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.