We had an interesting day yesterday (I think it was Wednesday, but I've kind of lost track) doing a tour of memorials and monuments with a local tour guide. Kathleen was previously a university lecturer and now takes tours on Shakespeare, American history, and architecture. She was very good and pointed out all sorts of interesting things we'd never have discovered on our own.
We visited: World War II memorial; Roosevelt memorial; Korean War Memorial; Lincoln Memorial; Vietnam Memorial; White House (from the outside); lunch at Union Station food court; Arlington Cemetery; and shopping and dinner at the Pentagon Mall.
The Roosevelt memorial was impressive, formed of huge blocks of granite into four "rooms" representing different stages of Roosevelt's Presidency. There were quotations chiselled into the granite, and water features in each room that represented the times (eg waterfall for the Depression). Many Americans at the time didn't know that Roosevelt was in a wheelchair, because there was no television and the press didn't mention it.
The Korean War Memorial was very moving, with statues of soldiers placed as if they were on patrol in the jungle, looking out for enemy soldiers. Their faces showed their fear - this was not a victory, Kathleen says, it ended with an armistice.
The Lincoln Memorial looks over a reflecting pool and the World War II memorial to the Washington Memorial in the distance. His statue dominates the memorial, with quotes (again) chiselled into the walls either side. Kathleen pointed out that the pose is ambiguous: one side firm and resolute, the other side conciliatory and seeking peace.
The Vietnam War Memorial is the one you hear most about. It was a polished granite wall with the names of all the dead and missing, in the order in which they were lost. From the wall there's a direct line of sight to the Washington Monument, so that all the great monuments are linked to each other. It was designed by a uni student, who also submitted it as an assignment and got B+ from her professor.
The White House is right in the heart of the city, with hotels and government offices all around. I'd always imagined it was set apart, as the Governor-General's residence is in Canberra, but I was wrong. Blair House, where visiting foreign heads of government are put up when they're in town, is just in the next block. Kathleen pointed out that President Obama was in residence and working in the Oval Office, because there was a Marine posted outside, but we didn't get to see him.
Union Station was meant to be the transport hub of the city in the days when rail was the modern form of transport, and was built in suitably impressive dimensions. It's still functioning, but now has lots of shops and a food court.
After lunch our tour guide took us to Arlington Cemetery - a vast expanse of lawn, trees, paths, and long lines of white crosses for soldiers, sailors and airforce who died on active duty. (and other dignatories). They are also allowed to have wives and children buried with them. The cemetery is filling up, so now the rules about who can be buried there are stricter. We saw the grave of John Kennedy and his wife, Jackie, set in the ground with an eternal flame; and Robert Kennedy (just a white cross in lawn).
Then off to the Pentagon Mall where we said goodbye to our tour guide, and then had dinner and more shopping. I must say the husbands who came on this trip are a pretty patient lot when it comes to shopping, as we've done a lot of it.
After dinner it was back on the buses as headed off to the Kennedy Centre for an interactive play called 'Shear Madness' which was a murder mystery. The police lieutenant got the audience to put their hands up when the suspects lied, and to ask questions, and then to vote on who the murderer was. It was very funny, with lots of ad lib jokes: they mentioned Aussies, and New Zealand, and Sweet Adelines, and the names of all the school groups that were in the audience. The Kennedy Centre is a massive rectangular building with an atrium that's supposed to be the biggest room in the world (or the US, I can't remember). There's a wide terrace all around the top floor with wonderful views of Washington.
Today we're off to New York, with a bit of shopping on the way.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Smithsonian
Today we took the bus into Washington DC and had our choice of Smithsonian Museums to visit. I chose the National Gallery of Art to start with. After three hours I'd walked through 41 galleries (13th to 15th century Italian, 16th century italian and spanish, 17th century italian, spanish and french and 18th century german, 15th to 16th century netherlandish and german, and part of 17th century dutch and flemish. I learnt a lot, but I was exhausted, and decided I needed a change, so I missed french, british and american and a whole bunch of sculpture and porcelain in the remaining 50 galleries.
By the way, I didn't know that El Greco wasn't his real name, it just means The Greek. And I can't see why some artists became famous and their contemporaries didn't, when their paintings seemed just as good to me.
Anyway, after lunch at the cafe I took the underground walk from the West Gallery to the East Gallery and had a look at some modern art. I decided I don't understand modern art. At all. I did try.
Then I found my way to the sculpture garden (mostly under renovation) and thence to the National Museum of Natural History. Tuesdays there's free entry to the live butterfly exhibit. They had some glorious butterflies from all over the world, and they're very strict about making sure they don't escape to become feral pests. The temperature was tropical so I didn't stay long.
I dropped into the gem collection to admire the Hope Diamond, which has an exhibit all to itself, and took a look at some large topaz, rubies and other jewels. On the way back to the bus I saw an albino squirrel, very tame, hanging about the food concession in the Mall.
On the way back to the hotel we dropped into Walmart to pick up some necessities. It so happened the Walmart was relocating the next day, so they were shutting early and we only had 20 minutes to shop. It's impressive how fast we can shop when we have a deadline to meet.
Back on the bus, back to the hotel for happy hour. We carry our own liquor with us and have a team of guys organised to set up the bar whenever there's an opportunity. The hotels are very accommodating about giving us space to do this. I was awarded first prize for the Aussie entry in the biography competition: a White House christmas decoration, and a very pretty scarf.
Then off to dinner at the Outback Restaurant: good food, good service, and not too expensive. We sang Waltzing Matilda (the Aussie contingent is mostly basses, so we weren't equpped to do any four part harmony).
Tomorrow we head back to Washington for a guided tour, and then most of us are going to dinner at the Pentagon Mall and a show at the Kennedy Centre called Shear Madness. It should be fun.
By the way, I didn't know that El Greco wasn't his real name, it just means The Greek. And I can't see why some artists became famous and their contemporaries didn't, when their paintings seemed just as good to me.
Anyway, after lunch at the cafe I took the underground walk from the West Gallery to the East Gallery and had a look at some modern art. I decided I don't understand modern art. At all. I did try.
Then I found my way to the sculpture garden (mostly under renovation) and thence to the National Museum of Natural History. Tuesdays there's free entry to the live butterfly exhibit. They had some glorious butterflies from all over the world, and they're very strict about making sure they don't escape to become feral pests. The temperature was tropical so I didn't stay long.
I dropped into the gem collection to admire the Hope Diamond, which has an exhibit all to itself, and took a look at some large topaz, rubies and other jewels. On the way back to the bus I saw an albino squirrel, very tame, hanging about the food concession in the Mall.
On the way back to the hotel we dropped into Walmart to pick up some necessities. It so happened the Walmart was relocating the next day, so they were shutting early and we only had 20 minutes to shop. It's impressive how fast we can shop when we have a deadline to meet.
Back on the bus, back to the hotel for happy hour. We carry our own liquor with us and have a team of guys organised to set up the bar whenever there's an opportunity. The hotels are very accommodating about giving us space to do this. I was awarded first prize for the Aussie entry in the biography competition: a White House christmas decoration, and a very pretty scarf.
Then off to dinner at the Outback Restaurant: good food, good service, and not too expensive. We sang Waltzing Matilda (the Aussie contingent is mostly basses, so we weren't equpped to do any four part harmony).
Tomorrow we head back to Washington for a guided tour, and then most of us are going to dinner at the Pentagon Mall and a show at the Kennedy Centre called Shear Madness. It should be fun.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Roanoke to Manassas
Today we left Roanoke at 9 am to continue our journey. I scored 12 out of 67 for the biographies (and I think I was the only Aussie who entered the competition) - the Kiwis did much better. But it was fun trying to match up names.
We got to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's estate, around 11 am. There's a visitor complex with cafe, theatre, museum and shop. From there we took a shuttle bus up the hill to the house. We had a lovely guide, Allan, who showed us around. The house is beautifully preserved and it was fascinating to see how Jefferson had designed it based on architectural principles he'd picked up while being Ambassador to the French Court. He lived on the first floor (what we'd call the ground floor) and didn't need to go upstairs, so the stairs that the rest of the family and the servants used were narrow and inconvenient. His bed was set in the wall between two rooms so he could get out one side and be in his study, or the other side and be in his bedroom. The stables, kitchen, wine cellar, storage and laundry are all on the basement level, out of sight underneath the terraces. We didn't have time to explore the gardens and grounds, and could easily have spent the whole day there.
Back on the buses, we went down the road a short way for lunch (choice of burgers or Mexican). Then another couple of hours on the road, and we arrived at Luray Caves. This is one of the biggest cave complexes in the US, we're told. It's certainly very impressive. They've done a lot of work with paths and concealed lighting to give visitors good access, and there's a self-guided audio tour. It takes about an hour and a half to go all the way through. It's bigger than Jenolan Caves or Yarrangobilly in NSW. Some of the Kiwi's sing in the Cathedral cave and they sound wonderful.
Back on the bus, and we get to our hotel in Manassas around 8 pm and head out (to Crackerjack, again) for dinner. All the Crackerjack restaurants we've been in have been identical in layout, even down to where the goods are displayed in the shop that we have to go through to get to the restaurant.
Back to the hotel - no happy hour tonight, as it's so late. There's one washing machine, one dryer, and a queue of people wanting to do laundry, so I'm planning to get up early and do it in the morning.
We got to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's estate, around 11 am. There's a visitor complex with cafe, theatre, museum and shop. From there we took a shuttle bus up the hill to the house. We had a lovely guide, Allan, who showed us around. The house is beautifully preserved and it was fascinating to see how Jefferson had designed it based on architectural principles he'd picked up while being Ambassador to the French Court. He lived on the first floor (what we'd call the ground floor) and didn't need to go upstairs, so the stairs that the rest of the family and the servants used were narrow and inconvenient. His bed was set in the wall between two rooms so he could get out one side and be in his study, or the other side and be in his bedroom. The stables, kitchen, wine cellar, storage and laundry are all on the basement level, out of sight underneath the terraces. We didn't have time to explore the gardens and grounds, and could easily have spent the whole day there.
Back on the buses, we went down the road a short way for lunch (choice of burgers or Mexican). Then another couple of hours on the road, and we arrived at Luray Caves. This is one of the biggest cave complexes in the US, we're told. It's certainly very impressive. They've done a lot of work with paths and concealed lighting to give visitors good access, and there's a self-guided audio tour. It takes about an hour and a half to go all the way through. It's bigger than Jenolan Caves or Yarrangobilly in NSW. Some of the Kiwi's sing in the Cathedral cave and they sound wonderful.
Back on the bus, and we get to our hotel in Manassas around 8 pm and head out (to Crackerjack, again) for dinner. All the Crackerjack restaurants we've been in have been identical in layout, even down to where the goods are displayed in the shop that we have to go through to get to the restaurant.
Back to the hotel - no happy hour tonight, as it's so late. There's one washing machine, one dryer, and a queue of people wanting to do laundry, so I'm planning to get up early and do it in the morning.
Nashvile to Roanoke
On Sunday morning Sue and I had planned to get up early to be picked up for our Kiwi Express tour. Somehow I managed to reset the clock when I set the alarm, so that we had an hour less than we thought we had, but luckily we'd both done some packing the day before so we still managed to be in the foyer at 8:30 am to be greeted by Joe Veeder. All the other Aussies (Mary, Jill, Jennifer, and the Owens family: Mary, David, Robbie, Carol and Pat) were already waiting for us on the bus.
We swung by the Holiday Inn to pick up some of the New Zealanders, and then headed out of Nashville. Kate Veeder had organised a competition to match people's names with their biographies, which was an incentive to get to know each other, and we also had a competition to name our mascots. The coaches are well stocked with water, soft drinks and treats. There is also a box at the back for recycling books after we've read them, so I was able to unload a few I'd been carrying with me.
We drove through some beautiful country side as we headed north-west along highway 81 through Tennessee,Virginia and West Virginia. The trees are turning shades of yellow, orange and red. The towns we passed through looked very inviting, with weatherboard houses with gables separated by expanses of green lawn.
We stopped along the way for lunch and a rest break, and didn't get to our hotel at Roanoke until 7 pm. After we unpacked, we got back on the coaches to go to Crackerjack for dinner, and then back to the hotel for a happy hour, which is traditional on Kiwi Express tours. I came back after one glass of wine to wrestle with a wireless internet connection. Sue and I have separate beds, and we both slept very well.
We swung by the Holiday Inn to pick up some of the New Zealanders, and then headed out of Nashville. Kate Veeder had organised a competition to match people's names with their biographies, which was an incentive to get to know each other, and we also had a competition to name our mascots. The coaches are well stocked with water, soft drinks and treats. There is also a box at the back for recycling books after we've read them, so I was able to unload a few I'd been carrying with me.
We drove through some beautiful country side as we headed north-west along highway 81 through Tennessee,Virginia and West Virginia. The trees are turning shades of yellow, orange and red. The towns we passed through looked very inviting, with weatherboard houses with gables separated by expanses of green lawn.
We stopped along the way for lunch and a rest break, and didn't get to our hotel at Roanoke until 7 pm. After we unpacked, we got back on the coaches to go to Crackerjack for dinner, and then back to the hotel for a happy hour, which is traditional on Kiwi Express tours. I came back after one glass of wine to wrestle with a wireless internet connection. Sue and I have separate beds, and we both slept very well.
Chorus finals
Saturday afternoon and evening (3 pm to 9 pm) was the highlight of the week, the chorus finals. The top ten choruses from the semi-finals present a 15 minute package for judging. I understand that the rules require 2 competition level songs but they can also include other songs and patter.
These are the top 10 choruses in the competition, so they all sound equally good to me - I'm not knowledgeable enough to judge them on sound, music and expression, which are three of the four judging categories, so I just go for the ones that are most entertaining. There are a couple that stood out in my memory.
Lions Gate chorus did a very clever package about barbershop competition being like a sporting competition, and what if you could review the singing the sports commentators do on TV. Two commentators controlled the action as the chorus sang in slow motion, froze, rewound, and fast forwarded. It was hysterically funny, and they got a standing ovation.
The Rich-Tones did an enormously energetic set with lots of different dance styles, as their Director, Dale, tried to keep up with them. I'm amazed at how they can all dance like an aerobics work out and sing at the same time.
The Rich-Tones were placed first, and Lions Gate second.
These are the top 10 choruses in the competition, so they all sound equally good to me - I'm not knowledgeable enough to judge them on sound, music and expression, which are three of the four judging categories, so I just go for the ones that are most entertaining. There are a couple that stood out in my memory.
Lions Gate chorus did a very clever package about barbershop competition being like a sporting competition, and what if you could review the singing the sports commentators do on TV. Two commentators controlled the action as the chorus sang in slow motion, froze, rewound, and fast forwarded. It was hysterically funny, and they got a standing ovation.
The Rich-Tones did an enormously energetic set with lots of different dance styles, as their Director, Dale, tried to keep up with them. I'm amazed at how they can all dance like an aerobics work out and sing at the same time.
The Rich-Tones were placed first, and Lions Gate second.
Rising Stars
Okay, here it is Monday already and I'm several days behind with the blog. Let's rewind back to Saturday morning.
On Saturday morning I watched the Rising Stars competition. This is held in conjunction with our International Convention. It's a competition for young women (under 25, I think) singing in quartets. It's part of our Young Women in Harmony program, to promote barbershop singing to a younger generation.
The entrants were high school and college age, all young and gorgeous. Some of them were more confident than others, and some of them had amazing voices. The Waikato Rivertones had a quartet entered, so I cheered very loudly for them (and they're on the bus trip with us now).
Damn, I've packed away all my notes from Saturday's competition so I can't even tell you the name of the winning quartets, or what they wore or sang. You'll have to take my word for it that it was both entertaining and inspiring.
On Saturday morning I watched the Rising Stars competition. This is held in conjunction with our International Convention. It's a competition for young women (under 25, I think) singing in quartets. It's part of our Young Women in Harmony program, to promote barbershop singing to a younger generation.
The entrants were high school and college age, all young and gorgeous. Some of them were more confident than others, and some of them had amazing voices. The Waikato Rivertones had a quartet entered, so I cheered very loudly for them (and they're on the bus trip with us now).
Damn, I've packed away all my notes from Saturday's competition so I can't even tell you the name of the winning quartets, or what they wore or sang. You'll have to take my word for it that it was both entertaining and inspiring.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Queens of Harmony
The Coronet Club Show is a Sweet Adelines tradition. The Coronet Club is made up of all the quartets who have won first place at an international convention. When they win they are crowned with a diamante tiara or crown (each year there is a different design). They can wear their crown at all Sweet Adelines events, and particularly at International Convention. They are known as Queens, and they put on a show each year as part of the Convention.
Last night's show was at the Sommet Centre, where our quartet and chorus competition is being held. It's actually an oval indoor arena where ice hockey is played. There's raked seating all around a flat floor (under which is the ice, so I believe it gets quite chilly if you're sitting in the privileged seats on the floor). For the convention there's a stage across one end. There are three tiers of seating, but we're only using tiers 1 and 2 and there's still plenty of room.
I forgot to take my pen with a light, so I've just scrawled some rough notes about the show on the back of my program. Let's see how much I remember.
All the Queens come on stage in western gear (boots and jeans) and sing and dance a couple of songs. They fill the risers.
After they go off there are MC voiceovers by a man with a gorgeous voice announcing the acts, and each act's name is up in lights on the screen at the back of the stage. Most of the acts have a Nashville theme.
The Four Bettys are the first quartet to sing, I think, followed by an octet among which are Salt, recognisable because of their height and long legs. Then there's the Buzz (sorry, I didn't make any notes about songs or patter) and Swinglish Mix.
The show is being compered by Liz Hardcastle, herself a Queen. Liz comes on dressed as Polly Darton with enormous boobs and a blonde curly wig, escorted by Cowboy Mike (the man with the gorgeous voice). She says "is that an i-phone in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me" - a line pinched from Mae West, but what the hell. She has to hold her notes up higher to see over her breasts.
The Queens are back on stage, dressed in black and sequins and wearing their crowns. There's a bit of history about the Yankee Misses, who were queens 50 years ago in 1958, and a slide show with photos of them. Then 3 of the 4 Yankee Misses come downstage - the fourth one can't be there because of family illness.
Moxy Ladies sing one of my favorite Billie Holiday songs, My Man (I'm crying again).
Then Salt sing.
The guest act for this show is a Country & Western singer called Kathy Mattea. Cowboy Mike encourages us all to stand up and dance while her band is setting up. Kathy has a backing band of three guys: guitar, double bass and banjo/fiddle. She does a few country numbers and invites us to sing along with some of the choruses. She loves our singing. She says lots of nice things about Sweet Adelines and barbershop and talks about making a "joyful noise". She sings another song that makes me cry, written by her husband about his parents. She jokes that if you're lucky enough to have a hit, you hope it's one you can stand to sing every night for the rest of your life, because your audience expects it. We give her a standing ovation.
That was about a three hour show, with no intermission, but I didn't want it to end.
I came back to our room after the show, but Sue stayed downstairs where the Queens were singng and partying on in the bar. I'm sorry I missed that.
Last night's show was at the Sommet Centre, where our quartet and chorus competition is being held. It's actually an oval indoor arena where ice hockey is played. There's raked seating all around a flat floor (under which is the ice, so I believe it gets quite chilly if you're sitting in the privileged seats on the floor). For the convention there's a stage across one end. There are three tiers of seating, but we're only using tiers 1 and 2 and there's still plenty of room.
I forgot to take my pen with a light, so I've just scrawled some rough notes about the show on the back of my program. Let's see how much I remember.
All the Queens come on stage in western gear (boots and jeans) and sing and dance a couple of songs. They fill the risers.
After they go off there are MC voiceovers by a man with a gorgeous voice announcing the acts, and each act's name is up in lights on the screen at the back of the stage. Most of the acts have a Nashville theme.
The Four Bettys are the first quartet to sing, I think, followed by an octet among which are Salt, recognisable because of their height and long legs. Then there's the Buzz (sorry, I didn't make any notes about songs or patter) and Swinglish Mix.
The show is being compered by Liz Hardcastle, herself a Queen. Liz comes on dressed as Polly Darton with enormous boobs and a blonde curly wig, escorted by Cowboy Mike (the man with the gorgeous voice). She says "is that an i-phone in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me" - a line pinched from Mae West, but what the hell. She has to hold her notes up higher to see over her breasts.
The Queens are back on stage, dressed in black and sequins and wearing their crowns. There's a bit of history about the Yankee Misses, who were queens 50 years ago in 1958, and a slide show with photos of them. Then 3 of the 4 Yankee Misses come downstage - the fourth one can't be there because of family illness.
Moxy Ladies sing one of my favorite Billie Holiday songs, My Man (I'm crying again).
Then Salt sing.
The guest act for this show is a Country & Western singer called Kathy Mattea. Cowboy Mike encourages us all to stand up and dance while her band is setting up. Kathy has a backing band of three guys: guitar, double bass and banjo/fiddle. She does a few country numbers and invites us to sing along with some of the choruses. She loves our singing. She says lots of nice things about Sweet Adelines and barbershop and talks about making a "joyful noise". She sings another song that makes me cry, written by her husband about his parents. She jokes that if you're lucky enough to have a hit, you hope it's one you can stand to sing every night for the rest of your life, because your audience expects it. We give her a standing ovation.
That was about a three hour show, with no intermission, but I didn't want it to end.
I came back to our room after the show, but Sue stayed downstairs where the Queens were singng and partying on in the bar. I'm sorry I missed that.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Quartet Finals
I skipped the mass sing so I could catch up on this blog - the things I do for you!
So now it's midnight and I'm back from the Quartet Finals and the Coronet Club Show. Again, I'm not going to describe the quartet finals in details because you should have been watching the webcast and reading Marti Lovejoy's excellent descriptions on the Sweet Adelines Yahoo group.
There were some very funny moments in the quartet contest. Each quartet has 15 minutes and must perform two contest level songs, but can do other stuff and include some patter. For instance, AKA, the microphone testers, did a skit about teaching Harriet to cook coq au vin: complete with rubber chook, chefs hat, kitchen utensils and bottle of wine. Remix are looking for another contest they can win, and try a midsized quartet contest (only 2 of them sing) and a small chorus (one directs, 3 sing). Martini tell what sounds like a very old joke about how a phone call to God costs $50000 in the US but only 50 cents in Canada - because in Canada it's a local call. There are several versions of a country accent.
At Intermission Peggy Gram presents the President's Life Time Achievement Award to Britt-Helene from Sweden, and Britt-Helene makes a very moving speech including part in Swedish (because it's difficult to express emotion in English). Lots of little things today are making me cry - it's a very emotional day.
After the quartets finish, Moxie Ladies, who are last year's champions, perform and there's another award presentation from the Music Educators National Committee to Karen, who is a music teacher in a high school and started a young women in harmony program that's been going 18 years. She makes me cry too.
The quartets are called back on stage and the results are announced.
Spritzer is 10th with 2553
Mojo is 9th with 2625
Remix is 8th with 2646
Razzcals is 7th with 2650
Capri is 6th with 2666
Journey is 5th with 2687
Martini is 4th with 2710
Maxx Factor is 3rd with 2712
Jackpot is 2nd with 2789
Zing! is 1st with 2821.
Zing! were faculty for the barbershop cruise Jo and I did round Hawaii last year, so we're very pleased for them. More tears as they receive their crowns and trophies and flowers.
Di Huber, our coach and good friend from River Blenders chorus, directs everybody in singing the Winners Song.
And then it's off to dinner. The first few places we try have long queues - Friday night must be when everyone comes to town in Nashville. A group of us find a pasta place that's mostly empty and has no waiting. At least it offers salad. And beer.
It's now a quarter past midnight: you'll have to wait until tomorrow for the next exciting instalment, which will be about the Coronet Club Show. More tears, I'm afraid.
So now it's midnight and I'm back from the Quartet Finals and the Coronet Club Show. Again, I'm not going to describe the quartet finals in details because you should have been watching the webcast and reading Marti Lovejoy's excellent descriptions on the Sweet Adelines Yahoo group.
There were some very funny moments in the quartet contest. Each quartet has 15 minutes and must perform two contest level songs, but can do other stuff and include some patter. For instance, AKA, the microphone testers, did a skit about teaching Harriet to cook coq au vin: complete with rubber chook, chefs hat, kitchen utensils and bottle of wine. Remix are looking for another contest they can win, and try a midsized quartet contest (only 2 of them sing) and a small chorus (one directs, 3 sing). Martini tell what sounds like a very old joke about how a phone call to God costs $50000 in the US but only 50 cents in Canada - because in Canada it's a local call. There are several versions of a country accent.
At Intermission Peggy Gram presents the President's Life Time Achievement Award to Britt-Helene from Sweden, and Britt-Helene makes a very moving speech including part in Swedish (because it's difficult to express emotion in English). Lots of little things today are making me cry - it's a very emotional day.
After the quartets finish, Moxie Ladies, who are last year's champions, perform and there's another award presentation from the Music Educators National Committee to Karen, who is a music teacher in a high school and started a young women in harmony program that's been going 18 years. She makes me cry too.
The quartets are called back on stage and the results are announced.
Spritzer is 10th with 2553
Mojo is 9th with 2625
Remix is 8th with 2646
Razzcals is 7th with 2650
Capri is 6th with 2666
Journey is 5th with 2687
Martini is 4th with 2710
Maxx Factor is 3rd with 2712
Jackpot is 2nd with 2789
Zing! is 1st with 2821.
Zing! were faculty for the barbershop cruise Jo and I did round Hawaii last year, so we're very pleased for them. More tears as they receive their crowns and trophies and flowers.
Di Huber, our coach and good friend from River Blenders chorus, directs everybody in singing the Winners Song.
And then it's off to dinner. The first few places we try have long queues - Friday night must be when everyone comes to town in Nashville. A group of us find a pasta place that's mostly empty and has no waiting. At least it offers salad. And beer.
It's now a quarter past midnight: you'll have to wait until tomorrow for the next exciting instalment, which will be about the Coronet Club Show. More tears, I'm afraid.
Education Class with Melodeers
This morning's education class was with Jim Arns and the Melodeers, last year's champions (and four times before that as well).
We were in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel, next to the Convention Centre. It was a bit hard to see from where we were sitting, but I took lots of notes.
We started with physical warmups: mostly arm waving, as that's all we could see. It reminded me of Michaela's warmup exercises for CKC.
Then Renee Porzel (I think) led a session to emphasise the similarities of everyone in Sweet Adelines. It was "raise your hands if you ...". The Melodeers are similar to everyone else in the proportion of old and new members, members who travel distances, members with children and grandchildren.
The theme for this class was "the common thread - it's all about the music"
Choosing Personal Responsibility
The Melodeers make it as simple as possible, and everything is based on the music. They create rehearsals that people want to attend, and so they've got rid of a lot of rules about things like attendance records. They believe in Choosing Personal Responsibility. This means that each member is in charge of what she gets out of rehearsal and what she contributes. For example, they don't provide learning tracks for new songs. For one thing, Jim keeps changing the arrangement and interpretation. Members learn however they can. Many members make their own recordings of rehearsals. If they miss a rehearsal, it's up to them to ask a riser buddy to tape it for them so they can catch up. People will also make their own video recording of choreo, or arrange to get a copy of someone else's recording.
There is a lot of internal peer pressure from other members that motivates people. There is also a lot of help available from Section Leaders and the Visual Team. Jim teaches at the level of the fastest learners, and he teaches the members who are at rehearsal (not those who've missed rehearsals).
Renee says this all carries over to her personal life as well: she found her 7 year old son phoning Dominos to order pizza because on rehearsal nights, he knows they have pizza for dinner.
What they don't do
Julie has been a member of the Melodeers for 40 years and has 5 international first place medals to show for it. She says they don't do much admin business at rehearsals, they trust their leaders to do it behind the scenes. Since 1976 they have not had attendance requirements, because it bogged things down. She says you can't legislate enthusiasm, and perfect attendance doesn't win points from the judges. Members don't want to miss a minute of rehearsals. They want to give Jim all the time he needs.
Vocal Production
Jim talks about their approach to vocal production.
Unity means a common approach to whatever we do. He refers to the 5 principles: posture, breathing, phonation, resonation, articulation.
About posture: "the finest instrument on the globe has a human around it" - the voice is different from other musical instruments because it is not fixed in place. The chorus demonstrates monkey vs person vs champion singer.
About resonance: Jim talks about the 'living room' vs the 'bathroom'. In the living room, we want to get the sound absorbing soft bits out of the way to produce a rich, warm, lush sound. In the bathroom we use the hard surfaces of the hard palate and teeth to produce ring. We change the internal shapes and surfaces of the vocal instrument to produce sound.
Jim talks about the living room vowels: ah oh aw; and the bathroom vowels: ee, eh , (and others I didn't write down), the schizo vowels oo and eugh (roadkill oo), and the ugly child a. I might not have these exactly right.
(I'll finish this later, the quartet finals are starting in 10 minutes).
Jim gets the Melodeers to demonstrate various kinds of disunity by singing Love Letters Straight to Your Heart: Vowel matching disunity, placement disunity, resonance disunity. We can hear the difference, even though the notes and words are correct.
Our knowledge and expectations have increased over the years, we're all still learning.
Artistry and Expression
Renee says the lyrics of most of our barbershop ballads are beautiful, they're often about love and other emotions. Each member of the Melodeers is asked to create their own story that means something to them, based on their own life experiences, to help them feel and communicate the emotions of the song.
Renee says as a judge she looks across the faces of a chorus and can see lightbulbs either on or off (on, on, off, on). The Melodeers demonstrate with the baris off and the rest on: we can pick the baris. Then the whole chorus demonstrates off, on, off. Faces also affect the sound.
Physical movement
Telling everyone to move on the breath is a basic way of getting everyone moving, but it looks pretty funny (the Melodeers demonstrate) when it doesn't match the lyrics. It's better to move in a real and genuine way, and this also helps phrase endings and makes dynamics easier.
New member
Alison has been a member for 2 years. She is a professor of communication in her other life and says you can apply a 'transactional model of communication" to singing: it's about sending and receiving messages. Music, emotion and individual messages are all simultaneously communicated. She says Melodeers rehearsals are fun, action packed and never dull.
Demo
Jim uses Time After Time to demonstrate what it sounds like when each part does something different; then one voice sticking out; then baris over-emoting. He says if everyone is emotionally connected, there's unity. By the way, Renee says the rule for the chorus is no hands above the waist.
Then they demonstrate singing with a steady flow of air, and how this prevents choppiness.
The Melodeers sing Why Did I Choose You.
Administration
Donna is Team Manager. She explains how administration has been streamlined, and that "it's all about the music". The Management Team meets once a month for an hour before rehearsal. They circulate all reports before the meeting, and any questions and clarification is done by email beforehand. Financial decisions are based on "does it help the singing?" Dues are $365 a year and have not been increased for 4 years. The role of the Management Team is to support Jim's vision. Rehearsals are for singing.
Inflection
Jim says in speech inflection is the rise and fall of pitch in the voice to add meaning and emphasis. In singing we also use inflection on some words to add character. They demonstrate using Ring Out the Bells in Dixieland to contrast with inflection, without inflection.
Renee says the visual plan matches the music. They demonstrate using small hands vs big hands for the big bell on "ding dong ding dong". A visual mismatch affects the music too because it feels wrong for the singers.
Questions
How do you get rid of 's'?
Sing vowel to vowel eg ki-ssme, not kiss me. In uptunes the tempo tells us where the vowels go, so it's easier than ballads. Watch the Director: often stray 's's are human error. Jim is not a big fan of having some people leave off the 's': it's a cheap short cut that makes it harder for singers to express meaning ("ki me"?)
Does Jim sing, and if so what part?
No, but if he did it would be bass.
How do you indoctrinate new members?
Melodeers don't provide learning tapes, because Jim is always making changes and learning tapes would become out of date very quickly. New members are thrown in the deep end. They do their own taping and recording and they show up every week so they don't miss out.
How to achieve those long held notes at the end of a song?
Good breathing skills. Or, if necessary, stagger breathing but do it artistically: make sure you exit and enter on whatever vowel the rest of the chorus is singing.
How big is your Music Team and how often do they meet?
Jim introduces the Music Team: Associate Directors, Director's Resource Coordinator, Section Leaders, Tape Evaluations. There are quite a lot of them. They meet whenever they need to - not necessarily all together.
How often do you have Section rehearsals?
Section rehearsals are always on chorus nights, because of the distances people have to travel and the other demands on their time. Also, if some people didn't come to Section rehearsals they would be unproductive.
They don't have extra rehearsals leading up to contest. They do have geographic groups that meet separately sometimes.
Does Front row learn choreo separately? And do they sing as well as dance?
There are no outside rehearsals for front row, and they do sing. Jim demonstrates how the chorus sounds when the front row doesn't sing. The choreo plan is taught during normal rehearsals: 90% is the same as the chorus anyway. It's never about the front row: they are a minority.
What are qualifying requirements?
Vocal requirement is 0 0 0: zero mistakes on words, notes or breathing. The vocal qualification check is done over two weeks: if they don't pass the first week, they work on it during the week and then resubmit the second week. The deadline is firm, and some people don't go to contest because they haven't qualified. It happens about 10-12 weeks before contest.
Once they have passed the vocal requirement, they do a visual qualification on the risers during a rehearsal. It's done by the Visual Team, who assign scores. They must achieve a pass.
Qualification is only required for contest, not for all repertoire. It's not punitive, because lots of help is offered to get people through it.
How can a small chorus sound as good as the Melodeers?
Jim demonstrates what it sounds like when just one row of the Melodeers sing.
Do you have auditions for front row?
There is ongoing evaluation during rehearsals. Front row auditions are held a year and a half before International contest.
Melodeers have got over being told individually when they make mistakes. Jim says "there is no crying in barbershop" - we are musicians, and like all musicians we can take critique.
How do new members learn the repertoire?
They do get a CD with the two audition songs (contest songs) on them. They get a list of current repertoire, and learn the rest of the repertoire the same way as everyone else. They are told who they can go to to ask them to record their part for them during rehearsal. They can buy Melodeers CDs! They are required to audition in a quartet in front of the Music Staff, about 4-6 weeks after they start.
We were in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel, next to the Convention Centre. It was a bit hard to see from where we were sitting, but I took lots of notes.
We started with physical warmups: mostly arm waving, as that's all we could see. It reminded me of Michaela's warmup exercises for CKC.
Then Renee Porzel (I think) led a session to emphasise the similarities of everyone in Sweet Adelines. It was "raise your hands if you ...". The Melodeers are similar to everyone else in the proportion of old and new members, members who travel distances, members with children and grandchildren.
The theme for this class was "the common thread - it's all about the music"
Choosing Personal Responsibility
The Melodeers make it as simple as possible, and everything is based on the music. They create rehearsals that people want to attend, and so they've got rid of a lot of rules about things like attendance records. They believe in Choosing Personal Responsibility. This means that each member is in charge of what she gets out of rehearsal and what she contributes. For example, they don't provide learning tracks for new songs. For one thing, Jim keeps changing the arrangement and interpretation. Members learn however they can. Many members make their own recordings of rehearsals. If they miss a rehearsal, it's up to them to ask a riser buddy to tape it for them so they can catch up. People will also make their own video recording of choreo, or arrange to get a copy of someone else's recording.
There is a lot of internal peer pressure from other members that motivates people. There is also a lot of help available from Section Leaders and the Visual Team. Jim teaches at the level of the fastest learners, and he teaches the members who are at rehearsal (not those who've missed rehearsals).
Renee says this all carries over to her personal life as well: she found her 7 year old son phoning Dominos to order pizza because on rehearsal nights, he knows they have pizza for dinner.
What they don't do
Julie has been a member of the Melodeers for 40 years and has 5 international first place medals to show for it. She says they don't do much admin business at rehearsals, they trust their leaders to do it behind the scenes. Since 1976 they have not had attendance requirements, because it bogged things down. She says you can't legislate enthusiasm, and perfect attendance doesn't win points from the judges. Members don't want to miss a minute of rehearsals. They want to give Jim all the time he needs.
Vocal Production
Jim talks about their approach to vocal production.
Unity means a common approach to whatever we do. He refers to the 5 principles: posture, breathing, phonation, resonation, articulation.
About posture: "the finest instrument on the globe has a human around it" - the voice is different from other musical instruments because it is not fixed in place. The chorus demonstrates monkey vs person vs champion singer.
About resonance: Jim talks about the 'living room' vs the 'bathroom'. In the living room, we want to get the sound absorbing soft bits out of the way to produce a rich, warm, lush sound. In the bathroom we use the hard surfaces of the hard palate and teeth to produce ring. We change the internal shapes and surfaces of the vocal instrument to produce sound.
Jim talks about the living room vowels: ah oh aw; and the bathroom vowels: ee, eh , (and others I didn't write down), the schizo vowels oo and eugh (roadkill oo), and the ugly child a. I might not have these exactly right.
(I'll finish this later, the quartet finals are starting in 10 minutes).
Jim gets the Melodeers to demonstrate various kinds of disunity by singing Love Letters Straight to Your Heart: Vowel matching disunity, placement disunity, resonance disunity. We can hear the difference, even though the notes and words are correct.
Our knowledge and expectations have increased over the years, we're all still learning.
Artistry and Expression
Renee says the lyrics of most of our barbershop ballads are beautiful, they're often about love and other emotions. Each member of the Melodeers is asked to create their own story that means something to them, based on their own life experiences, to help them feel and communicate the emotions of the song.
Renee says as a judge she looks across the faces of a chorus and can see lightbulbs either on or off (on, on, off, on). The Melodeers demonstrate with the baris off and the rest on: we can pick the baris. Then the whole chorus demonstrates off, on, off. Faces also affect the sound.
Physical movement
Telling everyone to move on the breath is a basic way of getting everyone moving, but it looks pretty funny (the Melodeers demonstrate) when it doesn't match the lyrics. It's better to move in a real and genuine way, and this also helps phrase endings and makes dynamics easier.
New member
Alison has been a member for 2 years. She is a professor of communication in her other life and says you can apply a 'transactional model of communication" to singing: it's about sending and receiving messages. Music, emotion and individual messages are all simultaneously communicated. She says Melodeers rehearsals are fun, action packed and never dull.
Demo
Jim uses Time After Time to demonstrate what it sounds like when each part does something different; then one voice sticking out; then baris over-emoting. He says if everyone is emotionally connected, there's unity. By the way, Renee says the rule for the chorus is no hands above the waist.
Then they demonstrate singing with a steady flow of air, and how this prevents choppiness.
The Melodeers sing Why Did I Choose You.
Administration
Donna is Team Manager. She explains how administration has been streamlined, and that "it's all about the music". The Management Team meets once a month for an hour before rehearsal. They circulate all reports before the meeting, and any questions and clarification is done by email beforehand. Financial decisions are based on "does it help the singing?" Dues are $365 a year and have not been increased for 4 years. The role of the Management Team is to support Jim's vision. Rehearsals are for singing.
Inflection
Jim says in speech inflection is the rise and fall of pitch in the voice to add meaning and emphasis. In singing we also use inflection on some words to add character. They demonstrate using Ring Out the Bells in Dixieland to contrast with inflection, without inflection.
Renee says the visual plan matches the music. They demonstrate using small hands vs big hands for the big bell on "ding dong ding dong". A visual mismatch affects the music too because it feels wrong for the singers.
Questions
How do you get rid of 's'?
Sing vowel to vowel eg ki-ssme, not kiss me. In uptunes the tempo tells us where the vowels go, so it's easier than ballads. Watch the Director: often stray 's's are human error. Jim is not a big fan of having some people leave off the 's': it's a cheap short cut that makes it harder for singers to express meaning ("ki me"?)
Does Jim sing, and if so what part?
No, but if he did it would be bass.
How do you indoctrinate new members?
Melodeers don't provide learning tapes, because Jim is always making changes and learning tapes would become out of date very quickly. New members are thrown in the deep end. They do their own taping and recording and they show up every week so they don't miss out.
How to achieve those long held notes at the end of a song?
Good breathing skills. Or, if necessary, stagger breathing but do it artistically: make sure you exit and enter on whatever vowel the rest of the chorus is singing.
How big is your Music Team and how often do they meet?
Jim introduces the Music Team: Associate Directors, Director's Resource Coordinator, Section Leaders, Tape Evaluations. There are quite a lot of them. They meet whenever they need to - not necessarily all together.
How often do you have Section rehearsals?
Section rehearsals are always on chorus nights, because of the distances people have to travel and the other demands on their time. Also, if some people didn't come to Section rehearsals they would be unproductive.
They don't have extra rehearsals leading up to contest. They do have geographic groups that meet separately sometimes.
Does Front row learn choreo separately? And do they sing as well as dance?
There are no outside rehearsals for front row, and they do sing. Jim demonstrates how the chorus sounds when the front row doesn't sing. The choreo plan is taught during normal rehearsals: 90% is the same as the chorus anyway. It's never about the front row: they are a minority.
What are qualifying requirements?
Vocal requirement is 0 0 0: zero mistakes on words, notes or breathing. The vocal qualification check is done over two weeks: if they don't pass the first week, they work on it during the week and then resubmit the second week. The deadline is firm, and some people don't go to contest because they haven't qualified. It happens about 10-12 weeks before contest.
Once they have passed the vocal requirement, they do a visual qualification on the risers during a rehearsal. It's done by the Visual Team, who assign scores. They must achieve a pass.
Qualification is only required for contest, not for all repertoire. It's not punitive, because lots of help is offered to get people through it.
How can a small chorus sound as good as the Melodeers?
Jim demonstrates what it sounds like when just one row of the Melodeers sing.
Do you have auditions for front row?
There is ongoing evaluation during rehearsals. Front row auditions are held a year and a half before International contest.
Melodeers have got over being told individually when they make mistakes. Jim says "there is no crying in barbershop" - we are musicians, and like all musicians we can take critique.
How do new members learn the repertoire?
They do get a CD with the two audition songs (contest songs) on them. They get a list of current repertoire, and learn the rest of the repertoire the same way as everyone else. They are told who they can go to to ask them to record their part for them during rehearsal. They can buy Melodeers CDs! They are required to audition in a quartet in front of the Music Staff, about 4-6 weeks after they start.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Chorus competition
Thursday, 22nd October: Chris Kemp's birthday.
I woke up at 5:30 am and crept out of the bedroom to get a head start on doing my nails. After showering I wandered around in knickers and bra ticking off my mental list of things to do. Have breakfast. Put in contact lenses. Just as I was about to start makeup, Sharon turned up and did my hair (and Sue's as well). I worked through the CKC 12 step program for putting on makeup. It took four goes to get the right eyelash on, and I only got it right with Sharon's help. It's extraordinary how long it takes to get made up and dressed: at 8 am Sue and I were just putting on the finishing touches.
We went down to the CKC room for makeup check at 8:15 am, and I passed muster. Then we went back down again at 9 am to start warmups.
Around 10 am we headed down to the foyer to line up and wait for the bus. Two nice Convention Assistants were waiting there to guide us. We sang I Am Australian while we were waiting, then on the bus we sang Can You Feel the Love, and then something else. The bus didn't have to go very far, just one block, but it took us to the stage door entrance of the Sommet Centre and then we started the traffic pattern. Scioto Valley were just coming off, and Waikato Rivertones were llining up to go on, as we made our way to the warm up room. There was hardly any time at all before we were lining up to go on stage.
I don't remember much about our 6 minutes of fame, to be honest. It went according to plan, and I didn't make any major mistakes, and it was over really quickly. It felt quite relaxed and fun to do, and the audience was great, very welcoming.
Because we were the second competitor, we were able to hear all the other choruses. The standard was very high, so there was lots of interesting stuff to hear and see. I had fun (again) recording the costumes and picking which choruses would make the finals. Lions Gate was our pick. Considering it's an international competition, I thought some of the costumes were horrific, and I'm very proud of ours - we had lots of compliments.
After the competition finished the Ann Gooch award was presented to Lea Baker, and then the Melodeers performed, including their Geek package from Honolulu which was very funny and clever. Then they announced the 10 finalists - not us, of course.
We headed back to the Hilton to wait for Vicki and Di to bring us the results. Vicki and Kaitlyn were in a rehearsal for the family chorus, but Steph picked up a copy of the chorus results when it was published so we found out that we had scored 1110 and come 25th. We were all up on the Mezzanine screaming with joy, hugging and taking photos of each other being ecstatic. Di Huber came by, and some of our River Blender friends. We moved to our CKC room to wait for Vicki, and spent the time drinking and gloating and taking more photos.
Vicki and James and Di and Kaitlyn and Liam arrived around 9:30 and we formed an arch of honour to welcome them. We all sat down and Vicki read out the comments on the score sheets. There was nothing to surprise us, and some encouraging comments that we were heading in the right direction.
We voted where to go for a late dinner (downstairs to the Sports Grille) and took over a room there for a spontaneous celebration.
And so to bed - late again, it's now half past midnight and we need to be up early for a class with the Melodeers.
I woke up at 5:30 am and crept out of the bedroom to get a head start on doing my nails. After showering I wandered around in knickers and bra ticking off my mental list of things to do. Have breakfast. Put in contact lenses. Just as I was about to start makeup, Sharon turned up and did my hair (and Sue's as well). I worked through the CKC 12 step program for putting on makeup. It took four goes to get the right eyelash on, and I only got it right with Sharon's help. It's extraordinary how long it takes to get made up and dressed: at 8 am Sue and I were just putting on the finishing touches.
We went down to the CKC room for makeup check at 8:15 am, and I passed muster. Then we went back down again at 9 am to start warmups.
Around 10 am we headed down to the foyer to line up and wait for the bus. Two nice Convention Assistants were waiting there to guide us. We sang I Am Australian while we were waiting, then on the bus we sang Can You Feel the Love, and then something else. The bus didn't have to go very far, just one block, but it took us to the stage door entrance of the Sommet Centre and then we started the traffic pattern. Scioto Valley were just coming off, and Waikato Rivertones were llining up to go on, as we made our way to the warm up room. There was hardly any time at all before we were lining up to go on stage.
I don't remember much about our 6 minutes of fame, to be honest. It went according to plan, and I didn't make any major mistakes, and it was over really quickly. It felt quite relaxed and fun to do, and the audience was great, very welcoming.
Because we were the second competitor, we were able to hear all the other choruses. The standard was very high, so there was lots of interesting stuff to hear and see. I had fun (again) recording the costumes and picking which choruses would make the finals. Lions Gate was our pick. Considering it's an international competition, I thought some of the costumes were horrific, and I'm very proud of ours - we had lots of compliments.
After the competition finished the Ann Gooch award was presented to Lea Baker, and then the Melodeers performed, including their Geek package from Honolulu which was very funny and clever. Then they announced the 10 finalists - not us, of course.
We headed back to the Hilton to wait for Vicki and Di to bring us the results. Vicki and Kaitlyn were in a rehearsal for the family chorus, but Steph picked up a copy of the chorus results when it was published so we found out that we had scored 1110 and come 25th. We were all up on the Mezzanine screaming with joy, hugging and taking photos of each other being ecstatic. Di Huber came by, and some of our River Blender friends. We moved to our CKC room to wait for Vicki, and spent the time drinking and gloating and taking more photos.
Vicki and James and Di and Kaitlyn and Liam arrived around 9:30 and we formed an arch of honour to welcome them. We all sat down and Vicki read out the comments on the score sheets. There was nothing to surprise us, and some encouraging comments that we were heading in the right direction.
We voted where to go for a late dinner (downstairs to the Sports Grille) and took over a room there for a spontaneous celebration.
And so to bed - late again, it's now half past midnight and we need to be up early for a class with the Melodeers.
What day is it?
Okay, this is the blog for Wednesday, because I'm a day behind. But here's a sneak preview from Thursday's chorus semifinals: CKC was place 25th out of 33 choruses, and scored 1110! This may not mean much to anyone outside the chorus, but for us it was very exciting, as we had expected to come last, or close to it. Anyway, more of that later.
On Wednesday we watched the quartet semi-finals, which started at 10:45 am. I had ordered a Keeping Score book through Vicki S, and had fun recording the costumes of the various quartets and the songs they sang. I tried rating them (A, B+, B or B-- they're all pretty good just to be there competing) but didn't worry about allocating exact points. Several quartets sang songs that are in CKC's repertoire: If I Give My Heart To You; Somebody's Happy; Never Say Never, How Deep Is The Ocean, Joint is Jumping, Kiss Me One More Time. I guess that shows Vicki's good taste! It was fascinating to see the different interpretations. I was paying particular attention to hair and makeup, my particular bugbears.
We stayed for BlackJaq's performance and then had to go to rehearsal from 3 pm to 5 pm. Di Huber was there again to encourage us and remind us to use our big muscles. Then we went back to the quartet semifinals. It was hard going, but a few of us stayed right until the end (quartet number 52) and announcement of the results.
By the time I got back to our room Sue was in bed asleep, so I closed the door and put on a layer of nail polish. In bed at 11 pm.
On Wednesday we watched the quartet semi-finals, which started at 10:45 am. I had ordered a Keeping Score book through Vicki S, and had fun recording the costumes of the various quartets and the songs they sang. I tried rating them (A, B+, B or B-- they're all pretty good just to be there competing) but didn't worry about allocating exact points. Several quartets sang songs that are in CKC's repertoire: If I Give My Heart To You; Somebody's Happy; Never Say Never, How Deep Is The Ocean, Joint is Jumping, Kiss Me One More Time. I guess that shows Vicki's good taste! It was fascinating to see the different interpretations. I was paying particular attention to hair and makeup, my particular bugbears.
We stayed for BlackJaq's performance and then had to go to rehearsal from 3 pm to 5 pm. Di Huber was there again to encourage us and remind us to use our big muscles. Then we went back to the quartet semifinals. It was hard going, but a few of us stayed right until the end (quartet number 52) and announcement of the results.
By the time I got back to our room Sue was in bed asleep, so I closed the door and put on a layer of nail polish. In bed at 11 pm.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Harmony in Nashville
On Tuesday we had two rehearsals, visited Harmony Bazaar, and watched the second half of the Harmony Classic competition.
Our first rehearsal was from 11 am to 1:45 pm and after warmups we moved to the Rich Tones risers in the Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel. Vicki D and Steph and Di were at the briefing, so Vicki S took us for the first part of rehearsal. We had lots of visitors: Lynne Smith, and Pat Le Vezu, and Lea Baker. Lynne and Lea gave us some last minute coaching and encouragement. There were also some of Vicki's friends from Bay Area Showcase and we sang I Am Australian for them.
Most of us put off lunch so that we could explore Harmony Bazaar. We queued up to get seats together for the Coronet Club show on Friday night (note to self: next time, book in advance!). I bought a brooch with my name in diamante, and a Sing Baby Sing book from the SAI shop (and a pen that lights up for writing in the dark). Then I visited Kate Veeder at the Young Singers Foundation Silent Auction booth to collect my Kiwi Express tote bag and throw. I am definitely going to have to post some stuff home before i go much further! I only did the periphery of Harmony Bazaar, and will have to go back again to see the rest.
We had another rehearsal on the international risers from 4 pm to 7 pm, but Vicki relented and let us out early because we were getting tired. Linda Wareham and Elidia Rymer made presentations to us - including chocolate kisses - and BlackJaQ, who sang us one song. There were also messages from Jim Arns and the Melodeers (who gave us fortune cookies with geek messages). Jim's message to Vicki was beautiful, I must get the wording from her.
From rehearsal we walked down to the Sommet Centre to watch the Harmony Classic contest. This is for small choruses. We missed the A division small choruses, but Kaitlyn said that Millenium Magic, who won with 1268 points, did an amazing Thriller package. Marti Lovejoy has a detailed description of each performance on the Sweet Adelines Yahoo group which is worth reading.
We did see the Division AA midsize choruses. Each chorus did a themed package. Metro Mix wore long debutante dresses in varied colours and each member had a sash with "Miss - xxx" on it" Miss-Demeanor, Miss-Spelled, Miss-allaneous, and so on. Several pageant contestants were interviewed and that led into the songs: Dr Jazz, I Was Never Spellbound, Stray Cat and You Gotta Know (that's probably not the right names).
Top of the Rock were cute, they all wore different Barbie costumes and celebrated Barbie's 50th birthday. There was even a Barbie astronaut. And a Ken doll. They sang It's Raining Ken, I Was never Spellbound, Oh You Beautiful Doll (of course) and finished with what sounded like an African song - with a drum - about Celebration.
Scioto Valley wore black knee length dresses with red lining and sparkly long sleeves - very classy. They had a great sound. Sang It's Going to be a Great Day, Sweetheart No More, a Jazz Medley, and Woman (with a soloist). They won the Division with a score of 1350.
Jacksonville Harmony, directed by Ann Gooch, were all dressed in overalls and were pit crew for a race. The pit crew boss was being interviewed about the secret of winning, and kept saying it's all about having a winning attitude. They sang Where Have My Old Friends gone, Let a Winner Lead the Way, It's Not Where You Start It's Where You Finish and The Greatest Race of All.
We were buggered by this time, but stayed on for the announcement of the winners. I found Sue back in our room, watching television, and we watched the tail end of Stripes (an army comedy with John Candy and Bill thingagummy from Ghostbusters).
I woke up at 5:30 am even though we set the alarm for 7 am, so I'm going to be really tired tonight. Today's program is chorus breakfast, quartet semifinals, rehearsal, and more quartet semifinals: with a bit of Harmony Bazaar and grocery shopping for fresh vegetables thrown in. There's a microwave in our room, and I fancy steamed veg for dinner.
Our first rehearsal was from 11 am to 1:45 pm and after warmups we moved to the Rich Tones risers in the Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel. Vicki D and Steph and Di were at the briefing, so Vicki S took us for the first part of rehearsal. We had lots of visitors: Lynne Smith, and Pat Le Vezu, and Lea Baker. Lynne and Lea gave us some last minute coaching and encouragement. There were also some of Vicki's friends from Bay Area Showcase and we sang I Am Australian for them.
Most of us put off lunch so that we could explore Harmony Bazaar. We queued up to get seats together for the Coronet Club show on Friday night (note to self: next time, book in advance!). I bought a brooch with my name in diamante, and a Sing Baby Sing book from the SAI shop (and a pen that lights up for writing in the dark). Then I visited Kate Veeder at the Young Singers Foundation Silent Auction booth to collect my Kiwi Express tote bag and throw. I am definitely going to have to post some stuff home before i go much further! I only did the periphery of Harmony Bazaar, and will have to go back again to see the rest.
We had another rehearsal on the international risers from 4 pm to 7 pm, but Vicki relented and let us out early because we were getting tired. Linda Wareham and Elidia Rymer made presentations to us - including chocolate kisses - and BlackJaQ, who sang us one song. There were also messages from Jim Arns and the Melodeers (who gave us fortune cookies with geek messages). Jim's message to Vicki was beautiful, I must get the wording from her.
From rehearsal we walked down to the Sommet Centre to watch the Harmony Classic contest. This is for small choruses. We missed the A division small choruses, but Kaitlyn said that Millenium Magic, who won with 1268 points, did an amazing Thriller package. Marti Lovejoy has a detailed description of each performance on the Sweet Adelines Yahoo group which is worth reading.
We did see the Division AA midsize choruses. Each chorus did a themed package. Metro Mix wore long debutante dresses in varied colours and each member had a sash with "Miss - xxx" on it" Miss-Demeanor, Miss-Spelled, Miss-allaneous, and so on. Several pageant contestants were interviewed and that led into the songs: Dr Jazz, I Was Never Spellbound, Stray Cat and You Gotta Know (that's probably not the right names).
Top of the Rock were cute, they all wore different Barbie costumes and celebrated Barbie's 50th birthday. There was even a Barbie astronaut. And a Ken doll. They sang It's Raining Ken, I Was never Spellbound, Oh You Beautiful Doll (of course) and finished with what sounded like an African song - with a drum - about Celebration.
Scioto Valley wore black knee length dresses with red lining and sparkly long sleeves - very classy. They had a great sound. Sang It's Going to be a Great Day, Sweetheart No More, a Jazz Medley, and Woman (with a soloist). They won the Division with a score of 1350.
Jacksonville Harmony, directed by Ann Gooch, were all dressed in overalls and were pit crew for a race. The pit crew boss was being interviewed about the secret of winning, and kept saying it's all about having a winning attitude. They sang Where Have My Old Friends gone, Let a Winner Lead the Way, It's Not Where You Start It's Where You Finish and The Greatest Race of All.
We were buggered by this time, but stayed on for the announcement of the winners. I found Sue back in our room, watching television, and we watched the tail end of Stripes (an army comedy with John Candy and Bill thingagummy from Ghostbusters).
I woke up at 5:30 am even though we set the alarm for 7 am, so I'm going to be really tired tonight. Today's program is chorus breakfast, quartet semifinals, rehearsal, and more quartet semifinals: with a bit of Harmony Bazaar and grocery shopping for fresh vegetables thrown in. There's a microwave in our room, and I fancy steamed veg for dinner.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Touring Nashville
We'd picked up some tourist brochures from the concierge last night and decided we wanted to go shopping at Opry Mills, which involved a shuttle bus, and do a trolley tour, and see an Elvis Presley show.
It was kind of late by the time we got up and dressed. We went out for breakfast, but there weren't many places open. We found the place where we buy tickets for the trolley tour, and decided to get the 3 in 1 ticket which includes a walking tour and a ticket to the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Then we dashed down the street to Mike's Coffee Bar to pick up coffee/tea and bagel/muffin for breakfast, and back to catch the 10 am trolley tour. It was interesting and entertaining: a great way to start, as we found out about lots of places that it would be good to go back and see in more detail later. There's a replica of the Parthenon in the park, and we went down Music Row where there are lots of recording studios and music publishing houses.
When we got back we did the walking tour, from 11 am to 12:30 am. That took us into the Ryman Auditorium, where they were having rehearsals for the ASCAP awards; and into a record store where a late night radio show was recorded with live musicians after they finished performing at the Ryman; and through the Orchid Room which has a "Hall of Fame" with pictures and signatures of famous (and not so famous) musicians. Our guide, Marianne, told us lots of interesting stories about the history.
We had lunch at the arcade and then bought more groceries at Dollar General Store and walked back to the hotel. We kept running into other CKC people, and other Sweet Adelines.
We missed the shuttle bus to Opry Mills so we shared a taxi with Leanne and Gigi. It cost $25 one way, and we shared the cost between us so it wasn't too bad - only 15 minutes. Opry Mills is a big shopping mall. It has lots of shoe shops and dress shops. I bought a few things at the Old Navy Store that were on the clearance racks, and Sue bought a second suitcase. There's a wonderful cafe called the Rainforest Cafe which has aquaria, trees, vines, and wildlife like a jungle. Occasionally the lights dim and flash and there's a sound of thunder. They have a hippo rising from mist outside the door. We saw Karen and Di and Vicki Sutton and some others queued up to record two songs for a CD, but decided not to stay and watch as we were running out of time.
We caught a taxi back, changed quickly, and dashed down to the Sports Grill for a sandwich before the bus picked us up for the Elvis Presley show. As it turned out the bus was later than we had expected. Our driver Larry gave us some more background about Nashville as we went by other hotels to pick up guests. The biggest industry is health (lots of hospitals). Entertainment was about number 5.
The Elvis Tribute was performed by John Beardsley, with a band and two girl singers. He's been doing it for 10 years. The auditorium was pretty full. It was two hours non-stop, with about 30 Elvis songs. He has done a lot of research to make the performance authentic - costumes, instruments, sound and even the type of microphone. He had amazing energy all the way through: an example to us when singing in the chorus!
We were sitting in the front row, centre. When he asked for a hanky to mop his brow, Lorraine stripped off and offered her jacket: very sexy! There was also a group of Future Famers of America who got very involved and whistled and cheered - especially the girls.
We caught the bus home to the hotel, and dropped into the Sports Grill for a cocktail and a beer. I left Sue to it and came back to blog.
And so to bed. A big day tomorrow, with rehearsals most of the day and Harmony Classic in the evening.
It was kind of late by the time we got up and dressed. We went out for breakfast, but there weren't many places open. We found the place where we buy tickets for the trolley tour, and decided to get the 3 in 1 ticket which includes a walking tour and a ticket to the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Then we dashed down the street to Mike's Coffee Bar to pick up coffee/tea and bagel/muffin for breakfast, and back to catch the 10 am trolley tour. It was interesting and entertaining: a great way to start, as we found out about lots of places that it would be good to go back and see in more detail later. There's a replica of the Parthenon in the park, and we went down Music Row where there are lots of recording studios and music publishing houses.
When we got back we did the walking tour, from 11 am to 12:30 am. That took us into the Ryman Auditorium, where they were having rehearsals for the ASCAP awards; and into a record store where a late night radio show was recorded with live musicians after they finished performing at the Ryman; and through the Orchid Room which has a "Hall of Fame" with pictures and signatures of famous (and not so famous) musicians. Our guide, Marianne, told us lots of interesting stories about the history.
We had lunch at the arcade and then bought more groceries at Dollar General Store and walked back to the hotel. We kept running into other CKC people, and other Sweet Adelines.
We missed the shuttle bus to Opry Mills so we shared a taxi with Leanne and Gigi. It cost $25 one way, and we shared the cost between us so it wasn't too bad - only 15 minutes. Opry Mills is a big shopping mall. It has lots of shoe shops and dress shops. I bought a few things at the Old Navy Store that were on the clearance racks, and Sue bought a second suitcase. There's a wonderful cafe called the Rainforest Cafe which has aquaria, trees, vines, and wildlife like a jungle. Occasionally the lights dim and flash and there's a sound of thunder. They have a hippo rising from mist outside the door. We saw Karen and Di and Vicki Sutton and some others queued up to record two songs for a CD, but decided not to stay and watch as we were running out of time.
We caught a taxi back, changed quickly, and dashed down to the Sports Grill for a sandwich before the bus picked us up for the Elvis Presley show. As it turned out the bus was later than we had expected. Our driver Larry gave us some more background about Nashville as we went by other hotels to pick up guests. The biggest industry is health (lots of hospitals). Entertainment was about number 5.
The Elvis Tribute was performed by John Beardsley, with a band and two girl singers. He's been doing it for 10 years. The auditorium was pretty full. It was two hours non-stop, with about 30 Elvis songs. He has done a lot of research to make the performance authentic - costumes, instruments, sound and even the type of microphone. He had amazing energy all the way through: an example to us when singing in the chorus!
We were sitting in the front row, centre. When he asked for a hanky to mop his brow, Lorraine stripped off and offered her jacket: very sexy! There was also a group of Future Famers of America who got very involved and whistled and cheered - especially the girls.
We caught the bus home to the hotel, and dropped into the Sports Grill for a cocktail and a beer. I left Sue to it and came back to blog.
And so to bed. A big day tomorrow, with rehearsals most of the day and Harmony Classic in the evening.
St Louis to Nashville
And up at 6 am on Sunday. I was having a complicated dream about looking for a place where I could change my costume, and finding Sue sleeping, and heard Sharon calling out. I thought it was the middle of the night and she was talking in her sleep (David had warned us about that) but it turned out to be a call to breakfast.
Breakfast was omelette and a Bloody Mary, garnished with pickled okra in lieu of an olive and celery. Sharon gave each of us a care package (fruit, cookies and chocolate) and we packed and loaded all our bags into the back of the truck. We left at 8 am so we'd have time to shop for basic supplies on the way, and arrived at the church at 10 am. The two coaches turned up, and gradually We all sang How We Sang Today, with our arms around each other's waists, and We Are Family. Then the River Blenders lined the road as we drove away.
It was interesting to see the scenery as we drove out of St Louis. The trees are starting to change colour. I was reading a book about raccoons which was set in 1918, and then its sequel some years later, and the author described beautifully the countryside back then and all the wildlife. He made raccoons sound delightful. We've seen them only as road kill, but in numbers which suggest they're still plentiful in the countryside.
We crossed several rivers and went down several highways, none of which I can remember the names of. We stopped for a late lunch at Mount Vernon, and scattered in several different directions to find food. There were long waits at most of the fast food outlets and our driver, Rick, was right to say we'd need at least an hour there. then it was back on the road again, and another short rest stop further along at a tourist information centre. After we crossed the border into Tennessee we sang for a while, with Vicki directing, and then Liam did a solo with ipod backing.
Around 6:30 pm we saw the lights of Nashville, and were glad to pull up at the Hilton. Lorraine and I had collected a dollar or two from everyone to tip the drivers, and split it between them. There was a long line of us at the reception desk waiting to check in, and only one person on reception (or so it seemed to those of us at the back of the queue) but eventually Sue and I got our room key and could settle in.
Our room has a bedroom separate from the living room and bathroom, and ours has a king bed which we decided was big enough to share without annoying each other. Internet access is $11.95 a day (ouch) and after I'd signed up to this for the week i discovered the business centre downstairs has free internet access (bother). We settled in and then went out for dinner to Ripley's Grill and Bar-B-Q around the corner. There were a couple of guitarists playing. Apparently all the bars have live music, and the musicians just play for tips.
Then we came home and slept very soundly. The bed is very comfortable.
Breakfast was omelette and a Bloody Mary, garnished with pickled okra in lieu of an olive and celery. Sharon gave each of us a care package (fruit, cookies and chocolate) and we packed and loaded all our bags into the back of the truck. We left at 8 am so we'd have time to shop for basic supplies on the way, and arrived at the church at 10 am. The two coaches turned up, and gradually We all sang How We Sang Today, with our arms around each other's waists, and We Are Family. Then the River Blenders lined the road as we drove away.
It was interesting to see the scenery as we drove out of St Louis. The trees are starting to change colour. I was reading a book about raccoons which was set in 1918, and then its sequel some years later, and the author described beautifully the countryside back then and all the wildlife. He made raccoons sound delightful. We've seen them only as road kill, but in numbers which suggest they're still plentiful in the countryside.
We crossed several rivers and went down several highways, none of which I can remember the names of. We stopped for a late lunch at Mount Vernon, and scattered in several different directions to find food. There were long waits at most of the fast food outlets and our driver, Rick, was right to say we'd need at least an hour there. then it was back on the road again, and another short rest stop further along at a tourist information centre. After we crossed the border into Tennessee we sang for a while, with Vicki directing, and then Liam did a solo with ipod backing.
Around 6:30 pm we saw the lights of Nashville, and were glad to pull up at the Hilton. Lorraine and I had collected a dollar or two from everyone to tip the drivers, and split it between them. There was a long line of us at the reception desk waiting to check in, and only one person on reception (or so it seemed to those of us at the back of the queue) but eventually Sue and I got our room key and could settle in.
Our room has a bedroom separate from the living room and bathroom, and ours has a king bed which we decided was big enough to share without annoying each other. Internet access is $11.95 a day (ouch) and after I'd signed up to this for the week i discovered the business centre downstairs has free internet access (bother). We settled in and then went out for dinner to Ripley's Grill and Bar-B-Q around the corner. There were a couple of guitarists playing. Apparently all the bars have live music, and the musicians just play for tips.
Then we came home and slept very soundly. The bed is very comfortable.
All Keyed Up
After Friday night's technical rehearsal we had a leisurely morning at home on Saturday. David took each of us for a ride on the golf cart down the hill to the creek that runs at the bottom of their property. They have a tree house that's the best I've ever seen (the previous owners had 7 children) and a barn and enclosed pen for animals. We picked turnips and carrots from the vege patch, but the deer had eaten the tops of the kale leaving only hoofprints. They have several persimmon trees on the property. I've never eaten a persimmon.
We went out to pick up pizza and the makings of salad, and brought them home for lunch. Sharon's son Jack dropped by to visit. Then it was time to put on makeup. Sharon did my hair by spraying it with Aussie Instant Freeze hairspray and scrunching it up. It took just a few minutes - amazing - and stayed in place all night. She's promised to do it again for competition in Nashville.
We finished off the scrabble game (Betty won) while waiting for our nails to dry. I struggled with eye makeup as I'm wearing contact lenses that give me long distance vision in one eye and close up vision in the other, but I did manage to get my eyelashes on all by myself.
We double checked that we had everything: shoes, costume, Aussie banners; and headed into St Louis to the auditorium at Logan University where the show is. It's called "All Keyed Up". River Blenders and CKC all shared the dressing room, which added to the camaraderie as we helped each other with hair and makeup and safety pins. They wear "all-in-ones" to control bulges under costumes, which can be pretty funny when they fasten in the crotch. Blenders were on stage in the first act and then came back for a costume change. We went on in the second act. It went very quickly (maybe because we were singing faster than usual?) and then the Blenders came back and sang Let theRiver Run with Us, and Irish Blessing to us (very moving, and I cried) and we finished with We Are Family.
After we changed out of our costumes and ripped off our false eyelashes, Sharon drove us to Umos Bar andGrill for a late dinner. We sat in booths, which made it hard to mix, but the food was good and the beer even better. With a long drive home ahead of us, we left at midnight and played "guess that song" again on digital radio to keep Sharon awake.
In bed at 1:30 am.
We went out to pick up pizza and the makings of salad, and brought them home for lunch. Sharon's son Jack dropped by to visit. Then it was time to put on makeup. Sharon did my hair by spraying it with Aussie Instant Freeze hairspray and scrunching it up. It took just a few minutes - amazing - and stayed in place all night. She's promised to do it again for competition in Nashville.
We finished off the scrabble game (Betty won) while waiting for our nails to dry. I struggled with eye makeup as I'm wearing contact lenses that give me long distance vision in one eye and close up vision in the other, but I did manage to get my eyelashes on all by myself.
We double checked that we had everything: shoes, costume, Aussie banners; and headed into St Louis to the auditorium at Logan University where the show is. It's called "All Keyed Up". River Blenders and CKC all shared the dressing room, which added to the camaraderie as we helped each other with hair and makeup and safety pins. They wear "all-in-ones" to control bulges under costumes, which can be pretty funny when they fasten in the crotch. Blenders were on stage in the first act and then came back for a costume change. We went on in the second act. It went very quickly (maybe because we were singing faster than usual?) and then the Blenders came back and sang Let theRiver Run with Us, and Irish Blessing to us (very moving, and I cried) and we finished with We Are Family.
After we changed out of our costumes and ripped off our false eyelashes, Sharon drove us to Umos Bar andGrill for a late dinner. We sat in booths, which made it hard to mix, but the food was good and the beer even better. With a long drive home ahead of us, we left at midnight and played "guess that song" again on digital radio to keep Sharon awake.
In bed at 1:30 am.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Exploring Troy
Yesterday Sharon took us for a drive around the local area. We saw the houses where she and David lived when they first married. I'm fascinated that so often there are no fences at all between neighbours - it has a real 'village' feel, with green lawn joining the houses into one community. We saw the church where Sharon worships: it was originally a German church with a little German school house next door. Sharon says her minister and his wife ride Harley Davidsons.
We visited two branches of the Bank of Old Munroe where Sharon works. The banks are very welcoming: not just the people, but they have comfortable chairs, displays of children's art from the local school, a community notice board, and free food (hotdogs in one, chips and soda in the other). It's a community bank, and was established in 1906 so it's not a new idea as it is in Australia. Sharon makes a point of introducing her three Australian guests to all her friends and workmates, and then says to us "now say something" so they can enjoy our accent. She thinks it's cute when we say "bloody" - as in "bloody beautiful, mate".
We also managed to squeeze in a couple of secondhand/consignment shops. In one Betty found a plate that she says was worth much more than the $3.50 she paid for it. In another we chatted to the young girl who owns it, whose ambition is to be an actress and have her own sit-com (kind of a Christian version of Sex in the City).
We had lunch at Harry J's steakhouse, and drank more Bud. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this tipping business. I'm glad to report that my ANZ Travel Card is working perfectly so far.
Back home at Sharon's we sat down for a game of scrabble, but had to leave for rehearsal before we finished (Betty is ahead on points right now).
The Sommet Centre is part of a University, and set in beautiful grounds with lawn and trees and deer and fountains. We warmed up in the foyer, had a quick guided tour of the rooms we'll be using, and then sat in the theatre to watch the tech rehearsal for the five finalists in the talent competition River Blenders have been running. The MC interviewed each of them. She's very good - encouraging, and professional.
Then we went back to our warmup/dressing room to rehearse with Vicki, so we missed hearing River Blenders singing their songs for the first half of the show. I thought our tech rehearsal went pretty well, considering, and we were finished by 9:30 pm.
Sharon took us home for a much-needed cup of tea and plied us with cornbread, chocolate and chocolate brownies. I've been reading a book she lent me which is a romance by one of the River Blenders, and finished it before I went to sleep.
Today (Saturday) the sun is shining and it's stopped raining. It was lovely to sit at the breakfast table in the sunshine. Breakfast was a bacon and egg croissant. Over the last few days we've been exploring differences between American and Australian English. We pronounce 'coupe' (as in cars) as coop-ay, and Sharon and David say coop. Sharon wants to buy a duck-plucker that was advertised at an auction because her son is a passionate duck-hunter. This got us on to talking about chickens and the chicken coop that we saw at the house they owned before they bought this one last year. "No, it's chicken coop-ay" said Betty! We all fell about laughing.
Today we're doing our laundry and pottering about getting ready for the performance tonight. I brought my wig to wear, but Sharon has offered to fix my hair instead. This week has gone so quickly, it's hard to believe this is our fifth day here. I'm so glad that the River Blenders invited us to visit: staying with Sharon and David has been wonderful, and I feel like I've got to know a little bit of America much better than I ever could as a tourist.
We visited two branches of the Bank of Old Munroe where Sharon works. The banks are very welcoming: not just the people, but they have comfortable chairs, displays of children's art from the local school, a community notice board, and free food (hotdogs in one, chips and soda in the other). It's a community bank, and was established in 1906 so it's not a new idea as it is in Australia. Sharon makes a point of introducing her three Australian guests to all her friends and workmates, and then says to us "now say something" so they can enjoy our accent. She thinks it's cute when we say "bloody" - as in "bloody beautiful, mate".
We also managed to squeeze in a couple of secondhand/consignment shops. In one Betty found a plate that she says was worth much more than the $3.50 she paid for it. In another we chatted to the young girl who owns it, whose ambition is to be an actress and have her own sit-com (kind of a Christian version of Sex in the City).
We had lunch at Harry J's steakhouse, and drank more Bud. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this tipping business. I'm glad to report that my ANZ Travel Card is working perfectly so far.
Back home at Sharon's we sat down for a game of scrabble, but had to leave for rehearsal before we finished (Betty is ahead on points right now).
The Sommet Centre is part of a University, and set in beautiful grounds with lawn and trees and deer and fountains. We warmed up in the foyer, had a quick guided tour of the rooms we'll be using, and then sat in the theatre to watch the tech rehearsal for the five finalists in the talent competition River Blenders have been running. The MC interviewed each of them. She's very good - encouraging, and professional.
Then we went back to our warmup/dressing room to rehearse with Vicki, so we missed hearing River Blenders singing their songs for the first half of the show. I thought our tech rehearsal went pretty well, considering, and we were finished by 9:30 pm.
Sharon took us home for a much-needed cup of tea and plied us with cornbread, chocolate and chocolate brownies. I've been reading a book she lent me which is a romance by one of the River Blenders, and finished it before I went to sleep.
Today (Saturday) the sun is shining and it's stopped raining. It was lovely to sit at the breakfast table in the sunshine. Breakfast was a bacon and egg croissant. Over the last few days we've been exploring differences between American and Australian English. We pronounce 'coupe' (as in cars) as coop-ay, and Sharon and David say coop. Sharon wants to buy a duck-plucker that was advertised at an auction because her son is a passionate duck-hunter. This got us on to talking about chickens and the chicken coop that we saw at the house they owned before they bought this one last year. "No, it's chicken coop-ay" said Betty! We all fell about laughing.
Today we're doing our laundry and pottering about getting ready for the performance tonight. I brought my wig to wear, but Sharon has offered to fix my hair instead. This week has gone so quickly, it's hard to believe this is our fifth day here. I'm so glad that the River Blenders invited us to visit: staying with Sharon and David has been wonderful, and I feel like I've got to know a little bit of America much better than I ever could as a tourist.
Friday, October 16, 2009
A is for Arch, B is for Budweiser
I woke up on Thursday morning at 2 am and couldn't get back to sleep, so was still a bit jet-lagged all day. We drove into town to meet some of the others at the Arch. To get to the top we sit in tiny little carriages, 5 per compartment, and ascend - then get out at the top and look through little windows at views over downtown St Louis on one side and the Mississippi River on the other. Sharon doesn't like heights, so was very brave in coming with us: we sang loudly all the way up, and held hands. Coming down was faster and not so scarey.
Then we went to the Museum of Western Exploration. I was fascinated by the layout: it was an arc of a circle, with the earliest time at the centre and then going out by decades, 1800, 1810 and so on; and on different radii, different themes: explorers, settlement, Native Americans. There was a lot of information about the Lewis and Clark expedition which set out from St Louis to find a way to the Pacific.
After that we hung about until it was time to go down to the river for our cruise: too cold to wait about outside. We reckoned the Museum should have had a coffee shop, it would have made a lot of money from us!
There weren't many people on the cruise so we had a great seat all together at the front. We saw several historic bridges, and a tugboat pushing about 15 big barges all linked together. The Mississippi is still used for commercial transport of goods.
Then it was off to a French area (Soulard) for lunch: we ended up at a Welsh pub called Llewellyns. Pubs are definitely the place to eat: good cheap food, and cold beer, and friendly service. We're paying for our hosts' meals, so had to do complicated calculations of cost plus tip divided by how many of us.
Here's a drink recipe that someone told us about over lunch:
Hungarian Rhapsody: "good for coughs, colds and sore ars%^&&**((" - take equal parts rye whiskey, bourbon and gin and add some rock candy. Let it sit until the candy dissolves - about a week. Drink it.
Sharon took us to find a discount clothing shop called the Scholars Shop. She had to phone her daughter for directions, and we got a bit lost (with me navigating from a not very detailed map) and just as we'd given up and were heading to rehearsal we found it! It has lots of donated clothes, and the money goes to a scholarship fund for university students. I was too tired to shop properly but picked up a red wool jacket (anticipating even colder weather as we head north after Convention). They also had real mink coats, full length - for $1000.
We were a bit late at rehearsal, at the church where the River Blenders rehearse, and went straight into warmups. I'm afraid after a week off, and with jet lag, we werent' sounding our best: Vicki looked dismayed, but we did our best, and the church acoustics helped. Then in the foyer all the River Blenders were lined up and sang us the Lord's Prayer: very moving, and I cried. On the other side of the foyer was a long corridor with a long table loaded with food, and we filed past filling our plates with home cooking. The rehearsal room had round tables set up and we sat with our hosts to eat. Here's my favorite dish from Kitty:
Toss baby spinach, sliced strawberries, candied nuts, dried cranberries and cubed provolone cheese. Before serving add a sweet viniagrette (sweet vinegar and oil). If you like, you can add poppy seeds to the dressing. To die for!
After dinner there was a presentation from the Blenders to Di and Vicki, and they gave us all a RiverBlenders bag (oops, I forgot to pick mine up). Then we all ran through the second half of the show with Ann Keller's help (she's stage manager, and wonderfully efficient). We couldn't hear the pitch pipe for Lazy Days, and got off to a bad start (Vicki looked horrified). But we got through, and will do better next time. River Blenders joined us on the risers for Let the River Run and it was wonderful to be part of that bigger sound, but a bit squishy trying to do choreo while standing hip to hip.
We ended by all singing How We Sang Today, holding hands, and I cried again. Then Sharon took us home. She has digital radio, and when you press a button the name of the artist and the name of the song is displayed, so we played "Guess the Artist" to stay awake. She won, but Betty was pretty good too. There are so many channels on digital radio: an Elvis channel, and several Country channels, and separate 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's channels.
I slept for 8.5 hours last night without waking and I woke up feeling great. Sharon cooked biscuits and gravy for breakfast and was stunned when we all said we'd never tasted it. Biscuits are scones, and gravy is not what you'd think, it's a white sauce with chopped pork sausage in it. It's delicious, but fattening - puts on a lining on your stomach, David says.
David picked fresh field mushrooms and was surprised when I ate one raw.
Okay, off today for more shopping and sight seeing before our tech rehearsal .
C is for sight seeing?
Then we went to the Museum of Western Exploration. I was fascinated by the layout: it was an arc of a circle, with the earliest time at the centre and then going out by decades, 1800, 1810 and so on; and on different radii, different themes: explorers, settlement, Native Americans. There was a lot of information about the Lewis and Clark expedition which set out from St Louis to find a way to the Pacific.
After that we hung about until it was time to go down to the river for our cruise: too cold to wait about outside. We reckoned the Museum should have had a coffee shop, it would have made a lot of money from us!
There weren't many people on the cruise so we had a great seat all together at the front. We saw several historic bridges, and a tugboat pushing about 15 big barges all linked together. The Mississippi is still used for commercial transport of goods.
Then it was off to a French area (Soulard) for lunch: we ended up at a Welsh pub called Llewellyns. Pubs are definitely the place to eat: good cheap food, and cold beer, and friendly service. We're paying for our hosts' meals, so had to do complicated calculations of cost plus tip divided by how many of us.
Here's a drink recipe that someone told us about over lunch:
Hungarian Rhapsody: "good for coughs, colds and sore ars%^&&**((" - take equal parts rye whiskey, bourbon and gin and add some rock candy. Let it sit until the candy dissolves - about a week. Drink it.
Sharon took us to find a discount clothing shop called the Scholars Shop. She had to phone her daughter for directions, and we got a bit lost (with me navigating from a not very detailed map) and just as we'd given up and were heading to rehearsal we found it! It has lots of donated clothes, and the money goes to a scholarship fund for university students. I was too tired to shop properly but picked up a red wool jacket (anticipating even colder weather as we head north after Convention). They also had real mink coats, full length - for $1000.
We were a bit late at rehearsal, at the church where the River Blenders rehearse, and went straight into warmups. I'm afraid after a week off, and with jet lag, we werent' sounding our best: Vicki looked dismayed, but we did our best, and the church acoustics helped. Then in the foyer all the River Blenders were lined up and sang us the Lord's Prayer: very moving, and I cried. On the other side of the foyer was a long corridor with a long table loaded with food, and we filed past filling our plates with home cooking. The rehearsal room had round tables set up and we sat with our hosts to eat. Here's my favorite dish from Kitty:
Toss baby spinach, sliced strawberries, candied nuts, dried cranberries and cubed provolone cheese. Before serving add a sweet viniagrette (sweet vinegar and oil). If you like, you can add poppy seeds to the dressing. To die for!
After dinner there was a presentation from the Blenders to Di and Vicki, and they gave us all a RiverBlenders bag (oops, I forgot to pick mine up). Then we all ran through the second half of the show with Ann Keller's help (she's stage manager, and wonderfully efficient). We couldn't hear the pitch pipe for Lazy Days, and got off to a bad start (Vicki looked horrified). But we got through, and will do better next time. River Blenders joined us on the risers for Let the River Run and it was wonderful to be part of that bigger sound, but a bit squishy trying to do choreo while standing hip to hip.
We ended by all singing How We Sang Today, holding hands, and I cried again. Then Sharon took us home. She has digital radio, and when you press a button the name of the artist and the name of the song is displayed, so we played "Guess the Artist" to stay awake. She won, but Betty was pretty good too. There are so many channels on digital radio: an Elvis channel, and several Country channels, and separate 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's channels.
I slept for 8.5 hours last night without waking and I woke up feeling great. Sharon cooked biscuits and gravy for breakfast and was stunned when we all said we'd never tasted it. Biscuits are scones, and gravy is not what you'd think, it's a white sauce with chopped pork sausage in it. It's delicious, but fattening - puts on a lining on your stomach, David says.
David picked fresh field mushrooms and was surprised when I ate one raw.
Okay, off today for more shopping and sight seeing before our tech rehearsal .
C is for sight seeing?
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Shopping with Sharon
Okay, today is Wednesday. We discovered that we all like shopping at op shops and so on the way for the big hostage exchange Sharon took us to Designer ReSale. I bought another pair of jeans, a vest and a handbag.
We met Kitty and Cathy and Mary at a shopping centre somewhere, and then all went to St Charles, a historic area of St Louis, for lunch. The main street there is full of interesting little shops with antiques, jewellery, etc. Lunch was at Trailhead Brewing Co. I had french onion soup with lots of melted cheese on top, and a chicken sandwich. Then we walked back. We saw lots of squirrels running around and Sharon and Kitty thought it was funny that I kept saying "oh, there's a squirrel" . They say squrle to ryme with Earl (Earl the Squirrel). There were lots of dead raccoons on the road, too - their equivalent of dead kangaroos, I guess - road kill.
Then Kitty took Cathy and Ros away, and the rest of us went to Cosco to buy a cake. It's a big wholesale shop where you have to be a member. We lost Mary and Betty because Betty was trying on a coat. On the way to Cosco we dropped into a Goodwill store. I bought some purple thermal underwear because Sharon said New York would be even colder than St Louis. We went to J C Penneys so Mary could buy her friend some underwear, and Sharon found a really cute handbag that Betty insisted on buying her. By this time it was 5 pm, and we were all shopped out.
We went to a local diner, Larrys, for dinner with some of Sharon's family. We met her mother, Dorothy, who's 86 and a real live wire. A friend of Sharon's, Mary-Lou was there too. Sharon's son and daughter and their partners and some of their children were there, so there were four generations all together, which was lovely to see. I had catfish and Budweiser and hush puppies for dinner.
Okay, I've got to get off the computer now so Betty and Mary can make contact with home. More tomorrow (but we'll be out all day being tourists and then going to rehearsal with the River Blenders, so it might be the next day before you hear about that).
Over and out
We met Kitty and Cathy and Mary at a shopping centre somewhere, and then all went to St Charles, a historic area of St Louis, for lunch. The main street there is full of interesting little shops with antiques, jewellery, etc. Lunch was at Trailhead Brewing Co. I had french onion soup with lots of melted cheese on top, and a chicken sandwich. Then we walked back. We saw lots of squirrels running around and Sharon and Kitty thought it was funny that I kept saying "oh, there's a squirrel" . They say squrle to ryme with Earl (Earl the Squirrel). There were lots of dead raccoons on the road, too - their equivalent of dead kangaroos, I guess - road kill.
Then Kitty took Cathy and Ros away, and the rest of us went to Cosco to buy a cake. It's a big wholesale shop where you have to be a member. We lost Mary and Betty because Betty was trying on a coat. On the way to Cosco we dropped into a Goodwill store. I bought some purple thermal underwear because Sharon said New York would be even colder than St Louis. We went to J C Penneys so Mary could buy her friend some underwear, and Sharon found a really cute handbag that Betty insisted on buying her. By this time it was 5 pm, and we were all shopped out.
We went to a local diner, Larrys, for dinner with some of Sharon's family. We met her mother, Dorothy, who's 86 and a real live wire. A friend of Sharon's, Mary-Lou was there too. Sharon's son and daughter and their partners and some of their children were there, so there were four generations all together, which was lovely to see. I had catfish and Budweiser and hush puppies for dinner.
Okay, I've got to get off the computer now so Betty and Mary can make contact with home. More tomorrow (but we'll be out all day being tourists and then going to rehearsal with the River Blenders, so it might be the next day before you hear about that).
Over and out
Travelling East
On Tuesday morning I woke up at 3:30 am, and decided this was a good time to get up so that I could be really tired and sleep on the plane. I caught the train to the International Airport and got there in good time to get my boarding pass and check in my two bags. Inside I met up with 9 other CKC members who were on the same Qantas QF107 flight to Los Angeles.
Betty and I were lucky to have chosen seats in Premium Economy, up the pointy end of the plane, so we only had one person sitting next to each of us and there was lots of leg room. We were served lunch, and then later on they gave us a "snack pack" to sustain us until breakfast. I finished Salvation Creek and then started House at Salvation Creek. I put on ear plugs and noise-cancelling headphones when it was time to sleep, but there was still a lot of noise from the engines. I think I got about two hours decent sleep, and then tried without success to go back to sleep. It was a relief when they turned the lights back on and announced breakfast.
We arrived at LA around 6 am, a little earlier than scheduled. Progress through immigration and customs was pretty quick, though we found the staff more serious than in Honolulu the year before. I'd booked the LA-St Louis leg of my trip separately from the Sydney-LA leg, so while everyone else checked their baggage back in, I took the long way round to Terminal 4 to get my boarding pass with American Airlines and then recheck my luggage. Then it was back through security to Terminal 4 to rejoin the others for another long wait. Everyone was pretty stuffed by this stage, apart from Betty who'd taken drugs and slept all the way (the b**$%##^).
Our plane to St Louis left at 11:35 and Mary missed it because she was on a different flight that was delayed - but we were able to text each other so we knew where she was. Some of us had to check in our cabin baggage because the plane was full and there was no more room in the ovrehead lockers. The country we flew over east of LA was very dry and barren, and then as we got close to St Louis suddenly it became green and lush. Finally we landed. Betty slept all the way and everyone wants what she was having.
Our River Blender hosts were waiting for us with open arms and big hugs. Sharon (my host) had a sign saying "Sharon" and I was confused, because our Sharon wasn't coming, but we worked it out. Ros came with Betty and me to stay with Sharon for the night, so that Kitty could come back at 8 pm to collect Cathy and Mary, and then we arranged to swop them over the next morning.
Sharon and David have a wonderful home on 7 acres at Winfield, outside St Louis, and we have a bedroom each and one spare. She gave us home made chicken soup and ham croissants for supper, and we drank (okay, I drank) lots of wine to help us sleep. Which we did. Solidly. Even Betty (without drugs). I have no idea what we talked about except that when Betty told me I was slurring I went to bed and slept for 11 hours.
Betty and I were lucky to have chosen seats in Premium Economy, up the pointy end of the plane, so we only had one person sitting next to each of us and there was lots of leg room. We were served lunch, and then later on they gave us a "snack pack" to sustain us until breakfast. I finished Salvation Creek and then started House at Salvation Creek. I put on ear plugs and noise-cancelling headphones when it was time to sleep, but there was still a lot of noise from the engines. I think I got about two hours decent sleep, and then tried without success to go back to sleep. It was a relief when they turned the lights back on and announced breakfast.
We arrived at LA around 6 am, a little earlier than scheduled. Progress through immigration and customs was pretty quick, though we found the staff more serious than in Honolulu the year before. I'd booked the LA-St Louis leg of my trip separately from the Sydney-LA leg, so while everyone else checked their baggage back in, I took the long way round to Terminal 4 to get my boarding pass with American Airlines and then recheck my luggage. Then it was back through security to Terminal 4 to rejoin the others for another long wait. Everyone was pretty stuffed by this stage, apart from Betty who'd taken drugs and slept all the way (the b**$%##^).
Our plane to St Louis left at 11:35 and Mary missed it because she was on a different flight that was delayed - but we were able to text each other so we knew where she was. Some of us had to check in our cabin baggage because the plane was full and there was no more room in the ovrehead lockers. The country we flew over east of LA was very dry and barren, and then as we got close to St Louis suddenly it became green and lush. Finally we landed. Betty slept all the way and everyone wants what she was having.
Our River Blender hosts were waiting for us with open arms and big hugs. Sharon (my host) had a sign saying "Sharon" and I was confused, because our Sharon wasn't coming, but we worked it out. Ros came with Betty and me to stay with Sharon for the night, so that Kitty could come back at 8 pm to collect Cathy and Mary, and then we arranged to swop them over the next morning.
Sharon and David have a wonderful home on 7 acres at Winfield, outside St Louis, and we have a bedroom each and one spare. She gave us home made chicken soup and ham croissants for supper, and we drank (okay, I drank) lots of wine to help us sleep. Which we did. Solidly. Even Betty (without drugs). I have no idea what we talked about except that when Betty told me I was slurring I went to bed and slept for 11 hours.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Packing, Unpacking, Repacking
Well, I had visions of travelling with just one small suitcase, but it's not to be. Our St Louis hostess, Sharon, emailed to say the forecast was for temperatures down to a low of 2 degrees Celsius, and a maximum of 14 degrees. So I've just got back from Parramatta, where I bought travellers cheques (to pay for the chorus breakfast) and then popped across the street to Kathmandu to buy 3 thermal long-sleeved tops. I now have a suitcase of clothes, and another suitcase for the laptop, accessories, makeup, documents, and miscellaneous other items. My costume including shoes is in my backpack along with 4 books and noise-cancelling headphones.
[Cousin Eleanor recommended two books by Susan Duncan: Salvation Creek, and House at Salvation Creek, so I picked them up at Dymocks].
I'd hoped to get an aisle seat on the plane, but left it too late, so I have a window seat in a block of two, up the pointy end. And I've notified the bank I'm travelling overseas, checked the PIN on my ANZ travel card, and backed up my desktop. And booked a hair appointment.
Yep, I'm just about set.
[Cousin Eleanor recommended two books by Susan Duncan: Salvation Creek, and House at Salvation Creek, so I picked them up at Dymocks].
I'd hoped to get an aisle seat on the plane, but left it too late, so I have a window seat in a block of two, up the pointy end. And I've notified the bank I'm travelling overseas, checked the PIN on my ANZ travel card, and backed up my desktop. And booked a hair appointment.
Yep, I'm just about set.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Los Angeles Hotel
I thought I'd better book a hotel in Los Angeles before I leave. I wanted one close to public transport, and not too expensive. I thought about a youth hostel, but all the hostels available the nights I wanted in LA were shared dormitory style, and I'm too old and grumpy for that.
I googled historic hotels in LA, and I've booked through Expedia into the Historic Mayfair Hotel, 1256 West 7th Street. It's $334.70 for 5 nights. Their website says "It combines a sense of “old World” with a time honored tradition of gracious service. Built during the heyday of the Roaring Twenties, The Historic Mayfair Hotel still reflects the grandeur of the era with glass etchings, brass fixtures, skylight and frenzied pillars."
They are close to public transport and "only blocks away from the Financial District, Civic Center, Jewelry Mart, Garment District, Music Center, 7th Market Place, Shopping Centers, and Convention Center. The Historic Mayfair Hotel is just minutes away from Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Korean Town, and Olivera Street. 15 miles away from many famous attractions like Universal Studios, Getty’s Museum, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), and 35 miles to Disneyland." That should be enough to keep me amused for 5 days.
I googled historic hotels in LA, and I've booked through Expedia into the Historic Mayfair Hotel, 1256 West 7th Street. It's $334.70 for 5 nights. Their website says "It combines a sense of “old World” with a time honored tradition of gracious service. Built during the heyday of the Roaring Twenties, The Historic Mayfair Hotel still reflects the grandeur of the era with glass etchings, brass fixtures, skylight and frenzied pillars."
They are close to public transport and "only blocks away from the Financial District, Civic Center, Jewelry Mart, Garment District, Music Center, 7th Market Place, Shopping Centers, and Convention Center. The Historic Mayfair Hotel is just minutes away from Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Korean Town, and Olivera Street. 15 miles away from many famous attractions like Universal Studios, Getty’s Museum, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), and 35 miles to Disneyland." That should be enough to keep me amused for 5 days.
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