After getting registered, we headed to Conseco Field House, home of the Indiana Pacers basketball team, to hear session #2 of the ouartet quarter-finals. Of the forty quarter-finalists, we picked most of the quartets who made it to the semi-finals. This made us feel pretty good, since they were all incredible.

As you keep the same seat through all the contests, we got to know the people around us pretty well, especially a couple from Denver, where the 2007 convention will be held. We sang a few songs for them, and another new friend from Canada (a 67 year old lady who used to drive 18-wheelers). She kept us all in good spirits with her jokes, stories, and enthusiasm for barbershop singing. They took our picture and everyone exchanged e-mail address. Meeting fellow barbershop enthusiasts ranks near the top in the list of reasons for attending an international convention.

On Thursday we attended the Good News Gospel Sing at historic St. John Church. This prepared us for lunch at Hooters before heading to the quartet semi-finals.

At the semi-finals, twenty quartets competed for the top ten spots and with a few exceptions, we thought they could all be finalists. The JAD quartets did a good job, but the competition was tough. We were glad to see that the Hot Air Buffoons did not get serious just for competition. Even with their fooling around, they made it to the top twenty.

Thursday evening we attended the AIC (Association of International Champions) show where we were entertained by quartets and choruses that have been gold medalists over the years. It was especially heart warming to see Tom Palamone Sr. sitting on stage with all those champions. One of the best performances of the evening was by last year's chorus champions, the Masters of Harmony from California.

Friday, we heard thirty of the best choruses in the world including Vocal Majority, The Alliance, The Northern Lights, and many more. They all sang well and were very entertaining. Of course we all had our favorites and rooted them on to the finish. Just as it is with the quartet contest, it is very difficult to pick the winners. If winning was judged by pure entertainment value, it most certainly would have been the chorus from the Land of Lakes District, Midwest Vocal Express. They were all dressed in gowns resembling water when they moved and fish heads made of foam rubber. To give you some idea of the hilarity of their performance, they hummed the theme music from "Jaws," then one of their members disappeared and a few seconds later a fish skeleton was thrown onto the stage.

When Vocal Majority was announced as the winning chorus, there appeared to be a lot of disagreement. The Westminster Chorus from California, with its oldest member being thirty-one, was by far the favorite, at least in this humble baritone's opinion.

Saturday morning was the college quartet competition. In the afternoon, we went to the World Harmony Jamboree where we heard quartets and choruses from all over the world including Japan, Sweden, New Zealand, Canada, and others. The choruses were men's, women's and mixed. The wife of the SNOBS president sang a solo with the Swedish chorus which alone was worth the price of admission.

Saturday night was the quartet finals. Matrix made it to the top ten, but did not score as well as we had hoped. After the contest we went to an afterglow sponsored by the Alliance Chorus. There we met our friends from Denver, along with other great barbershoppers, and listened to more top-notch quartet and chorus singing

After turning in at 2AM, we were up at 6AM and limping our way back to Pittsburgh, with the exception of Gary, who headed to Purdue University for some business. Ralph and Gary both expressed that they were overwhelmed by the total experience and loved every minute of it.

In 2008, the convention will be in Philadelphia. See that it will be practically in our back yard, you should really try to make it. I'm sure you will experience some of the best barbershop singing you have ever heard.