BQPA/PIONEERS
BQPA/Pioneers Quartet Festival in Mesa, AZ,
4/5-8/2017
Well, another great Festival of “do-it-yerself” quartetting
in the old style has been chordially completed – thanks to our VP (West) and Tempe
Festival Chairman, Mr. Jim Milner and his side-kick, Bernie
Esberner. Nearly 80
singers and guests populated excellent new digs: the Rio Salado Ballroom at the
Holiday Inn & Suites in Mesa,
for our Saturday evening show, and more than 50 were on hand for our
traditional “pick-up” quartet contest Friday evening.
Two dozen singers had checked in at the Holiday Inn by the
end of the day Wednesday, the 5th of April. A good deal of QUARTET singing ensued (what a
surprise), and foursomes were assembled for purposes both musical and
golf-oriented. A great spaghetti and meatball dinner was
consumed at the American Italian Club in northern Phoenix, followed immediately by a number of
cycles of do-it-yerself pick-up quartetting, hosted by the Arizona Quartet Club. There were
some almost surprisingly good sounds, and lots of camaraderie (read that as
“cat-calls” and “friendly”, “helpful” comments…)
Thursday morning dawned early and bright, and – after the
complimentary breakfast – the golfers drove off for their rounds, which
included singing at every tee, as usual. Also as usual, nobody would admit to their
scores when the golfers returned to join those who preferred just to sing (in
QUARTETS) rather than spoiling a good walk by swinging a stick. (Many said they had more fun singing than
golfing that day…)
Our BQPA/Pioneers
Board conducted the usual meeting on Thursday afternoon, after the golfers had
returned. The confabulation was chordial and
salubrious, without very much rancor, approving in general the continuation of
our efforts to reach out to the general barbershopping population to encourage
them to join us for a few days of fine, fun singing – IN QUARTETS.
On Thursday evening, our Registration table opened up,
staffed by our volunteers. And there was
much QUARTET singing. (DUH!!!)
Friday morning came and the golfers perversely departed
again for the links, and got back just barely in time for the pick-up QUARTET
contest draw. Once the pick-up QUARTETS had been drawn,
there was – as usual – much confusion, with folks searching for their other voice
part singers. Some left, then, for somewhat leisurely
dinners, but rehearsals of the die-hards continued until moments before the
contest started.
But the contest went off very nicely, as usual. BQPA/Pioneers Founder, Tom
Neal, was again our MC, as in days gone by. The members of “Anything Goes” quartet acted
as the judges, and the participants praised the expertise of the judges, since
they could actually sing together, as demonstrated the following evening when
they appeared on our Parade.
Eleven QUARTETS took the stage in turn, and – thankfully –
only two songs were repeated. QUARTET
names were, as usual, strange, ranging from “States Of Confusion” to “Over The
Edge”. “Mother’s Pride” took third place
and white ribbons, after a tie with “Tonsorial Bartering” was broken by their
respective “Singing, Sound & Musical Presentation” scores. “Colonel Mustard And His Privates” gained
second place and red ribbons. The
members of the cryptically named “SPIT” quartet were invested with blue ribbons
from which depended gold medals inscribed in honor of our dear departed member,
Jinny Janis (of The Chordettes.)
Again as usual, there was a bit more singing after the
contest session. (Well, umm, HOURS more…) All four corners of our gathering room were
occupied by QUARTETS, and the singing spilled out into the corridors and out
into the lobby and bar area. That
informal QUARTET singing went on until well after midnight. We also had the pleasure of singing for
members of the high-school age leadership seminar that was hosted by the hotel
at the same time as our gathering.
On Saturday morning, the BQPA/Pioneers
annual Membership meeting went pretty quickly, as discussions in the Board
meeting had taken care of most business earlier in the week.
The names of Departed Voices were read off, including some
who may not have been members of BQPA/Pioneers. We
remembered especially BQPA members
Rich Vormelker, Tom Millot, Dave Lyman, Cal Revis, and Dave Walker. We also noted the passing of Chuck Harner, Jeff Baker, ‘Doc’ Sause, Ed Beaver,
Bill Johnson, Glen Arenson, and Stan Sharp.
A slow and reverent rendition of The Old Songs was sung, to send them all
on their way to the Chorus Eternal.
Gerry Carroll, VP
(East) and the Chairman for our Fall Festival in the Chicago area, announced
that we will again be meeting at the Best Western in Hillside, Illinois, September
6th through the 10th, 2017. We will have gathering rooms on the same
familiar hallway, which will be available for us to sing in all day Thursday, Friday
and Saturday. (See all the details on the website: www.BQPA.com.)
Gerry encouraged reserving guest rooms early, even if you
might have to cancel later should your plans or your calendar change. The hotel
has a very lenient cancellation policy, but this year a deadline of JULY 28, 2017 has
been imposed to get the group room rate.
That rate is still an enormous bargain: $89.25 per night for a queen or
king guest room! And the rate includes
free breakfast! Come one, come all…
Members were encouraged to email the Holiday Inn, to thank
them for their hospitality this year. Jim Milner
tells us that this helps significantly in his negotiations for the next year’s
Festival in the Phoenix
area.
After the membership meeting and into the afternoon and
early evening, QUARTET singing abounded. There were QUARTETS at the Registration
table, in the bar, on the patio, in the halls and the lobby, etc.
Later on, a large contingent – about 25 or 30 – went out again
this year to the Four Peaks Brewing Co.
for a repast together, but got back in good time to attend the QUARTET Parade
at eight o’clock.
Our Parade was a rousing success, as usual. As is our tradition, the pick-up contest
champs, in this case “SPIT”, led off on stage. The Parade, ringmastered by Paul Ludwig, proceeded with “Saucebox”, “Two Under
Par”, “Lilac Crazy” (a women’s QUARTET who encouraged us to “pronounce their
name out loud”), “Renaissance”, “Anything Goes” (our Friday evening judges), and
“Trans-Sonoran Xpress”. Wonderful to
have all of the groups as our Parade entertainment – THANKS!
The Parade, and with it, the official parts of our Festival,
ended with our traditional rendition of Keep America Singing.
With the formal elements of the Festival completed, we all
adjourned to the corners of our meeting room, as well as areas immediately
adjacent, and proceeded to sing some more. Again, it lasted well past midnight.
I have to say I was in not quite the
last quartet left on the field of
battle, and we left the room before we really wanted to, as people had to get
up in the morning to travel homeward. But I got to sing a couple that really rang!
This was a most successful and enjoyable Festival. LOTS of QUARTET
singing. (Well, yeah, that’s what we came for, no? That’s the bottom line…) There were MANY gents with medals of one
color or another from SPEBSQSA, but just as many and more “Joe Barbershoppers.” Didn’t
matter who you were or what your past accomplishments – everyone got a chance to
sing some good stuff, with good people, in QUARTETS.
THANKS – as usual – must go to all the folks who made it all
happen! The VP and Producer of the Tempe Festival, Jim Milner! The
Chairs of all the committees that DO things. The Board members who remind the Chairs to do
the things the Chairs already know how to do.
The registration volunteers who labor but also get to sing with everyone
who comes up to the table to register. The QUARTETS. Everyone!
Remember the Fall Festival, in Chicago – get the details from our website. I don’t remember who all of them were, but a
number of folks said they already had their reservations at the Hillside Best
Western! Remember there’s a reservation
DEADLINE, this year! See you there!
Barily yours,
Tom Noble, President
BQPA/Pioneers
Top Placing Pick-up Quartets:
Win: SPIT
Tenor – Jim
Jarosz
Lead –
Jerry Larson
Bari – Tom Noble
Bass – Bill
Myers
Place: COLONEL MUSTARD
& HIS PRIVATES
Tenor –
Gene Schuh
Lead – Rob
Baltensberger
Bari – Paul Ludwig
Bass – Mike
Werner
Show: MOTHER’S Pride
Tenor –
Barney Griffin
Lead – Dave
Purcell
Bari – Darrell Egertson
Bass –
Brian Kreft