ISLAND CITY CHORUS

GREATER MONTREAL CHAPTER

Northeastern District

SPEBSQSA Inc.

The Little Chorus that could!

MINI PITCH

Date: July 5, 2004 International Results Volume 2004 -Issue 28

"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton Szandor LaVey

Our 2005 show will continue a recent tradition of Gold Medal winning quartets. On Saturday, Gotcha! won the 2004 International Quartet Championship, going away.

Tickets will be available soon!

Okay, so I wasn't perfect in my predictions, but I was pretty close.

How to get there: Take Queen Mary west to MacDonald, turn left and 4940 MacDonald (St. Matthew's Church) is on the left.

You missed a great convention in Louisville. The Host Chapter did a great job in welcoming and herding the 8500 attendees around their city.

The events were not as compact as they were in Montreal, but the bus system moved everyone where they needed to be, albeit, occasionally a bit slowly.

The contests were held at Freedom Hall at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Centre. This is a basketball arena, and the seating was similar to the Bell Centre, but not quite as comfortable seats. The seats were much easier for people to get to, since the raking of the seats is at less of an angle.

There are a whole lot of exclamation points being used, but they are needed. What a show we were able to enjoy. There was a David and Goliath atmosphere at the start with MaxQ and Gotcha! coming into the contest 1-2, with MaxQ slightly ahead. Both quartets sang If I Had My Way in the first round and the tide had turned from that point on. Gotcha! took a lead into the second round and built on it in each of the next two rounds. They accumulated 8145 points or 90.5% to 7958 points or 88.4% for MaxQ. The sentimental favourite was Riptide, who had announced they would retire following this contest due to family and business pressures. They had a wonderful contest and placed a very solid third with 7943 points or 88.3%

Gotcha! sang two of the Barber Pole Cat song on Saturday night (Down By The Old Mill Stream and Wait Till The Sun Shines Nellie), and in the MBNA College contest we heard My Wild Irish Rose and Sweet and Lovely.

The 2004 chorus contest will be remembered for a couple of great reasons.

The Ambassadors of Harmony, under the direction of Dr. Jim Henry, put 160 men on stage, and presented the gold medal performance, scoring 92.7% or 2780 points. They sang two great songs. Their ballad, I have Dreamed, and the second, New Ashmolean Band, would test anyone's best skills.

The Northern Lights, under the direction of Steven Armstrong and Chris Arnold won their third straight silver medal with an emotion packed performance of Brother, Can You Spare A Dime? and a companion piece with equal power and emotion, Go Out and Tell The Story. I attended several of the TNL rehearsals and came away completely drained. There was a big box of tissues near the door, and no one left with out using several! There were 51 men on stage. Their score of 2726 was 90.7%.

New Tradition returned to the fray after winning three years ago. They presented strong performances of a set of song medleys from the south, but could only manage third place in this extraordinary contest, scoring 90.4% or 2713 points.

The Alexandria Harmonizers, with 96 on stage, sang a great set, leading off with the Four Voices song Lazy Bones as arranged by David Wright and followed it with a slick arrangement of Summertime. They moved up to fourth place on a very strong performance only 2 points behind New Tradition! They had 2711.

The Alliance sang very well and the 56 men sounded like a whole lot more. Their songs, The Sunshine Of Your Smile and All Aboard for Dixie Land, were solid and full of high energy. Brian Zink was a standout again in the front row doing some impressive moves in his wheelchair. The 2593 points or 86.4% put them solidly in the medals for the second year, but back one place.

The Granite Statesmen placed 19^th. They sang very well in the rehearsal I visited, but unfortunately it didn't all make it to the big stage. I think we can all relate to that situation.

The MBNA College Contest was an amazing affair. The scores were high, and were earned. Vocal Spectrum scored 84.3%, high enough to have made the top 20 in the main contest, placing them in the top 10!

Men In Black moved up in score and placement over last year and will be a force in the next year as well.

We are invited back to help the Expos again on Tuesday, July 27. The Mets will be in town.

On Sunday, July 18, 2004 the Plattsburgh Chapter will be holding their Annual Picnic. They will be supplying hamburgers, hot dogs, buns and all the condiments as well as soft drinks. All you need to bring is a dish or dessert to share with the others. There will be a "make up your own quartet" event, tags and lots of other fun. Why not plan to spend a day with fellow barbershoppers.

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

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