Quartet Beat by Tom Koch

Did any of you happen to see "Smarty Jones" win the Preakness Stakes back on May l5th? You of course are wondering, "now what's that got to do with Barbershopping?" Well, prior to the race, the US Naval Academy Barbershop Quartet, dressed in their dress whites, sang, "Maryland, My Maryland." So now we can say, Barbershopping is going to, the horses?

Those of you who sang with our chorus on May 11th at the Senior Fest 2004 at the Palace Inn in Monroeville probably missed a small quartet event that took place. Lou Vlahos got together a quartet consisting of himself and Bill Hamilton, Bill Amos and Tom Koch and decided to treat his old buddy, Bill "Chilly Billy" Cardille to the Chilly, Chilly, Bless Your Heart routine (Honey - Little 'Lize). We of course did this as a tongue-in-cheek joke, but Cardille kind of turned the tables on us. He made us sing it again, give our names, and put it out over the radio on WJAS. Bill Amos was smart enough to state that he was Lou Vlahos' son. I, for one , was hoping that no one I knew heard this rendition, but I wasn't so lucky.

You have probably noted that in the recent weekly Noteworthy, Rich Stevens has been indicating which Polecat Songs we will be learning. As a means of helping to develop chapter quartet activity, we intend to use the Barberpole Cat Program. I therefore urge each member to ohtain a copy of the Barberpole Cat song book and have it with you at each meeting. Take the time to review this book. Read in the front of the book, "How the program works." You will hear more about this program as time goes on.

OK, what's been happening with respect to quartet activity? There of course was a lot of quartet singing at the afterglow, following our show. The afterglow was at the Royal Place on Rte 88 in South Hills. After the buffet dinner, the first quartets to take the floor were our Sweet Adeline guest quartets.