Gleanings From The Mailbag
Bulletin Happenings
A page and one-half article entitled "A day (or so) in the life of '1 Phred too many'" got my attention in the Conejo Valley Chapter (Newbury Park, Calif.), Harmony Oaks Reporter, Fred Stoliker, editor. The editor just happens to be one of the two "Phreds" in the new chapter quartet. The entire article is a series of interesting and funny situations that the quartet fell into. During a break in delivering Singing Valentines, they went for lunch at Wendy's in Westlake Village and to sing for a lady that the other Phred (Fred La Porte) read about in a recent newspaper article.
Editor Fred writes, "It seems that this 89-year-old lady was enrolled in a nursing home by her daughter and it came to pass that she, Eleanor Fleichman, was bored at the home. One day, while scanning the want ads in the paper, she noted that Wendy's was opening up a new unit in a new shopping center near Staples. She went over to apply and was hired on the spot.
"After a few days, she became so popular that people came to the restaurant just to see her at lunchtime. So, we found out that she worked from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Since we had a conflict with the Camarillo engagement, the manager of the unit agreed to have Eleanor stay until at least 1:30. We arrived at the unit and the manager asked us to wait until the district manager showed up. When he arrived, we sat Eleanor down and started to sing to her.
"A customer, who had finished her lunch, started to walk out, but when she saw what was happening, came back in and took a picture. The district manager also took Jack's [quartet lead] camera and took pictures of us singing and of the manager, assistant manager, a couple of other employees and Dave Thomas [Wendy's founder] in the background! This performance was so well received, the manager would not let us pay for our lunches! I guess we made everyone's day!"
[Maybe Wendy's ad agency should start using barbershop quartets with Dave Thomas in a new ad campaign. -Ed.]
The Great Northern Union Chorus, Hilltop Chapter (just north of Minneapolis, Minn.) has a clever name for their chapter bulletin. It is GNU's NEWS with Emery Nelson as editor. (Emery is an old friend, as we lived just a few blocks apart in Stillwater, Minn., in the '70s when I was a member of the St. Croix Valley, Minn.-Wis., Chapter, along with Emery. He also edits the St. Croix Valley Chapter's bulletin, which I have yet to see.) The chapter has a Hotline that gives the members current information on "rehearsals, performances and other pertinent information." The Hotline sounds like a good idea, considering that they are a competition chorus. They appear annually on the International chorus contest stage.
Don Davison, writing in the Ottawa, Ont., Chapter's Quarter Notes, Hugh Spence, editor, tells of a successful Guest Night. They had nearly 30 guests. After the chapter meeting, one of the guests said, "I went out to a chapter evening 15 years ago and had no encouragement to return. The music was nothing special. This time, I was made welcome, looked after and the music was absolutely awesome."
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