent.com

It was good to see several guys back with us like Dave Welter, Kevin Roth, John Hohl, Mike Everard, Terry Jordan and Bob Wachter. There was a FRIEND OF HARMOY dinner meeting also.

Reminder: if you are under 30 and wanna sing the show at Carnegie Hall Dec. 26th, see Joe Cerutti right away.

And also please consider contributing some goodies for the cupboard at break time. The supply is low!

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.)