ISLAND CITY CHORUS

GREATER MONTREAL CHAPTER

Northeastern District

The Barbershop Harmony Society

The Little Chorus that could!

MINI PITCH

Date: August 9, 2004 Volume 2004 -Issue 31

Congratulations to our Director, Rob Mance, on being one of the Music Category to be re-certified at the recent Category School in St. Joseph, MO. Rob has scored well consistently and has provided excellent evaluations to the quartets and choruses he has judged over the past three years.

Judges must requalify every three years to continue in the judging program. We are very fortunate to have Rob and his talents at our disposal every week.

Rob also attended Directors' College and will be bringing back many ideas to try out on us over the next several weeks.

Because the acoustics are good and are helping us to improve, we will meet at St. Matthew's Church for the next several weeks. This is not yet a permanent change in location, since we will not have the basement available to us in the fall. This week, the rehearsal may be held in a room upstairs in the church.

The wonderful bass voice of Bill Cain had been ravaged by throat cancer, but he lost his battle on Saturday, July 31, 2004.

He will be remembered forever in the Barbershop Harmony Society as the bass of the SUNTONES, a quartet that changed the face of barbershop with their music and prolific activity.

At the Barbershop Quartet's Society's International Competition in Philadelphia, the 1961 favourites for the gold medals where the Nighthawks and The Town and Country Four. By the semi-finals, the SUNTONES had the audience on their side. Call it luck, destiny or a little of both, the SUNTONES were picked to sing last in the top ten final round of competition Saturday night. They began that night by singing the beautiful Mighty Lak A Rose. The entire convention audience stood up. The cheers and applause seemed to go on forever. The quartet was a bit surprised. This was the first standing ovation received by a competitor in the history of the Society. As if it were fate, they ended the contest with a song that would become a trademark, Bye Bye Blues. The SUNTONES later discovered that they had racked up a 350 point winning margin. Some suggested even if they hadn't sung in the finals, they would have had enough points to win anyway.

As with all International Champion Quartets, they were crowned, celebrated, cheered and treated like celebrities and sent home. Here is where many gold medallist quartets begin to slowly but surely disappear. For the SUNTONES, it was only the beginning.

After the championship year, the SUNTONES decided they might as well do this thing right. They began to set new standards and became innovators. The quartet decided to produce recordings as often as possible and sought professional bookings outside of barbershop circles. Their heavy scheduled forced them to improve and perfect their presentation. It was hard work that paid off.

Soon the SUNTONES could be found singing at New York's Plaza Hotel on the same bill as Benny Goodman. When Jackie Gleason moved his popular variety show to Miami, he needed a barbershop quartet, the members of which could also serve as backup singers. The SUNTONES appeared with Gleason, Danny Thomas, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Mike Douglas and other well known stars such as Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Eddie Arnold, The Four Freshmen and even President Gerald R. Ford.

In addition to performing well, the SUNTONES set themselves apart by introducing new songs into their performances and by creating a library of recordings not yet matched in size by any other barbershop quartet. Individually, each member of the SUNTONES grew in experience and talent as the quartet traveled the country. After the departure of Bob Franklin in 1979, the quartet continued to perform with Drayton Justus on lead, until their swan song in January, 1985 in Montclair, NJ during a special tribute to arranger Walter Latzko. They made a handful appearances after 1985 until the International Convention in Calgary, Alberta Canada in 1993, where they shared the stage with ACOUSTIX, 1990 Champions on the AIC Show. Harlan's son Todd Wilson is the tenor of that compelling foursome and the first ever second-generation International Quartet Gold Medallist in the history of the SPEBSQSA.

The SUNTONES were ahead of their time, innovators in almost every field of quartetting. They were known for their Broadway show music, their sound system, (they carried their own and performed with individual hand held microphones), proactive management and an extensive library of recordings. With this collection, a new generation will re-discover one of the all-time great quartets of the Society and fans will re-live a special time in our own history, when these talented men came on stage and gave us a thrill of a lifetime.

Bill Cain will be memorialised on Friday, August 13, 2004 as Betty Cain, Bob Franklin, Gene Cokeroft and Harlan Wilson and many, many friends join together to celebrate his life. Services will be held in Escondido, CA from 4 PM to 7 PM.

Here is our current repertoire list: [mp3] means that the mp3 file is on the Members' Only web site

Practice is something we do at home, every day, between rehearsals!

Rehearsal is where we reinforce what we have been practising every day!