Looking Back on the August 27^th Dog Days Sing and the Cerutti Wedding Performance

The Dog Days of Summer traditional chorus-sing hosted by the Bull Run Troubadours was held  at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Manassas.  A large crowd of family and friends was there including many from our chapter.  Great as always to see Larry and Cathy Silva in the audience..  The show opener was Dick Dangel playing his accordion and leading a sing-along.

The host chapter provided snacks and drinks for all and set up the hall for the event.  That included unloading and setting up our risers from the Harmo truck. Our guys also provided the sound equipment for the event.

The Mount Vernon Harmony Heritage Singers were first on the show.  Bob Wachter is their director, altho Drew Fuller directed one song for them. They announced that they are the largest day-time chorus in the BHS.  It was wonderful and drew a standing ovation when Bix Doughty sang “Old Bones” again for us this year.  He is 99 and headed for 100 in January. YeEd counted 9 former or current Harmonizers on the risers with this neighboring chapter who do shows and gigs during the daytime in the DC area.

Next on the show was the Chorus of the Old Dominion from Loudoun County area, followed by the Fairfax Jubilaires.

Our hosts, the Bull Run Troubadours, sang next while the Harmonizers assembled in the church foyer to warm up. Associate director Tony Colosimo did the warm ups and prepared us for the show opener, “I’m The Music Man” and invited the other assistant directors Terry Reynolds, Will Cox and Mike Kelly to direct their songs for the show. 

Emcees for our portion were Noah Van Gilder and Shawn Tallant.  Tony did the solo on “Circle of Life” and that song earned us a standing o too.  “Jersey Boys” was also a huge crowd pleaser!  We finished our set with “Anything Goes” in a revamped version to fit the small floor space by the front row. Thanks to those guys for their extra work to make it work so well.

As is tradition, during the warm up we asked if this was anyone’s first time singing with the chorus on a show and for sure it was Rusty Orvik’s first show.  Welcome to him.

To wrap up the evening, all barbershop singers present assembled on the risers to sing “Keep The Whole World Singing” with Tony as director.

Director Joe Cerutti was absent this week, as he and his new bride, Bridgette, were in Atlantic City.  The chorus sang for their 6 pm wedding on Saturday, August 24^th at the George Washington Masonic Temple in Alexandria.

The chorus was directed by assistant director Terry Reynolds and served as a backdrop for the ceremony.   We sang Steve Tramack’s arrangement of the Beatles tune, “Here, There and Everywhere” to bring in the wedding party which included family members of the bride and groom along with Wayne Grimmer and Greg Tepe.

Joe Cerutti Sr. escorted the bride down the center aisle to the ceremony while MAYHEM quartet with Matt Fellows, Pookie Dingle, Mike Pinto and Ken White, and the chorus sang the Bob Dylan song “To Make You Feel My Love’ arranged by Eric Ruthenburg.

Ken Fess was conducted the wedding ceremony. Cindy and Dave Ellis and Gail Henley read for the ceremony.

When Joe smashed a glass (reportedly an Italian custom as well as a Jewish tradition at a wedding) at the end of the ceremony, the chorus launched into David Wright’s arrangement of the “Hallelujah Chorus” to send the new couple off.

During the warm ups prior to the ceremony, Joe thanked the guys for their extra effort to learn the songs and come help he and Bridgette celebrate their big day.  The wedding program thanked a number of other Harmo family folks for their work in making the event a well organized and smooth flowing ceremony – Mark Klostermeyer, Ina Berkey, Mike Kelly, Craig Kujawa and Linda and Catherine Colosimo and of course the chorus members who did riser set up and av equipment set up for the ceremony.

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 65^th year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. —YeEd.)

Looking Back on the August 20^th Chapter Meeting

There was a huge crowd at this late-summer meeting – chapter musical leaders were thrilled with the turn out.  And more than once, chapter leaders expressed appreciation to the members for stepping up to the plate for the many fall events we have on our calendar for the rest of 2013 and 2014.

There were several men back to sing that have been gone for a while with college work, job changes and family matters and director Joe Cerutti gladly welcomed them (Dave Kohls, Jeremy Knobel, Tom Griffith, Ian Poulin and Pookie Dingle).

Chuck McKeever has begun his 6 pm sessions on the stage again on Tuesday nites to teach new members the stage moves for the contest package.  There are a number of men who will be on the stage with us for the first time. AND we have two Open Audition nites coming up that will likely bring us a few more guys who wanna sing on the risers with us.

Assistant director Will Cox did the warm ups for this week. And then we launched into work for the Dog Days appearance next Tuesday nite, August 27^th.  This is a long-standing tradition where the Manassas Chapter hosts a gathering of choruses from the local area to get together in the dog-days of summer.  Each chorus sings a few songs, perhaps brings a quartet to sing, and leads some tag singing between choruses.

The Harmonizers will appear last, but it is wise to get there by 7 pm, if you can, to show support for the other choruses. The event is in the air conditioned Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 12975 Purcell Rd., Manassas VA 20112.  Chorus will wear the black camp shirt with jeans.  All recent guests and members and families are invited. Greg Tepe is producer of this show appearance. The host chapter provides refreshments and dress is casual for non-singers.

After working on those show songs, associate director Tony Colosimo did another effective barbershop craft session to further expand on the craft maxims we have been given.

And then we worked on some spots in the contest songs.  It was fun to share this with all the many guests and new members who quickly learned how to “dodge” the moving forces on the risers during the uptune!

Operations vp Bob Rhome conducted the weekly chapter meeting.  President Alan Wile started things off with his appreciative remarks for all the men who have stepped up, changed their plans and made it work to sing at the district convention and contest.  Our appearance will be on Friday evening, after the first round of the quartet contest ends.

Alan also reported that Dick Hall had called to report that Carolyn had fallen inside their home. She is up and around but taking it slow and easy. Take care, friend!

Alan also reported that Bob Mattes had eye surgery and had some challenging recovery times.

Chuck Harner spoke to us in his position as chairman of the chapter’s host committee for the contest weekend in Ocean City.  He had sign-up sheets for us to sign in order to cover all the tasks needed that weekend.

Bob Rhome answered questions about registration fees and requirements – and he sent an email after chapter with details. 

Assistant director Terry Reynolds suggested that chorus call time in Ocean City on Oct. 4^th will be about 6:30 pm. The planning team is making arrangements for a warm up room, etc.  Also there will be announcements about housing choices too.  Terry also suggested that the goal is to have all singers attend all September rehearsals and the extra contest rehearsal on Thursday, Sept. 26^th.  Anyone planning to sing Oct. 4, who did not sing with the chorus in Toronto, should speak with Terry ASAP.  His email is Terry.reynolds4@gmail.com for new members and guests who want to push it and sing with us.

Show producer Greg Tepe alerted the chorus of a dessert show job on Sept. 14^th in downtown DC. Again, there will be an email follow up for participation.

Ian Poulin solicited helpers for the NO BORDERS CHORUS event at Carnegie Hall on Dec. 26^th.  Workers are needed on-site, in advance from your home, or participants who can help that day.  This is the third such event for young men with Joe Cerutti as director and some of our members as the support team.

Chapter secretary Chris Buechler presented membership renewal cards to Ian Poulin for 10 years, Tom Griffith for 26 years, Alan Wile for 32 years, John Santora for 36 years, and Carl Kauffmann for 41 years.  Elliot Roseman is a new member who was given some of his joining materials.  Lou Bergner got his membership renewal card for 8 years (and cards for all the other chapters he belongs to in Canada!)

Membership vp Mark Klostermeyer, with help from Ken White, welcomed a lot of guests again this week which included family members of members, local musicians including the director of the Alexandria Band; several applicants for membership; a couple first-timer guests and members/directors from other area barbershop chapters.

Bob Rhome invited all to break with directions to return for rehearsal of the wedding songs for Joe and Bridgette’s ceremony this weekend.  After that we rushed to load risers onto the Harmo truck for the weekend.

A good crowd made it to the afterglow at La Porta’s and some got in a few tags before they headed home.

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 65^th year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. —YeEd.)

Looking Back on the August 13^th Chapter Meeting and Market Square Show Aug. 9th

The annual Friday nite summertime performance at Market Square went off without a drop of rain – tho the skies got dark and it seemed like we might get wet. (Long-time Harmonizers were used to threats of rain and recall many years when the show was cancelled right at starting time!)

The riser crew got things set up early and the nearly 60 chorus members arrived by 6:30 for warm up inside city hall (where the AC felt really good since it was about 85 degrees outside). Chorus manager Mark Klostermeyer helped us all get our parking lot tickets approved for free parking.  Our chapter’s a cappella group TBD warmed up and did a mic test. The front row guys did a yeoman job of adjusting their routines based on changes in personnel for this show.

We sang a long list of repertoire songs ending with “Anything Goes” and all its exciting stage presence. Emcees for the evening were Scipio Garling, Shawn Tallant and Noah Van Gilder.  Mike Kelly did a voice-over for “Jersey Boys” and director Joe Cerutti and Doug White did the solos. Assistant directors Mike Kelly and Terry Reynolds helped Joe.

Before we went on stage, we sang “A Place on the Risers for You” to TJ Donahue who is headed back to Denver to resume his successful science teaching career there.  Joe paid tribute to TJ for his major role in making the finale of our contest uptune so spectacular.   A large contingent of folks in the audience were former students of TJ’s who are now working in the DC area and came to say farewell.

There was a larger-than-usual audience to hear our concert as part of the city’s twilight concert series.  Lots of family and friends were there in addition to many who came up from King Street to see and hear what was going on.  As is the tradition, many in the Harmonizer family walked down King Street for dinner or at least ice cream treats. 

Tuesday nite Aug. 13^th was a busy rehearsal.  Many men are trying to find creative spots for parking at chapter since the adjoining school building is under construction.

But Chuck McKeever was on the stage at 6:30 teaching moves for the uptune to help those who wanna catch up and sing with us soon. Associate director Tony Colosimo did the warm ups for the nite.  He turned the chorus over to director Joe Cerutti.

First off, Joe welcomed some guys we have not seen for a while.  And the chorus was shown the latest BHS Harmonizer cover featuring the chapter and introducing a great article inside by Scipio Garling.

Music work started with songs for the trip to Normandy including “Miller Medley” which most guys have learned or have recalled from the era when we sang it before.  Joe did a pull-out octet to sing it and pledges he will not ask for volunteers next week!

Next we worked on “Circle of Life” with TBD doing the backup part and Tony the solo.

Next Tony took about 10 minutes to reinforce the craft maxims he taught before Toronto.  He helped use the “awesome breathe” one to sing our contest songs.

President Alan Wile then conducted a chapter meeting to discuss and present the latest plan for our singing, after all, at the district contest in Ocean City. It turns out we will sing on Friday nite, Oct. 4^th, after the quartet contest ends. 

Mid-Atlantic District president Bill Colosimo spoke to the chapter explaining the district’s reasoning for this particular time slot. The district does appreciate that the chapter will also be the hosts for the convention.

 

President Wile continued his announcements for the meeting.  Burt Stueve has been in the hospital lately with circulation problems in his legs and feet.  We wish him good health! Alan also reported the recent passing of Dorothy DeHaven, widow of former member Tom DeHaven.  She was 97.

 

There is a board meeting Wednesday nite at Durant at 7 pm.

 

Secretary Chris Buechler presented a 25-year membership pin to Tom Griffith; and a name tag and chapter history book to Rusty Orvik, our newest member.  Membership vp Mark Klostermeyer with help from Rich Hewitt introduced a large group of guests.

 

Operations vp Bob Rhome welcomed all to take a 15-minute break.

 

After that we worked on music for Joe and Bridgette’s wedding til closing time.

 

Until next time – editorjack!

(This message is prepared for your review if you were there, for your information if you had to miss, and as a historical record of the great things going on each week during the 65^th year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. —YeEd.)

Looking Back on the August 6^th Chapter Meeting

(Many thanks to reporter Peter Hubbard for taking notes and preparing this week’s column and report.  Many thanks, Peter!  YeEd was in Buffalo, NY, to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Ag Editors’ Association. Very humbling!)

Harmonizers were already gathering at Durant by 6:30.  A small crew of riser guys helped to get the place setup, and the front row congregated in the lobby to reconfigure their “Anything Goes” routine. Meanwhile refreshments were set up in the kitchen. This week also saw several guests, both new and old – some applicants, some card-carrying Harmonizer members – join us in the audience and on the risers.

Assistant director Will Cox did the vocal warm-ups for this week. After Will’s warm-up, director Joe Cerutti got to work right away with a third week of the “Glenn Miller Medley.” It didn’t take too long before Joe shipped us all off to sectionals (!), where we spent a healthy amount of time combing out the tangles in our respective parts. The medley is part of the Normandy package. (And since it’s a slow week, we’ll throw in a To Do in France: Normandy is like Virginia in that they have crisp apples – which lends flavor to loads of savory and sweet dishes but also produces Calvados, an apple brandy that goes great with apple ice cream. Make sure to sample next year!)

The chorus also worked on the songs for the upcoming Market Square show this Friday, August 9, 2013. (Call time is 6:30 p.m. with a riser crew at 6:00 p.m. Show time is 7:30 p.m. Uniform is black Harmonizer travel shirt, no visible undershirt, jeans, black shoes, and Toronto medal.) Harmonizer family members are all welcome to come and enjoy the evening, bring chairs to sit outside for the show.

At the break, operations vp Bob Rhome conducted the chapter meeting, announcing 50/50 with Dick Hall and a TBD rehearsal next Monday, August 12 at the Durant Center. President Alan Wile read an update from John Hohl and informed the chorus that the MAD Board did accept the Harmonizers request to perform for score (but not competitively) at the district contest this fall in Ocean City in lieu of singing at division in the spring, just prior to Normandy. The Harmonizers are hosting the district convention and contest on October 4-5, 2013, and the chorus really needs to have at least 90 guys on the risers including new members where possible. Some Special Forces members will also join us at district.

Next, Sean Tallant asked for help with Normandy fundraising by seeking recommendations from all of us to put him in touch with anyone you know personally who could be interested to donate (personally or legitimately from their company’s public support fund).

Greg Tepe went over the uniform for Market Square this Friday and reminded folks that you can only get validated parking in the City Hall parking lot underneath Market Square. Finally, Mark Klostermeyer handed the membership reigns over to Ken White to introduce our many guests.

Assistant director Terry Reynolds then concluded the Harmonizer rehearsal and, after a break, we reconvened for the Cerutti Wedding Chorus rehearsal. The group of guys that remained are helping send Joe off in style on his wedding day with some nice tunes, including “Here, There, and Everywhere” as well as “Make You Feel My Love.”

At 10 pm, rehearsal ended with the 50/50 prize, KTWWS, and striking the risers. A group of gents then headed over to La Porta’s for the afterglow.

Hoping to see plenty of guys at Market Square this Friday and on the risers next 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 each week during the 65^th year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. —YeEd.)

Looking Back on the July 30^th Chapter Meeting (Summer Camp) and Carlyle Park Show

The Harmonizers Summer Camp lets us have some fun, relax the Tuesday nite schedule, and cover for the week that many Harmonizer musical leaders are at Harmony University in MO.

 

According to reporters at HU, there are nine of our members there. Joe Cerutti, Tony Colosimo and Gary Plaag are on the faculty.  Sean Devine is likely working as a staff member all week. Jorge Acevedo, Chris Buechler, Tom Gannon, Chuck Hunter and Kevin Kaiser are students attending this concentrated barbershop school event.

 

At Durant, we did have fun.  No risers – chairs facing the stage, the usual screen and other av equipment. Assistant director Will Cox did the warm ups using typical camp songs such as “Swing Lo” and “If You’re Happy…” to fit into the theme for the nite.

 

Camp director, Terry Reynolds, shared that the plan for the nite was “to have fun in barbershopping.”   Chapter historian, Martin Banks, prepared an informative display about our chorus contest appearances with photos and score sheets and more.

 

For the first activity, we reviewed the music for “Sweet and Lovely” with assistant director Mike Kelly – one of the popular songs to sing with other barbershoppers.  Those who were solid on the song, were encouraged to try another voice part. Our second activity was a push-out quartet activity singing that same song.  Lots of guys did it, and many switched parts.

 

For our third activity, Dan O’Brien did an overview of the contest and judging categories.  He reports that anyone interested in getting into the judging program need to know that applications are due Dec. 31.  Go to the BHS website for info.

 

(BTW YeEd confirms that Dan O’Brien, in music category, and Tony Colosimo, in singing category, were recently certified as new judges.  Joe Cerutti, Gary Plaag, Sean Devine, Chuck Harner and Chris Buechler were recertified as judges.

 

Our fourth activity was to learn a couple new tags taught by Terry.

 

Our fifth activity was to work with Will to brush up on the “Harmonizer Welcome” song we sing to our guests each week. After working on the song, we put it to the test to great another long line of guests.  Mark Klostermeyer and Jeremy Richardson presented the guests – some first timers, an applicant or two, some summer interns working in DC, barbershoppers passing thru and barbershoppers who have moved here and will join us.

 

Operations vp Bob Rhome conducted the weekly chapter meeting.  He reminded all to turn in their new 3^rd  place bronze medal to Bruce Lauther to be engraved. Bruce has the form you need to turn it in and pay the $8.      

 

President Alan Wile was selling more Harmonizer lapel pins, and invited any newer folks to submit their Harmo Hero forms.

 

Other announcements included reminder of Market Square show on Friday, Aug. 9^th.  NOTE THIS DATE – MANY OF HAVE IT WRONG ON OUR PERSONAL CALENDAR.  Also plan to bring the family, some chairs to sit on, bring the neighbors and future ticket customers. And then maybe go out in Old Town for dinner with Harmonizers.  Metro Riders need to plan ahead to take the shuttle from King Street Metro that runs down King St. to Market Square.  Allow time!

 

For refreshments, we had sweet cold watermelon as a special treat.

 

Our seventh activity was “Ask The Directors or President” any question.  There was lively discussion – many from newer members about traditions.

 

For our eighth activity we watched the video of our International performance of “Steppin’ Out” and the video of the Ambassadors of Harmony “76 Trombones” gold medal performance.

 

Ninth there were breakout options: more videos; tag singing’ and how to read a barbershop cord.

 

When we reassembled, the taggers sang the tag they had learned.  The 50/50 winner took us out with “Keep the Whole World Singing” and we went right to work putting the chairs and tables away.

 

In other news, our show producer Greg Tepe sent a thank-you to the 72 singers who performed Thursday night, July 25^th, at John Carlyle Park. Big thanks to our three directors - Terry, Will and Mike. Thanks to Bob Blair for driving the truck. Thanks to the riser crew: Michael Gilmore, Bob Griesemer, Chuck Hunter, Kevin Kaiser\, Carl Kauffmann, Chuck McKeever, Bob Rhome, Shawn Tallant, Doug White and Alan Wile.

Thanks to Mike Kelly for setting up sound, to our MCs Shawn Tallant and Scipio Garling, and thanks to our a cappella group, TBD,  for rousing the crowd with two songs.

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 65^th year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. —YeEd.)

Looking Back on the July 23^rd Chapter Meeting   

This week we sang a lot of repertoire songs for the up-coming show; and chapter admin and music-and-performance leaders launched a huge amount of plans and exciting events for the chapter in the next 24 months.

 

We actually had to meet at First Baptist Church since there was a major conflict at Durant.  (Also we all have noted the many fences and changes around Durant as they redo the adjoining school facility and take away parking spaces!) We used one third of their social hall.

 

The front row guys came early at 6 and worked in the room while we set up risers in order to revamp and simplify the “Anything Goes” visuals for normal package shows in the months ahead.  They also are now gonna carry the visuals for “Jersey Boys” so the chorus can just sing the heck out of.

 

At break, our a cappella group, TBD, rehearsed in the lobby as they will be on the Carlyle Park show this week with the chorus.

 

Associate director Tony Colosimo did the warm ups and when he turned the chorus over to director Joe Cerutti, we went right to work on our newest song, “Glenn Miller Medley,” which we will sing in Normandy. Then Joe asked the assistant directors, Mike Kelly, Will Cox and Terry Reynolds, to direct the songs for the show.

 

Operations vp Bob Rhome conducted the chapter meeting portion of the evening. President Alan Wile reported on the progress of John Hohl in FL.  He is actually home now recovering and accepting correspondence.  Alan also reported that Burt Stueve had an operation in recent days for his leg circulation problems. And Alan received a call from John Adams, former tenor section leader and quartet singer with Alexandria. John lives and sings in NC now and reports that his wife Jean is now in a care facility. John sent kudos for the chapter’s contest set which he watched on the Web.

 

Alan gave a plug for the Germantown, MD, chapter show coming up and welcomed their director Kris Zinkievich.

 

Greg Tepe, our show producer, outlined details for the show July 25^th at Carlyle Park in Alexandria. Uniform is black “camp” Harmo shirt with blue jeans, black shoes and belt. No t-shirt showing. With medal.

 

Speaking of medals – bring them next week to have them engraved.  It costs just $8.  You will turn them in with your name to Bruce Lauther.

 

And speaking of next week – we will be back at Durant for Summer Camp – a fun nite of singing, games, good refreshments, shows, and chatter to fill a nite when many of our musical leaders will be at Harmony University in St. Joe MO.

 

Membership vp Mark Klostermeyer, with emcee help from Ken White, introduced a long line of guests – some first timers, several returnees including Tom Kraus and his family. Tom was on the front row singing along and is one of the bass singers in TBD.

 

Mark also gave a plug for guys to post the recently released Auditions Nite poster everywhere – not just on Facebook.  Take some copies to the doctor office, or leave them on the desk by the concierge in your office building, or where ever people slow down enough to see it.

 

After a break, the leaders gave a well organized visual and verbal report of plans for the chapter thru 2014.  (For those who missed, be on the lookout for an email relaying the report for your study.)

 

The first big point is the strong possibility of our singing at Ocean City this fall, as well as hosting that convention for the M-AD events teams.  Everyone should have gotten a groupanizer email for an RSVP.  Joe wants as close to 100 singers as possible. Mark your calendar to attend.

 

We got a sneak preview of the theme for the holiday shows scheduled for Dec. 6 and 7 at First Baptist. Songs to learn are in the email message.

 

We learned that plans are set to host an a cappella competition March 22, 2014 at Lincoln Theater.  You can help the organizers find contestant groups.  AND truly VIP judges.

 

The chapter goal is to host another youth harmony camp in April of 2014.

 

The trip to Normandy is June 3-10.  Many new developments and details were announced so watch for that email message too. But key among those new details are (1) a plan to sing at Notre Dame and (2) a plan to sing at the Cathedral in Cologne.  Already 112 singers have signed up and more are coming (special forces singers will be joining us - they must audition and become Harmonizers to do so). The email will also give a rundown on the songs to learn. Tim Waurick will sing with us on one special number. There will be a total of 245 travelers.

 

Another huge new event is a joint show with the Ambassadors in Harmony June 21, 2014 – likely at National Theater in DC. Guest quartets will be CROSSROADS and VOCAL SPECTRUM.  The Harmonizers are preparing to host the AOH member in their homes as we have done in past shows with Dallas and Cincinnati.

 

And finally, November 3 we expect to host a huge show in the days prior to the Sweet Adelines International convention that will be in Baltimore.  This show will be much like our show we did prior to the Philadelphia BHS convention.

 

To wrap up the evening, Tony presented exciting details with input from Joe about a new Master Singer Program being launched by the chapter.  Complete details also coming to all members.  It basically is a self-initiated individual singer improvement program to help the chorus achieve mastery.  It is a very thorough educational program we will be using over the next year or so.

 

 

 

 

   

 

In other news, the chapter is proud of DA CAPO quartet who opened for The Manhattan Transfer Saturday in Newport News, VA.  Congrats. We will all wanna hear stories about it.

 

Additional inputs about the Toronto convention operation in July:   First off, YeEd forgot to mention that Tango the Harmo Dog also attended most rehearsals (Tango helps Brian Miller’s wife.)  Carl Kauffman gave YeEd the names of the many men who helped haul risers in Canada – Bair, Griesenmer, Ashford, Clark, Rust, Hunter, Powell, Tallant, Sherick, Ammerman, Hubbard, Quick, J Fuller, Eliason, Branstatter and Hook.   Also Phil Ashford helped drive the Harmo truck back to VA.

 

 Several members sang with other barbershoppers at the funeral service for Billy Ball last week – Bill Colosimo, Bob Wells, Randall Eliason, Jack Pitzer, Alan Wile, Mike Everard, Terry Jordan and Bob Wachter. 

 

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 65^th year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. —YeEd.)

Looking Back on the July 16^th Chapter Meeting   

This week was a celebration that launched an approach to take our successes and carry them on to the shows and appearances in the future.

 

We had all gotten word to work on a new song for Normandy, “Miller Medley” which we have sung in the past.  Many guys were ready and director Joe nudged us to use better singing skills developed for our 3^rd place win on all of our music.

 

It was played for us as we took the risers this week.  Assistant director Will Cox did the warm ups.  He turned over the chorus to director Joe Cerutti, who was just back from a bout of food poisoning.  But who knew.  He pushed and encouraged and helped us be better.  And have fun.

He also noted that the music for Normandy will be used all year, so everyone should work on it and learn it – not just those going on the trip in 2014. 

 

But first up comes the show on Thursday July 25^th at Carlyle Park in Alexandria.  It is part of the city’s summer series and we sing at those shows as our way of expressing appreciation for the support we get from the city.  Joe pointed out that several musical leaders will not be in town for that show as they have been invited to attend the BHS school for training and certification or recertification of judges – Chris Buechler for the Contest Administrator category (he was recently chosen to head up that category); Chuck Harner also for CA; Joe Cerutti and Dan O’Brien for the Music category; Tony Colosimo for the Singing category; and Sean Devine and Gary Plaag for the Presentation category. These category schools are held just prior to the start of Harmony University in St. Joe, MO.

 

So – Joe had his assistant directors all set to direct the many repertoire songs for that show near the US Patent Office – within walking distance from the King Street Metro.  Mike Kelly, Terry Reynolds and Will Cox took us thru the many songs for the show.  We will work on them more next Tuesday nite.

 

Mid-evening, operations vp Bob Rhome conducted the chapter meeting portion of the nite.  He pointed out the challenges of parking that we will face for the rest of the year.  Car pools would be good.  Maybe meet someplace and come to Durant in one car.  BUT NOTE:  next Tues, July 23, we will meet at First Baptist Church, 2932 King St., Alexandria VA 22302.

 

President Alan Wile reported on the progress of John Hohl following his important operation in Florida.  Alan will keep us all posted on additional updates – the operation went well and so now John is in recovery mode.

 

Alan announced the funeral for barbershop icon, Billy Ball, on Friday in Gaithersburg.  We are all invited to sing with fellow barbershoppers from the area.

 

Alan also shared notes he had received recently included a thank you note from our buddies in DA CAPO expressing thanks for the chapter’s support plus the cheers and encouragement from the audience in Toronto. Other notes were from Ed Allen, Terry Jordan and Bill Conway.  It was also announced that DA CAPO is appearing as opener for Manhattan Transfer at Christopher Newport University coming soon.

 

Carl Kauffmann, our chapter chairman for getting us all to Toronto for the International convention, thanked a long list of members and FRIENDS for all the tasks they carried out on our behalf.  He mentioned that he had started working on planning in October of 2012! He also thanked by name, a long list of guys who helped move, load and set up risers all week including getting them back into the Harmo truck to head back to VA!!

 

Assistant director Terry Reynolds asked us all to keep up-to-date and to post our attendance intentions on the groupanizer page.  And he reminded all that the gold medals from other members were a loan – so please return them ASAP.  Bruce Lauther announced the plan to provide engraving for each guy’s 2013 bronze medal.  Turn them in to Bruce after the July 25^th show, being sure you have included your name on the box or envelope.  It costs just $8.

 

We will have a summer camp format on August 30^th – fun, games, choices, summer goodies.  Stay tuned.  These summer camp nites have been fun while our directors are gone to Harmony University in MO.

 

August 24^th is Joe and Bridgette’s wedding.  All chorus members have been invited to sing some special songs and we will work on that music the first three weeks in August from 9:15-9:30.

 

Nick Leiserson, next year’s show vp, announced there is a plan for a show with the Ambassadors of Harmony from St. Louis to be held in the DC area in June of 2014.  He was seeking a straw vote of our guys to host members from the AOH for the 3-4 days they will be in the DC area.

 

Calvin Schnure welcomed any guys interested to sing along with the Harmony Brigade men at break.

 

Secretary Chris Buechler presented a membership renewal card to Geoff Berman for 31 years, and a card and lapel pin to Don Johnson for 45 years.

 

Membership vp Mark Klostermeyer with help from Rich Hewitt welcomed a long line of guests.  There were many family and friends guests, a few barbershoppers from other chapters and some who have moved here.  There were some first time guests too.  This week all guests signed in on a Ipad at the membership kiosk.  That helps gets guest info quickly and helps avoid typo errors on guest records.

 

For break, we were all glad to share in the left-overs from the chapter hospitality room up in Toronto. Thanks to Rick and Peggy Wagner for bring all the goodies back and for icing down the left over sodas.

 

After the break we watched our Toronto performances.  Then we all enjoyed the Geek-world summary and statistical reports from our International performance and contest history presented by Terry Reynolds.  He confessed he had Geek help from Chris Huber too.  Joe also made comments and discussed his pride and satisfaction for our contest performance. There was a Standing O for Terry!!

 

We will talk more about Toronto next week so more guys can share comments.  Before we closed there was a swell of cheers and another Standing O for our director Joe and his leadership!

 

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 65^th year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. —YeEd.)