September, 2011

Another Successful Corn Roast

On Tuesday, September 6, barbershoppers from the far reaches of NE Ohio gathered at the Tadmore Shrine shelter for the annual Akron Chapter Corn Roast. As always, a myriad of volunteers, under the capable direction of Dan Nichols, provided all those in attendance with great food, refreshing beverages and a wonderful evening of chorus and quartet singing. MC Rip Wilson kept the evening's program moving and the slightly cool, but dry weather made for a very enjoyable event. Thanks again to all those who helped to make the corn roast happen.

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Harmony In Derby

Our President, Jim Bishop, has been communicating with members of the Derby A Cappella Chorus located in the English town of Derby. (Note: Robin Reid assures me that the pronunciation is "Darby". It's good to have at least one of our chorus members that speaks English.) Jim felt that the Derby Chorus and the Derbytown Chorus had a natural bond and that it would be good for us to get better acquainted.

A link to the website for the Derby Chorus has been added to the Quick Connections section on the left of The Bulletin page. You are encouraged to visit that site and find out more about their activities.

Here is a little preview


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The Tradition Continues

On Saturday, August 27, The Derbytown Chorus made its second appearance of the summer at an Akron Aeros baseball game. As usual, we sang The National Anthem before the start of the game and led the crowd in singing Take Me Out To The Ball Game during the seventh inning stretch. Jack Kunklier continued another tradition by ably tossing the ceremonial first pitch. I suspect that Jack and Stan Martin have been practicing together because Jack's form was very similar to that of Stan when he did the honors at the July game.


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September Birthdays

Frank Lopresti 9/4
Erik Salmons 9/8
Don Seagren 9/12
Luke Frohnapfel 9/19
Bill Evans 9/27

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Chapter Quartet News

Lock 4 (formerly known as Research)

On August 15, Lock 4 helped FirstEnergy kick off their 2011-2012 United Way campaign. The quartet provided musical entertainment for the company's Ice Cream Social and United Way Agency Fair. From left to right are:
Scott Giles, tenor (subbing for Mike Halter), Keith Fuller, lead, Tom Gentry, baritone and Mike Sitter, bass.

Eu4ria

On Saturday, September 10, Eu4ria helped the family of Helen Johnson celebrate her 95th birthday. Dan Nichols, tenor, Jim Heaton, lead, Jim Elliott, bass and Jim Bishop, baritone donned their red vests and straw hats and serenaded Helen at the Everett Road covered bridge in Bath Township. If you didn't see the article from the Beacon Journal on the bulletin board at rehearsal, I have included a link to it in the Quick Connections.

The Chapter is always interested in what our quartets are doing , so please forward any information about your gigs to The Bulletin email.

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Barbershop Classics

If you wonder what The Suntones sound like fifty years after they won gold, here they are at the chorditorium during the KC International this year.

August, 2011

Good Form, Stan

When the Derbytown Chorus sang The National Anthem at the Akron Aeros game on July 19, Stan Martin represented us during the ceremonial "first pitch". As you can see, Stan did a great job. Does this remind you of anyone?

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And The Rains Came

This spot was to contain a story and some pictures of our performance yesterday at The Ohio Veterans' Memorial Park. We had 36 singers warmed up and ready to go and a song list packed with patriotic music. But, as sometimes happens with outdoor venues, a brief, yet strong downpour washed out the event. Still, a big thanks goes out to Dennis Conrad for securing and planning the event and to all who helped with the risers and other logistics. Maybe we can try this one again.

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August Birthdays



Mark Nedel-8/11
Jim Mally-8/12
Mark Purdy-8/12
Mike Halter-8/27
Eric Jolly-8/28
Mike Hoover-8/29

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Do You Remember This Show?

Here are some slides of the 1979 Annual Show. You might want to go to the Chorus website and check out the program for this show. Enter the Members Only section, go into the Photo Archives and look for the album titled "ADTC Annual Show Programs" There are two pages there for 1979 and we were celebrating 40 years of SPEBSQSA.








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School Days

We have once again come to the month of August and that means the start of another school year. Here is some history and a recording of a song that speaks of adults looking back on their school years with nostalgia. I think most of us know the lyrics to the chorus of this song. Maybe it would be a good choice if we are looking for a woodshed song at rehearsal tomorrow night.

School Days, also known as School Days (When We Were A Couple Of Kids), is an American popular song, written in 1907 by Will Cobb and Gus Edwards.

The song speaks of a mature couple remembering their lifelong friendship and their days in primary school.

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Random Acts Of Excellent Barbershop

Here is a video of Vocal Spectrum and Prestige joining forces on a classic Simon and Garfunkel song.



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Double Header

As was mentioned in the first portion of this issue, we are singing The Star Spangled Banner at an Aeros game on two occasions this year. The next one is coming up soon, on Saturday, August 27. Join us for the singing and fireworks after the game.

July, 2011

Congratulations To The Kansas City Champs

Collegiate Quartets

Gold Medalists


Our Own JAD Quartet

Prestige

Silver-The Vigilantes
Bronze(1)-After Hours
Bronze(2)-Expedition
Bronze(3)-HHHHHHHHHHHHHH


Quartets

Gold Medalists



Old School(MAD)

Silver-Musical Island Boys(NZABS)
Bronze(1)-Masterpiece(FWD)
Bronze(2)-A Mighty Wind(DIX)
Bronze(3)-Main Street(SUN)


Choruses

Gold Medalists


Masters Of Harmony(FWD)

Silver-Great Northern Union(LOL)
Bronze(1)-The Northern Lights(ONT)
Bronze(2)-Sound Of The Rockies(FWD)
Bronze(3)-Alexandria Harmonizers(MAD)

For more interesting information from the KC Convention, click on the BHS Home link here on the Bulletin page(for example, the difference between gold and silver in the chorus competition was .2 points) WOW!

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Bill Trumpold Reaches Golden Milestone

If you have been reading the Harmonizer magazine carefully, you already know that, in the list of the latest 50 year Society members, was the name of Chapter tenor, Bill Trumpold. Congratulations to Bill for this outstanding achievement. Just think how many songs that Bill and others in this select group have sung. Bill is not alone in this honor within our Chapter. Here is the list of our "Golden Boys".

Bill Trumpold-50 years
James Bouterse-50 years
Oscar (Buzz) Fraley-53 years
John Rohal-60 years

Since I joined the Chapter when I was pushing 60, if I want to join the 50 year club, I'll have to start taking better care of myself.

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More Slides

The following four slides are from the 1969 Show. You will see the chorus and three quartets. The process I'm using to get these slides converted to digital form has been improved since I put some slides from the 1968 show in this year's May issue. There is still a problem on some slides with the very bright lights washing out the details in the middle of the picture.

If anyone can identify the quartets in these pictures, please contact me at the Bulletin email, derbytown08@gmail.com.

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July Birthdays

(starting with this issue, I will include with each man's name, his years of Society membership)

7/1-George Bachmann (16)
7/4-Virgil Koppes (46)
7/4-Larry Steele (28)
7/7-Dan Nichols (24)
7/12-Kirk Roose (40)
7/18-J.C. Ward (1)
7/21-Dick Frank (42)
7/21-Stan Haught (18)
7/23-Gerald Borg (3)

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150th Annual Aeros Performance
(I made that up)

Tomorrow night, July 19th, the Derbytown Chorus will be making the first of two appearances at Akron Aeros baseball games this summer. We are scheduled to sing The National Anthem before the game (we promise not to yodel it, just sing the notes as written) and Take Me Out To The Ballgame during the 7th inning stretch. Be there by 6:15. Game time is 7:00. Clothing for the evening is red chorus shirts and anything else that is visible to the public should be black. Hope to see you there.

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Vintage Quartets

Since the International Convention and Competition, the BHS party of the year, just ended, lets take a look back and give a listen to some popular quartets that were entertaining folks when the only meaning for SPEBSQSA was that your toddler had been playing with the typewriter.

The Peerless Quartet

Most chorus members should recall this first song.

The Haydn Quartet

The Shannon Quartet

This is a different take on a PoleCat.



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Copley Show Is Coming Soon

This Sunday, July 24th. We sing at 7:00. My editorial guess is that you should arrive by 6:15. We can check with Scott at the ballgame tomorrow to be sure.