NOTEWORTHY ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR AHSOW & SEVERAL MEMBERS IN SLC

AHSOW and several of its members made history at the Salt Lake City
convention.

Our very first inductee of the week was new Society CEO Ed Watson. Ed
came in on the fly between meetings and passed Tenor, Bari, and Melody very
commendably. (He has a golden Lead voice!) He was already fashionably
late for his next meeting, so there wasn't time for him to try Bass, but
he's encouraged to, at Harmony College or elsewhere. AHSOW is honored to
have this congenial, capable leader as a brother in ear-harmony.

The collegiate quartet New Release has made Barbershop history. All
four singers are now AHSOW members. New Release is the first collegiate
quartet to have achieved this distinction.
Not only are they all members, but each is qualified on ALL FOUR voice
parts.
Ryan Griffith and Joe Eckert slam-dunked their auditions on Thursday
afternoon. Shawn Thomas (inducted into AHSOW at the 2005 M-AD Spring
Convention) added Bass to his qualification corral. Noah Morrison has been
an AHSOW member since 2002.
Rumor has it, accurately or otherwise, that the quartet essentially
woodshedded one of its Contest arrangements. This is just like quartets
used to do it. Do it again and let us know about it next time, guys!

Raymond B. Johnson, of the collegiate champion quartet "Men in Black,"
qualified as a four-part member. He joins the elite group who've won a
quartet championship and qualified for AHSOW in the same year. See
http://www.ahsow.org and read "History of AHSOW" to refresh your memory of
the others.

Former AHSOW Board member Russ Seely, "Mr. Everything" in the Pioneer
District and also a former Society Board member, received his 50-year pin
in Salt Lake City. He and John Wearing (who also got his 50-year pin) have
sung with each other in a quartet for 43 consecutive years. Amazing!
Seely has perhaps the best voice that you'll ever woodshed with (on
all four parts) and is a gentleman of the highest caliber. Congratulations!

AHSOW's final inductee of the convention was none other than Kent
Martin, who sang with the 1980 quartet champions "Boston Common." Kent was
a long-ago AHSOW member, and he and AHSOW are very pleased that he's back.

See the next item for a VERY special new AHSOW member!

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WHO IS AHSOW'S ALL-TIME YOUNGEST MEMBER?

AHSOW's youngest-ever member is Patrick McAlexander of Fishers,
Indiana -- age 11 years, 1 month, 22 days at the time of his induction.
Dad Brad is proud of this second-generation AHSOW member. Mom Ann writes,
in part:

"Patrick was thrilled, too. Ever since he visited the AHSOW room last
year in Louisville, he's been talking about wanting to qualify this year.
We all worked at the Indianapolis registration booth Friday morning, then
Patrick and I headed up to the AHSOW room after we were through.
"He was pretty proud. He realizes what a big deal it is. When I
asked him what the highlights of his week were, he mentioned AHSOW first,
followed by his trivia class and his TV interview. And he wore his gold
sticker ["I Passed My AHSOW Audition!"] for the rest of the convention.
"He joined the Society four years ago, after the Nashville convention.
He sang in his first contest that fall.
"His first quartet experience was doing Singing Valentines with his
dad the following February. He's done them each year since. He takes the
day off of school to sing, but usually surprises his teacher with a
performance during the day, and his classmates always get a big kick out of
it. He'll be a sixth grader this fall.
"He sang in a pick-up quartet on the Alaska cruise with Gas House Gang
in 2002. They gave him the Munchkin Award, for being the only contestant
shorter than they were!
"He's participated in the two annual Indiana Harmony Brigade weekends,
and is signed up to attend the third one this fall.
"I love to sit next to him at church, because he harmonizes with me as
we sing the hymns. Sometimes we woodshed and sing tags in the car. He's
always been able to hear and sing tenor, and more recently has also started
with baritone. He hears it. He just seems to know where it belongs. It's
really cool. He also loves to sit at the computer and arrange songs for
fun with our Allegro software."

Patrick passed on the top three voice parts, and Bass is certainly in
his future. No one's sure who's prouder -- AHSOW, his parents, or Patrick
himself!

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HOW LARGE IS AHSOW?

As you read this, AHSOW has 1401 members. AHSOW had crossed the
1400-member line a few times in the past, but the number was unstable, as
several men previously counted on the rolls had let their Society
membership lapse but kept renewing AHSOW (noble, but a no-no). The men who
are in both organizations make AHSOW -- by far the Society's largest
subordinate -- so vital, vibrant, and relevant to every area of
Barbershopping.

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ANCIENT HARMONIOUS SOCIETY OF WOODSHEDDERS, INC.
Toban Dvoretzky, Ex-Pres.
www.ahsow.org /// TBone @ selec.net