Golden Memories  SWD International Quartet Champions
Side Street Ramblers


1981, Detroit Contest complete with slings

judges selected the Classic Collection and gave the Ramblers another bronze. The Ramblers give credit to their coaches, one being Don Clause. He and the Ramblers believed a positive attitude is a must. They also sought and received the assistance of stage presence coaches John and Tom Sommer of Columbus, Ohio. Rehearsing three nights a week, the Ramblers worked especially hard several months before the 1983 Int'l.
Selected to sing 22nd in the quarter finals Thursday afternoon, they tested the audience, and themselves by singing "Smile Medley" and "I Wonder What's Become Of Sally." Their fans were a bit worried when only after naming the other top 19 quartets, they finally announced the Ramblers would be singing last in the Semi-finals. There they sang "Heart Of My Heart" and "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone". For the first time on a competition stage, they felt confident and at ease.
Again the judges made the Ramblers nervous by somehow, once again, picking the them to sing last. It was about this time their fans learned that during the week the quartet had experienced several bouts with bad luck. Even though Brian had been trapped in his room, Earl had walked through a screen door, Keith had caught the flu and was singing bass they overcame them in time for the contest. Brian said of Keith's illness, "We've always kidded about being able to create the tenor part with overtones, but we didn't relish attempting to fool the judges with this trick!" Brian had also caught the bug and was very weak and with the exception of singing in the quarter-finals, stayed in bed all day. That positive attitude was paying off. With the help of Brian's home remedies, the problems disappeared and no one even noticed.
A screenplay writer couldn't have placed the Ramblers in a better or more dramatic position. Singing as the last quartet of the entire competition, the Ramblers breezed through, "Put Your Arms Around Me Honey" and were definitely the crowd's favorite. Then the song we were all waiting for.. or rather the TAG!

 Brian had written and arranged a very beautiful ballad entifled "I'm Sorry I Made You Cry". Later, Don Clause added a "killer" tag. This now popular gut buster had all four hitting, in unison, a high F sharp and building in full voice up to the 139 decibels that knocked the audience against the back of their chairs. They then peeled off, with three parts working their way into a perfectly balance major chord and ending.
This performance received the only standing ovation of the entire quartet contest and everyone felt sure they had just heard the last song of the Ramblers as competitors. They were right. The Ramblers were announced as the gold medal winners in Seattle and their long sought after goal was accomplished.
Their championship year included several special events. In addition to attending the Int'l Mid-Winter convention (that year in Hawaii - nice timing, guys) they also toured Europe including

1984 on the Phil Donahue  Show
Switzerland, the Alpine foothills, saw DaVinci's 'The Last Supper", the French Riviera, the leaning Tower of Pisa, Rome, Pompeii, the Isle of Capri, and the Vatican. These trips and other performances throughout the year had them in great demand, and deservingly so.
Thankfully, the Ramblers recorded two fine albums. The first was entifled Side Street Ramblers, released in 1982, and featured many of the songs they sang in competition plus "Everybody Loves A Lover", "Here's That Rainy Day", "Bye Bye Blackbird" and everyone's favorite, "1927 Kansas City".
Their second album was even better with many of their show songs like "My Blue Heaven", "Kitten on the Keys", "Yes Indeed" and a studio version of "I'm Sorry I Made You Cry". These recordings are still available and show up from time to time at the International convention's barbershopper's shop.
The Ramblers continued to tour, sing on
 
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