Well, we seem to be getting busier in recent months, and traveling farther. We were in Brookfield a couple weeks ago. We leave early in the morning (actually about 6 hours from now) for Durand to perform at their sesquicentennial celebration. That should be a lot of fun!

And in the coming months, we’ll be in Black River Falls, Black Creek, Rochester (MN) and Menomonee Falls. And we’ll be doing a few local gigs in Green Bay and De Pere. I’m not complaining though. We’re having a blast performing for audiences all around the state.

Gotta get to bed now.

We just got back from a weekend of great coaching. The BHS LOL District holds these “mini harmony education programs” each June. Barbershoppers from all around the district converge on UW La Crosse to attend workshops and get some great coaching.

In addition to the coaches from BHS, an international quartet also participates, providing their own insight into how to best perform as a barbershop quartet.

Yesterday, we had 7 one-hour coaching sessions. Our coaches were Dan Heike, Rick Spencer, John Plazek, and Ron Rank. Also, from the quartet Storm Front, we were coached by Sid Libsack, Jim Clark, and Dave Ellis.

These guys have a wide range of perspectives and backgrounds. We are so appreciative of the time that they spent with us. We came away from La Crosse with some great tools to work on as we prepare for our first appearance on the district competition stage in October.

Well, that’s our official title, today anyway. We’re the 2006 Barbershop Harmony Society Land O’ Lakes District Packerland Division Novice Quartet Champions. Not bad. After 5½ years, we’ve finally entered the world of competion.

We competed today in the Packerland Division contest. We entered with basically four goals. We’re pretty pumped, because we succeeded in three of the four:

1. Win the division quartet championship. Well, this one was tough, and we didn’t make it; we took third place. But this was really the only goal we had that wasn’t completely in our own hands. We competed against other quartets like Choices, Perfect Timing, Hot Dog Pop and Two Small Frys, The Cheery-O’s and Bag of Tricks. Choices has been the champion for several years running now, and they earned the crown again today. Our hats off to them. It’s truly and honor to share the stage with a quartet like Choices; Joel, Colin, Smyte and Patrick are great guys and truly great musicians.

2. Win the novice quartet championship. We did this. But we were the only novice quartet competing, so it wasn’t too difficult. That said, it is still truly an honor and a thrill to hear our name called and to get up on stage to accept the award.

3. Score enough points to qualify to advance to the Land O’ Lakes District competition in Rochester, MN in October. All quartets who score at least 780 points advance. We scored 780. We just had to make it interesting. We’re very excited about this accomplishment and we look forward to our first trip to the district stage.

4. Have fun. This, we absolutely accomplished. We shared the stage with some great quartets. We had the opportunity to get some great feedback from three of the six judges after the contest. And the four of us enjoyed making great harmony together yet again.

So, overall, we’re a pretty happy quartet today. We’re enjoying the success and the fun we had. Monday night is our next rehearsal, and we’ll be back at work, preparing for upcoming gigs, and figuring out what we’ll sing on the district stage.

We performed for another Knights of Columbus dinner last night at the Swan Club in De Pere. That was fun.

The dinner was held to honor our local clergy who dedicate their lives to serving God and our community. So it follows that there were many nuns and priests in attendance.

A great moment in our set was when we sang In The Still of the Night, and Chris proceeded to serenade a nun, “I remember, last night in bed, the stars were bright…”

It’s true what they say about performers. We do indeed feed off the response from our audience. And the Knights are always a great audience. As a 3rd degree knight myself, I look forward to the next time we can perform for my brothers again.

I just read Charlotte Hagemeister’s obituary today. She passed away the day before yesterday at the age of 101. What a doll this woman was. So who’s Charlotte Hagemeister?

We do a lot of performing in the area. We sing for banquets, concerts, holiday parties, singing telegrams, you name it. And as a result, the guys and I receive a lot of nice comments from folks about how special the occasion was and how our singing touched their lives. It’s great stuff and we certainly feed off of that.

And then there are women like Charlotte. Her family hired us to sing at her 100th birthday party on Sunday, October 23, 2004. When we knocked on the front door of her old house near Heritage Hill, we were greeted by one of dozens of family members there. And by opening their door, they also opened their arms and their hearts.

We sang for Charlotte and for all her children and grandchildren, and her face lit up. She had been blind for some time, but that just seems to have heightened her sense of hearing, and we could tell by looking at her that she could “see” us in her mind.

The guys and I talk about her from time to time. We recall the stories she told us about the old Hagemeister Field, where the Packers used to play. And the room in her house that was decorated to look like a cabin room on a boat; it was pretty cool. She told us of her music studies at Lawrence University, and it was like rubbing elbows with a fellow musician. And of course at a gathering like this, they didn’t let us leave without eating.

We were only booked to be there for about 10 minutes or so, but it was more like an hour. And in that hour, Charlotte managed to touch our hearts, and teach us have a great appreciation for the simple things in life.

As a quartet, we don’t often get the chance to have an afternoon like this; but this is definitely one day and one special woman that we’ll remember forever.