Golden Memories SWD Chapters
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The Commodores by Will Brannen |
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Corpus Christi Harmonaires - Jim Springer, Director
| Sometime in 1948 the Corpus Christi Hamonaires was formed
as the ilrst local barbershop chapter. They met in the old Nueces Hotel
until a Judge (name unavailable) invited the chorus to practice in his
court room in the old court house. The Harmonaires had several quartets
making the rounds, singing and promoting four-part harmony. Several music
directors fostered a lot of quartet activity.
By 1965 the Harmonairs had lost its charter, primarily due to a lack of interest, and the chapter was re-chartered as the "Corpus Christi Commodores" under the direction of Jim Springer. Jim worked very hard to re-ignite the spark of enthusiasm for our style of music. The first local quartet was made up of men who worked for the local electric utility and was known as "The Four Watts" (names unavailable). "The Reluctant Four" was another quartet with R.T. O'Mailey singing bass, Bill McNevin tenor, Seth Moore bari, and Bob Galligher lead, who made their mark. '~he Fossil Tones" had Art Jones' father singing bass, Don Clark bari, Ed Wilson lead, (?-Tenor). Then in either 1959 or '60 a quartet made up of Art Jones, Bill Jones, Dick Lengel and Seth Moore did some singing. Other quartets with names like as "The Sand Crabs", "The Gulf Coasters", "The Good |
Times Company", "The SeaRaiders", "Back In Time".
were formed and enjoyed local success.
During 1966 the chapter put on a show with 66 men on stage. At about this time we had a special visitor named Sigmund Speath (famous author of "History of Popular Music in America" and society member) who visited the chapter during a mid-winter convention held here. By this time the meeting place was moved to a city owned facility known as the Lindale Recreation Center. From there we moved to Grace Presbyterian Church, then to the Church of Christ on Norton Street, and from there to the Corpus Christi Texas A&M Fine Arts Center, where we currently meet on Thursday evenings at seven p.m.In 1973 or 1974 the Commodores hosted a Division 2 contest at Del Mar College. During 1976 for the Bicentennial Show we had 50 men on stage and an audience of about 800. Within three months of that performance our membership dropped to 35. Not all chapters have quite as many musical directors as we seem to have. There have been at least 14; Dick Lengel is our current Director. The Corpus Christi Commodores have attended several contest and in 1995 won first place in our plateau at the Division 2 contest. |
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Contents |
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How It All Began Chapters Chapter Histories International Quartet Champions ChorusesAdministration
Contests and Conventions Registered Quartets Publications Recognitions In Conclusion