Concert Choir Day Twelve: As Much Fun As We Should Be Allowed to Have

Aloha!  

The boys are having a rest period now so I finally have a few minutes to throw some Sugarland on the IPod and catch everyone-up on yesterday’s awesomeness.  In my 19 years with the Choirboys, this was one of the best days we’ve ever had.  It started a little something like this…

With all the boys being in a motel for the two days we are in the Niagara Falls Area, (we are technically in Tonawanda, NY – a suburb of Buffalo), I work them up about 7:15 and readied them in their travel uniforms for our church service in nearby Lockport, NY where we had our concert the night before.  The First Presbyterian Church in Lockport was very good to us during our stay and our two performances.  They took very good care of us while we were with them, including a full breakfast spread for the boys this morning.

Our church service went very well.  Many parishioners were commenting and still giving donations to support the program from the concert the night before.  One elderly lady mentioned that this was the best choir concert she had ever been to.  That was very nice.  (One story from the night before I somehow forgot to mention:  One man came-up after the concert looking for Ethan.  He had to meet the boy who was doing such a great job smiling on stage.  During the course of the past week or so, Ethan has found a new gear on stage and has turned into a rock star smiling machine on stage!  It’s been fun to watch, and having this kind of reinforcement from a perfect stranger did a ton for his confidence on stage – fun stuff to see!)

For those of you that may be unfamiliar with upstate New York, Lockport is a major town on the Erie Canal and the site of locks for raising and lowering boats on the Erie Canal.  To our luck, the national heritage site museum was located directly across the street from the church and the canal was a block past that.  Instead of rushing to the Niagara Falls, (not like they were going anywhere anyways…), we spent an hour going through the museum.  In that hour, we also brought them in two groups down to the locks so they could watch them working.  Most boys had no clue these even existed or had any idea why they were even necessary.  It was a fun way to educate the boys and a great museum.  (Thank you to the museum for letting the boys go through free of charge.)  Our timing was great as well, as a small boat was going through the locks, so we got to watch it rise and move into the next lock through the enormous metal gates.

After the museum, we boarded the bus and Rockin’ Rodney drove us out to Niagara Falls.  The previous day, we found a nice picnic area on Goat Island, so we headed back there again to eat the lunches provided to us from First Presbyterian in Lockport.  The highlight of the two lunches was probably the high number of seagulls circling around to scarf-up on little scraps left behind by the boys.  It was a little difficult to keep the boys focused on getting more nutrition than the birds, but we managed.

Our first stop after every meal is the bathroom.  It seems like all we do sometimes is consume things or return them to the Earth on this tour.  The side effects of traveling with 34 boys.  We then decided it would be best to stop at the “Cave of the Winds” first.  It’s actually not a cave at all, but more of a deck that brings you under the American Falls.  It might be the best $7/boy we will spend the entire tour.

For starters, we went through line and got our ponchos.  As a rule of thumb, (except in the Army), if you need a poncho, it’s going to be fun.  Whether it’s front row at a Gallagher show or “Cave of the Winds”, you’re probably going to be smiling when you are wearing a colorful garbage bag.  To make this an even better deal, we were each given a pair of sandals to keep.  How cool is that!

The line was about 35 minutes long, but it seemed to go by quickly, for a 35 minute line.  An elevator shaft brings you down to the bottom of the falls and a long deck brings you right up to the point where the water hits the rocks.  We weren’t technically “in” the falls, but don’t ruin it for the boys.  These boys were as happy as I have ever seen a group of boys in my life.  Sam Strub was smiling and giggling so hard I didn’t think we were ever going to get him back!  The boys spent a good 15 minutes getting soaked from head-to-toe in the spray from the falls on the Hurricane Deck.  It’s something they will never forget for the rest of their lives.  Seeing their faces and excitement is something I will never forget either.

Soaking wet and faces sore from smiling so hard, we took a few more pictures and made the journey back up the elevator.  After a water break at the bus, we ate a snack and made our way about a mile to The Maid of the Mist.  It was probably a miscalculation on our part to put these two events in this order.  The Maid of the Mist was not nearly as cool as the Cave was, but the boys had fun anyways, sitting in the middle of the Horseshoe Falls.  It was one of the moments where we gathered the boys together and reminded them to look around and be proud of where their hard work, dedication, and musicianship has brought them

 

Our Maid of the Mist tickets allowed us to go in the giant observation tower jutting over the Niagara River with a fantastic view of the falls.  We were really high up there!  Naturally, the only way we could get out of the place was to go through the gift store.  Several hundred of your dollars later, they let us leave.  I’m not sure how Rodney did it, (and I probably don’t want to know), but about 300 yards away from our gift store was a Land of Lakes Choirboys bus, cooled and ready to whisk us away from this place.

We called ahead and made some reservations for the Old Country Buffet that was less than a mile from our motel.  The boys literally gorged themselves on every kind of food you can imagine.  We let them go a little more crazy than usual, particularly on the desserts.  They earned it.

We made it back the motel around 8:00pm.  The boys turned in their travel uniforms so Adam and Kenny could bring them up to the Laundromat to get them cleaned for the next few days, since we are all together and will not have the availability of host home laundry help.  Adam learned an important lesson on the first dryer he tried:  the “25” on there signifies the price of the machine, not the number of quarters that machine needs in order to operate.  One of the dryers went a really long time – you can guess which one.

The boys were showered and in bed by 10:00, still giddy with excitement from the awesome day that was.  Tomorrow we board on the bus and head to Sandusky, Ohio – the home of Cedar Point, which as you can imagine, is not something the boys are looking forward to at all.  ;-)  

The boys are continuing to make many great friends and new fans along their tour this year.  It’s remarkable how they can win people over in such a short period of time.  The manners, singing, and experience these boys are getting are so refreshing to so many.  We are still trying to raise funds to help support the tour and organization.  With the help of so many generous people, we have gotten about half way to our goal, but time is running-out.  Please make a donation here (http://givemn.razoo.com/story/2012concerttour) if you support the great experience of these boys and want to see us continue to be able to write these blogs for years to come!

 

Until tomorrow,

P.J.

Concert Choir Day Eleven: Down the Home Stretch

Aloha!

This has been a great year for host families and last night was no different.  There were more than a few tears shed by the families as they waved good-bye to the boys and got their final hugs in.  They really enjoyed having the boys and once again, we were invited back anytime.  That has been a recurring theme with these boys this year.  They have really won over the hearts of thousands of people so far and are making a great name for the LOLCB/Minnesota.

The day started like any other, first by getting the boys in their seats, counted, then getting all the necessary meds distributed to whoever required them.  Then, we pull-out the journals and recap all the events from the past day while it is fresh in our memory.  The boys have been doing  very good job with their journaling.  It helps to journal when you have so many good things to write about!  I hope that is being reflected in the letters home as well.  

A bit further down the road, we had Jeffrey, our “Officer of the Day” come forward and give the Daily Report.  The “Officer of the Day” is a new position we created this year to help give some more responsibility to the older boys.  They are responsible for taking attendance in the morning, handing-out vitamins at lunch, carrying in the banner that we present to the host families, and a few other small tasks throughout the day.  It was become a fun position to have.  About 10 boys or so have done it, with more yet to come.  I plan to make a few small tweaks to it, but I think it could be a staple in our program for many moons to come.

Aaron recapped the previous night’s performance with the boys and gave them a rating of 8.8, which I believe is the highest of the tour so far.  They are doing fairly well – it’s just really tough to get a score over 9.  The boys then had a few hours with their games and Ipods while we went the rest of the trip into Niagara.  They had very little time with them the past few days, so they were more than a little excited to be playing with them again.

At Niagara Falls, we took out our lunches and used the restroom first.  Today’s trip to the falls was just a short one – about enough time to check-out the Horseshoe Falls and eat our lunches.  We also made time to check-out the Nikola Tesla statue that is built on the site.  Pretty cool.  The boys were obviously impressed by the massive size and power of the falls.  They will be experiencing it firsthand tomorrow…More to come.

After lunch, we went  little crazy and thought it would be a good idea to stop and resupply while we had the time.  Instead of making a list of what batteries, disposable cameras, headphones, toothbrushes, etc. we needed and buying them with a staff member, we just brought everyone in at the same time.  To my surprise, it actually went okay!  The boys behaved themselves for the most part and proved very useful when I needed someone to transport the 8 cases of Aquafina.  (For those keeping track at home, we go through about 2 cases per day.)

After Target, we drove to our motel in Tonawanda, about 15 minutes away.  The boys got checked-in to their rooms and had about 45 minutes to rest.  They need their rest so much right now.  All the running around we have been doing the past few days has taken its toll on the energy levels of the boys.  They are exhausted, and so are the staff.  Sunday Night we plan to give them a night-off in their rooms to relax, play games, and rest-up.  It will be an early bedtime.

Although we were in a motel for this stay, we still arranged to have a concert in nearby Lockport, NY.  Lockport is a community on the Erie Canal with several locks and dams.  The church we are singing in was built in 1855 and holds several beautiful Tiffany stained-glass windows.  The rock that was blasted-out of the canal was used to erect this massive church more than 150 years ago.  It also has some other interesting features, like the organ in the middle-front of the church that has an underground passage way to get back to the choir room.  The organ also rides a platform up and down, depending on the needs of the church for that day.  I’ve been to a lot of churches in my days, and this one was certainly unique!

The people at First Presbyterian in Lockport couldn’t have been nicer to the boys.  For starters, they spoiled them with grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, with plenty of fresh fruit, beans, veggies and other fixings to eat.  After the concert, they had an outdoor reception in the courtyard with cookies and punch.  (Sunday morning, they would again roll-out the red carpet with a full spread of breakfast, including fruit, homemade cinnamon rolls, and breakfast pizza in three different flavors.  It was pretty impressive!)

The concert went along well, although it was quite warm in the church without air conditioning.  The doors/windows were open to provide a nice cross-breeze.  While the boys were singing, I took a short walk to check-out the locks on the Erie Canal to see if it would be something the boys would like.  I think they will find it very interesting!

After the concert, the boys had their cookie and boarded the bus back to the hotel.  In all honesty, it wasn’t the best behaved afternoon for our little cherubs, so we had a little “quite reminder activity” to help refocus them for the last six days of the tour.  They are doing fairly well on the whole, but they are so tired right now.  I think the activity got the point across.  Our expectations of the boys do not waiver depending on what day it is. 

 

At the hotel, it was showers for everyone and hit the hay!  Sunday should be a great day, with a church service in the morning, a surprise/unplanned trip to the locks around 11, and a few hours to do “Cave of the Winds” and “Maid in the Mist” in the afternoon before relaxing at the motel for the night.  Dinner might be at “Old Country Buffet” as well.  

P.J.

Concert Choir Day Ten: Back on the Singing Horse

Aloha!

We’re finally starting to get caught back up with the blog after several days in a row of intense memory-making.  Thank you for your patience!  Whew!  Right now we are headed towards Niagara Falls for two more days of performances and visiting some of the coolest places in the world.  The boys are very wound-up right now.  It’s a little annoying, but I am playing the “I have to write the blog” card, complete with headphones.  Headphones can be a Prefect’s best friend.  (Sorry about the lack of photos on this post.  There is limited internet, so uploading pictures would take forever.  We'll make it up to you tomorrow.)

Yesterday was a turning point for these boys, I think.  About this time every year, they finally figure it out.  The routine has set in.  The trust is developed between all of them.  Just about anything we can teach them about their jobs, the concert, the music, or anything else we do on this tour has been discussed at length.  This is where they decide to put it together and make it happen.  It’s like this every year – just part of the process.

We started Friday as late as we could to allow the boys enough time to rest.  Typically, when I wake boys up in the morning, there are about 5-10 that are just lying in bed, waiting for their permission to get up.  On this day, I don’t think any of them were awake before I got there at 8:00.  They were tuckered-out!  

The Best Western we were at was a very good one, as far as Best Western’s go.  When you stay at as many different motels as we do in June/July, you can easily notice the small differences.  For example, motels with automatic doors are a good start.  The second thing that you can look for is an on-site manager, which this one had, and she was good!  The third thing we look for is if they are ready with our key cards and mail before we get there.  The ones that are prepared are on their game.

The breakfast at this motel was well above average.  The boys had all they wanted of bacon, eggs, sausage, hash browns, waffles, fruit, yogurt – pretty much anything they would want.  If the boys left this area hungry, it was their own fault.  (I don’t think any of them did.)

After eating, there was a little time to spend in their outdoor pool, but first we needed to wash some of their uniform shirts so they had something clean to wear.  The hotel offered to through their travel uniforms in their big washer/dryer instead of making us stand at their single guest laundry with a stack of quarters.  This was a HUGE help to us – probably one of the highlights of my day.  This saved us about 2 hours in staff time and saved us from having to put uniform shirts over the back of bus seats to dry them out.  Gets pretty humid on the bus when that happens, as I am sure you can imagine.  With temperatures well into the 90’s here, it was great to get this help.

The boys were pretty pumped to get into the pool, as you can imagine.  The water was nice and cool as well.  It was an outdoor pool, with plenty of sunshine and the air wasn’t miserably hot yet, as it was only 10:00 in the morning.  After about 35 minutes, we put the boys back into their rooms and had them pack for the trip to Auburn, New York.  By 11:15, we were on the road. 

Since we were in a motel the night before, we didn’t have bag lunches and needed to find some lunch on our own.  The best option for us on a day like this was to go to a buffet, where we could save some money and time.  We tried to get into a KFC, but it didn’t have a buffet, so we went down the road a little to a Pizza Hut.  All the boys had their salad before eating a truckload of pizza.  We are down to just one picky salad eater – yay!  The wait staff at Pizza Hut was apprehensive at first about having a group of 40 come eat, but they warmed-up to the boys very quickly.  By the end, they were extremely impressed.  The manager even knocked an extra 10% off the meal because they were so good.

After lunch, the traffic picked-up considerably.  We were running about 20 minutes behind schedule, but with traffic, that ballooned quickly.  The amount of road construction on the route did not help either.  Since the church we were performing in was so beautiful, it hosts several weddings each weekend.  We had a tight window schedule to meet if we wanted to get some stage time in, as they had two wedding rehearsals this evening as well.  We missed our early time slot unfortunately, but we still had plenty of time to relax, eat dinner, and go through our normal concert routine, minus some stage preparation time. 

 

Everything at St. Mary’s in Auburn was terrific.  They spoiled the boys with a wonderful chicken dinner!  The boys then warmed-up in the amazing sanctuary before changing for the concert.  The church routinely hosts boy’s choirs, so the crowd was very nice with lots of knowledgeable audience members.  The American Boychoir, the Rochester Boychoir, and the Boston Boychoir all perform there.

During a lull in the action, I sat the boys down and had a little chat about everything.  It was a great chat.  I also had the privilege of presenting Jacob Rud and Thomas Stewart with their level one leadership pins.  They have been doing a fantastic job lately and certainly deserved them.  More pins to come….  

The concert went fairly well, musically.  Considering they have been away from the singing for  a few days, they bounced back nicely.  During the concert, we had a special feel-good moment.  Aaron has a part in the concert where he asks the audience members if they have any questions, which they always do.  It’s a nice little break for the boys, and a great chance for the audience to ask questions they are dying to have answers for.  There are always a number of really good questions.  (It’s my new favorite part of the concert.)

On this particular day, we had many questions about their practice schedule and other things from the adult members of the audience.  Just before we were about to go on to “Minnesota Morning”, seven year-old Xavier in the third row raises his hand and asks the boys what it is like to sing on a stage.  Aaron really didn’t have a great thing to say, so he simply showed him.  For “Minnesota Morning”, we have the boys actually sit on the stage in a casual fashion.  Aaron brought little Xavier over and placed him right next to Sam in the front row and started the song.  It was so cool watching him sit there in the middle of the boys.  A lot of the audience members were “ooing” and “awing” as well.  It was pretty cute.

The end of the concert went very well, also.  We finally broke the 15 minute clean-up mark!  (I had to bribe them with a cookie, but it worked…) The boys met their host families and headed home for the evening. 

 

It was a great day!

P.J.

Concert Choir Day Nine: Start Spreading the News

Aloha!

After a day like we had yesterday, a little rest and recuperation would be a nice thing. We’ll have plenty of time for that on July 7^th!

This morning’s plans had us eating some breakfast in the motel lobby and then boarding the bus for the second day of our visit to New York City.  As you can imagine, the boys were more than a little pokey from the late night we had before.  We solved it by giving them a Red Bull and some stay alert tablets from a truck stop we came across just outside Louisville.  That seemed to do the trick for most of them. 

 

The first part of the day was actually in New Jersey, where we navigated our way down to the waterfront and took some pictures in front of the New York skyline from Liberty State Park.  The boys were able to go through a moving 9-11 Memorial dedicated to the victims from New Jersey.  There was also a piece of twisted steel that once held the massive buildings up that served as a reminder of the terrible events of that day.  

In order to get to the islands, we needed to take a series of ferries to get there.  They launched from the park we were at.  We had to bring the boys through security and then wait a few minutes before boarding the ship for Ellis Island.  The boat ride was pretty fun, as we managed to snag good seats on the top level.  The temperatures were warm, but not crazy warm like it was set to be later in the day.  So many boys took pictures!

Our time at Ellis Island was heavily dictated by the ferry schedule.  We didn’t have oodles of time, so we held-off on souvenir shopping for the morning.  We brought all the boys through the main level exhibits just inside the main doors then let them break-up into small groups to tour the rest of the exhibits they wanted to.  There is so much history in this building and its importance in our country’s growth is incredible.  The growth of the island is pretty impressive to, starting as a small island and growing (literally) as more space was needed.  Worth researching if you are nerdy like me and into that kind of stuff.

When our ferry arrived, we jumped on it and rode into the Statue of Liberty.  The ferry ride brings you right across the front of Lady Liberty at a perfect distance for photos.  I think the ship was leaning a little from the number of boys on that side of it.  We docked and did our photos right away.  While we were waiting for the next ferry anyway, we decided to have lunch there in their little cafeteria style restaurant.  It was sort of a madhouse, but all the boys got enough to eat and drink.

Drinking was sort of the theme for the day, as we were pushing incredible amounts of water on them throughout the day.  With incredible amounts of water come frequent bathroom breaks – it’s a time-consuming battle.  Finding water in downtown New York is a battle to.  It’s so very expensive!  I think we went well over our budget for water while we were there, but it was what was necessary with temps in the low 90’s.

After eating lunch, we hopped back on the ferry and made our way to Long Island.  We did our best to impress upon them the massive sizes of the buildings.  When you consider that most of those buildings are the size of the IDS Tower in Minneapolis, and there are hundreds of them, it really puts things in perspective.  When we arrived at Battery Park to offload the ferry, waves were making it difficult to allow for safe transfer to the shore.  The waves would slam the boat against the dock and send everyone flying a good two feet to the left instantly.  The first time was a little scary, but as it continued to happen the boys really got into it.  About 25 times the boat slammed up against the dock.  When it was safe and everything was tied-down, they lowered the ramp and allowed the passengers to get off.  

With lunch and the ferry schedules throwing us a little behind schedule, we had to book it in order to get back on track.  Our first stop was One World Trade Center and the 9-11 Memorial.  Unfortunately, when we got there we saw the incredible line to get through security that was estimated to take about 30 minutes.  This wasn’t possible with the other stops we had for the day, so we took our photos the best we could and started heading the 4 miles by foot up to Rockefeller Plaza.  

It was becoming very clear that pushing the boys that distance in this heat wasn’t going to be a great plan.  (We actually walked further five years ago when we went into New York, but it wasn’t quite this warm.)  Since we are on a very tight budget in order to fit everything in, we didn’t have 39 tickets in the Subway planned, but it became a necessary expense.  Aaron used his schnazzy new phone to navigate us to a subway station and we loaded the boys onto the right car that would get us there.  About 15 minutes later, we emerged just blocks from our destination and fresher from the short rest.

The NBC Studios Tour at The Rockefeller Plaza was the highlight of the day for many.  For Anne Curry fans, it was a little bittersweet, as it was her last day on The Today Show.  We had to split the group into two in order to accommodate everyone.  The tour started with a short video on the history of NBC and the rules of the tour.  It was interesting to me to know that Rockefeller Plaza was actually built for radio, not television, so many of the floors and studios have had to be redone in order to accommodate the changes in broadcasting processes. 

 

The first stop on the tour was pretty cool – the Football Night in America set for Sunday Night Football.  The very set where Bob Costas and Tony Dungy break-down the game was set-up for us to see.  It is the highest rated program on NBC, for those keeping track at home. 

The second stop was for a little program called “Saturday Night Live”.  You could see the train station set still standing there as the tour guides talked about how they banished Chris Farley to one of the side sets for most of his sketches because he made such a mess and it took longer to clean-up.  Since the show is on hiatus for the summer, they set-up banks of computers and temporary sound booths on the floor and in the seats to help support their 2012 Olympic Coverage, starting next month on July 27.  (I know you will be eager to get home from the Land of Lakes Choirboys Golf Tournament that day so you can watch the opening ceremonies with the satisfaction of knowing you helped support the boys, just by playing golf earlier in the day.)

The third stop in the tour was with the news programs of NBC.  There wasn’t a whole lot going on there, which either explains their plummet in the ratings or was a by-product of it.  I didn’t ask.  Right after this, we were able to see the make-up artists of NBC and how they make masks and have adapted to the HD era of television.  In my group, we went into a mock studio where two boys, Steven Kelly and Joel Zimmerman were invited to give a short news report and weather update in front of a green screen, complete with Teleprompters and sound.  It was pretty neat, but ultimately a weak attempt to get you to buy something at the end of the tour.  (They recorded it, but neither of the boys wanted to buy it.)

 

The last stop of the tour was on the set of the Today show.  Anne Curry’s chair was still sitting there, complete with a masking-tape “Curry” stuck to the side, right next to “Roker” and “Lauer”.  Lisa got a little misty-eyed, I think.  Outside the windows, you could see some barricades being placed for the next day’s live concert by Maroon Five.  We made our way back out to the starting point and bid our NBC Page farewell before dropping all your hard-earned money on “Friends” coffee mugs and “The Office” bobble heads.  The NBC Studios Tour was very fun!

We tried to take a picture in front of the 30 Rock fountains, but they had some event being held there which detracted from the scenery a bit.  Oh well, we still got about 20 other places this day.

From NBC, we had to go about 15 blocks to the Empire State Building.  We didn’t have to be there at any particular time, just around 7:00.  This gave us time to eat at a McDonald’s directly across the street and spend more of your hard-earned money at a sweet discount gift store.  Prefect tip of the day:  When they advertise 20 postcards for $1, you have reached your destination.  The boys loaded-up on gifts at great rates!

The Empire State Building was our final official stop of the day.  The timing was perfect to view the sun setting in the west over the New Jersey horizon.  From the top, you were able to see everything we walked around from the top of the city – a perfect ending to as perfect of a day as you can have in New York City.  Three blocks away was Penn Station, directly below Madison Square Garden, where we boarded the train and headed to New Jersey, where Rodney was waiting with a cooled bus.  The Choirboys trip into the big city was over and a lifetime of memories were stored in their little heads.  After a 25 minutes drive to the hotel, they washed their faces, brushed their teeth and hopped into bed.

Goodnight, Choirboys.  Good job today.

P.J.

Concert Choir Day Eight: Taking the First Bite Out of the Big Apple

Aloha!  It’s back to the old blog routine after two extraordinary unbelievably awesome days.  I’m going to do my best to get you caught back up to speed.

Yesterday morning feels like a week ago.  We woke-up in Frostburg, Maryland and loaded the bus for our next stop:  New York City.  The families in Maryland adored the boys and made us promise that it won’t be another five years before we return again.  I don’t know if we can keep that promise, but time will tell. 

 

Once on the road, the rest of the morning was pretty easy.  We hit a few rest stops along the way in Pennsylvania and ate some delicious lunches provided by the church in Frostburg.  I don’t know how they are as a church, but when it comes to food – they know their stuff!  The bread that was used to make the cubs they provided us was great.  (I should clarify.  Everything in the sub was great, but the bread stood-out.)

We used our usual after-lunch rest period to get the boys as ready as possible for the long night ahead.  Of course, during what was a great nap, a Lamborghini flew by us with its incredible sound.  Some of the motor heads in the choir, like Alexander Loahr immediately popped-up to see what it was.  It was hard to get upset with them, as the site of that candy-apple red car blazing by us was awesome!  The majority of the boys never even blinked.  That could be because of our loosening of the rest period restrictions some.  In the past, it was a rare treat for the boys to be able to listen to music during rest period.  We’ve been trying it all but one day this year and it seems to be working just fine.  It’s not as much for sleeping as it is just a time for peace and quiet.  Mission Accomplished.

Around 2:45 we arrived in Pompton Plains, NJ and settled into our Best Western Plus.  It’s quite nice here, including a pool and some wonderful conference areas and breakfast rooms.  We called Papa John’s in Pompton Plains and ordered 15 Large Pizzas to meet us at the hotel.  We needed to eat our supper a little early in order to make it to the show in town on time.  Dinner went well and once we were all settled, we loaded the bus and made our way into Newark, NJ to meet our train.  

The only real snag in the whole plan was this nasty cold bug that Rodney picked-up along the way.  He really needed a good afternoon to rest and recover.  This was that afternoon, so I hopped in the driver’s seat and battled the traffic to get down there.  I wasn’t real sure if we were going to find a spot to park the bus or if I would need to stay with it until the boys came back from Superman.  We dropped the boys off at Penn Station (Newark) and I threw the flashers on to find somewhere to park.  To my surprise, the very spot we happened to park at was one of the only spots in the area you actually could park!  (Aaron spent well over an hour calling everyone in Newark to try and find where we could park the bus.)  This meant I could run and catch-up to the group and go along to the show.

Lucky for me, (not so much the boys), the train we needed to be on was having mechanical issues and limped into the station.  This allowed me time to catch-up to the rest of the group.  We boarded the train, but within a minute or so, they announced that the train was not working and we needed to go to a different train.  

Some of the most high-risk times for us to get separated from boys are loading and unloading trains/subways.  It’s fast.  It’s noisy.  There are multiple doors, and there is a lot of “less than model citizens” in these situations.    We go over the moves we want to take (as far as staff placement) everything, but there is always some variable we couldn’t control that makes us adjust on the fly. This week, I am happy to report that everything went perfectly.  The boys did very well.

Once we were on the back-up train, we had to wait about 45 minutes, parked on the tracks.  Aaron had the boys leaving much earlier than we needed to so we had this cushion.  It was a good move, because we used all of it.  The train was parked in such a location that we had a good view of the skyline and the newly constructed “Freedom Tower”, or “One World Trade Center”.  It’s impossible not to feel a little something in your soul as you watch that building rise above the rest of the urban landscape. 

The boys were very full of questions during this journey into the city as well.  Some of the boys were put on “Question Quotas” for the day to help and limit the amount of insanity the staff had to go through.  It was only moderately successful for those couple boys.

The train eventually began moving and brought us into New York.  Penn Station (New York) is directly below Madison Square Garden, which is pretty neat.  We walked the 6 blocks or so to the Foxwood Theater for the 7:30 showing of “Spiderman”.  Despite all the mechanical setbacks we had, we were only 10 minutes late or so – just the first number.  By the second song, we were in our seats as Peter Parker set-up the story.  

The technical aspects of this show were breathtaking.  Spiderman flies right above the audience at a pretty intense speed.  The end of the show has an incredible final fight scene in mid-air, right over the audience.  Spiderman even comes down on the audience floor a few times.  Pretty sweet!  The boys really enjoyed it!

After the show, we had a little time to kill (if we wanted), so we brought the boys a couple blocks over to Time Square in the dark.  What an amazing place to be!  We showed them where the ball drops, where “Good Morning America” and MTV are located, and of course we took about a million pictures.  The boys were in awe of all the lights and action taking place.  On the way back to the train station, we stopped at Madison Square Garden for a few pictures.  (It is also right across the street from the Hotel Pennsylvania, where the LOLCB stayed in 1997 when we sang at Carnegie Hall.  Ironically, Friday is the 15 year Anniversary of the concert!)

In the train station, a worker saw our group and snuck us onto the train about 10 minutes before anyone else could get on.  He also locked our train car so nobody else could get on.  The Conductor also came down and met the boys.  She hooked us up as well by making sure to open our door a little before the other doors so we could get out and on the way before anyone else.   Just about everyone we have interacted with down here has been exceptionally nice to us.  These boys have a way of warming hearts and bringing people together.  Quite a few total strangers had long conversations with our boys on the trains/subways as well.  (Don’t worry – the people didn’t give-off the creepy vibe.)

The boys were very tired by the time they made it back to the hotel.  We put them to bed right away, especially since we had to be back up and moving in 6.5 hours.  Ick.

I also must thank all the people that have contributed through the GiveMN.org website during this tour to help support the boy’s trip and this program.  You are all wonderful people and your support it greatly appreciated!

We will you in on our second day in New York tomorrow.  Be sure to check it out!

Until later,

P.J.

Concert Choir Day Seven: Go East Young Men, Go East! (Part Duex)

Aloha!  

I’ve got a few minutes to catch everyone up now that Adam is fully integrated into the tour and taking care of all the finances now.  What a great help it is to have the staff we do!

I actually want to give them their due credit for a minute.  The reason all of this is possible is due largely in part to the awesome team we have assembled at the Land of Lakes Choirboys.  Of course, everything we are able to do on the road starts and stops with the awesome support we receive from Mary Jo back in Elk River.  Without her sending us spending money updates, calling parents we need letters from, taking care of the day-to-day needs of the organization, and doing hundreds of other things while we are on the road, we couldn’t take these trips.

The next cog in the system that makes all of this work is Rodney Tracy, our outstanding motor coach driver.  I tell you folks: it doesn’t get better in this business than Rodney.  Always has a smile on his face and can drive this bus through a McDonald’s drive through if you need it.  On top of all that, he spends hours every day checking the safety devices and systems on the bus to make sure it is always in working condition.  It’s not often a bus returns home in better condition than it left after 4,000 miles.  With Rodney at the helm, it will.

No tour would be complete without the Prefects that take care of the jobs nobody else wants to.  Kenny and Adam are the perfect Prefect pair and with several tours now under their belt, they are beginning to get the job done through experience and the little shortcuts you can only learn by doing.  

Kenny is a great guy to have for morale on a trip.  He is constantly smiling and chatting with the boys to make sure they are in good spirits.  It’s hard not to smile when you are around Kenny.  In addition, he is usually the one due all the credit for the photography on this trip.  He’s well into the gigabytes of pictures now, and we haven’t even gotten to the most photogenic parts of our tour.  The knowledge he has gained from working in a pharmacy has also made him a tremendous asset as our meds distributor. 

Adam has only been with us for two days now, but his impact is being felt greatly as well.  Adam’s attention to detail is rivaled only by Inspector #4 at Hanes, who has been ensuring my socks are snug on my feet for several years now.  This is exactly the person you want handling the finances on tour.  (To give you some perspective, he kept a $95,000 tour last year accurate to the penny – despite going through 3 different currencies on two different continents.  That’s pretty incredible!)  

As great as Prefects are for a tour, they just don’t have the comforting feel a mother brings.  Lisa is just that, except when she doesn’t get chocolate in regular intervals or the person in the seat behind her kicks it for the 9^th time in an hour.  She always has her finger on the pulse of the choir and helps us identify so many small issues before they get bigger.  Some of the observations she makes floors me – after all these years of touring together, she still amazes me every tour.

Of course, there is Aaron.  Mr. Carpenter has taken the notion of tour planning to an entirely new level in this organization.  If there is a 15 minute window to give the boys a new experience or opportunity to see something they probably couldn’t back home, Aaron will find a way to get it into the schedule.  On top of the “fun” side of the tour, the concerts he develops and the contacts he makes before the tour even starts ensures our trip will be successful.  It’s the leg-work before the tour that makes it awesome.  His organization skills and vision for the future help to mold the tour and organization in the best direction possible.  

With the experience we have all gained over the years, we all know our roles and have a good idea for what to expect as each day comes along.  It is a pleasure to travel with these awesome people and provide the best trip possible for the boys.

So this morning, we met at the school in Hilliard that has been our launching point for the past two days.  I received so many great compliments from the host families that I barely had time to greet the boys as they came this morning.  That is always fun!  This was another great stop for us and I think we made some good friends while we were here.   We did have our first lost hat of the tour, but when that new hat is purchased from your spending money, it tends to be the last hat those boys tend to buy for the trip.

The First Round of The Choirboy of the Year Award was voted on this morning by the boys.  Here are your nominees (in no particular order):

Jeremiah Shoemaker
Camden Goepferd
Joey Leibig
Noah Carpenter
Jacob Rud
Daymin Lang
Aaron Otten
Chi Asangwe
Jack Strub
Jacob Gordon
Steven Kelly
Isaac Volker

This will be a tough vote this year.  So many boys are doing an outstanding job.

The boys that are moving on to the second round were the Top 8 vote getters.  They were (in no particular order):

 
Jeremiah Shoemaker
Camden Goepferd
Joey Leibig
Noah Carpenter
Jacob Rud
Daymin Lang
Steven Kelly
Isaac Volker

Congrats to all the boys that received votes this year.  It is not an enviable position to have to select just one of them from a pool like that.

The bus ride to Maryland brought us through four states and ushered in some mountainous scenery.  It was a pretty average ride, other than that.  We managed to watch a little Dudley Doo-Right, but I think we either wore-out the DVD or it got scratched.  Dudley is no longer with us.  (As you can imagine, this has been a difficult time for some of the staff members who have known Dudley for some time now.)

The concert in Frostburg was pretty good.  The crowd was nice and the people were very hospitable.  The boys had huge plates of some amazing spaghetti.  The sauce was incredible.  The food alone was worth the trip!

Still had trouble getting our clean-up done on time.  16:24.  Ugh.

One other note:  Letter #2 is in the mail.  Expect the first one anytime now and the second one by this weekend.

Tomorrow is off to NYC!  As you can imagine, the boys are on the very excited side of things.  Aaron has everything mapped-out, so this should be an intense, scenery-packed, high-energy trip through the Big Apple.

I need my beauty rest.

P.J.

Concert Choir Day Seven: Go East Young Men, Go East! (Part One)

Aloha!

Just a mini-update here.  The First Round of The Choirboy of the Year Award was voted on this morning by the boys.  Here are your nominees (in no particular order):

Jeremiah Shoemaker
Camden Goepferd
Joey Leibig
Noah Carpenter
Jacob Rud
Daymin Lang
Aaron Otten
Chi Asangwe
Jack Strub
Jacob Gordon
Steven Kelly
Isaac Volker

This will be a tough vote this year.  So many boys are doing an outstanding job.  Tonight I will share who is moving onto the next round, so stay tuned....In the meantime, WRITE LOTS OF EMAILS TO THE BOYS!  :-)