Hi people,

I've just returned this afternoon from my first International
convention and just wanted to share a few thoughts with you (before I
crawl off to bed - sleep has not been high on the priority list the
last couple of evenings!)

Firstly, massive congratulations to Musical Island Boys! What a
tremendous achievement! I feel priviliged to have been there to see
it. And that was no easy competition! For those that didn't see it,
Ebbets Field, Afternoon Delight and New Release were all excellent
quartets, and I was dead scared that MIB would get bronze again! But
the final margin was convincing. Was great to see them doing a song
that I hadn't seen them do before - Come Fly With Me. And Darktown
Strutters' Ball was just spectacular. They did the country and NZABS
proud - and thanks guys for letting me hold the trophy!

Secondly - the chorus contest. WOW! Vocal Majority VERY nearly got
beaten by the very classy Westminster kids. I'll leave it up the
more musical among you to comment on the specific merits of each
group, but I think the VM's overall polished presentation helped them
out. But man, Westminster were making some overtones that I hadn't
heard before! It was incredibly clean singing, and the audience
loved them (as you would expect - taking down the VM is something
that a lot of people would like to do!). I had been to a VM
rehearsal on the Thursday morning, and was stunned with their work
ethic, attention to detail, dynamic control, and attitude - they are
truly a champion chorus, and Jim Clancy is a legend. I was very
happy that they won again.

For the record, Southern Gateway was 12th, which was a little
disappointing. We had a higher score than our 10th place finishes of
2003 and 2004, but a bit lower than last year's 9th place finish.
(Not that I was in it then, but you know what I mean). It was a
drastic change of direction for us, with a difficult chart in David
Wright's "Honey's Lovin' Arms" - so the fact we managed to keep our
score in the same ballpark is an achievement of sorts, but we were
aiming for 89s! Never mind - it was still great fun! Did anyone see
it on the webcast? Did we look OK?

Thirdly - the Quartet finals. DOUBLE WOW!! That was just
unbelievable. Six points separating first and second, when there's a
possible 9000 points is amazing! I didn't see Vocal Spectrum's first
set, but their other two were awesome. And Max Q's final set was
fantastic - they were poking fun at themselves and not trying to be
too serious or showing off, which really seemed to get the audience
on side as well. They won't be happy with 3 silvers in a row! But
hopefully they'll be back again. As for Vocal Spectrum, going from
College Champs to International Champs in 2 years is impressive!
They are a seriously talented group; if you've ever heard Tim
Waurick's learning tracks you know what I mean!

Metropolis were singing really well. Flipside are definitely on the
rise, led by their huge bass sound. Wow - I can only dream of
hitting notes like that... I agree with David that Wheelhouse were
much improved. I never really liked them, but on Saturday night I
think they really justified their 6th place finish. State Line
Grocery are a really pleasant quartet to listen to - totally
different style to the first 3 placegetters! Brian O'Dell from
MatriX is another bass you can listen to all day - I was hoping they
would do well, as Paul Gilman directs Southern Gateway, and is a
really great guy. If you haven't heard their version of "Georgia on
My Mind", check it out.

Some other highlights:

1. Getting to see all the past champs live for the first time at the
AIC show and around the place. Realtime are awesome. As are
Gotcha!, Four Voices, FRED and all the others - was cool to finally
see and hear all these legendary guys after listening to CDs and
stories about them for ages.

2. Hot Air Buffoons - hilarious! Their parody of South Rampart
Street Parade is classic - "Do you smell the meat" - it's the South
Rampart Street Buffet!

3. Midwest Vocal Express in the chorus contest. Impossible to
explain - you'll have to buy the video if you didn't see it! 75 fish
swimming in the sea (created by long blue capes), with turtles, coral
reefs, and a starfish as a director. It was their Aquarium set -
fish having been taken from the sea to live in an aquarium,
singing "Son of the Sea" and "How Deep is the Ocean" among other
songs in the package - it was hilarious. There are some creative
geniuses in that chorus!

4. The Helsingborg Barberboys, or should I say, Barberbabes! Sure,
they came last in the competition, but they have talents in other
areas! Trust the Swedes to go beyond the ordinary in order to be
entertaining (ie, dressing in drag, making up parody lyrics and
singing in the Rainbow Room Saturday night!) - now that was funny!

Some links:
Photos: http://public.fotki.com/danp2000/bhs/2006/international/

Webcast: http://webcast.riverbendmedia.com/barbershop/archive.html -
they've archived the quartet quarterfinals on here for those who had
trouble viewing them, and it's free! But only until Monday morning
(US time) - so you've probably got about 10 or 12 hours before
they've gone.

Sorry for the long rambling post! It was a fun four days!

Richard Harker