Happy St. Patrick's Day
Wearin' of the Green
AT THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 1130 E. WALNUT ST., ORANGE, CALIF.
We had a great time in February. There were quartets galore out there. We sang on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Monday was obviously the biggest day. Rich Lewis and Rich Spencer did a fantastic job. Each quartet was given a Polaroid camera with plenty of film, roses, and valentines. The different singing locations were well identified with a completed sheet that told the location, the valentine recipient, as well as the person who gave the valentine. Also there was a map the showed the surrounding area. But the best part was the routing instructions. Rich had made out a complete set of routing instructions that took you from the first gig to the last gig, complete with turns, directions, distances and even eating establishments. What a terrific effort. When you see these two gentlemen, tell them how much you appreciate their hard work.
And a great big thanks to all the men that sold the valentines and to all the men that sang the valentines. This was a very successful Valentines program because of all the effort by a lot of men.
Look out for March. The biggie will be the visitation to the South Bay Chapter. They will be having their annual St. Patrick’s Day Contest on 7:30 Wednesday, 16 March. at the Eagles Lodge, 128 S. Catalina Avenue in Redondo Beach CA. The contest is farce but a lot of fun. To the best of my knowledge the rules go something like this. For the quartet contest, wear something Green and sing something Irish, the funnier the better. They also have a “sing a tag contest.” You are taught a tag. Then you sing it, same rules. Then there is an afterglow at the bar that is in the room next door. Mark it on your calendar. If you need a ride, we may be able to provide. Let one of the board members know. But plan to go. It is on a Wednesday.
Come on down on Monday evening. The meeting starts at 7:30, but a majority are now showing up at 6:00 to start woodshedding. And we have a great turnout at Denny’s for the afterglow. For some of you guys that get this "Squeezin’s" but don’t belong to the chapter and would like to come to Denny’s, Denny’s is at 3000 W. Chapman in Orange, 2 Miles west of the Circle. Come on over. We’d love to have you. And the rest of you, bring a friend. That is probably the greatest gift you could give a friend. Introduce him to Barbershopping. You’ll be doing yourself a favor too. Remember, if you’re too busy to sing, you’re too busy.
The South Bay Coastliners will once again be hosting its Annual St. Patrick’s Day Quartet Contest.
The competition will be held starting at 7:30 on March 16th at:
The Eagles Lodge
Please extend an invitation to your chapter quartets to participate in this night of fellowship, competition and song. In order to plan the event, please let me know how many of your quartets will be participating. About one week before the event I will send a follow-up e-mail with some parking hints (parking at the Eagles can sometimes be a problem due to the small size of their parking lot).
I look forward to hearing your quartets again.
Stam Hill
HEY, HEY, HEY for Valentine's Day!!
Over the four days (and some earlier dates), the Orange Quartet-only chapter, six registered quartets, sang 107 (some double gigs) "singing valentines" for a total of
$6,200+ (we have some members turning in some additional moneys for unplanned gigs).
Twenty of our members made up the six quartets. Rich Spencer was the administrative assistant; Paul Kelley put together the promo "tents"; Phil Roth typed the labels for the "It's That Time Again" cards; others in our chapter helped put labels on the mailers and place the promo tents in various retail establishments.
Kudos go out to Rich Spencer for his article in the Orange City News for two weeks. Over twenty-five of the gigs (25% of our total gigs) were from the Orange City News. Rich worked side-by-side with Rich Lewis getting the gigs assigned, cameras, film, rose boutonnieres, smiling hearts, business cards, valentine cards for the gigs with a red felt pen for the quartet to write the "mushy" salutations on the cards placed in bags for the assigned quartets for each day.
Please thank these gentlemen for their coordinated efforts in our Singing Valentine's Program for this year of 2005.
Our board will review suggestions from you for expending our receipts from this program. The board will make decisions for distribution of the funds after reviewing the suggestions and counseling with our treasurer, Phil Roth. Keep in mind, the funds will be used for the benefit of our members and the music programs needing funds in our county schools. The OCE dept. is cutting the music programs from many of the primary, secondary and high schools. The only other organization that we are aware of providing funds for the music programs in the Orange County schools is the Philharmonic Performing Arts Society.
Thanks again for the team effort in making this year's Singing Valentine's Program a success.
Yours in harmony,
Performing In the Public Eye
Quartet chapters—let’s take Orange for example—accumulate a lot of experience with gigs. Most of us have sung in places as varied as offices, restaurants, police stations, grocery stores, auto repair shops and Harley agencies, where the acoustics have left a lot to be desired. I once was in a quartet that delivered a birthday gig to a dog breeder whose amorous boxers nearly drowned us out. But we didn’t mind, because the audience loved it.
A sense of humor, including a willingness to laugh at ourselves, goes over well with our listeners. If your hatband comes apart in mid-ballad, you might as well acknowledge it and sail on. The frequency of such mishaps may be the reason why most quartets settle for a uniform of black pants, white shirt, bow tie and maybe a vest.
However, The OrangeTown Four is made of sterner stuff and likes to live on the edge. While bari Virgil Pletcher was out of town in February, they recruited me to fill in on a gig at the Newport Bay Yacht Club and another at Gulliver’s Restaurant. Tenor Rich Lewis supplied me with a bright red shirt, white bow tie, arm bands and suspenders, plus a red derby with white hatband. I had my own white belt, pants and shoes. The four of us looked dashing enough to stop a fire truck. When we dropped by a Starbucks to give them a free sample and leave a Valentine “tent”, one tattooed fellow exclaimed, “Hey, you guys are really doin’ your thing!” My answer: “We sure are!”
Yes, we were, and we were hot. We already had sung our gig tunes in countless combinations on Monday nights, and we moved like a well-oiled machine. The Newport Bay audience (all ladies) loved us, and they chuckled when the duct tape on my hatband gave way. I palmed it and continued, oozing savoir faire.
There’s an axiom in the entertainment business that’s called the Fifteen Foot Rule: if no one can spot a defect in your costume at fifteen feet, it’s safe for a performance. That’s a comforting thought unless you’re standing a foot away from the ladies at the head of the table. But none of them seemed to notice that one of my suspender snaps had gone “sproing” instead of “snap” and sailed off in three pieces when I first put it on. A quick fix with a paper clip anchored the strap unobtrusively to my belt. Good save!
Next evening, the gig at Gulliver’s was another hoot. The friendly serving wenches wore fetching medieval costumes that made them look exceptionally presentable—as we were. We reflected that clothes do make the man, or the woman. Our wench recommended some kind of drink she called a “nooner”, but instead we did our gig, which capped off a romantic anniversary party.
Dan Gonzales pretended to be our LA Times photographer. Dan had agreed to replace me for a second gig that evening, so we retired to the men’s room to trade shirts and ties. I put on Dan’s comfortable “High Sierra” woven golf shirt (quality stuff, though a bit loose) for the rest of the evening, and he put on my red shirt and—ahem—white suspenders.
At that point, the other front snap went “sproing”, forcing Dan to hook the strap by its remaining wire onto the large button that secured his beltless slacks. Then he noticed that the button was held by a loose thread that was threatening to malfunction, too. I reassured him with a barbershop smile and left the place at a trot.
I’m sure that Dan did just fine, one way or the other. We baris are used to providing comic relief. Meanwhile, I’m enjoying his golf shirt, but probably he’ll want to have it back when he has to give up that pizzazzy red one. Virgil is coming back, and I suppose he’ll need it.
How The Years Have Flown!
The Far West District contest in Bakersfield, held Oct. 1-3, was as exciting and suspense-filled as always this year. For the Orange Quartet Chapter there was a special pleasure in witnessing the performance of O.C. Times, that young quartet that only recently won the District Novice Quartet title. This time they were gunning for the big time, where they won big, earning 2867 points, against that other great quartet, Hi-Fidelity, with 2809. The songs they won with were: “I’ve been Workin’ on the Railroad”, “M-A-Double-M-Y”, the ballad “You’re The Girl I Love” and “It’s Only a Paper Moon”, which happens to be my wife’s favorite song of all time. When Pat sang that “hanger” in “Paper Moon”, the audience needed ten seconds to realize that the tenor wasn’t holding it. A riveting performance!
The baritone of this fabulous new quartet is of course a local boy, now grown up and leading the front line dancers of the Masters of Harmony. We know Patrick Claypool as the young boy who joined our chapter to sing with his grandfather Rich Lewis, almost a decade ago. It gave us a lot of pride when Pat mentioned our chapter in his acceptance speech. Pat also expressed special indebtedness to “my grandfather, Rich Lewis”, who was unable to be present that weekend.
Their performance was captured on videotape, so maybe by now Rich and Marilyn have had a chance to review that triumphal moment with Pat and the guys. Of course, they can always get a command performance! The entire Chapter saw O.C. Times do their contest package a week before the contest, so we’re bursting with as much pride as the Lewises.
Now all you members can join us barbershop gypsies and go to Salt Lake City next July to watch O.C. Times go for the gold with their new bass, Cory Hunt. You can reserve your seats today on the internet. We’ll see you there.
New Bass for OC TIMES
OC Times is excited to announce that our new bass, Cory Hunt, has joined us. Most of you know Cory as the baritone of Q, 2003-2004 Far Western District Quartet Champions and 2004 International Semifinalists.
Cory was born and raised in Reno, Nevada. He is currently active in the Reno Silver Dollar Chorus, as well as the 2003-2004 Far Western District Chorus Champions The Westminster Chorus. Cory’s first quartet, at age twelve, was the NorCal East division champion/district novice champion Qyduhmix. Besides barbershop, Cory sang for four years with the Sparks High School Chamber Singers and in the NMEA All-State Choir. Now attending the University of Nevada, Reno, Cory sings bass in the University Chamber Choir, with whom he has toured Germany and Austria; and tenor in the University Jazz Ensemble. Cory is also a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the musical fraternity.
We are excited to be singing with not only one of the most talented young men in the society today, but one of our closest friends. Cory made his debut with OC Times to mic-test the 44th Annual SoCal Novice Quartet Contest, and was very active instructing and performing in the 4th Annual Masters of Harmony Youth Harmony Festival.
The four of us wish our friend Drew Harrah the best, and supportively honor his request to step down due to school obligations.
See you all on the risers,
Sacred Gold Concert features Gold Medal Chorus
The most awesome assemblage of gold medal singers ever, combined with the 360 voices of the internationally renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
The place to be…
Salt Lake City 2005 International Convention
…after the competition is over. Following the “Music and the Spoken Word” broadcast from the 20,000 seat, state-of-the-art Latter Day Saints Conference Center there will be a Free* Concert featuring:
the world renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir,
Dr. Craig Jessop, Music Director,
the exclusive debut performance of the 600-voice
Barbershop Harmony Society Gold Medal Chorus
under the direction of Jim Clancy and Dr. Greg Lyne,
and an incredible finale of the 960 combined
voices of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and
the Society’s gold Medal Chorus
under the direction of Dr. Craig Jessop,
plus guest performances by Acoustix, Four Voices and Power Play!
Be a part of this incredible event.
For the first time, a gold medal chorus featuring every living Gold Medalist Quartet and Chorus member! Champion Gold Medalist Quartets, Senior’s Champions and College Quartet Champions will be invited to perform in this, the largest Gold Medal Chorus ever assembled in the history of barbershop -- perhaps even the world! A special invitation has been extended, and the chorus will be limited to the first 600 gold medal singers to respond.
If you are a Society quartet or chorus Gold Medalist and you wish to participate, send your name, quartet or chorus name, championship year, voice part, and physical mailing address to:
Visit www.SPEBSQSA.org/goldmedalchorus for more information.
This special concert is being presented for all registered attendees of the 2005 International Convention.
Words Not Yet In The Dictionary
ACCORDIONATED (ah kor' de on ay tid) adj. Being able to drive and refold a road map at the same time.
AQUADEXTROUS (ak wa deks' trus) adj. Possessing the ability to turn the bathtub faucet on and off with your toes.
AQUALIBRIUM (ak wa lib' re um) n. The point where the stream of drinking fountain water is at its perfect height, thus relieving the drinker from squirting himself in the eye.
BUZZACKS (buz' aks) n. People in phone marts who walk around picking up display phones and listening for dial tones even when they know the phones are not connected.
CARPERPETUATION (kar' pur pet u a shun) n. The act, when vacuuming, of running over a string or a piece of lint at least a dozen times, reaching over and picking it up, examining it, then putting it back down to give the vacuum one more chance.
DISCONFECT (dis kon fekt') v. To sterilize the piece of candy you dropped on the floor by blowing on it, somehow assuming this will 'remove' all the germs.
ECNALUBMA (ek na lub' ma) n. A rescue vehicle which can only be seen in the rearview mirror.
Next Issue
Target publication date for the next Squeezins' bulletin is April 1 or whenever we get enough articles. Send your articles to Editor at dcacton@earthlink.net.
To find a separate printable list of officers for your records, click HERE.
OFFICERS
President: Dave Gryvnak
V.P. Marketing & PR: Rich Lewis
Secretary:
Dan Whipple
Treasurer: Phil Roth
V.P. Membership: Ken Tillmanns
V.P. Music: Michael Werner
V.P. Programs: Don Engel
Member at Large: Dick Nuttelman
Bulletin Editor: Dorothy Acton
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ORANGE SQUEEZIN'S
