Three Rivers Chorus at the Pittsburgh Brew House - by Tom Koch

You may have noted that toward the end of the "Salute to President, Bob Parker" article, there was mention of fun ways to present ourselves to the public. Chorus manager, Jay Garber, found a way to do that through our recent performance at the Pittsburgh Brew House. Jay made a proposal to the Sprout Fund to have the Three Rivers Chorus participate in the March 2004 presentation of performing artists (that's us) on stage at the Brew House. In response to Jays' proposal to "Sprout," Three Rivers Chorus was chosen from 44 applicants to be part of the 25 performing groups to appear at the Brew House in March.

By way of background, the Sprout Fund is a non-profit community organization and project of the Tide Center (PA) that supports innovative ideas of young adults to shape a new culture and vision for the Pittsburgh region. Toward this end, Sprout came up with AMP (Art, Music and Performance); a 3-month series that included live bands at Club Cafe' in January, visual artists exhibiting at the Warhol Museum in February and performing artists on stage at the Brew House in March.

If you missed this performance, we shared the stage' with the Pittsburgh Banjo Club and a student group from CMU who presented an "interesting" short stage performance related to hunting. It was a different experience to say the least. The Brew House at the old Duquesne Brewery is a very rustic theatre. They can be glad they are not subject to OSHA inspection. While the audience was small, they were very enthusiastic. One of the female CMU drama students agreed to help in our singing of "In The Good Old Summer Time" by adding a bit of extra choreography in front of the chorus as we sang. Once again, we found a different and fun way to appear before the public.


Wild At Heart -as reported to Tom Koch by Bob Parker

Bob Parker has added another hat to the many he has worn over the years he has been on this earth (see Wearing Different Hats in the Jan-Feb edition). Because of his love for animals, Bob has decided to become a docent (teacher) at the Pittsburgh Zoo. He is currently going through training, which takes place at the zoo every Saturday for 10 weeks. At the end of the training, assuming he can pass the final exam, Bob will become a full-fledged docent. For those of you not familiar with the duties of a docent, Bob offers the following elucidation [ex-school teachers just love terms like that!]. Recall the last time you were at the zoo, Carnegie Science Center, or Carnegie Museum and you saw some nerdy looking person expounding on some aspect of an exhibit; that will be Bob! He will be doing just that, or taking some of the animals [small animals) to elementary schools, or as he told his grandson, "cleaning up elephant poop!" You may recall, his grandson, Collin, is the one who directed us at the Pressley Ridge Ice Cream Festival. Collin (age 4), having inherited his grandfather's sense of humor decided that "Grampa" should bring home some elephant poop and put it on the tomatoes he and Grampa are going to plant, thus producing really big tomatoes.

The zoo will be having a gala benefiting the new animal health center on Saturday, June 5th Bob has volunteered the Three Rivers Chorus to sing to supporting patrons of the zoo as they enter [the zoo will be closed to the general public that evening]. The coordinator of the gala and her committee thought this would be a wonderful idea. We will not only be benefiting the zoo, but will get some very good publicity from it. The title of the gala is "Wild At Heart." This is a fitting description of the average barbershopper. The gala promoter has also promised some free passes for chorus members who sing that evening. Another "fun" way to make a public appearance and have a great time! [editor note: The chorus has also agreed to sing at the zoo on Sat., April 24th, as part of Young Children Week.]


"Shining Star" Adella Pocavich: by Tom Koch

Those members of Greater Pittsburgh and North Hills Chapters who volunteer to sing at the Vets Medical Centers will always remember Adella Pocavich. Adella passed away on Sat., March 6th in the Good Samaritan Hospital in Lebanon, PA. Born in Pittsburgh on August 31, 1918, she was the daughter of the late Peter and Catherine Jurkonis. She was a member of St. Lawrence O'Toole Catholic church and a volunteer at the Veterans Administration Medical Centers in Pittsburgh for 20 years.

A true "Shining Star" volunteer, Adella was nearing 50,000 hours of volunteer service time. She was a staunch supporter of; and participant in' our barbershop music therapy program with our veterans. On many occasions, Adella joined in and sang with us at veterans affairs. She will be sorely missed and fondly remembered.

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