Looking Back on the Nov. 2nd Chapter Meeting

Streets were crowded around Durant with all the voters going in to cast their ballots. And traffic was bad. But by 7:15 or so – we had the risers full of guys ready to go to work in the all-purpose room of Jeff Houston School next door.

Usual action was going on before the singing began – guys trying to get down some dinner they had stopped and brought along, guys buying tickets for the shows, guys checking in with others guys about committee work or quartet schedules, and the usual work to unload the truck and set up for our meeting and rehearsal.

Lots of visiting too. Several guys were asking Victor about his college application process. Sandy and Mick Stamps were visiting with folks about the food service aspects of the holiday show. Several guys checked on Carolyn Hall when they bought some scrip cards for the upcoming holiday season.

Steve White shared with YeEd the details about the musical wedding over the past weekend for Pete Frank and his wife, Missy, in Erie. A bunch of our guys (Tony Colosimo, Joe Cerutti, Joe Sawyer, Bill Stewart and Steve) were on had to sing as a mini chorus and to support Pete when he sang for his bride during the ceremony. Steve was honored to have been asked to preside over the ceremony (which he was able to do in PA).

And many of us congratulated Bruce Roehm for having completed his second Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday. He came in 9,000th or so out of the 29,000 or so runners. He did the 26 miles in 4 hours, 31 minutes and 6 seconds. He was sporting his beautiful medal around his neck at chapter meeting. He was proud to have made it. He shared that the first 20 miles or so were really fun, but the last 6 were a little tougher and complicated because of the cold weather on Sunday. Congrats from all of us, Bruce!!!

When Mark Klostermeyer called the chorus to the risers at 7, Will Cox was on tap to do the warm ups. Then he passed the baton to Director Joe who launched right into work for the holiday shows coming up in Dec. He started with the new song “Blue Christmas” which is coming along great.

But it was pointed out that we only have four Tuesday nite rehearsals left before the show. So all the new folks are working hard at home too. In fact, several times Joe just asked the veterans to sing a few of the measures, or the key change to help all the new guys. New guys can also get or borrow one of our holiday CDs since many of the songs were on it.

Librarian Bob Mattes had prepared special holiday music books for guests and really new guys. Much of the holiday music is taught or reviewed from pdf pages from the computer on the screen. Thanks to Joe Sawyer who had mouse duties this week!

Joe alerted everyone to start working on toy or elf costumes for the Fri., Dec. 3rd (7:30 pm) and Sat Dec.4th (12:30 pm and 6 pm) shows at the First Baptist Church, 2932 King St., Alexandria, VA 22302. [If you don’t have such a costume, see some of the guys you stand near on the riser for ideas and sources of getting something. Don’t delay, in case you decide to order something.]

While the chorus was singing some of the holiday songs for the show, Joe also was happy to report that a good number of our singers had volunteered to be considered for the many solo spots in the show. Way to go, guys!

Before break, Joe moved into the new contest uptune for 2011 and surprised the guys by introducing coach Kirk Young who had slipped into the hall after the chorus was on the risers. Joe was tickled to have the guys demo their progress on the tag in Kirk’s arrangement. Kirk got all fired up and offered a few good pointers and explained briefly his intentions for some of the chords and swipes and such. It was great.

Klostermeyer started the pre-break meeting then with Secretary Buechler. Chris had a new Harmo name tag for returning member, Will Daniel Mudd-Simmons, who is at his fourth year of membership.

Chris also offered to order jackets from Lands End with the Harmo logo. The colder weather prompted several guys to dig out their Harmo jackets.

Jack Cameron reminded guys to pick up their chorus photos from the district contest.

Jack Pitzer substituted for membership vp, Ken White, who was en route to New York for a work event. We had several returning guests including some from last week’s event.

President Dick Newton was absent for a work event too. Tho he is still hobbling around after dropping something on his toe.

After break, additional announcements included a push from Tony Colosimo to sell the last few tickets he has for the DC show this weekend, featuring our youth chorus, CAPITAL FORCE, and our new quartet, DA CAPA. An anonymous member has agreed to match dollar-for-dollar all the tickets sales the “FORCE” generates for the show. So when you buy one of the $15 tickets, you are earning them double. Show starts at 7:30 at Greenberg Theater at American University, 4200 WI Ave, NE, in DC.

Alan Wile continued his work to get all of us to complete a Harmo Hero form to put up on the website.

Eric Wallen alerted us that there will be another Put Together Quartet contest after the holiday show. So start getting foursomes ready to sing, and start writing those funny parodies!!!

Chuck McKeever asked for the floor to report on the health situation for John Pence who has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma. JP has a tough 2-3 weeks ahead with a hospital stay most of that time. Keep JP in your thoughts.

Bob Mattes is also chair of the Holiday show. He offered a stack of color flyers for us to use in promoting ticket sales. Steve Murane has the box office open for business at chapter meetings, and the box office is also open online at www.harmonizers.org.

The flyer explains the three holiday shows are dinner events featuring lasagna dinner with salad, rolls, holiday cookie platter, served by the singers Harmonizer waiters. There will also be an appearance by Santa and Ms. Claus.

Bob explained how the serving will work and Joe worked on the song we sing to deliver the meals to the tables.

Roger Day was in the house and everyone was glad to see him back. Roger has agreed to coordinate decorating the church hall for our show again this year. Sooo – everyone is asked to bring in two or more large boxes wrapped in shinny paper. No bows or ribbons needed. Boxes like ten reams of paper come in are just right. Bring them to the dress rehearsal on Thurs. nite, Dec. 2nd. Mark your calendar for that too!

Roger is also eager to get some of us to help on Friday afternoon to transform the hall into holiday wonderland. Step up and let him know you will be there.

Besides wrapped boxes, each guy is asked to contribute four dozen holiday cookies to use as special desserts. You can bake or buy holiday cookies and bring them on Friday nite when you come for the first show and give them to Jack Pitzer. His team will use them to assemble the cookie platters that will go to each table near the end of the show along with the coffee. Try to get colorful and fancy cookies if you can.

Don Dillingham will manage the silent auctions at the shows that weekend. So we need to all be looking for gifts that can be put out for that – wedding presents you have never used that are still in the gift box; services you can offer such as picture framing, music arranging, a quartet appearance at a private party; a basket of goodies such as coffee things or bath things or cooking things; tickets for an airline or hotel rooms or restaurant meals you can get from some place you trade a lot. At some point we all need to alert Don what we are contributing, so he can prepare the auction sheets. The actual auction items will be brought to the show site when you come.

Then it was back to work on the music. Joe and the musical team have revived some of the fun stage moves for the show songs and have added some new wrinkles to give the show some surprises.

We worked right up til 10, then rushed to load it all back on the truck, so we could get to the afterglow at Ernies Crab Shed around the corner from Durant.

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.)

Looking Back on the October 26th Chapter Meeting and Guest Nite

Everyone agreed – last nite was a great Harmonizer evening. The guests just kept rolling in. Ken White, membership guy, had enlisted help from Steve Lingo to coordinate the nite’s activities. Steve and his buddies in the Men of ’10 class did a great job. In fact all the chapter members helped in many ways by bringing guests, bringing goodies, spreading the word about the chapter and meeting guests during the evening and singing tags with them.

Director Joe did an awesome job in conducting an exciting and fun rehearsal and helping all have an enjoyable evening of singing. Even non-singing guests enjoyed it all.

One neat thing Joe did, after he got all the 100+ guys on the risers, was to ask a series of questions to help guests learn about who we are: how many had never sung barbershop before; who drives more than an hour to sing with the chapter; who has been a member over 20 years; who has been a member less than a year; who can sight read music etc.

After warm ups, Joe started work on “Blue Christmas” with members and guests all singing – by using the projection system with Terry Reynolds working the computer mouse! We then sang more of the standard holiday songs in prep for our Dec. holiday dinner shows.

Joe taught the guests “Sunshine is Bidding the Day Goodbye” tag along with the chorus. All evening he worked on good singing habits and didn’t just do gang singing for the guests.

Ken White introduced each guest by name and enlisted Lingo and Klostermeyer to pass out “I Sang With the Harmonizers” buttons. The guest crowd included former members, retired guys, family members of current singers, next generation of kids who will be Harmonizers some day, some folks who found us on the web and just happened to come on guest nite, barbershoppers from other chapters in the great metro area, show customers of some of the guys, and guys who don’t sing now but always stop be to check in and get a dose of Harmonizer pride!!

Secretary Buechler presented new member packets to Clark Chesser, sponsored by Alan Wile; Dave Kohls, sponsored by Phil Ferguson; and Chris Clark, sponsored by his uncle, Bill Clark.

Before we went to break, Brad Jones alerted members that they would be getting an email survey about the possible China trip for the chapter.

Operations guy, Mark Klostermeyer welcome guys to take a 15 minute break and enjoy all the homemade goodies brought in by the chorus members to share with our guests. He also invited the members to find a guest and sing one with him after raiding the chow table.

After the break, the guests all assembled in the main hall of Durant and the members adjourned to Room 2 to changing in to uniforms. The hall was crowded with so many people, all the risers set up back to the stage, the usual sales tables, refreshment area, piles of briefcases (the chorus manger had brought in coat racks for the guys uniforms).

We also put out the history display boards on tables in the lobby for guests (and our members) to review and enjoy.

Steve Lingo spoke to the guests and used a handout to review our history, our contest records, a few words about the BHS, and how singing can get into the chapter. He was brief and highlighted important points. He invited Sandy Stamps to welcome FRIENDS of the chapter and invited them to help support the chapter.

DA CAPO quartet, Ryan Griffith, Tony Colosimo, Joe Sawyer and Wayne Adams, taught the guests a couple tags to sing for the chapter.

Then the chorus came back from the dressing room onto the risers and did a mini show for all. The guests sand their first tag and then the chorus sang “Ob Li Di Ob Li Da,”
“Hello My Baby” [complete with full contest uniforms and tear away vests and yellow shirt and tie] and “Stars and Stripes.” Between songs DA CAPO sang two songs for us – great to officially welcome the foursome to our show team. MC duties for the mini show went to Scipio Garling, Dennis Ritchey and Steve Lingo.

Lots of guys helped do things around the hall like the usual crew who set up the risers along with tables and chairs, Scott Kahler was doing photo shoots for the PR guys, Dennis Richtey managed sound, Director Joe and some Men of ’10 set up the display boards in the lobby, FRIENDS gave out the sodas and water, and truck driver Bob Blair was load master to get it all loaded up at the end of the nite.

A couple quick things were offered at the end of the nite for all to note. First – Tony Colosimo has tickets for the Sat., Nov. 6th DC chapter show featuring our youth chorus CAPITAL FORCE and DA CAPO. We need to support this show as a way to offer financial support for “the FORCE” and their trip to the BHS midwinter event in Vegas. The tickets are only $15 each. We should fill up the hall.

Second – our chapter meeting and rehearsal will be in the Jeff Houston School adjacent to Durant on Tues Nov 2nd as it is election nite, and Durant is a voting place. Plan ahead for parking.

Third – YeEd got a note from Geri and Royall Geis. They recently spoke with Congressman Jim Moran. They reminded him of the time the Harmonizers gave is new baby boy a Harmo t-shirt. He says that son is 21 now, 6’5”, 300 lbs. and playing football for Yale. Congressman Moran did express his appreciation to our chapter for doing so much for the Alexandria community.

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.)

Looking Back on the October 19th Chapter Meeting

(Thanks to Alan Wile again for preparing the column this week while YeEd is in Indy.)

Risers were magically erected by Bob Blair and a team of others. Mike Kelly worked the sound. Carolyn and Dick Hall and Sandy Stamps greeted and sold. Dixie Kennett took attendance. Ken White manned the membership desk ... and the guests (and the four who recently passed their auditions -- Clark Chesser, Chris Clark, Thom Faircloth, and Dave Kohls) kept coming in!! All this while an artist reception was taking place in the lobby.

Assistant Director Will Cox took us through a variety of warm-up vocal and hand-slapping gyrations before turning the chorus over to Master Director Joe Cerutti (who headed off to the SAI convention in Seattle the next morning). Joe introduced “Blue Christmas.” Next it was the two sections of “What Do I Need With Love” (would you believe he actually picked on the baris!). He then turned the sections over to their leaders to work mainly on the latter song. [For the record, Joe picked on the baris a second time later in the rehearsal. What is the world coming to?]

Following, the chorus went rapidly (and not so) through a number of holiday songs (with help from Music VP Terry Reynolds at the projector): “The Chipmunk Song,” “The Christmas Song,” and “Ave Maria” ... with seven remnants of Cameron Station out front singing the counter melody.

At the break, VP Operations Mark Klostermeyer announced two birthday boys -- a pair of Jacks -- neither of whom were in the house: Jack McKendree and Jack Pitzer. Scrip-man Bob Eckman announced that chapter members purchased over $10,000 worth of scrip to pay hotel bills at the district convention in Lancaster ... netting over $800 for the chapter! Huzzah!

Chapter Secretary Chris Buechler presented membership cards to Kyle Blomgren (5 years), Thom Faircloth (12 years), Rob Korsan (5 years), and Josh Roots (4 years). Membership VP Ken White introduced six guests, including Dick Hall's brother Bob (from the Ambassadors of Harmony) and former member Will Mudd-Simmons (who'll likely be in the area for the foreseeable future and intends to re-join). Also welcomed was member Joe Wagovich, whom we've not seen for a while. Joe says he expects to be back full time now, too! Will Cox led us all in welcoming the guests ... and then it was time for refreshment (overseen by Victor Hills and his mother ... many thanks!).

The next round of Harmonizer Hero names were pulled from the boater: Chris Buechler, Brad Jones, Mike Kelly, Chuck McKeever, Brian Miller, and Alan Wile.

Chapter President Dick Newton announced that Noah Van Gilder had been hit by a car while riding his bicycle the previous night. He spent some time in the hospital for tests but they found nothing (you should take that as encouraging, Noah). Steve Lingo whipped up the crowd in anticipation of next week's guest night. Some changes in uniform requirements and other details will be out soon.

Back on the risers, Joe took the chorus through (or over) more holiday music, together with much uncharacteristic levity, including “Let It Snow” (WATCH OUT FOR THE TRIPLETS which Joe insists is the most difficult construction in music ... and wants us to get it right!), “Let All Mortal Flesh” (Joe's admitted favorite carol), “Jingle Bells,” “Do You Hear What I Hear” (for which there are two breaths in the entire song), “Caroling Caroling,” and “Silent Night.” Joe reminded us that our audiences come to the holiday shows to hear music they know and love and it is our responsibility to make each and every performance of every song memorable for them.

Scott Kahler was brought off the risers to take us out with “Keep The Whole World Singing.”

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.)

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.)

Looking Back on the October 5th Chapter Meeting

You would have thought it was a guest nite on Tuesday! Every time YeEd looked over at the sign-in station, Ken White was making another name tag. Lots of good singers in the wings working on auditions and preparing to join us on the risers.

Ken introduced 8 guests who are in all stages of membership and audition – some first timers, several guys back again for multiple times, some guys new to the area and some guys who come to see us whenever they are in DC area for work. It was good to see former member, Larry Fagley, in the guest seats too.

Will Cox did the musical warm ups and then Tony Colosimo took over as director for the nite. Our Joe is coaching in Hawaii!!! Music vp Terry Reynolds set the stage for the evening of hard work for the up coming show in St. Mary’s County.

Terry also gave an abbreviated “numbers and charts” show reporting how our scores and rankings from the district contest last weekend stacked up with past years. The guys give him a hard time about it, but we all like it. The outstanding scores in the singing category were most impressive in comparison to other years.

Terry then recognized our own Steve White who was inducted into the Mid Atlantic District Hall of Honor. Many guys recognize that Steve had done a ton of work in support of our chapter – especially in the musical arena and in show production. But he has made just a much of a contribution to operations and programs at the district level. Not the least of which is his fourth district championship this past weekend. Well deserved!!

The previous Looking Back column YeEd sent out gives a full report on the contest weekend – chorus contest, quartet contest, meetings and events. But President Newton gave more details from the Sunday morning House of Delegates meeting. The Harmony Foundation (HF) has a program called Donor Choice. All those who contribute by joining the Presidents’ Council (for $1000 each year), or by supporting Ambassadors of Song for $10 a month can designate up to 30% of the contribution to be given back to the district and/or a chapter.

Thru this process, Sean Devine, representing the HF, was able to present a check for $1,242.70 to our president during the delegates meeting. Dick reports it is the highest amount earned by any other chapter in the district.

Before the break last nite, Mark Klostermeyer announced birthdays and some events on the calendar including the memorial for Walter Latzko on Oct. 9th.

Chapter secretary Chris Buechler reported that the shirt order had been received from Lands End. He also reminded members that any nominations for officers or board for next year that were not part of the nominating committee slate must be given to the chapter secretary before the end of the meeting.

Chris presented membership renewals to the following: 7 years, Ken Henderson; 11 years Bob Blair; and 26 years, John Pence.

Membership vp Ken White encouraged guys to come to the new afterglow location tonite after our meeting – Ernie’s Crab Shack just around the corner from Durant.

Steve Lingo is coordinating the guest nite on Oct. 26th and encourages all active and inactive members to support the event by inviting singers, prospective sponsors or advertisers, or even former members who might want to sing again. We will wear the contest uniform with the yellows. AND everyone is encouraged to bring cookies and brownies and such to share. (Any left overs will go in the cupboard for our weekly coffee break.)

The cupboard was a little low this week, but a few folks came to the rescue with some things. Please help.

After the break announcements included the continuation by Alan Wile of the Harmo Heroes project; explanation by Craig Kujawa of the 2011 weight loss program leading up to the International contest in Kansas City (info was in our emails when we got up this morning); and an invitation from Tom Griffith who is organizing a Harmo team of runners to participate Sun., Nov. 14th, in the multiple myeloma run in honor of our own John Pence.

President Newton saluted the chapter quartets and chorus for the work this past weekend and displayed the shiny trophies earned by all.

Dave Reyno sold 563 White House Christmas ornaments last year. So he came to offer suggestions to guys on how they could increase sales too. Basically he takes huge numbers on consignment and then works with local stores and shops to place the ornaments on consignment with them. He uses flower shops, hardware stores and gift shops. He also had stationed himself outside the Giant in his community. He offered some forms he uses to set up the consignments and flyers he posts on stands at stores. For more details, see Sandy Stamps. And thanks Dave for leading the way.

Musically, the whole nite was work on the show songs for Oct. 16th. We are dusting off a bunch of tunes we have not done for a while. Tony and Will had director duties. Mike Kelly helped launch the holiday music and directed our first holiday show song for this year.

TAKE NOTE. An important chapter meeting is coming up soon – the annual meeting and election of officers. It will be Oct. 12 at our regular Tuesday nite meeting at Durant. ALL of the 200+ members and FRIENDS are encouraged to attend, have a cup of coffee with the gang, and sing with the chorus. The election will be conducted by current president, Dick Newton. The meeting was announced recently by chapter secretary Buechler and included the slate from the nominating committee. That committee was chaired by past president Brad Jones and committee members were Ken White, Will Cox, Mark Klostermeyer and Dennis Ritchey.
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
Member At Large 2010-2011 – Phil Ferguson
Member At Large 2011-2012 – Ken Henderson
Member At Large 2011-2012 – Ian Poulin
Immediate Past President – Dick Newton

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.)

Looking Back on the 2010 Fall District Contest, Lancaster

The Alexandria Harmonizers won their 23rd M-AD championship this past weekend in Lancaster, PA.

And our quartets took 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 13th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 23rd.

As is often the case, there was evidence of our chapter around every corner. At the first event of the weekend, Dennis Ritchey was emcee for the semi-finals round of the quartet contest.

Nine quartets with Harmonizer members sang in that first round: and four made it to the finals:

TOUCHSTONE with Steve White won first
CRUNCH TIME with Eric Wallen took second
TRIBUTE with Ryan Griffith and Tony Colosimo was third
DOWN A FOURTH! with Joe Cerutti, Joe Sawyer, Wayne Adams and Troy Hillier got seventh

YOUTH RECLAMATION PROJECT with Mike Wallen was 13th
ON THE ROAD with John Reece and Chris Yates was 17th
DOWNTOWN with Drew Fuller, Frank Fedarko and Arthur Louis was 18th
FRiDAYS! with Bob Caldwell, Ken Ives and Steve Murane was 19th
BELTWAY BLUES with Kevin Roth was 23rd

TOUCHSTONE made an amazing rebound after coming in fourth in the first round and moved up to first during the finals Saturday nite. Steve sings with three other guys from around the district who also have been district champs before – Rob Seay, Rich Gray and Jay Butterfield. This is Steve’s fourth time to be in a district champ quartet.

And YeEd is proud to report that Steve was named to the Mid Atlantic District Hall of Honor earlier Saturday afternoon following the chorus contest! He is welcomed to that group by 16 other Harmonizers who have been so honored. Tony’s Dad, Bill Colosimo, was also named to the Hall of Honor.

Some “fun” moments in the quartet contests: people barking like dogs whenever FRANK THE DOG quartet appeared; when the fire alarm went off and we had to empty the hall, come back in after just a few minutes and have the quartet start their set again; DOWN A FOURTH and their Chinese food set sung while in inflated Sumo wrestler outfits (and the point when one of the suits seemed to deflate!); having Ryan Griffith get to sing with his Dad in TRIBUTE; CRUNCH TIME leading the pack after the first round but ending with their second, 2nd place at district; and HIT PARADE, who ended up being the first place senior’s quartet, singing “End of the Road” – an original song by John Hohl and Scott Werner about a guy ending his career as a singer.

After the Friday nite quartet round ended and while the judges were doing the paperwork to report who would sing in the finals Saturday, there was a tribute to the recently deceased Walter Latzko. His wife Marjorie was present during the visual and musical tribute. He was recognized as a life member of the Alexandria Chapter. Marjorie then came to the Harmonizer rehearsal on Saturday and thanked the members for their support and expressions and for the years of including them in our chapter events at International.

For the Saturday International prelims chorus contest and simultaneous district chorus contest, the Harmonizers sang 10th in order of appearance. Alexandria was the largest chorus with 88 singers. Our score was just a point or two lower than Philly but we were really pleased with the high numbers were earned in the singing category. The work paid off!

Hamilton Square, NJ, Brothers in Harmony was second place chorus and repeated their tribute to the 50,000 names on the Viet Nam Wall which they had done in Philly. Dundalk was third place with 81 singers and directed by our joint member Rick Taylor. Hell’s Kitchen, NY, was fourth. We had some of our current and former members singing in other choruses this weekend also such as DC, Dundalk, Richmond, and Fairfax.

The FRIENDS of Harmony came to the early rehearsal Saturday morning and gave each guy a memento to take on stage. YeEd noticed they brought ironing boards and helped get uniforms ready as needed. John Hohl brought a copy of the original sheet music of “I Get Along Without You Very Well – Of Course I Do” for Joe’s collection.

Tony Colosimo and Will Cox did warm ups before Director Joe started the review and reminder period. Joe welcomed Geri Geis (and Royall) who stayed with the chorus then to help prepare them for their presentation on stage.

Likely the chapter leaders will extend their appreciation and thanks to many guys who did behind the scenes work such as the riser crew who worked hard Friday eve, the truck drivers, and of course Bob Rhome who did so much of the admin work for registrations and housing. YeEd was proud to see our chapter banner hanging in the convention hall too!

Chuck Harner, in his capacity as contest vp, had the pleasure of reading the contest results after each session. Mike Kelly and Mary Ann were doing the video recording of contests and Dennis Ritchey also worked back stage.

After the chorus contest, all of the guys attended the contest evaluation session with one judge from each category. In the breaks between the evals, Joe thanked the guys for their work and recognized the 15 or so guys who had never won a district chorus contest with the chapter.

The Saturday show after the quartet finals ended was emceed by Gary Plaag. The top three choruses sang and Joe was able to thank the district attendees for their support this past summer and this weekend. The chorus is proud to represent the great M-AD at the International chorus contest next summer in Kansas City. He also recognized Majorie and Geri during his remarks. We sang the contest package and “Stars and Stripes Forever” and welcomed the standing ovation from the crowd.

The evening ended with the chorus of past district quartet champs, MADAQC, singing as the trophies were presented to the top three quartets. TOUCHSTONE guys each got a personal trophy and a quartet champ trophy that is about 5-ft. tall! (YeEd tried to get the names of all the Harmonizers on stage as past champs in MADAQC – Steve White, Mike Kelly, Gary Plaag, Rick Savage, Ryan Griffith, Tony Colosimo, Joe Sawyer, Wayne Adams, Rick Taylor, Will Cox, and Mike Wallen. Chapter secretary Buechler offers more trivia – there have been 16 district champs from our chapter. They are listed in the back of the chapter directory.

Everyone adjourned to the many hospitality rooms around the hotel. We had all enjoyed some good food in restaurants around the hotel including goodies from the Amish market across the street.

Altho YeEd did not attend, he knows that chapter president Dick Newton was planning to attend the House of Delegates meeting on Sunday morning. That is a body with a representative of every chapter in the district. They make recommendations to the district board and carry out suggestions the board has for chapters. Several of our guys are officers of the district too: Gary Plaag is president, Bob Eckman is treasurer, Keith Jones is secretary, Dennis Ritchey is member-at-large, and Alan Wile is BHS Society representative (and was the official delegate from the BHS this weekend). Chuck Harner is district vp for contest and judging matters, Alan Wile is district vp for financial development, and Mike Kelly is chief information officer.

Just for fun – here are names of current and former Harmonizers seen during the weekend and not mentioned above who did not sing on the risers: Jim Herrick, Pete Frank, Dean Martin, Lew Klinge, Royall Geis, Steve Matuszewski, Bill Sowers, Scott Kahler, John Parkinson, Bob Wilson, Bob Wells, Paul Laurenz, Paul Lensch, Richard Lewellen, John Grant, Scott Disney, Fred Womer, Joe Eckert, Bob Hirsch, Michael Calhoun and Mike Geipel. [Anyone who can add to this list gets a free copy of coffee at the chapter meeting on Tuesday!]

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 with the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. —YeEd.)

Looking Back on the September 28th Chapter Meeting

The gang worked hard to be ready to start the chapter meeting and rehearsal last nite. The new risers are not as fast to set up it seems to YeEd, especially as the gang tries to be gentle with them and with the new flooring in the Center.

A fun thing that was going on as the guys gathered – finding the owners of the tearaways that were gathered up off the floor in haste to clear the stage last week at the Lawyer show. Fun.

Will Cox did the warm ups and Director Joe put the gang right to work on some serious singing such as the new one, “No More Sorrow.” He said he could give “a little theory lesson on a point, but honestly, the leads are just flat!” It got a good laugh and set the stage for a solid nite of learning and improving.

All those skills were put to use in the work the singers did on the contest package for this weekend.

Speaking of this weekend.

As you all know the Mid-Atlantic District Contest/Convention is this coming weekend, October 1-3 in Lancaster, PA. Besides the chorus contest which we have been working so hard for, a bunch of our guys have been practicing with their quartets to compete. Quartet promo guy, Eric Wallen, reported nine chapter quartets qualified: ON THE ROAD with John Reece and Chris Yates; DOWNTOWN with Drew Fuller, Frank Fedarko and Arthur Louis; FRiDAYS! with Bob Caldwell, Ken Ives and Steve Murane; YOUTH RECLAMATION PROJECT with Mike Wallen; BELTWAY BLUES with Kevin Roth; TOUCHSTONE with Steve White: CRUNCH TIME with Eric Wallen; TRIBUTE with Ryan Griffith and Tony Colosimo; and DOWN A FOURTH! with Joe Cerutti, Joe Sawyer, Wayne Adams and Troy Hillier who sang for us last nite. YeEd won’t spill the beans about their very funny contest set for the weekend. You gotta go to the contest to see it!!

There is an extra rehearsal Thursday, Sept. 30th next door at the Jeff Houston school, 7 pm. Mandatory for singers!!

Bob Rhome, our contest weekend coordinator, prepared a very useful booklet fulllllll of details we all need to know in order to make our contest weekend fun and easy.

Before the break, chapter secretary, Chris Buechler, presented membership renewal cards for 16 years, Ryan Griffith; 33 years, Phil Ashford; and 41 years, Jack Cameron. He also reported renewals received from Mike Geipel, 19 years; and from Bob Ulibarri for 28 years.

Membership vp, Ken White, reminded everyone about the new location for the tonight’s afterglow – Ernie’s Crab Shack, just around the corner from Durant and across from the King Street Metro. Then he introduced six guests – some as applicants and a first-timer. He also welcomed Ian Poulin’s parents who were visitors.

After break (which could also be called the weekly cookie harvest!), we continued the chapter meeting period. Alan Wile extended his work on Harmo Heroes and announced that a hardcopy notebook is on display by the Harmo Photo board.

Last minute reminders came from Bob Rhome in reference to the handbook. The chorus is invited by Joe to attend the judges’ evaluation session after the chorus contest Saturday. He asked for a riser crew at 6 pm Friday.

President Dick Newton held up the traveling trophy that is given to the district chorus champs each year. The actual piece of hardware was donated by our chapter in 1995 in honor of those men in our district who had directed an International championship chorus – Lew Sims, DC Chapter; Dave Mittelstadt, Dapper Dans of Livingston, NJ; Bob Johnson, Dundalk, MD; Fred King, Dundalk, MD; and Scott Werner, Alexandria, VA.

Then it was back to work on the contest set. The evening included some detailed review and drills of the stage presence moves, the focal points, and then combining that with great singing. Joe would not go on until both parts were solidly in sinc! He made special mention of thanks to Chris Buechler and Rob Korsan who were not on the risers in Philly and will be on the risers in Lancaster.

The workout session ended at 10 pm and the hall cleared. Reminder was given about the extra practice on Thursday.

A crowd of 40 or so was at the new afterglow spot.

TAKE NOTE. An important chapter meeting is coming up soon – the annual meeting and election of officers. It will be Oct. 12 at our regular Tuesday nite meeting at Durant. ALL of the 200+ members and FRIENDS are encouraged to attend, have a cup of coffee with the gang, and sing with the chorus. The election will be conducted by current president, Dick Newton. The meeting was announced recently by chapter secretary Buechler and included the slate from the nominating committee. That committee was chaired by past president Brad Jones and committee members were Ken White, Will Cox, Mark Klostermeyer and Dennis Ritchey.

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
Member At Large 2010-2011 – Phil Ferguson
Member At Large 2011-2012 – Ken Henderson
Member At Large 2011-2012 – Ian Poulin
Immediate Past President – Dick Newton

There may be others of you who have an interest in one of the board positions. If so, please notify our chapter secretary no later than the October 5 chapter meeting. All nominees must agree to serve if elected. Per Society rules there can be no nominations from the floor on the night of the election. Proxy or absentee voting is not permitted in chapter elections. These are Society rules and not local ones that can be waived. The 2011 board takes office January 1, 2011.

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.)

Looking Back on the Sept. 23rd Rehearsal and Show

Well the Harmonizers were in tall-cotton last nite as they prepared for their show at the incredible National Building Museum in DC. (More about that later in this article.)

The show was actually for the 60th anniversary meeting of the American College of Trial Lawyers. YeEd calculates there were about 1,500 attendees in tuxes and banquet finery.

But for the Harmonizers, it was a challenge to work around all the security and back-stage conditions since four justices of the Supreme Court were attending. Director Joe was teasing that the “supremes” would probably be expecting “God Bless the USA” since we have sung that several times for them. But this time they got “Stars and Stripes Forever” as the finale number.

Chief Justice Roberts attended as did Associate Justices Ginsburg, Kagan and Sotomayer.

We had a great chorus of 80 (some of the early-in-the-week worries about numbers were unfounded). We actually started rehearsal at 7 after everyone found a parking place or walked from the Metro. Joe was really tickled by that and thanked the singers over and over for working hard and making this show.

When YeEd arrived, he found the front row huddled in a hall way and being moved about by the security team. Eventually they went outside and practiced by the Metro station (which of course attracted a bit of a crowd.) They were eager to practice the contest set as it has been a few weeks since they have been able to do it with the chorus.

We shared a dressing room with the Herald Trumpets who actually did fanfares as each dignitary arrived at the dais. One of them told YeEd, “Wow, you guys are really a great singing group.” And I of course suggested he come join us!

Tony Colosimo and Will Cox had warm up duties. Director Joe had trouble containing his excitement and pride of doing this gig for one of the top audiences in the Nation. You could tell the guys were under pressure from the crowded dressing/rehearsal room, competition of sound when the trumpets warmed up, security guys everywhere wired for sound, and a certain amount of being starstruck.

Joe worked thru each song from the bottom of the show up and decided to drop the ballad since the crowd was so huge and spread so wide they would miss the emotion.

YeEd and Keith Jones left when the rehearsal ended and the guys started getting into the black suits with yellow shirts under the tear-aways.

Word is that the show went just as planned. Hard to see the audience because of bright lights and the huge hall. Many audience members congratulated the guys when the chorus exited the dining area.

Loading the risers in the truck was hectic as we had to compete with the caterer for space on the loading dock. But in true Harmo fashion, we worked around it. Thanks as always to the riser crew and truck crew, chorus manager K12, and our MC guys. Congrats to Greg Tepe, show producer, for another successful show.

Another Moment in Harmo History for the record books.

About the building. For many many years it was known as the Pension Building in DC. It was built to house the Veteran’s records from the Civil War. One myth about the place is that those wide steps up from the first floor were designed so solidiers could ride a horse into the building and up onto the upper floors to check on their benefits. You might have noticed that the stairs are wide and low and have evidence of being used a lot. Who knows if that is true.

DON’T FORGET: we are gonna try a new Afterglow spot next Tuesday nite after chapter. Ernies’ Crab Shack – across street from King Street Metro and Joe Theisman’s, next door to the Hilton – AND close enough to leave your car at Durant and walk around the corner. They are staying open for us with no other noise to fight. Should be fun. Easier for us all to hear. Maybe a place for some tag singers. Guys who use the Metro can walk across the street to head home. And guys who have a long drive to get home can come over for a while and still get home before breakfast. Thanks Ken White for finding the place. Let’s all go next week to show the owner/manager we appreciate his staying open for us.

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 with the Alexandria Harmonizers. —Ye Ed.)

Looking Back on the September 21st Chapter Meeting

Seems parking was a problem this week – must have been back-to-school nite next door. Took us a while to get the full chorus on the risers. Hard on our director when he has to wait and cross his fingers we’ll all be there.

The set-up volunteers got things ready with full set of risers, av equipment, end caps, etc. The FRIENDS group sold drinks again this week. Dick and Carolyn Hall were back and selling scrip cards. (All of us need to buy some to use in paying for housing in Lancaster at district contest Oct. 1 and 2 at Marriott.)

YeEd had historical items out for display – Perry Como autographed items, Victor Borge autographed photo and pix and personal items from our founder Dean Snyder. All members are encouraged to be certain they give chapter historian, Bob Blair, any chapter items or barbershop items that might tell a story of our chapter’s past. This is especially true for officers and board members.

After good warm up sessions, the music team sent guys off into sectionals to work on 2011 uptune. The front row guys worked separately in the lobby at Durant.

When the singers regrouped on the risers, Director Joe worked with the guys to run thru songs for this week’s package show. (And don’t forget the 2-hour rehearsal prior to the show at the National Building Museum.) No make up for show.

Next Joe worked on the package for the contest in Oct. He promised to “continue the beating I gave you last week.” Many volunteered “give me more, give me more!”

At break and business meeting time, vp Klostermeyer, announced the many birthdays this week.

Chapter secretary Buechler presented membership renewal cards to: 11 years, Chris Yates; 15 years, Joe Sawyer; 16 years, Mike Schwartz; 20 years, Troy Hillier; and 26 years, Len Dornberger.

Membership vp, Ken White, plugged the next chapter guest nite, Oct. 26th. Steve Lingo, who is helping coordinate the event, encouraged guys to bring prospective singers, prospective fans, prospective tickets buyers, prospective FRIENDS members.

Kenny also encouraged all of us to pick up a supply of chapter business cards. He promises to check now and then on a Tues nite and see who has one in his wallet. We should all have a couple at the ready to give to someone who likes to sing!!

We had another good guest line up – a lot of them sing bass!!

Break time was fun. Hot coffee back. And a lot of goodies to share – thanks to those who brought in things to share. Please help out with that as well. The cupboard is getting empty.

Other meeting announcements included distribution by Jack Cameron of International chorus pictures; scrip sales; buy 50/50 tickets; last chance to turn in medals for engraving. Alan Wile continued the Harmo Heroes project – they sure are interesting to read. Thanks Alan.

Bob Mattes, chapter librarian, offers to help new members get Holiday show music. See him if you need to get the songs to learn. Get started now.

Tony Colosimo gave a plug for our youth chorus, CAPITOL FORCE. The group is for singers under 30 years. But we all can support them such as by attending the DC Chapter show where the CF will sing.

Back to singing, Director Joe went thru several contest sets so guys could prepare vocal and visual Make Me Better eval materials.

The air conditioner was still not working from about 9 pm on and so Joe pushed the guys to work thru it and perform. He was excited when the singers worked harder and harder. It was particularly fun to have Tony up front directing so that Joe could coach. What a team!!

As is often the case, we worked a little past 10 pm since we were making good progress. That meant getting things put away in a hurry and loading some sound equipment for this week’s show. (Nice to have the older risers to stay in the truck for shows.)

BIG NEWS --- we are gonna try a new Afterglow spot next Tuesday nite after chapter. Ernies’ Crab Shack – across street from King Street Metro and Joe Theisman’s, next door to the Hilton – AND close enough to leave your car at Durant and walk around the corner. They are staying open for us with no other noise to fight. Should be fun. Easier for us all to hear. Maybe a place for some tag singers. Guys who use the Metro can walk across the street to head home. And guys who have a long drive to get home can come over for a while and still get home before breakfast. Thanks Ken White for finding the place. Let’s all go next week to show the owner/manager we appreciate his staying open for us.

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.)

Looking Back on the September 14th Chapter Meeting

The new floor in the main hall at Durant was bright and clean and ready for us tonite. The set up crew had things up early and ready for the big crowd of members and guests.

Assistant director Tony Colosimo conducted an extensive vocal warm up and then turned the chorus over to Director Joe. He didn’t waste a minute and had them start to work on “No More Sorrow” using some physical stepping exercises to help with rhythm and using a Harmonizer soft so the tenor glis could be heard.

Then he jumped right to work on introducing more of the 2011 uptune. He thanked Joel Golden for his dependable support in preparing learning materials for this song.

Tonite Michael Gellert was present to provide private vocal coaching.

Joe also had the guys work on some songs for next week’s show (and rehearsal) on Thursday.

After that, he had the chorus work on the ballad for district contest in Lancaster, Oct. 1 -2. He conducted extensive drills and coached many finite details to improve the number.

Before break, ops vp Mark Klostermeyer, honored the guys with birthdays this week. He reminded Philly singers that they had two more weeks to get their medals engraved.

Chapter secretary Chris Buechler announced the opportunity for all to order Harmo logo shirts from Lands End. See Chris.

Then he presented membership renewal cards: 13 years, Eric Wallen; 18, Don Thompson; 24, Chuck McKeever; 26, Ken Fess; 27, Terry Reynolds; 31, Bill Curtis; 31, Mick Stamps; 36, Randy Lazear. He presented a membership card and lapel pin to Jack Pitzer for his 45 years.

Membership vp, Ken White, introduced many guests including several barbershoppers from other parts of the nation, the guys who were at our recent audition nite; and many returnees. He welcomed former member Greg Tepe, who is a show producer for the chapter.

Greg then gave details about this week’s show.

Steve Lingo announced details for an expanded guest nite on Tues., Oct. 26th. He stressed that we would welcome prospective singers as well as prospective supports and fans.

Craig Kujawa announced that a weight loss plan for Kansas City will be rolled out soon. Watch for details.

Alan Wile continued the Harmo Heroes project.

Music vp, Terry Reynolds, asked guys to submit absentee request forms for any events from now til district, as all are mandatory.

There is a board meeting on Wednesday of this week.

Then Director Joe brought the guys back to work on the contest songs. He did offer his thoughts about the recent death of our friend and chapter member, Walter Latzko. He also was proud of the recent Harmonizer magazine article by Scipio.

The rest of the nite was work on the contest set for Lancaster. And the evening ended with the guys making vocal and visual recordings for the Make Me Better effort.

We went way past 10 pm, so there was a rush to do some auditions, put everything away, sing some tags and gear up to go to the afterglow.

Victor Hills took us out on KTWWS.

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.)

Looking Back on the September 7th Chapter Meeting

Well it looks like everyone found rehearsal over in Jeff Houston School cafeteria this week. Seems the city is replacing the floor in the main hall of Durant.

Will Cox got the guys singing and used a number of exercises to engage everyone. He had the chorus do one of his number counting routines and then added instruction to have them clap on “1” every time. Well then he switched exercises when we do the “one, one, one, one” sounds and this bunch of musical characters all clapped on all of the “ones” in this exercise too!!!

No wonder Director Joe, later in the evening, threatened there would be a stand up comedy contest next week.

Before the meeting started, Chuck McKeever was working with new guys to help them prepare for the contest package.

When Director Joe took up front duties, he thanked every one for the nice crowd at Dog Days. He was particularly happy to see how the chorus is building trust with assistant director, Tony Colosimo; and he was happy to hear the chorus using head tones without much prompting these days.

After those brief remarks, he launched into work on the 2011 uptune, “What Do I Need With Love?” He is introducing small segments of it and coaching those segments with word inflections, interpretation, suggestions on sounds and matching and traps to look out for. Music vp, Terry Reynolds, helped him with the screen and projection equipment. (All were reminded that the pieces being taught now are online in the members-only segment of our website.)

Speaking of technology – there were hardy congrats to Scipio Garling for his article in the most recent Harmonizer magazine. The cover of the issue also included a great shot of the chorus on stage in Philly during the contest.

After that song work out, Joe took the guys back to “ObLaDi ObLaDa” for a while.

Before break, operation vp, Mark Klostermeyer, announced birthdays for this week.

Chapter secretary, Chris Buechler, presented membership renewal cards to Victor Hills, 2 years; Steve Lingo, 3 years; Wayne Adams, 7 years; Robert Mattes, 12 years; Dick Dangel, 18 years; Tom Griffith, 23 years; Alan Wile, 23 years; Carl Kauffmann, 38 years. Mike Kelly was given his 30-year card and a pin by the secretary and president of the chapter, as is our tradition when a guy has a milestone renewal year.

Membership vp, Ken White, was fighting a challenge since we could not get into our registration cabinet over in Durant for name tags and such. But it was still fun to welcome five guests – all basses. A couple were from the recent audition nite held in Durant and coordinated by Phil Ferguson.

It was a big nite for Carl Kauffmann for his birthday. His wife surprised him and brought a yummy chocolate cake for all of us to share and celebrate during the break.

Back from break, we had announcements. Medal engraving – see Bruce Lauther. Buying scrip cards in order to pay for your room at the district contest in the Marriott in Lancaster – see Bob Eckman or Dick Hall.

Dick reports that Carolyn has gotten to come home. He is being helped by family and a physical therapist to take care of things. She is making progress to getting her strength back.

Chuck Harner made a pitch to get guys started selling Entertainment books. If you are new and don’t know about how it works, see Chuck. And same goes for White House Christmas Ornament sales – see Sandy Stamps.

The FRIENDS were selling cold drinks again this week and held a meeting while we practiced.

Alan Wile continued his efforts to get all the guys into the Harmo Heroes activity – amazing biographies from guys. It will make great reading on the web.

GUEST NITE is coming up Tuesday, Oct. 26th. Steve Lingo is coordinator. Start lining up singers to bring that nite.

Terry Reynolds stressed the Make Me Better recording and evaluation process that is underway. Guys who sang in Philly only have to turn something in. First time contest singers need to talk to Terry for a little more coaching on how it works. Quad leaders for the chorus are the ones who come out front and turn on the little cameras and then study them during the week and give the guys feedback about their visual performances. Current quad leaders are Chuck Powell, stage right rows 2-2; Alan Wile, stage right rows 4-5; Bob Blair, stage left rows 2-3; and TJ Jones, stage left rows 4-5.

President Dick Newton announced area barbershop shows that chapters around us are holding and offered to place the flyers out for all to see. He also read a letter from the James River Chapter down by Richmond announcing their new CD. They are proud to have been sponsored by Alexandria at the time of their formation.

Dick also read from a letter of congratulations the chapter received from Congressman James Moran. He had gotten a communication piece from our Martin Banks and wrote to express his pride in our getting our medal.

Then it was back to work on the music. Joe told the guys we were gonna work on the singing aspect of our contest package as that was the area we had gotten the most feedback about. It was exciting to see him work and the guys respond. His exercise to tighten the guys’ skills at singing half steps was cool. And the end result from a bit of solid musical coaching was great!

And just to be sure to use every minute of our time together, Joe had the guys sing several times thru our new song of a few weeks, “No More Sorrow.” He pulled out an octet of guys to sing it and promised he’d pick a quartet next week. Fair warning.

We closed down at just a little after 10 and crammed everything back onto the Harmo truck. Guys went to the afterglow at 815 South Washington. Craig Kujawa took us on KTWWS.

Before the chapter meeting started, M-AD District VP for Contest and Judging, Chuck Harner, and M-AD Treasurer, Bob Eckman, conducted the “draw” for this fall’s M-AD contest. Alexandria sings 10th on Saturday, Oct. 2nd in the chorus contest.

REMEMBER – we may meet in the cafeteria of the school next week if they don’t get the floor work done over there. Be prepared.

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.)

Looking Back on the August 31st Chapter Meeting and Dog Days Event

Our annual trip to Manassas to sing with other chapters from the VA area was fun. Early arrivals were greeted with a huge spread of goodies provided by the host Prince William County Chapter, Bull Run Troubadours. The location at Sacred Heart Church has great parking, plenty of room for all.

As a help, our guys had brought the risers down and set up sound equipment for the evening. The host chapter helped unload, but YeEd saw the usual suspects, Bob Blair and Dennis Ritchey, working to get the sound all set.

It was great to see Terry Jordan back as well as Larry Silva and Alan Durick who were visiting too. It is a great nite to see many long-time barbershop friends.

Before the show, YeEd got a call from Dick Hall reporting that Carolyn is some better but still in the rehab center at Southern Maryland Hospital. He hopes she will get to come home on Friday. They really appreciate all the cards and calls from the Harmonizer family.

The Dog Days event, originally held to help chapters add some summer activity to their schedule, included six choruses this year. Those choruses also had their chapter quartets sing as part of their part of the program.

Our Dick Dangel was the opening act to get the early arrivals in the audience involved in some music. He brought his accordion and song sheets and had everyone sing a few while the choruses got ready.

The host chapter president welcomed everyone and turned it over to the chapters then. When one chorus finished, that director would teach a tag or direct a song for all to sing while the next chorus came onto the risers. Things flowed along great.

Harmony Heritage Singers from down in Mt. Vernon were first. They have a lot of Harmonizers on the risers with them. Bob Wachter is director. Chris Buechler is an assistant director. As is tradition, they sang “Old Bones” featuring 96-year-old Bix Doughty.

After they sang, two special visitors from the Barbershop Harmony Foundation in Nashville were introduced – Ryan Kileen and Clark Cleveland. Ryan gave a few remarks and thanked everyone for their support of the Foundation which means “the song will live on” for future generations of singers.

Second chorus was Blue Ridge Barbershoppers directed by Glenn Williamson. Third was Culpepper Minutemen Chorus directed by John Knueven. Fourth was Fairfax Jubilaires directed by Richard Lewellen. It was his birthday so we all sang to him. Their quartet, FOUR GOOD MEASURE, sang with our Austin Cotton on bass.

The host chapter sang fifth with Glenn Williamson directing. Our Bruce Lauther sang with one of their quartets.

The Harmonizers were last up with Director Joe out front. We kicked off our set with the re-engineered “There’s A Meeting Here Tonight” that got the audience fired up. This year we included one of our quartets, DOWN A FOURTH, in our show. And also our contemporary accapella group, TBD, got the audience involved and clapping and cheering.

It was a shame there was not enough room to do all the stage movements for our contest uptune, but the guys were animated and made it come alive from the risers. “Summertime” had folks sitting on the edge of their seats watching the facial sell of all the guys on the risers. Then “Stars and Stripes Forever” brought the audience out of their chairs.

Thanks to all of our guys who did the mc work for our show. Always good! And gotta say thanks to the many Harmonizers who drove an hour or two to get to this one.

As a wrap up for the evening, and as is the custom at this event, all barbershoppers came to the risers and our Joe lead them in “Keep The Whole World Singing.”

As you would expect, there was tag singing around and more quartets singing another song for friends and family. There was a nice sized crowd of family and friends for the evening.

Now it is back to our Tuesday nite musical workout in prep for the fall contest, Oct. 1-2 in Lancaster. New guys – you need to have a ticket and uniform and a room. See Bob Rhome for ticket and room. See Tom Kern for uniform. Guess we better say that goes for the not-new guys too!!

REMEMBER – we meet in the cafeteria of the school next to Durant on Sept. 7th.

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.)

Looking Back on the August 24th Chapter Meeting

This is always a fun time of the Harmonizer year as guys are returning from trips, vacations with families, or special assignments. Was great to see Craig Kujawa back from his sea duty. And Pete Frank was in town from Erie.

The new risers were up and ready at 6 pm or so and then Mike Kelly stepped in to help set up the sound and av equipment for this busy evening.

Tony Colosimo conducted a solid physical and vocal warm up period. Then he turned it over to Director Joe who started right off with the contest songs for the district competition Oct. 1-2 in Lancaster PA. Great to hear the chorus crank it back up to the high level of July. For those who have been gone, Joe has introduced some new techniques to make the process fresh and fun. And of course any barbershopper worth his salt has gotta like ringing cords. Good work.

During the evening, the music team also provided a couple chances for the singers to produce “Make Me Better” recordings as part of the self evaluation process. This is all the Philly chorus has to do in the way of qualification before district. New guys, and there are sure a lot of them, will be given individual help. (YeEd got wind that two guys passed their auditions after rehearsal last nite. And another is gonna do his audition on Thurs. nite at the special guest audition nite.)

Guys were asking YeEd about the RAISE THE BAR blue t-shirts some guys were sporting. Suspect we will hear more about that soon!

The team with Joe, Tony, Terry and Chuck worked on the others songs for our set at Dog Days on Tues. Aug. 31st. “Summertime” and “There’s a Meeting Here Tonight” each got some review and stage presence drill. “Stars and Stripes” was worked on too.

We all were reminded of the important chapter show on Tuesday, Aug. 31st call Dog Days. This is a long-standing tradition where many chapters in the area come together, sing some songs for each other, mix and mingle and share goodies, and cheer for each other. They have always had it on a Tuesday so the Harmonizers could attend en mass and entertain our fellow barbershoppers. Everyone should make plans. If it means getting off work early or at least doing a map quest, plan ahead. Some guys arrive a little after the event has started, as we always sing last. Talk to some of your riser guys to car pool. And invite the new guys and guests to ride along. Evening starts at 7 pm at Sacred Heart Church, 12975 Purcell Rd., Manassas 20112. There is plenty of parking. Hall has AC too. And so you won’t be surprised -- our former director, Richard Lewellen, will debut as director of the Fairfax Chorus during the show.

The before-break business session included the usual birthday announcements by Mark Klostermeyer. Then Ken White introduced a long line of guests – many returnees and applicants. Alexander Kulessa was a special guest from the barbershop organization in Germany – Bing. He found us through Bruce Minnick who got a request to host Alexander via a fellow in the Vocal Majority. Alex is staying with Lew Klinge while he meets and visits in DC area and attends Harmonizer events. He will also visit the Vocal Majority, The Ambassadors of Harmony, Westminster, Masters of Harmony and Toronto Northern Lights.

Ken also reported that there has been good response for the special Audition nite on Thurs, Aug. 26 at 7 pm at Durant. It is good to suggest this audition nite to any potential singers. If they need a ride, you can bring them. But the chorus is not expected nor needed. A small crew will run the auditionees thru the process with Joe listening to each one.

But Ken did stress that all of us need to be lining up men to come for the fall special guest nite, Tues. Oct. 26th at Durant. This is a chance to get a guy into the chorus for the holiday show and for sure get him ready for next year’s International convention and contest in Kansas City.

Break time was busy as usual. [Note: we need more contributions of goodies. Coffee service to resume after Sept. 1st] Many guys have ordered scrip cards for Marriott and will use them to pay their hotel bill in Lancaster. The chapter makes good money on this project and it will help us fill in some budget shortfalls in 2011. So be sure to order your cards from Bob Eckman or Dick Hall.

Bob Rhome is working to help all of us get a room and ticket registration for the district contest. If you have not spoken to him in person or via email, please do so. All Harmonizers should plan to attend to either sing or cheer.

Alan Wile continued his Harmo Heroes project and chose five guy’s names out of the hat to be interviewed next. Great project that will create bios of all of the members on the website.

Don Dillingham, a new guy who got a medal in Philly, gave a testimony about his experiences with the chorus and his desire to keep the fires raging.

President Newton reported that Carolyn Hall is now in the rehab center of the Southern Maryland Hospital. (YeEd spoke with Dick and Carolyn today. She appreciated the response from all of us. Dick suggests cards or notes could be sent to their home address (4305 John St., Suitland, MD 20746), as he is there to get the mail each day. But she does have a private phone in her room – 301-877-5862.

Joe reported that he visited with Geri Geis recently in planning and she shared that she and Royall are going up to NY and will stop and see our friend and arranger, Walter Latzko. He is a loyal fan of the chapter and loves hearing from us.

After announcements, it was back on the risers to work on our music and presentation skills. It was noted that the “singable doots” appeared again during rehearsal.

The guys on the risers are enjoying the new song, “No More Sorrow,” made famous by GAS HOUSE GANG.

Then Joe gave the guys a brief taste of the new uptune for the 2011 contest cycle. Chapter librarian, Bob Mattes, had prepared part specific handouts for the first portion of the song to be learned. Joel Golden had also helped Joe clip the learning tracks into segments needed in teaching the first portion. The complete tracks were done by Tim Waurick. The overhead projector and sound equipment were useful tools in the process. The song is gonna be a smashing success!

As usual the learning and fun ran right up until 10 pm. Then it was work to get risers loaded on the truck to take to Dog Days. Plus audition sessions were held for new guys to get into the chorus. And the usual tag singers were at it again.

A larger and larger contingent of tag singers is beginning to emerge after getting their food at our Tuesday nite afterglow. They adjourn outside and sing away.

REMEMBER: Dog Days Event in Manassas on 8/31; and then we will be meeting in the school that is adjacent to Durant starting Sept. 7th. The city will be replacing the floor in the main hall of Durant.

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.)

Looking Back on the August 17th Chapter Meeting and Market Square Show

This was a busy nite for the chapter and chorus. Set up went well, tho someone found the head off a nut from the risers on the floor. So before you knew it, Bob Blair was under the risers with his socket wrench and found where it had fallen off. And these risers are just a few weeks old!! Tip for all – if you see any nuts or bolts, save ’em.

There was a good crowd of guests arriving early – some are applicants and needed to practice with a quartet, others filling out paper work, others just meeting the guys.

Early on we learned from Dick Hall that his sidekick, Carolyn, was in the hospital. He left early to go back to the hospital. On top of it all, her birthday is Wednesday. So – all of us need to drop a note or card in the mail to their home. Bob Eckman took over selling the scrip cards and taking orders for Marriott scrip cards that guys can use to pay their hotel bill in Lancaster at district convention.

Will Cox conducted an important vocal warm up to launch the musical portion of the evening. Director Joe was up on the risers getting a feel for the sound and helping fire back some bari! Was funny, Terry came up to YeEd at one point and asked, “Have you seen Joe?” He was having fun being one of the riser singers.

First music work session of the nite was to refurb the choreo for “Meeting Here Tonight” as originally learned. We had created a stripped-down-choreo version to get thru some shows, so this gets the entertaining package back up to snuff. Chuck McKeever taught and reviewed. The front row guys worked on their own in the lobby.

Mark Klostermeyer, ops vp, kicked off the prebreak announcements with birthday reminders. Terry Reynolds, music vp, announced that vocal coach Michael Gellert will be back with us next week. Guys can sign up for a single session at $20 or a group-of-five session for $4 each.

Membership vp Ken White reminded us all of the Thurs. Aug. 26th audition nite. Joe will conduct the auditions. Our duty is to get prospects to attend. It starts at 7 pm at Durant. Phil Ferguson is coordinating the event.

Ken also reminded us of the Tues. Oct.. 26th guest nite at Durant. As usual, we need to bring in as many prospects as possible. Steve Lingo is point person for this one.

Some of us were talking last nite that it is often the lady who talks a guy into singing with us. So don’t overlook that plan as you try to get a guy to come sing. Invite him and his wife to come on Tuesday. We’ll have the coffee pot on for them.

Then he introduced our guests. Will Cox directed the Harmonizer Welcome song.

There were some goodies out for the break, and the guys managed to make a clean sweep of the table and all but a few crumbs were gone. (We need you all to restock the cupboard – cookies, salty things, healthy things if you must, candy. Bring it on Tuesday when you come.)

After break, Kevin Roth announced details of the Harmony Brigade event this weekend in DE.

Several announcements were made related to the Mid-Atlantic District contest coming up Oct. 1-2 in Lancaster. Reminder about buying scrip cards to pay your Marriott hotel bill – the chapter nets some good cash on these. Reminder by Terry of the two Sept. extra rehearsals. One is Thurs Sept. 23th in conjunction with a show in the city. The other is Thurs Sept. 30th. Those two rehearsals and the other four Tuesday nite rehearsals in Sept. are mandatory. If a chorus member can’t make one of them, he needs to speak to Terry or section leader, just so they know your plans.

But similarly, Bob Rhome is eager to help each of us get your hotel room for the weekend and to purchase event tickets for the contest and convention. If you have not given Bob your form or spoken to him about your plans, do so now. Also if you plan to sing but are staying with friends or have bought a ticket on your own, it helps him plan for chapter events that weekend.

(YeEd would add that many of us may be asked by section leaders, assistant directors and visual team members to help coach and instruct all the MANY new guys who have joined since Philly or are in the process of doing so. We want them to sing on the district stage with us.)

Terry also gave a plug for the guys to bring recording devices so they can submit “Make Me Better” self evaluations before the district contest.

Bruce Lauther had many of the 5th place medals back from the engraver. Klostermeyer was glad to report his last name did fit on the back of a medal. (Now you know why we refer to him as K12)

President Newton reported on Carloyn Hall and announced the board meeting for 7 pm at Durant on Wednesday.

Then Director Joe took over and worked the chorus hard on contest preparation. There were some note changes but no major changes in interp or visual. Just drill and review, and here again, helping the new guys get comfortable.

Before the nite ended, we all were reminded of the important chapter show on Tuesday, Aug. 31st call Dog Days. This is a long-standing tradition where many chapters in the area come together, sing some songs for each other, mix and mingle and share goodies, and cheer for each other. They have always had it on a Tuesday so the Harmonizers could attend en mass and show our stuff from the international stage. Everyone should make plans. If it means getting off work early or at least doing a map quest, plan ahead. Some guys arrive a little after the event has started, as we always sing last. Talk to some of your riser guys to car pool. And invite the new guys and guests to ride along.

All Harmonizers are encouraged to attend Dog Days, even if you are not a regular these days. Come sit with YeEd and help take notes!! The evening is hosted by the Prince William County Chapter at 12975 Purcell Rd. in Manassas, always during the hot muggy “dog days” of summer. The hall has AC and lots of room. Plenty of parking. We take the risers and sound equipment for the nite to help.

Now a quick report from the Market Square show last weekend.

It was a terrific nite in Old Town Alexandria on Fri. Aug. 13th for the annual Harmonizer appearance at Market Square. We were part of the summer series there hosted by the Alexandria Dept. of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Affairs.

There was a good crowd from beginning to end for the show. The chorus sang a full list of our best songs. Four guys formed LOW HUMIDITY quartet for the show – Dan O’Brien, Tony Colosimo, Ken Ives and Steve White. After one song, Rick Savage took over tenor and Steve joked that they had worn out one tenor already.

Membership vp Ken White had brought postcards to pass out to folks in the audience. It was fun to meet some prospective singers and for sure some ticket customers from this gig. Also good to see some of our recent guests in the audience.

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.)

Free public concert tonight!

Tonight the Harmonizers will be giving their annual free performance outdoors at Market Square in Old Town Alexandria, starting at 7:30 PM

See you there!

Looking Back on the August 10th Chapter Meeting

Director Joe was back from Harmony U and over 80 other Harmonizers were back after some summer time breaks – everyone ready to get back to singing and back to work in prep for upcoming shows AND the district contest the first weekend in Oct.

(YeEd noticed a lot of bronze medals last nite too!)

After Tony Colosimo did the vocal warm ups, Joe spoke briefly about the week in Missouri with all the other barbershop leaders, judges and students at the school. He was modest and did not share that we was asked to direct the Saturday nite chorus on the show they had.

But he didn’t talk long, and got the guys right to work on a full song list for this Friday’s show at Market Square in downtown Alexandria – another show we are doing for the city as a thank you for their support of the chapter. The assistant directors all worked so they would be prepared to direct their songs for the show. Greg Tepe is show producer.

Joe stepped in now and then and especially did some review on the contest songs (we will use them in the show, tho cut out the stage moves for “Hello My Baby” since the risers will be on the cement deck outside City Hall.

A couple guys figured a way to get our colorful banner to display above the chorus – so that will go to the show too. Membership VP Ken White (who gets a gold star for cleaning out the membership/guest sign-in cabinet after years of guys stashing stuff there) will have colorful postcards, which match the banner, to pass out to interested singers in the audience Friday nite. Some guys not on the risers can help pass them out.

Mark Klostermeyer, operations vp, started the business meeting with birthday reminders. Secretary Buechler presented new-member packet materials to Edgar Blancas.

Ken White reminded everyone of two import 26th dates. On Thursday, Aug. 26th, the music team will conduct auditions for men who want to sing with us. Session will be at 7 pm at Durant. Joe will conduct the actual audition. All are asked to promote this event. We are not needed to attend, but can certainly bring someone who is interested. The marketing crew is promoting the event in circles where musicians might see the opportunity and come check us out.

The second date is Oct. 26 – another regular guest nite during our Tuesday meeting and rehearsal. For sure we all come to that one and bring others prospects!

Dick Hall reminded all members that they can earn a lot of money for the chapter by buying Marriott script cards in advance of the district contest. You buy $100 script cards from the chapter (see Dick or Carolyn), then use them to pay your hotel bill in Lancaster. Rooms are a little over $100 a nite. The chapter pays less than $100 for the card and earns a healthy percentage of net. SO – everyone needs to do it. See the Halls and let them know how many cards you want to buy.

For break, we celebrated summer again and had a huge watermelon feast during break.

After the break, Ken Fess, producer of our recent Westminster show, presented chapter president Dick Newton a check for nearly $41,000 as income from ticket sales. Hurray!! And thanks again Ken.

Ken also announced that the proposed show with the Ambassadors of Harmony will not happen. Too many schedule conflicts with the two busy choruses to allow us to contract a show venue.

Tom Kraus plus Jeremy Knobel, Phil Ferguson and Joe Cerutti have joined forces as the last four class presidents of new guys going to International to encourage total commitment for medal worthy performances among all of our singers for shows and contest gigs in the months ahead. More to come via email.

Music vp Terry Reynolds reviewed plans for release of new music and for schedules of learning new songs. He also reviewed plans for self evaluation processes as we get ready to form a contest chorus for Lancaster. The Make Me Better recording plan will continue as well as visual self evaluations. He announced that the Sept. 12 fund raising show for a Bowie, MD, nonprofit group has been canceled since the group has had to go out of business.

Bob Rhome is eager to get registration orders (tickets) and housing reservations for the Harmonizers who are going to Lancaster. Your deadline is Aug. 31st.

Alan Wile continued his successful Harmonizer Heroes project and thanked the guys who have prepared their bio sheets for Alan to post online. He is working to get a complete set of bio reports from all of us on the web.

President Newton announced the official letter has been received from the Alexandria Commission for the Arts alerting us that we will be given a grant of $11,365. We are humbled to know that we have been chosen to receive the grant.

He also reported receiving $1000 from our Mid-Atlantic District to help with our expenses for International in July.

And he read a warm personal note from Ms. Shirley Bolstad, widow of the late Bruce Bolstad. She included a generous financial gift as well.

Then it was back to work on the show tunes for Friday evening. Show is at 7:30 pm near city hall (where the fountain is on King Street about 2 blocks up from the Potomac River). Harmonizers can park underground and have their parking ticket validated to cover the cost. Chorus comes already dressed without make up for warm up in the foyer of City Hall.

Another gold star from this week goes to Bob Blair and Klye Blomgren who hauled all the 50th anniversary display boards back to our storage unit.

All the best to Jeremy Knobel who will be absent a lot for the next few months. He is starting work on his law degree. And good luck to the other college guys who are heading out in the next couple weeks. YeEd thinks Kellen Hertz and Edris Qarghah plan to come back for district. YeEd also hears that Will Daniel Mudd-Simmons may be back in the area for college and we hope he will be singing with us soon.

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.)