Man, groundhog day was rough this year!

What fun! We did a gig last night for Orthodontic Specialists of Green Bay. It was their Christmas Party and we had the usual fun we have at Christmas parties. But this one was special for a couple of reasons. First, my wife works there, so I knew a lot of people. It was cool to perform for friends. Second, Dr. Richard Steinke is retiring.

Dr. Steinke started the practice decades ago, and in the several years that I’ve known him, it’s easy to see why so many of his employees like him and respect him. What a great guy. I wore braces for 18 months a couple of years ago, and Dr. Steinke knew how to handle my treatment quite well. Being a guy in my 40s, it took some convincing from my wife to get braces in the first place. But Dr. Steinke saw that and knew that I wasn’t the most eager of patents. I’m glad to have had the opportunity to meet and know him.

So we (Brian, Chris, Kelly & I) figured that we can’t just let him retire without sending him off well. So we took an old standard song that we do, and rewrote the words as a tribute to Dr. Steinke. It went over quite well, and we were very touched that the song was well accepted.

This is one of those gigs that we’ll remember for a long time. Thanks, Doc, thanks!

We’ve been working on our Christmas repertoire for a few weeks now. We’ve got our first Christmas gig this Saturday. I love pulling out the old favorites and bringing them to life with some great harmony!

One of these years, we gotta learn my favorite, Oh Holy Night. I’ve got an arrangement, just gotta do it.

Merry Christmas!

Wow!  It’s finally here.  GQ4 is heading over to Rochester, MN tomorrow for the Friday night quartet competition.  I’m excited, and nervous, and hungry for a great performance from all 4 guys.  We’ve been practicing hard, working on presentation, getting the vowels right, holding out the phrases…man, that’s tough work!  I’m only getting a glimpse of what the International boys do week in and week out.  All the more reason to admire those barbershop CDs we listen to in our cars every day.  Someday we’ll cut a track or two….

This contest is very exciting for our quartet due to our novice status.  It’s our one time shot at District Novice, and being the Packerland Division Novice champs we want to do our division proud this weekend.  I hope we have some great news to share on Saturday!  Wish us luck!  I can hear the crowd now…GQ4!…GQ4!…GQ4!!

What a great day! We traveled 237 miles to Durand today to participate in their sesquicentennial celebration. We were one of many entertainers at Memorial Park. And just before that, we performed for the residents of Oakwood Care Center.

It rained quite hard on the way there, but once we got there, the sun came out and it warmed up quite nicely. We really enjoyed spending the day with the residents of this quaint little town of less than 2,000. Everyone was in the spirit, with dozens and dozens of folks dressed up in old-time garb.

On the way home, we stopped at Dooley’s Pub in Eau Claire for dinner. There was a wedding party in there, so of course we had to sing a song or two for the bride and groom.

It’s good to be home after a long day. Thanks to Patty Blount of the Durand Community Library for inviting us. We hope that today won’t be the last time we’re ever in Durand.
Happy 150th Durand!

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’ve been working pretty hard lately. We gave our 30 minute show a bit of an overhaul. A couple of new comedy bits, a couple new songs, and a few old favorites. It’s great when I say something off the cuff and Chris can’t sing cuz he’s laughing so hard. We’ve got a couple of trips coming up. In the next two months, we’ll be in Brookfield, Durand and Black River Falls. The travelling should be a lot of fun.
And of course we’ve got our first performance on the district contest stage in Rochester, MN in October. So much performing to do, so little time!

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.