Convention Extra-1

The Competition Has Begun

Sue and I successfully negotiated our train trip and arrived here in Philadelphia about 3:00 pm on Tuesday. We took a taxi from the station to our hotel and got checked in. We joined the Stone family, Ray, Mary and Melanie and the five of us had dinner together at a nearby restaurant.

There is a whole lot of great barbershop singing going on here in Philadelphia. And I'm not talking about just the hotel lobbies, restaurants and street corners. The Collegiate competition concluded last night. Swedish Match (SNOBS) edged JAD Champs Prestige to win the gold. The scores for these two quartets were 998 and 996, respectively. That means averages of 82.3 and 82.2. Talk about close competitions. For all scores, see the BHS Home site.


Today, we watched the first part of the quartet quarterfinals. That included both The Allies and Hot Air Buffoons from our District. Tonight is part two. By that time, the field will be narrowed from 51 to 20 for the semis tomorrow. As always, there will be some excellent quartets that will not advance.

More updates will be coming soon.

June, 2010, #2

Philadelphia, Here We Come!

Lovers of barbershop singing, from both within and outside of the Society are converging on Philadelphia this week for the 2010 International Convention. What a great place to be on the upcoming July 4th weekend. Sue and I, along with several other Akron Chapter members, family and friends will be there.

If today's Bulletin issue seems a little shorter than usual, there is a reason. I plan to have some special International Report issues that will come directly from the Convention. A notification will be sent to let you know that these "Philadelphia Stories" are online. If any of those Chapter members that are at International have a short (100 words or less) article about their convention activities, please send them to the Bulletin email address, derbytown08@gmail.com., or give them to me directly in writing.

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Radio

In the 2010 Show, the chorus sang the song "Radio" and the lyrics mentioned a list of classic radio programs. If you would like to hear more old radio shows, in mp3 format, just click on the Old Time Radio link in the Hot Links section at the top right of the Bulletin page. If I may, I recommend starting with the "Death from the Deep" episode of "The Shadow" from March 28, 1954. It even has a commercial with an Akron connection.

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Birthdays
Charlie Horning-6/28
George Bachmann, Jr-7/1
Virgil Koppes-7/4
Larry Steele-7/4
Dan Nichols-7/7

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What O. C. Cash Forgot To Tell Us

1. Go figure: If the quartet is stubborn and wins, it has guts. If it is stubborn and loses, it's dumb.

2. The three other parts can reform, but a bass is forever.

3. There is a pessimist in your chapter who thinks the old days were better. You know who I mean. You also know the optimist who believes that things are getting better. Trust me on this one, they're both wrong.

4. No member of the chorus is completely useless - he can always be used as a horrible example.

5. The amount of food prepared for an Afterglow, as a percentage of the guest's requirements, is either 84 percent or 192 percent.

6. When a barbershopper tells you, "I'm as good a singer as you are", it means that he thinks he is better.

7. We spend our lives buying new-stuff and throwing away old-stuff. Exception: we never throw away an old pitchpipe. Interesting.

8. The talent of a tenor is inversely proportionate to the weight of his music bag.

9. No quartet or chorus will ever do "Down Our Way" well. A classic case of "no respect for the too familiar."

10. Give pause to joining a chapter that has the local nursing homes singing for them.

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Quartet Activity

Clear Choice

June 14-sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" and a vocal arrangement of "Taps" at the dedication of a new flagpole at the Our Lady of the Elms Athletic Complex in Bath. It was a very fitting Flag Day activity.

June 17-did a 30 minute show from the gazebo on the Medina Square and entertained the crowd of about 2000 with strolling and singing from 6-8. The occasion was the annual ice cream festival of the Medina County Board of Developmental Disabilities.

June 24-provided the musical entertainment at the Berea Masonic Temple for a meeting of The Order of The Eastern Star. Worthy Grand Warder, Vivian Chrisopulos was the guest of honor. We sang "Sweet (Vivian) Adeline" to her and since she was of Irish descent, we added "My Wild Irish Rose". Our "organ recital" was included in this performance. We hadn't used it for some time, but it turned out that corn still sells well in most parts of Ohio.

July 11-Dan, Ray, Jim and Bill will be singing at the amphitheater of Tuscora Park in New Philadelphia at 7:00 pm. The evening is billed as "Barbershop in the Park" and will include both The Schoenbrunn Valley Chorus and a Chapter quartet, a group from Sweet Adelines, and the 2010 International Seniors Bronze Medal quartet, Lightly Seasoned.

All Chapter quartets are encouraged to submit information about past and/or future performances for inclusion in The Bulletin.

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Getting To Know Us

Click on the Featured Chorus link in the top right of the Bulletin page to find out about another group of barbershoppers.


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The Philadelphia BHS Chapter

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June 2010, #1

Flag Day

Each year, on June 14, millions of Americans take time to display or otherwise honor our country's flag. According to legend, George Washington and two other members of the Continental Congress asked Betsy Ross, a young widow in her early 20's to sew the first American flag. This happened sometime in the late spring of 1776. The flag was officially adopted by the Continental Congress a year later . The first "official" Flag Day was celebrated during the flag's centennial in 1877.
In 1916, a grass roots movement caused President Woodrow Wilson to issue a proclamation setting June 14 as the date for a nationwide observance of Flag Day. Congress made the holiday official in 1949 by resolving "That the 14th day of June of each year is hereby designated as Flag Day"

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Poll Results

The results of the poll related to ages of our Chapter members is still listed at the top right of this page. Unfortunately, only 15 men responded to the poll. That can tell us about ages of those who responded, but little about the age distribution within the Chapter. Oh well, it was a good thought.

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Quartet News

The Summit Chordsmen

On Sunday, June 13, The Summit Chordsmen performed outdoors from 2-4 at The Liberty Residence in Wadsworth. Fresh from a day of coaching at Apple Corps on Saturday, the quartet got a chance to put to use what they had learned. As often happens, the crowd continued to grow in size as the performance progressed. We all know that, if you want a crowd, bring in a good barbershop quartet.

Clear Choice

Clear Choice will be singing The National Anthem tonight (6/14) at the Our Lady of the Elms Athletic Complex in Bath. The occasion is the dedication of a new flag pole at that location. What a good Flag Day observance. The quartet will also be providing a vocal arrangement of Taps.


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Birthdays

Hal Moses-6/14
Bill Halter-6/18
Chris Eitman-6/23

Cliff Crocker-6/25

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What O. C. Cash Forgot To Tell Us

1. Singing barbershop is the illusion of perfection. I delude myself regularly.

2. Ninety-five percent of all leads are singing out of their range.

3. In defense of his suggestion for new chorus uniforms, my friend claimed the "the better you're dressed, the better you sing." I gave it a try. I wore a brand new, top of the line, 3-piece suit to the next chorus rehearsal. I still flatted.

4. If you're having trouble finding the fourth guy for your quartet, consider this: stop looking. Instead, call your three-man group a "mini chorus." It's all a matter of semantics. A mini chorus will fly. A three-man quartet is a dumb idea.

5. Show Chairman: No one ever left the theater of an Annual Show saying, "it was a lousy show, but it did come in under budget."

6. Every chorus requires a contest to sustain it's own sense of worth.

7. The less you know about singing lead, the more attractive it is.

8. Contests: The judge's jokes are always funny.

9. Chorus Directors: If you let the chorus discover your standards, they'll use them against you.

10. Headquarters Hotel: Never try to adjust your clothing in a crowded elevator.

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Do You Love A Parade?

If you are going to International in Philadelphia later this month, you have an opportunity to march in a parade in that historic city on the fourth of July. Maybe you saw the information about the parade that BHS sent out in the last LiveWire. If you are interested, you can check the BHS page on Facebook where Rick Spencer discusses the parade or you can email parade@barbershop.org for more information.

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Security Notice

At last Tuesday's rehearsal, an alert chorus member observed a man acting suspiciously in the parking lot across the street from Holy Trinity. (No, it was not one of us this time.) This man was going from car to car and appeared to be checking to see if any doors or trunks were unlocked. The police were called and they questioned this individual. There was some indication that he had been doing the same thing during the previous rehearsal. We should be sure that our vehicles are locked, just in case.

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Featured Videos

Here is Bobby McFerrin, of "Don't Worry, Be Happy" fame, having some fun with an audience and the pentatonic scale.

This collegiate acapella group, "On The Rocks", is from the University of Oregon. If you want to see and hear more of them, they have many, many videos on YouTube.