Illini Statesmen

Imagine that a Society member or Associate was ready to write a million dollar check to Harmony Foundation.  But he or she needs a cause that they are certain would be a great investment.  Would YOU know what to tell them? I’m pretty sure I already know what Harmony Foundation would tell them. They already gave [...]

With permission, I’d like to share a personal correspondence from Jeff Selano, whose head is still in the clouds after winning gold while singing tenor with Storm Front: Look at this photo and it all becomes very clear.  We sat down with our wives after Anaheim and said, win or lose in Philly we have [...]

A week from today, barbershop’s best groups will be on display in Philadelphia, starting with the College contest on Tuesday, the quartet quarterfinals and semifinals on Wednesday and Thursday, chorus contest on Friday and finals on Saturday. (Buy tickets and get the schedule of events here. Sign up for the webcast here.) So who’s going [...]

Here’s the chance to add/subtract or discuss the list on page 13 of the May/June 2010 issue of The Harmonizer. Apologies if you came to this site earlier and didn’t find this post as mentioned in the magazine. I just came back from vacation to find that the printer had managed to mail the issue [...]

The last of the Collegiate Quartet Preliminary Contests is over, and we’re excited to announce that 29 collegiate quartets qualified for the International CBQC – which will be taking place on Tuesday, June 29 at 6:00pm in Philadelphia!  Below is the order of appearance for what is going to be an amazing demonstration of musical [...]

We’ll let the VM’s press release speak for itself: PHILADELPHIA CONTEST TO BE LAST COMPETITION FOR VOCAL MAJORITY DIRECTOR JIM CLANCY Dallas, TX (May 18, 2010) — After nearly forty years and an unprecedented eleven gold medals in international competition, Director Jim Clancy has decided to make the 2010 Philadelphia performance his last international contest at the helm [...]

This question comes from a younger Society member who belongs to 52Eighty, 2010 Youth Chorus Festival Champions and Sound of the Rockies, 2009 international bronze medalist. He was a barbershopper elsewhere before moving to Colorado. We’ll keep him anonymous so he can be blunt. Here’s his question: Having come from choruses that post scores no [...]

Here it is folks!  Congratulations to ALL quartets!  1 The Vagrants FWD 2 Crunch Time MAD 3 Masterpiece FWD 4 3 Men & A Melody CSD 5 Evolution BABS 6 Breakout SLD 7 Vocality LOL 8 Voce LOL 9 Lucky Day SUN 10 Storm Front RMD 11 Q-tones SNOBS 12 ‘Round Midnight MAD 13 Old [...]

The sun in shining, the nearby Cumberland River crested at 52 feet (12 feet about flood stage) and is receding. No reports of major damage to staff homes, although several staff have been stranded in their neighborhoods and unable to travel. Only a very small puddle in the basement at headquarters — we’re lucky to [...]

If you’d like some insight into how I select which stories go in The Harmonizer, here it is. Right or wrong, this is how I see my job as editor of the magazine, and this is how I filter through the many submissions and story pitches I receive. The following e-mail exchange shows a quandary [...]

A fun discussion developed this morning when some of us staff guys were taking a stroll around the block this morning. Webmaster Eddie Holt mentioned he’s got a picture of the bronze medal won by the Bartlesville Barflies (our first champs in 1939, picture of the medal here) when they competed again in 1942, essentially [...]