Wombat in Anaheim - Mark your calendars!

[BRWombat]

While it'd be great if anyone went to a competition or show, I'm very happy about those of you coming to rehearsals -- I'd have a chance at knowing you are there and perhaps meeting you at a break! I'll be the big, tall guy on the back row, three guys in from the right hand side.

More good news about this trip. A very nice friend has arranged it so that I and my whole family -- 10 of us in all -- will be able to eat at Club 33 a couple of days after the contest!

[Whazzup]

While it'd be great if anyone went to a competition or show, I'm very happy about those of you coming to rehearsals -- I'd have a chance at knowing you are there and perhaps meeting you at a break! I'll be the big, tall guy on the back row, three guys in from the right hand side.

More good news about this trip. A very nice friend has arranged it so that I and my whole family -- 10 of us in all -- will be able to eat at Club 33 a couple of days after the contest!

Hey! Wow!! Congratulations on your invitation to eat at Club 33. We'll want a detailed TR, and pictures. :cheerldr:

[ktulu]

While it'd be great if anyone went to a competition or show, I'm very happy about those of you coming to rehearsals -- I'd have a chance at knowing you are there and perhaps meeting you at a break! I'll be the big, tall guy on the back row, three guys in from the right hand side.

More good news about this trip. A very nice friend has arranged it so that I and my whole family -- 10 of us in all -- will be able to eat at Club 33 a couple of days after the contest!

Okay, I am officially jealous.

Congrats though!

[BRWombat]

Hey ktulu, disneywoz and any other DFW/Texas-area SGTers:

The Vocal Majority is having our Dress Rehearsal / Anaheim Send-Off at:
[INDENT]Colleyville Heritage High School
5401 Heritage Ave
Colleyville, TX
on Thursday, June 25, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.[/INDENT]
We'll be in our tuxes and performing several run-throughs of our contest set, plus other songs as well. Come join us! It's free, so bring the kids and neighbors. It'd be awesome to have you there helping to send us off to Anaheim in a BIG way!!!

SoCal SGTers:

Our tentative rehearsal schedule in Anaheim, at the Sheraton Park on Harbor just south of DLR, is as follows:
[INDENT]Wednesday, July 1, 7-9 p.m.
Thursday, July 2, 9-12 a.m.
Thursday, July 2, 1-4 p.m.[/INDENT]
These rehearsals are all free and open to the public. After Thursday, the only chance to see us perform will be in ticketed events at the Honda Center. We'll apparently have Thursday evening off as many of our members are performing in or attending the AIC show that evening (an awesome event in itself -- put on by gold medalist quartets, with Dick Van Dyke and his quartet the Vantastix also on the program), and on Friday morning we'll be in the "pipeline" for competing choruses.

Hope as many of you can will come out and support us, and hopefully get majorly entertained in the process!!! :D:

ETA: Just noticed the countdown bar from TickerFactory in my signature has switched from counting months to counting days! It's getting exciting!

[BRWombat]

I don't expect any takers on this, since it costs $$, but just in case... For those of you not in the Dallas or Anaheim areas, there is another way to see/hear the contests/performances, through webcasts of all the events. Pricing starts at $10 for an audio-only feed.

A little background... If any of you get the chance to see the VM rehearse or perform, either in the DFW area or in Anaheim, I thought it might add some excitement to know what's at stake here.

The barbershop international competition is a highly entertaining but very competitive, emotional event, both for quartets and choruses. It's like a whole different world that most people don't know exists -- or, as a new documentary currently playing in some cities calls it, "The biggest singing competition you've never heard of."

For over thirty years, the Vocal Majority has been the standard-setter in the barbershop chorus world. (Although we perform many different styles, we compete in barbershop.) For much of that time, there was a fairly substantial gap between us and the second place chorus. No more. At least three other choruses have improved to that top-tier level, and -- since a winning chorus only competes every third year -- that means that every year's competition is a dogfight now.

VM has eleven gold medals, ten of them consecutive, and we will be competing for the unprecedented twelfth medal three weeks from today. The next ranking chorus is the Masters of Harmony -- based right up the road from Disneyland, in Santa Fe Springs -- who last year won their seventh gold medal. The Masters and VM have never competed head to head, as they've been competing on one of our off years each time. However, a "spin-off" group consisting of many of the younger members of the Masters, the Westminster Chorus, came within a whisker -- 17 points out of a possible 3000 -- of upsetting VM in the 2006 competition. Westminster went on to win the title in 2007.

Added in the mix is the Ambassadors of Harmony from St. Louis, who won the gold medal in 2004. (Do you need a scorecard yet?) They actually tied Westminster in 2007, losing on a tiebreaking rule, and came very close to beating the Masters last year.

When VM won their last medal so closely over Westminster, some disagreed with the outcome, and many in the society seem to think that VM's had our place in the sun and it's time for us to fade away. Westminster and the Masters are not competing this year, but the Ambassadors are, and they are set on doing what no one has been able to do in thirty years: beat the Vocal Majority.

We have no intention of letting that happen. :D:

So, that's a little behind the scenes for you. We're working incredibly hard to put together an entertaining, and winning, contest set, and having a great deal of fun along the way! Hope to see you there!!

ETA: So you see, if -- I mean when -- we win the gold, that will be my answer to "What will you be celebrating?"!! :D:

[BRWombat]

Okay, here's my weekly update for those of you who care -- we're only eleven days out from my arrival in Anaheim, and two weeks out from the competition!

A Disney connection - Another of the VM's secret weapons: We've brought in longtime WDW cast member Tony Derosa as a vocal/performance coach twice: once a month ago and again last night. For Disney, Tony is the musical director of the Voices of Liberty and has been a fill-in performer for 4 for a Dollar and the Dapper Dans. (I think he might coach the cruise line performers as well.) In the barbershop world, he has the distinction of being the youngest guy ever to win a international quartet gold medal, and is one of very few who have won quartet gold three times (most recently as the lead for Max Q in 2007 in Denver). He is a sharp, talented, and funny guy, and we started out good but got even better with his help.

Dress rehearsal - One week from tonight, for those in the DFW area, Colleyville Heritage High School. Doors open at 6:00, we'll probably start performing around 7:00. It's a rare occasion to see the VM for free and help send us on our way to another gold medal!

My Anaheim schedule - ...is pretty packed the first few days, as you might expect, but hopeful I'll be able to see some of you! I'll be flying into SNA on the 30th, staying at the Sheraton Park Anaheim (on Harbor south of Katella) until July 8th. I've already laid out the VM rehearsal schedule in a previous message. Come see us -- and be sure to find me at a break! I'm a big guy, so I'm easy to spot -- top row, third in from the right hand side as viewed from the audience

For DLR CM's - Disneyland-wise, looks like my family and I be in the parks three days, Sunday, Monday & Tuesday, July 5-7. We've got a brunch reservation for Goofy's Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel for late morning on Sunday, and we'll be at Club 33 on Monday afternoon; other than that, our schedule is pretty loose. As you might understand, with 10 in my group (and maybe 2 more), I'm not going to be able to set up meeting times, but if you want to, PM me your work schedule for those days and I'll try to get by and meet as many of you as I can!

[BRWombat]

Just for fun, here's a video preview of next week's convention!

The whole thing is 30 minutes long and is mildly entertaining even if you're not a barbershopper -- but to skip right to the good stuff, go to:

9:20 - A preview of the Harmony Foundation Presents show, with VM and three other champion choruses and several champion quartets;
10:50 - The preview of the chorus competition with one of the hosts' predictions; and
17:50 - Following an interview, the chorus predictions of the other host. Who do they pick to win it all...?

One week from today I'll be in Anaheim! Woo hoo!

[darph nader]

Come On lottery!! Hell,we could be there in 8-9hrs,(check with LDC for rooms)
Maybe I could have Wombat represent me in my next case? (a case of beer that is) :D:
Have fun,kick ASS,take first place and say "HI" to MS for me. (if you can find her)

[Main Streeter]

take first place and say "HI" to MS for me. (if you can find her)

darph, anyone who can get into Club 33 does not have to look for me! I'll find BR. ;)

[hobie16]

darph, anyone who can get into Club 33 does not have to look for me! I'll find BR. ;)

That explains the stalker who was following me after leaving Club 33. I thought it was someone who wanted to steal the napkins we filched.