As always, our champs were very prominent in Philadelphia.
Masterpiece took 6th place with Rob Menaker (Nightlife ‘91, Masterpiece ’08), Alan Gordon (GOTCHA! ‘98, Masterpiece ’08) and Brett Littlefield (Nightlife ‘91, Masterpiece ’08).
The Edge took 14th place and, in a first for international, mic tested for the finals round with Tom Moore (Hi-Fidelity ’05, The Edge ’09), Jason Remley (The Edge ’09), Sam Papageorge (Sam’s Club ‘02, The Edge ’09), and J. Friedman (The Edge ’09). If you missed it, you can still see this craziness on the delayed webcast.
Catcher Block took 27th with James Sabina (Metropolis ’96) and Kelly Shepherd (Sam’s Club ’02).
Gary Texiera (GOTCHA! ’98) sang with Forefront and directed the Indianapolis chorus Circle City Sound. Both had a 13th place finish.
It was great to see Mike Spenser (Western Union ‘94, Revival ’97) leading Breakout to their first international competition.
Chris Vaughn (GOTCHA! ’98) directed the current college chorus champions 52eighty on the Saturday night show.
Serving as judges were Rik Johnson (Musician’s Choice ’88), Russ Young (Standing Room Only ‘92, Applause ’00) and in the collegiate contest Bobby Gray Jr. (The Grand Tradition ’78, The New Tradition ’84). Guest judges in the pit were Craig Ewing (Musician’s Choice ’88, Rhythm & Rhyme ’93, Hi-Fidelity ’05), Ken Potter (Sam’s Club ’02), and Scott Wilson (GOTCHA! ’98).
Scott Wilson(GOTCHA! '98) was also prominently featured in the Ambassador’s Of Harmony master class – as the head of the 2009 chorus champion’s visual team.
The New Tradition was featured on the AIC show. John Sherburn (Crown City Good Time Music Company ’70, TNT ’84), Dan Jordan (The Grand Tradition ’78, TNT ’84), Bobby Gray Jr. (see above), and John Miller (TNT ’84) celebrated the 25th anniversary of winning international gold medals.
John Miller was also announced as a Society Board Member and his wife a trustee of Harmony Foundation. He wins the proud papa award since his son, Justin, directed The Westminster Chorus to a gold medal, besting the Vocal Majority with the highest score in the history of the Society.
Jeff Baker (Nightlife ’91) was the Master of Ceremonies of the AIC show, and was featured in comedic video clips throughout the evening.
OC Times premiered some new tunes on the AIC show. Shawn York (OC Times ’04), Sean Divine (Sam’s Club ’02, OC Times ’04), Patrick Claypool (OC Times ’04) and Cory Hunt (Q ’03) announced the release of Destinations. I predict we will be hearing quartets across the world “covering” many of the great performances on this CD.
Sean Devine was everywhere to be seen in his role with Harmony Foundation, as well as being “honored” by Storm Front in their we-want-to-be-champions song in the finals.
The sad announcement was made that Gary Bolles (Great Western Timbre Co. ’86) was retiring from the judging program. He was honored for his many years of service, including acting as category specialist.
Brian Philbin (Metropolis ‘96) co-hosted the YouBarbershop.com show during the convention allowing folks not in Philly to blog about the performances on the webcast.
Mike McGee (Metropolis ’96) awarded “audience favorite” awards to Toronto Northern Lights for their hilarious and brilliantly executed android package and to Storm Front for 6 innovative, complex, and side-splitting songs. The selections were made by the YouBarbershop.com audience, having no impact on the scoring, but honoring groups that went above-and-beyond to entertain.
Thanks to all the above and to any that may have been missed on this list.
They won the championship in Sacramento, CA. on October 10th 2009.
