Looking Back on the Aug
11th Market Square Show and Aug. 15th Chapter Meeting
Well the rainy weather
won this year again! About 7:15 pm it
started to rain and the chorus scattered fast and got the risers put back on
the truck and helped Mike Kelly get
the sound equipment back into his car. Mike had sensed the approaching storm
was about to start, so he had begun moving speakers and such under the stage
pavilion at Market Square. Matt Doniger was load master for the
Harmo truck and things got put away fast.
A good sized chorus had
assembled and was warming up in City Hall with associate director Tony Colosimo when the rain started.
TBD was prepared to sing and had done their sound checks. The audience had
begun to assemble too. New membership
director Dave Kohls had set up an
info table to help recruit new singers too.
After loading our
equipment, many Harmonizers went to nearby restaurants for dinner and such. And
so the fellowship continued.
This is not our first
rain out at Market Square over the many years we have done a Friday nite summer
concert for the city. Fun that new technology helps us get the word out faster
than the old telephone tree we used to use to contact the members!
Tuesday nite’s meeting
and rehearsal was another busy one in preparation for the fall contest.
Associate director Tony
Colosimo taught a tag at 6:45 for early arrivals, then did the warm up session
at 7 pm. He used “Happy Birthday” for
some demos and then we sang it so Clyde
Crusenberry could record it for his wife, and then we sang it again to Chris Huber (who brought a big tray of
great cookies to share at break from his wife).
Tony and assistant
director Chuck Hunter tag-teamed the
director duties for the nite while director Joe Cerutti was on vacation. Chuck
worked on the ballad including refreshing the new notes in the transition
between songs of the ballad. Tony worked with choreographer Carlos Barillo on the uptune combining
singing and learning the visuals for the song.
The dancers for this
song had a special rehearsal last Saturday and worked in the lobby before
tonite’s meeting as well as always when the chorus was learning their moves.
They joined the chorus a couple times before the nite ended.
Executive director Terry Reynolds conducted the chapter
meeting. He reminded everyone that if they will miss any meetings/rehearsals in
Sept., they should indicate those dates on Gropanizer.
In that regard, the
extra rehearsal that was scheduled for Thursday, Sept 14th has been
cancelled and will be held on Wednesday Sept. 13th. This is a major change for those who have
already made plans for that week. Take
note!
The annual gathering of
Northern Virginia Choruses to share a fun nite of fellowship and harmony,
called Dog Days and hosted by the Manassas Chapter, is Tues. Aug. 29th
at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 12975 Purcell Rd, Manassas VA 20112. Former
members are welcome to come sing two songs also.
The special session
with Carlos to review the new
presentation plan for the uptune is Thursday nite, Aug. 17th at
Durant.
The big softball game
between the Harmonizers and the Hershey chapter is Sat. Aug. 26th at
10 am. Everyone is invited. Watch for details. YeEd
has heard that our team with have “shirts” and are ready to go to battle on the
diamond! He also has heard that there
will be hot dogs for all. Watch for
details as to what other goodies you should bring.
Some M-AD leaders
reminded the guys that tonite was the last few hours to order registrations for
the fall contest. So at the afterglow,
several guys bought their tickets at the reduced rate.
Chapter secretary Chris Buechler reminded all contest
singers that they must be fully paid up on their chapter and society dues.
The winning name in the
internal contest for the fall show is “Rock My Soul” submitted by two guys – Rob Barnovsky and Brain Ammerman.
There was a straw poll
taken to see how many guys might wanna attend an afterglow following the sing
at Carnegie Hall. One bus will stay for
it.
There was a report that
Kevin McKenzie is under-the-weather
health wise.
Membership director Dave Kohls reminded the “learning
quartet” formed to help guests with their qualification song to meet at break. Dave welcomed Nick, Will and Purev.
Members are encouraged to bring other guests during these months – tho we are
working hard on the contest songs now, the guest can get in on the ground floor
of those two songs for the year ahead!
Ike Evans took mug
shot photos for guys to update their pictures on the photo board that is in the
hall every week.
After break, we were
back to work on our contest music.
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 70th year of the
Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. —YeEd
