Concert Choir Tour - Day Two: Slayed by the Goliath Challenge (2 of 2)

Aloha!

The boys are all done with their concert tonight and WOW!  What an amazing space!  It always amazes me how many great spaces there are to sing in this country that are not greatly known.  Time after time we go to towns with amazing spaces.  We are very fortunate.

When we last left our sweater-vested heroes they were making their way towards lunch at a rest stop just inside the South Dakota border.  It was a pretty typical rest stop lunch, where we took full advantage of the opportunity to let the bus cool down inside to a cool 65 degrees.  It’s incredible how much hot air a bus load of 28 boys will put-off.  From the rest stop to Yankton, tonight’s city, it was only about another 45 minutes.  We had the boys take an abbreviated rest period and by the time they were ready to get up, we were at Mount Marty College, which was founded by the sisters of St. Benedict.

Our accommodations are pretty much perfect for us. We are staying in the dormitory here, where each room has two beds with a sink, linens for each boy, communal restrooms and showers, and close proximity to our concert site and eating arrangements.  (Our financially minded friends will be happy to know it’s an economically ideal situation as well.)  It also allows us to give our tremendous driver Rodney an afternoon off.  On the flip-side, there is really no off-time for the staff. 

The afternoon was fairly relaxed.  We woke the boys up from rest period and gave them a little “chill time” in their rooms to prepare their first letter home (going in the mail tomorrow) and update their journals. Around 4:00, we gathered them for a short rehearsal and warm-up in the beautiful chapel here at Mount Marty.  The space is a wide open stone building with tall arching ceilings and virtually no carpet, padding, or anything else that can take-away from the sound.  The boys were very happy to be singing in this space.

At 5:00 the boys were treated to a chicken dinner then gathered their concert items from the bus so they could prepare in their own rooms, just a few steps from the chapel.  The only snafu in the system was a missing tie, which we remedied by using one of Aaron’s for the night that looked similar, but not exact.  Since this our first year with these new uniforms on tour, we are still learning a few things we need to be better prepared for, such as having ample ties on hand.  A shipment of replacement ties are on their way to College Station, Texas at this moment.  J

The concert went very well and the boys looked like they were genuinely enjoying themselves – not just that “stage smile” that we try to plan on their faces every time.  The reverb in the church enhanced their already great sound and the boys just fed off the engaged audience.  It was a great time!  There are a number of songs in this year’s program that catch the audience a little unprepared.  So far through two concerts it has been very enjoyable to watch their reactions to the music.

We did have one interesting story:  During “Thank You Very Much”, one young man stopped Donovan in the middle of the song while he was shaking hands and a lady leaned over and explained how the 93-year-old woman sitting next to her said “this is the greatest thing I have ever heard.”  The boys thoroughly enjoyed hearing that little tidbit, but it was evidently clear the woman had never heard Carrie Underwood’s rendition of “How Great Thou Art.”

After the concert, the boys shook hands with the very appreciative audience and made their way back to the dorms.  All of the boys made it through the showers tonight and we had a little time left over to sit and chat about the upcoming days and a few minor things we need to work on.  These boys are doing great and I hope you are all very proud of the work they are accomplishing.  Tour is always a little different when you are still only a day’s drive from home, but after tomorrow, that will all change as we begin making some serious mileage south.

One housekeeping note:  Mail has been pretty light so far.  Remember:  You can send emails to mail@lolcb.org.  If you get them sent before about 7:40am, I will still be able to print them easily and get them to the boys with tonight’s stack.

Just found-out the Heat won.  BLAH.  I won’t tell the boys right away in the morning, as I don’t want to spoil their breakfast. 

-P.J.