Monday, September 14, 2009

September, 2009, #1


Barbershop Loses A Great Friend

On Sunday, September 6, Ray Beckwith passed away in Cape Coral, Florida at the age of 86. Ray had over 40 years of membership in the Society, with the Akron and Elyria Chapters. He had continued his quartet singing after relocating to Fairhope, Alabama. He was also well known in real estate circles in this area, both as head of the real estate division of Ohio Edison and as owner of Marbeck Realty in Medina

Those who knew Ray will remember his passion for promoting barber
shop to anyone who would listen. He was always ready to explain our hobby, to counsel a barbershopper who might be thinking of dropping out, and he always mentioned our Society during his quartet performances. Our veteran Chapter members will recall Ray's rendition of a spoken story during "That Old Gang Of Mine", with the quartet humming in the background. He was the only bass in the quartet Market Street Exchange. For the last few years of that quartet, it included current Akron Chapter member, Guyles Clifford singing lead.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Ray's wife of 62 years, Margaret, and his family.

Let's keep in mind two phrases which Ray Be
ckwith often used.

The Lord doesn't charge you for time spent on earth singing

I'd rather sing with a bad quartet than listen to a good one



Another Successful Corn Roast

(click on the collage to make it larger)

On Tuesday, September 8, the Akron Chapter held it's annual Corn Roast. Spearheaded once again by Dan Nichols, and supported by the usual army of volunteers who gave of their time and talents, the corn roast was a gathering of barbershoppers from northeast Ohio and beyond.

Before you sing, you have to have nourishment. With Dan Nichols and Jim Elliott dishing out coney dogs and kraut dogs and Mark Nedel doing a wonderful job of keeping up with this group's appetite for corn on the cob, nourishment was not a problem. Beverages were available on a serve-yourself basis, unless you could convince Chapter President Wil Veith to do the honors.

The "pop-up" quartets and VLQs that were he
ard during the meal set the stage for over three hours of chorus and quartet performances. Anyone who needs an explanation of the term "Brothers in Harmony", need only attend one of these corn roasts.

Congratulations and thanks again to Dan and all who helped to make the 2009 corn roast a success.



Getting To Know Us

The mystery barbershopper for this month has been an Akron Chapter member since 1994. He was born in Purley, Surrey, England. Ok, so you already know who it is. Keep reading anyway because this is a very interesting biography.

Our unknown singer has three children and three grandchildren and fondly recalls a fun, care-free childhood that included climbing trees and "liberating" apples from farmers' orchards.

Other than Ohio, places of residence, not necessarily in order of importance, were, Surrey, England; Wilson, NC; Takoradi, Ghana; La Serena, Chile; Nairobi, Kenya; Bangkok, Thailand; Apeldoorn, Netherlands; Chevy Chase, MD; and Glas
gow, Scotland.


Though he has no military service, as such, he did ten weeks of basic training at Fort Knox, KY in 1968 during the Berlin Wall Crisis.


His main hobby is gardening and to a lesser extent, stamp and coin (UK) collecting.

Though he modestly admits that his accomplishments are too numerous to list, here are a few examples:

100 pint (12.5 gallons) blood donor

built 1952 MG-TD kit car, with help from sons
climbed 3rd highest peak of Mt. Kenya (16,355 ft.;
higher than Mt. Ranier) in August, 1977

This barbershopper's identity will be revealed in the 9/ 28 issue of the Bulletin.


Barbershop
Glossary


Interval-the difference in pitch between two notes

Stage Left-the left hand side of the stage wh
en facing the audience

Tune-Up-the notes sung (usually creating a chord) which allow the singers to reach their first note of a song

Unison-the combined sound of two or more voices at the same pitch

Repertoire-the songs that the singers are prepared to perform publicly


Birthdays

Luke Frohnapfel-9/19
Ed Egan-9/24
Bill Evans-9/27





Melrose Tag

Here are Akron Chapter members, Mike Halter, Jim Elliott, Eric Jolly and Jim Bishop ringing a tag at the Melrose meeting and ice cream social on August 25. As Lawrence Welk used to say, A very nice-a-job, a-fellas, wonnerful, wonnerful.






Upcoming Elections

Election of the 2010 officers for the Akron Derbytown Chorus will take place during the business meeting at the 9/22 rehearsal. On Tuesday, 9/15, the slate of officers will be presented to the members and nominations will be accepted from the floor. Remember, if you intend to nominate someone for an office, get their ok prior to making the nomination.



New Tux Shirts To Be Purchased


Before District Contest on October 17, the chorus will be purchasing new tuxedo shirts. During the regular rehearsal on 9/22, sizing will be done. It is important that you attend this meeting so that your measurements can be included in the order.

Watch for emails on this subject.