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Page 4 InCider Press March 2010 |
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The Singing valentines activity for 2010 was highlighted by, if you can believe it, an over-abundance of available quartets. Three of our chapters newest quartets, Terry and the Gray Beards, Sugar Daddies and Three Hoots and a Holler did yeoman service in delivering their fair share of singing valentines. Of note, Terry and the Gray Beards were involved in selling an impressive amount of valentines in the area from Axtell to Seneca on hiway 36. The income from this market area was very helpful toward the overall success of the effort. Of the registered quartets in the Chorus, only Men of a Chord remained pure in its composition (snicker, snicker). Charades, Late Night Edition and Manhattan Music Machine and Apple Core-tet all relied on substitutions in their regular lineups in order to field a quartet. Overall, the quartets and their presenters were quite effective in delivering the singing valentines. The presenters were resourceful, diligent, creative and tenacious in their pursuits of recipients of the singing valentines. Out of over one hundred requests, there was only one undelivered valentine and that was because the intended recipient was not present and could not be located. From the business standpoint, this years receipts will be down by a factor of about 5% due mainly to fewer requests than last year and some increase in expenses. This year showed an increase in the number of on-line orders and the percentage of orders that were paid using Paypal. Only one unpaid request remains to be collected and the folks at Manhattan Data Systems are still working to close the account. There are still some expenses that have not been paid so a final figure is unavailable at this time but the net receipts for this year should be in the $3600-3800 range. It is hard to assess the financial impact of the sagging economy and having Valentine’s day fall on Sunday. Next year the holiday is on Monday. Maybe that will help to produce an increase in orders. |
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Singing Valentines 2010 By Ken Lyle |
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The Spring Convention of the Central States District (CSD) is just around the corner – a time when you can enjoy good barbershop harmony and performances. At the spring convention in Sioux City, Iowa, the quartets compete to qualify for the International Convention in Philadelphia this summer. Also, the collegiate quartets compete to qualify for the Collegiate quartet contest at the International Convention. At the CSD convention, small chapter choruses will compete for district championship and placing. This all will occur the last weekend of April, the 22nd through the 25th, in Sioux City, Iowa. The semifinal quartet contest is Friday evening the 23rd at 7 p.m. in the Orpheum Theater and the finals are Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. on the 24th. The Collegiate quartet contest is also Saturday evening. The chorus contest is 10 a.m. on Saturday morning, also at the Orpheum Theater. In the afternoon on Saturday there will be a new, first first-time-ever, separate chorus contest to allow chapters that don't normally participate in the spring convention to be a part of the fun – Audience Favorite Jamboree. That means if a chapter chorus is smaller than the dozen singers required in the regular contest, which will be scored as usual by a double panel of Society judges, these men can sing just-for-fun. Chapters can combine with another small chapter and put together a VLQ (very large quartet) of 12 or 15 (or 20 or 30) singers. Patriotic and religious songs may be sung in the Jamboree. Tentatively, the audience will pick the most entertaining small group, most entertaining large group, most unusual act, most entertaining song, maybe a worst gag...the floor is still open for nominations. But all will be done by audience vote. Registration can be accomplished in two ways: CSD website under the Convention tab - https://www.centralstatesdistrict.com or by mail copying the form from the CSD website or from the February Serenade issue. There is an early bird discount of $5.00 if registration is before April 1. The discounted registration is $43. All students less than the age of 26 are ˝ the regular price. Early discount for students is ˝ the regular discount. Early discount ends on April 1, 2010. Hotel reservations can also be made via the CSD website. The hotel is the Clarion. Deadline to submit hotel registration is March 22, 2010. ♪ |
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A time to enjoy some good barbershop singing By Harvey Kiser Past President |
