Old School Quartet Blog

ANAHEIM

2009-07-04T00:00:00-07:00

INTERNATIONAL CONTEST

Old School is THRILLED to be the 2nd place silver medalists! Congrats to Crossroads and AOH for their gold medal performances!

(more to come)

CINCINNATI

2009-06-27T00:00:00-07:00

CINCINNATI SCHOOL

Old School performed at the Greater Cincinnati harmony festival with Moxy Ladies.

(more to come)

SALISBURY

2009-06-20T00:00:00-07:00

HARMONY COLLEGE EAST

Old School was thrilled to be invited yet again to sing and coach at the Harmony College East school! It was held at Salisbury University. OS's very first performance was on this stage and the first show with Kipp on tenor was this very stage as well! We felt quite at home up there.

On Thursday night Jack and Beast arrived to start coaching early Friday morning. Kipp and Joe had commitments that made it necessary to arrive Friday at noon. However, severe thunderstorms swept through the country late Thursday night causing major delays. Kipp and Joe left late and ended up sitting in the Philly airport for about 5 hours! We felt bad that we could not be there to coaching and "pay back" a bit of the great support we have received from MAD.

On Saturday, OS was coached by big D Flinn yet again, Bob Mucha and Ron Knickerbocker (1974 champs the Regents). We had a FANTASTIC day and a lot of great work. We left pumped and ready for Anaheim....which is only a week away!

The Saturday night show came and we did a pretty good job considering we had been singing all day long. A bit tired but we had a great time! Joe's wife Gayle drove down and we were able to spend some time with her Saturday night.

After the show, we were up LATE LATE LATE talking, visiting and singing with all our friends in the courtyard...oh and yes, there was beer available as well!

Thanks MAD....see ya next year!!!

SOUTH BEND

2009-06-13T00:00:00-07:00

CHORUS: The Valleyaires

(pictures pending)

OS was happy to take part in the Valleyaire's chapter show at Clay High School in South Bend Indiana. Before the show we had an excellent dinner at Villa Macri which our host / friend Scott Kitsmiller picked. VERY nice place! We also had the pleasure of sharing dinner AND the stage with Overture, an excellent quartet from the Sweet Adeline's.

Kipp's wife Kim and Beast's daughter Heather joined us for the weekend to make it somewhat of a family event! It was great to have them there with us!

The show was a Phantom of the Opera theme and it went very well. The crowd was EXCELLENT! Kipp and Joe C got to reunite with old friend Craig Pollard. Craig hosted Joe and Kipp in the Interstate Rivals when they sang his chapter show in Michigan.....about 150 years ago. Craig brought his wife Jill and his sons to the show as well.......it was great to see them once again!

After the show and glow we retreated to Tom Schneider's house....as they do every year! Tom hosted a great party (as he does each year) and we had a chance to sing a few there, along with Overture and various other combos!

Sunday morning found us eating at IHOP which was indeed a hop away from the awesome Hyatt Place hotel we stayed in....LOVED that hotel! After breakfast, we had a GREAT coaching session with our main man George Gipp. Before we started to rehearse we had a teary moment when Joe C called our good friend Tommy Spirito (Four Rascals / Boston Common). Tom had lost his wife Pat this week and we sang Tomorrow Is Promised To No One to him over speaker phone. His tearful thank you made the rest of us a bit teary eyed as well. Tommy is a great singer, great friend and a great man. We love ya Tommy!

Leaving the session we were pumped and ready to get to contest in Anaheim, we all headed home.

Thanks South Bend!!! It was a great time!

LLANDUDNO

2009-05-23T00:00:00-07:00

BABS CONVENTION

Old School was honored to be invited to the BABS convention in Wales. We found the little seaside town of Llandudno (pronounced SO differently than it is spelled!) to be quite charming!

(Llandudno Wales)

On Friday afternoon we had an interview with the BABS President Alan Goldsmith. It was in front of a live audience and we answered questions and sang a few songs. After referring to our bass as the Beast, a little old lady in a very proper British accent said in a timid little voice, "yes...I have a question for THE BEAST!" It was a classic moment!

(a question for The Beast)

(singing at the interview)

On Saturday OS did 3 master classes where we sang a few songs, gave examples of our style, how we rehearse, how we sing and took questions from the audience. The sessions seemed to go very well and we had a great time!

(singing MA at the master class)

While we were doing the classes, the ladies went shopping and visited a castle.

(Kim and Olga in "derby hats")

(Gayle and Olga locked up in the castle dungeon)

On Saturday night we all went for an excellent meal at a wonderful Italian place called Romeo's! Very good food and excellent service!
Sunday morning arrived and OS was to sing one song at the church service and then the two big shows to close the convention at 3:30 and 4:30pm. At 6am Kipp awoke with very bad chest pains. After 2 hours of non-stop pain he showered and went downstairs for some tea and breakfast before the church service. When entering the lobby several BABS members made him sit as he was pale (more than usual) and sweating clutching his chest. An ambulance was called and then, straight to the hospital for some tests. Meanwhile, the other guys having no idea what had happened were headed to the service. When they found out the situation, they asked Rasmus Krigström (lead from the Ringmasters) if he could sight read and fill in for Kipp. He did a great job and we thank him for all his help.

After many tests they determined that it was not a heart issue but they felt it was either an ulcer or a gall bladder situation. Given the fact that Kipp had been taken Advil like candy for weeks and the most pain was just after eating lunch, we agreed. They wanted further tests but against the advisement of the doctors, Kipp checked himself out of the hospital at 3:10pm to arrive backstage 1 song prior to OS hitting the stage! No time for going to the hotel for the nice show suit, besides, the other guys were still in suits from church after visiting Kipp in the hospital and not knowing what they were going to do. Both shows went VERY well and we were blessed that it was nothing serious!

(Kipp in hospital)

(BABS Sunday show)

It was a wonderful convention we were blessed to have our ladies with us on the journey.....except for Beast.....sorry Beast....but we DID find you a date!

(Joe and Gayle)

(Jack and Olga)

(Kipp and Kim)

(Beast and his date the Number One Pig in Wales)

THANKS to BABS for the invite and we hope to join you in the future for another "mighty awesome" convention!

(Beast, Kipp and our friend John Grant enjoying a nice pint!)

CINCINNATI

2009-05-16T00:00:00-07:00

CHORUS: Southern Gateway Chorus

Old School was proud to be asked to sing on Southern Gateway's 54th annual spring show. There was a show and an afterglow Saturday night and a Sunday afternoon performance as well. It was a busy weekend for our lead Joe as he is the director of the chorus. Joe was pulling double duty all weekend but seemed to hold up great under the pressure!

(Saturday night show in Cincinnati)

Along with the chorus OS was thrilled to share the stage with The Roaring 20's quartet in which Joe's father Mike Connelly is the baritone. The 20's have been a very popular quartet for decades and have finished in the top 5 medalists at international many times.

Also on the show is a new quartet called Lucky Day. They just qualified and will be competing at the international in Anaheim this year. We had a great time with them and look forward to seeing them backstage in July. In this new quartet is tenor Roger Ross who won a gold medal with Joe in Keepsake and baritone Paul Gilman who won a gold medal with Joe and Kipp in the Interstate Rivals and also one with Marquis.

(Lucky Day on the show)

It was kind of a coming home feel as we had many friends and family there. Also, sitting in the front row for the afternoon performance was Jay and Kathy Hawkins. Jay sang bass and won with Joe, Kipp and Paul in the Rivals and won a second gold with Paul in Marquis.

Joe and Paul co-direct Southern Gateway they have the chorus singing VERY well! It was a great show and OS wishes Gateway all the best in Anaheim.....we'll be out there rooting for you! Thanks for the great hospitality guys!

(Singing Tomorrow is Promised in the parking lot Sunday after the show)

STEVEN'S POINT

2009-05-02T00:00:00-07:00

Old School visited the Land of Lakes District to compete for the right to sing at the international contest in Anaheim, CA in July 2009. The LOL district was very kind to allow us to compete for score only as we were unable to compete in our home MAD prelims this year.

The headquarters hotel was the Ramada Inn and it was connected to a restaurant / bar type place called The Tilted Kilt. The food was ok, the beer was good and the servers....well.....let's just say most of the male barbershoppers really enjoyed dining there. (look up the tilted kilt on the internet to see what we mean). The afterglows were there at the Kilt each night and servers had a great time with all the singing. A couple even joined in for some tag singing!!

(Beast with our server from the Tilted Kilt)

OS took the stage Friday night and sang Last Night Was The End Of The World and I Want A Girl. We had a very solid hit and felt very good about it. Unfortunately, the sound system was not really turned up as we felt it should be but that didn't effect the wonderful support the LOL people showed us.

Saturday we came out with Dear Old Girl and our newest song Ma She's Making Eyes At Me. Our new song turned out to be our highest scoring so we were very pleased with that. There was only 11 points difference between the 1st and 2nd round so that showed we were fairly consistent.

We averaged an 87.7 which puts us qualifying to sing in Anaheim and heading into that contest sitting 3rd. We had a GREAT time all weekend and we thank the LOL folks for their warmth and hospitality as well as our main man George Gipp for getting us fine tuned before each round! Thanks Gipper!!!!

AKRON

2009-04-04T00:00:00-07:00

CHORUS: Derbytown Chorus

Old School was thrilled to have the chance to share the stage with the Happiness Emporium, 1975 International Champions. We hold this quartet in very high regard. Proving their championship quality by maintaining musical excellence for over 3 decades and being absolute champions OFF stage as well which is a credit to each of them.

(Old School and Happiness Emporium)

The shows were Friday and Saturday night. For the second week in a row Joe's luggage did not join him at his destination. This time however, it did NOT make it to him until 2am so for the Friday night show, we sang in our street clothes. That actually almost prompted a riot as Akron is very close to Cleveland so there are a lot of Indians fans there. The Indians and the Yankees are a HUGE rivalry. So, as we stepped on stage, Jack made sure to point out his Yankees sweatshirt and poked a little fun at the Indians. It was all in good fun!

(Friday night show...no luggage)

After the Saturday show we were fortunate to meet Gary Ward son of Scotty Ward from the Buffalo Bills!

(OS and Gary Ward son of Scotty Ward from the Buffalo Bills)

Since Akron was within a 5 hour drive, Kipp brought his wife Kim and their kids Kila and Keegan. It was a fun afternoon at the pool and hot tub before the Saturday night show. The kids each sang a tag. Keegan did his favorite, Run To The City Of Refuge and sang it WITH the Happiness Emporium who were the ones to make it famous. IN fact, it was arranged by Bob Dowma who is the SUPER tenor in the HE.

On Sunday OS went to "Big D" Darryl Flinn's house for a 3-4 hour session. D was the master as usual bringing out the best in us vocally AND from a presentation stand point. It was great to get "contest ready" with D as we will be competing May 2 in the prelims to try and qualify for the international in July in Anaheim. Thanks to D and his lovely wife Meredith for their hospitality!!!

(OS and Big D Flinn)

FREMONT

2009-03-27T00:00:00-07:00

CHORUS: Pathfinders

We got to Fremont Friday afternoon for a 3 show weekend with the Pathfinders chorus. Upon arriving our lead Joe was missing his bag. We filed the claim and they said that they would rush it to the high school in Fremont when it came in at 7:30pm. We had our doubts since we flew into Omaha and it was at least a 45 minute drive to the show site from the airport. But we headed to Fremont with high hopes.

Our host Greg Jones picked us up and off we went. We decided to grab some dinner before the 6pm mic check. We went to a steak place called Whiskey Creek. We had a very nice dinner there with some awesome steaks! We headed to the high school for the mic check. Met some of the chorus guys there. It was nice because Kipp had been in the Central States district for years and actually traveled to Russia with the Pathfinders chorus and Gas House Gang in 2000.

(Cassie Jones our host Greg's daughter. We have a picture of us and Greg but Cassie is a LOT cuter!)

The show started at 7:30pm and we were to open the 2nd half of the show at around 9pm stage time. At 8:50pm Joe's bag was still not at the school. It did however get there right at 9pm. The MC stalled a bit and we went on a bit late but all dressed and ready to go! After the show we went to the Wooden Windmill restaurant for an after show taco night with the chorus. OS sang Last Night Was The End Of The World there for the chorus as well as Ma She's Making Eyes At Me, one of our new songs. We had some fun and headed out for a needed good nights sleep.

We slept in on Saturday morning. Kipp asked Beast how his shower was due to the fact that KIPP (being the shortest in OS) had to bend over to wash his hair with such a LOW shower head. Poor Beast almost had to shower on his knees (sorry for the visual!). Then we headed back to Whiskey Creek for lunch since it was close and we all really enjoyed the food from the day before. We were not disappointed. After a great lunch we headed out to do the afternoon show. The show went well and we headed for dinner back to the Wooden Windmill. Our host Greg has a tradition of bringing about 30-40 members of his church to the show and the guest quartet joins them for dinner there and sings a few. We had a nice dinner and sang Darkness on the Delta and Last Night again. Then we headed out for a little rest before the evening show.

After the Saturday night show we went to the glow. It was a good time and by now we were a bit tired but we did pretty well. There was a party after the glow (everglow if you will). We went and sang a few again and had a great time singing tags and enjoying a few adult beverages! Jack and Joe had to leave the party at 3:30am to get their 5:40am flight home! Beast and Kipp left after going out for breakfast and headed for a 7am flight home. Basically, none of us slept at all until we got home.

We had a great time and met some neat people.....thanks Pathfinders for some great memories!

Minneapolis

2009-03-21T00:00:00-07:00

CHORUS: The Commodores

(see pictures page for photos from MN)

You know you're in the big leagues when your host is a gold medalists! Jim Foy bass of The Happiness Emporium (1975 champs) picked us up for the shows in Minneapolis. We grabbed a very nice lunch with Jim and headed out for the mic check. The auditorium was very nice indeed. The sound check went well and we were set for the show. Backstage we got to visit with Bob Dowma and Rick Anderson of the Happiness Emporium as well. Also, Bob Spong (the original baritone) was there. It was nice to catch up with our good friends.

The show went well and we had a dinner there at the school with the chorus guys. After dinner we hung around and waited for the evening performance. Just before the evening show started we had a visit from a good friend and quartet guy Greg Dolphin. Greg has been in many quartets. The most recent being Excalibur who placed in the top ten in international competitions several times. Greg was there with some of his family including his beautiful wife and very cute little daughter. We visited and sang a few for them in the dressing room. It was great to see Greg again. Due to family commitments, he has been out of barbershop for awhile now.

The Commodores are a class act indeed. They sent gorgeous flowers to our ladies thanking them for sharing their husbands with them for the weekend. Amazing!

SALISBURY

2009-03-14T00:00:00-07:00

CHAPTER: Penninsulaires

This was the first show with Kipp on tenor. The show was a tribute to Nancy Sterling. Nancy is the spouse of good friend Tom Sterling who is the director of the chorus and sang in many quartets over the years. Tom is probably most remembered for his quartet Broadway. Nancy has Lou Gehrig's disease. She came to the show and we were able to sing her a song in the lobby. She requested Last Night Was The End Of The World. With Nancy sitting there listening, it was a very inspired performance and actually the first time it was sung with Kipp.

On the show was another great friend of ours, Joe Polio. We joined Joe and his wife for dinner at a very nice steak and seafood place between shows. Great food, great friends and a good barbershop show! The makings of a perfect Saturday night.

The afterglow was at a very nice little bar/restaurant type place. It was informal and we just got up and sang a few. All in all considering it was the first performance with our new tenor, it all went very well!