Looking Back on the Dec. 4^th Chapter Meeting

The SOLD OUT Holiday shows were all hugely successful. There will be a wrap up report about them soon.

But the excitement carried over to Tues. nite’s caroling in Old Town. 

Here is the invitation we all got from director Joe Cerutti:

“Congrats on an incredibly successful show weekend. More on that later, but I just wanted to remind you about our evening of caroling through the streets of Old Town tonight. We will be welcoming special guest caroler Sean Devine, lead of OC TIMES.

 

We will be meeting at Durant at our usual rehearsal time (that's 7pm, Eric) for warm-up, and a few important announcements. If you're running late, we'll be meeting at Market Square (City Hall on King Street) to depart at about 8pm. Come one, come all!

 

We have some new, fancy-shmancy places this year that we've never sung for in the past. Our pre-approved venue's this year include Gadsby's Tavern, Bugsy's Pizza, Pop's Ice Cream, Fish Market, O'Connor's Pub, Chart House, Virtue Feed and Grain, Union St. Public House, and Chadwick's, with a few more possibilities along the way.

 

Don't miss out on this exciting experience and help us fill Old Town with some good ol' fashioned Harmo-cheer!

 

And remember next week will be the Put Together Contest, so arrive early tonight and practice your various quartet combinations or get some help finding some folks to sing with! -- Joe Cerutti”

 

It all happened as Joe predicted.  A huge crowd of guys were present – 65 or more at last count.  Associate director Tony Colosimo did the vocal warm ups while the gathering carolers assembled on the main floor in Durant.  Some guys took home a supply of White House Ornaments to sell these last few weeks.

There were a few announcements and then Joe briefed us on the plan for the evening.  Thanks to Joe Cerutti Sr. and Mark Klostermeyer for doing the advance work with the merchants where we were to sing.

Many guys car-pooled to get to Market Square.  We actually warmed up by singing to King Street shoppers from the steps at the Square.  Then we walked from spot to spot and entered each one to fill their restaurant or bar with a huge holiday sound.

Not to miss a chance, we passed out Singing Valentine cards to all we met. Assistant directors Mike Kelly and Will Cox and Tony took their turns at leading the singing.  Great that Steve White brought the sleigh bells his grandfather made for him in 1963.  Steve has used them for caroling every year he has been a member.

Basically we sang three songs at each stop, then Joe cheered out “We are the Alexandria Harmonizers and Wish You a Merry Christmas” which was our cue to head out and sing the familiar “We Wish You ….” . We even sang “Hallelujah” on the steps of Torpedo Factory where the sound was realllllly live. Some folks followed us from place to place to hear more.

After the last stop, many stayed for an afterglow. We even taught the manager to sing a tag.

In other news, Calvin Schnure reminded guys to get a quartet ready to sing in the chapter contest on Dec. 11^th.  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.

For the many new guys in the chapter, note that there will be no rehearsal on Dec. 25^th nor Jan. 1^st.  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. 27^th at 7:30-11:59 pm, at Michael’s 8^th 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.  

Finally we will be singing at the Masonic Memorial on Tues. nite Dec. 18^th doing a show for kids and their families.  Stay tuned for more details as to uniform and report time. 

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.)