Date: June 11, 2001 Great Show Everyone!

Wow. What a night. The show was fantastic and the chorus has never performed as well as it did on Saturday. Comments from the crowd who attended especially from our fellow barbershoppers was that the show was awesome. The best we ever did.

Jean Quesnel (for those of you who don't know him was director of the Montreal Chorus 7 or 8 years ago) came back stage at half time and said the chorus sounded so good he enjoyed every piece we sang and that we didn't lose pitch once. By the way I was told this by many of the barbershoppers who were there. This, my friends, is what a chorus director and chorus strives for. There ain't too many choruses in this society amongst the 800 of them that can achieve that.

So, congratulations to you all for making it happen. As I will not be at the practice on Monday night I want to take this opportunity to thank a bunch of people who worked so hard to make the night a success.

First: to Bert Broissoit who just never stopped working right up to the very last minute at the afterglow. He gave up his Grand Prix weekend to do it all. He did it all, from organizing the theatre, getting the light and sound guys to do the fantastic job that they did, selecting props and going down to Paramount just to pay for them, to ordering the tickets, booking and running the afterglow and a whole lot of other things that I can't even remember a very special thanks goes out to a great guy who made it all happen.

Now to another very special person, a guy who has a tough and gruff on the outside, but has a heart of gold. I don't know where we would be with our ticket sales if it weren't for John Clendinneng. He was there every week for months selling and keeping track of every seat recording who sold tickets and how many, who returned some even up to the very last second before showtime. He was at the ticket booth selling right up to 5 minutes before showtime and in his spare time sold some advertising. John you are a great guy and we thank you for being so dedicated and working so hard for a group that you love. I look forward to working with you on next year's show.

Thanks to Jerry Silverberg who was involved in all aspects of the show from putting the 50th anniversary material together, to running down to our uniform supplier at the last minute on Tuesday for pieces that were missing for some of our new members, to being there whenever we needed him to do something . No matter what I asked, he said, "leave it to me," and then got it done.

To Ron Schurman who worked so hard for months to get our former members from all over the country invited to attend the show. We had a few who drove in from Toronto to be there to celebrate. Thanks Ron for finding the material we needed to show our history in the program book and on the boards outside in the lobby. I know that Bill Fletcher couldn't praise you enough for providing the chorus background in order for him to successfully emcee our show.

Thanks to Steve Wheaton who quietly behind the scenes looked after a thousand little details. From bringing the make-up kits to buying the food for our supper, picking up all of the gifts for the quartets, ordering the plaque for Ted Hanna, picking up and hosting the members of Joker's Wild and showing them the town till the wee small hours of the morning. I don't think he got 10 hours sleep total in the last three nights since one of the quartet members arrived at the airport in Montreal on Thursday night after midnight. Steve was there, waiting for him at the airport. (I was told in confidence that they closed the bar in the hotel at 3.00 am.) I don't know how you do it Steve, but we love you for the total commitment you have to this chorus.

Michael Frolick did a great job organising looking after the advertising. It's not an easy job.

Thanks to one of our new members who took his truck by himself to Paramount to pick up the props. Darren Prentice got them on Friday morning then took them to the theatre and had them all put back on his truck last night after the show to return them on Monday morning. Darren you set an example that all of us can learn from and we greatly appreciate your participation and help.

Congratulations to our new members Rami, Bruno and Darren who learned the repertoire so quickly, in order to be on the show. We are proud to have you as members of the Island City Chorus.

Thanks to Ernie for looking after tickets at the afterglow, Walter for being in charge of finances, Peter for his van to bring guests up the hill, Christine for handling the ticket booth, and a special thanks to Addie and Jennifer for preparing dinner. It was great as always.

Congratulations to 4 Tonite Only . You have come a long way and sounded great on stage. Thanks to South Side for committing to be on the show and showing the audience what this hobby is all about. Just a beautiful performance. To After Hours and Joker's Wild what can we say other than spectacular. Thank you for being there.

Bernard Dubreuil, we thank you for a special treat. The audience just loved your performance and we look forward to hearing you again on our next show.

Rob Mance, thanks for putting up with a bunch of old guys every week and making us sound the way we do. I know how much effort you put into making it happen and we love you for it. Congratulations on a great show.

To all of the chorus members, thanks for a great performance, and to anyone else who I may have forgotten to mention.

Let's all get started on the next 50-year's, beginning Monday night.

The Board approved our new logo recently and you will be seeing it in more and more places and on more and more things.

There is music in the air and a mountain in the city. The Logo design is a pretty good representation of the chapter and the chorus.

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

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