Forgelling tape recorders for the moment, let's see what our quartets have been doing:

The Random Choice quartet worked in several performances and as usual was "random' in their membership

June 23, "RC" sang for residences of the Presbyterian Medical Center of Oakmont using Bill Hamilton, Tom Koch, Jim McCarthy and Leo Stefano.

The next day, June 24, RC sang throughout New Kensington Park at their annual community days, using Bill Amos, Stan Beck, Tom Koch and Mark Pascarella. The quartet has been doing this performance for several years (I've lost count).

On July 4. RC (Bill Amos, Jay Garber, Tom Koch, Mark Pascarella) performed at the High View Acres retirement village near Apollo.

The following week was especially busy with RC doing three performances. July 13, they sang at a customer open house of the Equity Financial Advisors in Murrysville using Bill Amos, Ken Ernst, Bill Hamilton and Mark Pascarella. One of the advisors, Bob Lauver, had bought ads in our show program and has bought several singing valentines. At this open house, Bob's 85 year old mother provided extra entertainment by playing the harp [is she getting ready for something?].

July 14, RC did a street performance in Pittsburgh's south side along Carson Street and the next day entertained at the "Summer Spectacular" at Mt Vernon of South Park personal care home. Both of these last two performances used Amos, Garber, Koch and Pascarella.

RC finished off the month of July on the 29th, singing at a private residence in West Jefferson Hills for a 75th Birthday Party (Amos, Garber, Koch and McCarthy).

The Melodaires did one performance, outside of Kennywood, that was very special. Gary and Louise Corpora's daughter, Lorraine, was married on June 24 and Gary decided to have the quartet sing at the reception. In the photograph below, (not shown) we see the Melodaires (Gary Corpora, Frank Pagliarulo, Ralph Rock and Bob Parker) singing "Little Girl" to the surprised bride.

In another photograph, (not shown) we see the proud parents, Gary and Louise along with bride Lorraine, son Adam and his wife next to the bride.

In a rather unusual twist, the entire wedding party traveled to the reception in a Gateway High School, school bus.

2006 International Convention ~ Indianapolis
by Bob Parker

Early Wednesday, July 5, the Melodaires Quartet, made up of Frank Pagliarulo - lead, Ralphk Rock - bass, Bob Parker - baritone and Gary Corpora - tenor, boarded their rented Pontiac and headed west to Indianapolis to attend the 2006 International Convention of the Barbershop Harmony Society. Ralph and Gary were not sure what was ahead, but Frank and Bob, being veterans of several international conventions, could feel the excitement mounting every mile. If you're a barbershopper, and you have never attended an international convention, you may not understand the excitement Frank and Bob were feeling.

After arriving at our motel, we unpacked and headed to the convention headquarters to check in. Headquarters was located in the convention center. On our way to the registration area, we passed through the barbershop market place where there was an abundance of paraphernalia for sale. One of the booths was being operated by the Jokers Wild quartet.

The Jokers are starting an on-Iine service where you can download any barbershop song ever sung at an international convention. The name of their company is"Get Naked" for which they were passing out stickers Later, as we were walking through the city, it finally dawned on us why we were getting peculiar looks. None of us had bothered to remove our stickers. The reaction at Hooters restaurant was not what we hoped for, but our stickers did create a lot of fun conversation.

see Convention - page 9