Concert Choir Tour Day 4: Friends from home

Aloha!

I’m writing to you from the road somewhere near Tonkawa, Oklahoma. I want to get as much of the day done now because I know it’s going to be a late night tonight when we go to the ballgame. We just did something (for the first time in our history, to my knowledge) that I think is so cool, but you have to read on to figure out what it is.  The boys are resting right now while we make the final leg of our journey into OK city.  The quiet time is much needed about now. 

 

This morning we said “goodbye” to our friends with the Kansas City Boys Choir.  From all accounts, it was a great night for our boys and I think we have made a friend for a longtime.  They provided bag lunches for all of us and also sent us on the road with a box of doughnuts for the boys.  It was pretty awfully nice of them. One of their dads is a transplant to the area from Minnesota.  Big Vikings fan who enjoyed the fact that Matt Blair was a donor of our program.  We reminisced about the 1998 team and both ended the conversation wishing we hadn’t deliberately relived those memories.

We made it on the road in good time and started heading south.  I like to get as many miles as I can done in the morning when it is much cooler.  This old bus is great – but it does like to hover around that 80 degree mark when it’s loaded with boys, pretty much no matter what the temperature outside is.  When we were on the road, we gave the reports for the day and handed-out last night’s mail.  Through four days, mail has been light.  (Rud Family – You are doing great.  I can’t keep up with printing all your emails.  J)  We also took the time to formally check all the journals, which are looking really good through three full days.  These boys should have nice stories to tell you when they get home.

About a half-hour down the road, we threw in a video about the “Texas Rangers”.  This got us a ways into Kansas.  While we were driving, I received a text message from the mechanic of our bus, JD Dickenson from C&J Bus Company in Bloomington, MN.  He was headed north on I-35 and passed us.  That was pretty cool that he saw our bus on the road this far from home.

Friends from home was kind of the theme for the middle part of the day.  In addition to passing JD, we saw a number of cars from Minnesota, including a pretty sweet Mustang with the top down carrying an older couple.  They waved enthusiastically as they passed us.  We probably get hat every couple days on the road and it always helps a little to see Minnesota license plates.  The boys don’t see many of those though, mostly because they have their noses buried in iPads and Gameboy DSs every possible second they are allowed to.  For some of them, I am pretty sure they are going to start shaking and going into withdrawal if they don’t get them for hours each day.  It’s fairly annoying.

Back to our theme of “friends from home”.  The Minnesota Boychoir is finishing-up their tour to Texas in the  next couple of days.  They do things a little different than us when it comes to touring.  Instead of meandering to our furthest point like we do, hitting places along the way, they elect to travel to their destination in large chunks, spend more time at that location, then make it home in large chunks quickly.  Each way has its benefits.  They are on their final leg of the tour, traveling from Dallas/Ft. Worth to Des Moines today (picking-up fresh drivers in KC).  We knew they were in the area so we started texting their director Mark Johnson back and forth to see we could facilitate a meeting.  Our best guess was that we would be at the same place, on the same road somewhere near the OK/Kansas border, so we both did our best to time-up our lunches for the same neighborhood.

 

We were having bag lunches today while their plans called for a stop at a group of fast food establishments.  We swung into the rest area to eat our lunches and the boys ate much quicker than usual in the hopes of getting to meet the other choir for a brief photo opportunity.  Once lunch was finished, we hopped on the bus and headed to the next exit where we saw the pair of Northland Coaches that the Minnesota Boychoir was using parked at the McDonald’s.  We pulled into the parking lot around the corner came a little slice of home – about 40 of their boys and their director, Mr. Johnson.  We knew we only had a few minutes, but we gathered all the boys together so they could say “hi” to the friends they have made over the course of our two previous meetings with them this season.  It was great.  We put them all in a group photo and said our goodbyes.  The entire exchange took 8-10 minutes, but that is all it took for this very cool, very rare, opportunity.  You can read about the fun they have had here on their blog: http://www.boychoir.blogspot.com/

Back on the bus, we crossed the street and decided to use this chance to fuel-up before hitting the road (and it was cheaper than most places we’ve seen along the way).  Since we were just under half a tank, it shouldn’t be much, right?  haha.  $400.00 later we were just about full.  This is the most painful part of tour, especially when you are in a bus that gets a whopping 6 MPG when it is fully loaded.

And that pretty much brings us up to the present.  We will probably let the boys sleep for another 25 minutes or so as they will be up pretty late tonight.  The plan is to check into the hotel around 3:30, relax for a bit in the pool if the timing works out, then eat at Sonic nearby before heading to the baseball game.  These tend to be a lot of fun for the boys, but I can almost guarantee they will be exhausted when it is over.  As an incentive to try and get more Twitter followers, I will post special content on our twitter feed that you can only get if you follow us at @thechoirboys. Check it out! We have a chance to sleep in a bit tomorrow so I hope we can take advantage of that.

Don’t expect another post tonight, but I try to give a quick update with some pictures if I can.

-P.J.

Concert Choir Tour – Day 3: The Unexpected State We Found Ourselves In (Part Deuce)

Aloha!

When we last left our sweater-vested heroes, they were eating lunch at a rest stop south of Council Bluffs.  I wanted to get this picture of Sam delivering his daily report in the blog but I was having issues with the connection and couldn’t get it uploaded.  It’s incredible to think it’s already his fourth tour. 

Time flies.

We took a rest period after lunch like we typically do.  We have continued a new deal that we started last year by allowing the boys to have MP3 players during rest period.  It’s worked pretty awesomely for us and we intend to continue it indefinitely.  The boys also seem to really appreciate the option.  The old adage does apply though:  If you give a mouse a cookie, he’ll want a glass of milk. They enjoy pushing the limits the best they can, but then again, they are boys.

We made some good distance up today, about 340 miles.  (360+ is expected Saturday).  When the boys woke-up from rest period, I threw an A&E Biography about Davy Crockett on the TV’s.  With the Alamo coming-up soon, I figured we need to get them up to speed as much as possible.  Davy was a pretty cool dude.  I foresee the boys buying several coonskin caps while we are there.

The bus started creeping up towards that 80 degree mark for the drive with the external temps in the mid 90’s.  There is really no way around it – it’s going to be a little warm on the bus in sunlight and temperatures like this.

We made it to Kansas City a few minutes early and that was good, because it took us those extra 12 minutes to figure-out how to get into the parking lot of the Frank Lloyd Wright designed church we were singing in.  It was very unique and wonderful church.  There were very few straight walls in the building and the ceilings were very low.  It sort of looked like an adobe structure, crossed with something you might find on an episode of “The Flintstones”.  It was very cool and they boys enjoyed singing in the space.

Our hosts for the evening were none other than The Kansas City Boys Choir under the direction of Ah-li Robinson.  They sure know how to host a choir!  In addition to the space they provided for us to sing in, they provided a full spread of Kansas City BBQ for the boys to enjoy.  It was great and the boys kept eating and eating and eating.  I don’t think there was a single boy that didn’t have at least a full plate, if not more.  Pretty sure most of the boys had another plates worth on their face by the end of the meal.  See Arteom (Exhibit A).

Following warm-ups, we shared the concert with the KSBC.  They sang about six spirited pieces to open the concert.  They are a bit older than us, with largely TTB arrangements and a little more movement in their pieces.  It was very good and more importantly, it was great for our boys to experience another boy choir that doesn’t do things like we do.  The brotherhood of boys choirs is a great group and we are happy to have made another connection today.  There is a very good chance they will come our way October, so I hope we can reciprocate their kindness with a full spread of lutefisk and lefse.

Following the concert the boys completed their jobs and met their host homes for the night.  We knew ahead of time that there was only housing for 20 of the 28 boys, so we arranged to have 2 rooms at the hotel.  From time-to-time when we have the chance we like to “reward” the older boys with a night away from some of the younger boys.  It generally helps us build report with them and goes a long ways towards establishing them as leaders in the choir. This was that opportunity.

 

We also said our goodbyes to Taylor who was ending his tour with us here in Kansas City due to commitments with his other job.  It’s been great to watch him grow into this program and take on the expanded roles.  I couldn’t imagine a better fit with an incoming director than we have found with both he (and Corrine) over the past 18 months.  He is great with the boys, a wonderful addition to the artistic staff, and a genuinely great person to bring into the fold. The tour will have a small hole in it tomorrow when he is not on the bus with us, but the tour goes on.

Since our hotel was only 4 blocks away from the church, I brought those 8 boys with me to the Office Depot right by our motel so we could buy some replacement ink for the printer.  Boys are weird.  I think these boys had as much fun going through this Office Depot as they will at some of the actual planned attractions later on the tour.  While we waited for the bus to arrive with our luggage, we hung-out in the parking lot and watched the lightening bugs play around.  I didn’t teach them how to rip their tails off and become a giant glow-worm, but the thought did cross my mind.

 

Once the bus arrived, they brought their luggage up to their rooms and I ran to the convenience store to pick-up some Chaco Tacos to finish the night off right.  They hit the hay by about 10:15 and here I sit, writing to you all.

It was another great day.  Tomorrow is off to Oklahoma City and the AAA Baseball game with all the boys in the motel.  Pretty sure there is a swimming pool, so I better make sure Stewart gets some good rest.

Until tomorrow,

-P.J.

Concert Choir Tour – Day 3: The Unexpected State We Found Ourselves In

Aloha!  I have just a minute or two to write you before lunch and let you know how awesome your boys are doing.  At the moment, we are just passing through Council Bluffs/Omaha, Iowa on Interstate 29.  There is a little Rest Area on the south side of the city that we are going to have lunch at, assuming the intermittent showers we have seen the past hour hold-off.  From the sounds of things, you folks back home had quite the excitement last night with the thunderstorms.  We have elected to withhold some of that information from the boys so they don’t worry too much, but if they find out it’s probably not the end of the world.

We woke the boys up at 7:15 so they had plenty of time to get their things packed and ready before breakfast.  After room checks, I only found 1 left behind item, which was very good. The boys packed the bus and we then walked over to breakfast at the student center.  It was a delicious spread they put together for the boys, complete with pancakes, sausage, fruit and yogurt parfaits, eggs, and a number of other items.  Our host at the college continued to talk about the compliments he had been hearing since the concert.  A lot of the residents of the monastery and the college were very appreciative of the boys’ efforts and were talking about contacting friends along the route so they could take-in the concert as well.

We picked-up our bag lunches from the kitchen and boarded the bus for Kansas City.  While on the road, our Officer of the Day (Sam Strub) gave us his daily report, including the schedule for the day, weather report, “Word of the Day”, and some words of wisdom to help make our trip a little more enjoyable.  All of the boys turned a letter into our mailman, Dillon, and now we are looking for a mailbox to drop them in.

Then Aaron decided to hog the mic and gave a great guided tour of Sioux City, Iowa.  While we were going around the “Washington Monument”, which was actually an obelisk in memory of Sgt. Floyd from the Lewis and Clark expedition, our navigator (Aaron J. Carpenter) that had his back to the road, decided to be derelict in his duties and missed a turn until it was too late to merge into that lane.

“WELCOME TO NEBRASKA”, the sign read as we crossed the Missouri river.  This was an unplanned venture into Nebraska, which allowed an opportunity to read the state facts and hear the state song in the spirit of “Merlin Brando”, the son of Nebraska native Marlon Brando.  We caught the first exit, swung around and ended-up adding 6 minutes to the journey, but the memory of the state song will stay in some of their minds forever.

Back on the trial, we busted-out the BINGO cards for the first games of the year.  Shawn, Tim, and Camden won the three games.  Many boys were over-awed by the incredible announcing of the numbers.  The rest of the time was spent in “Code Green” with the games of their choice.  A game of “War” broke-out with the playing cards Camden won during BINGO.  Naturally, Camden won that game as well.  I think there have probably been actual wars throughout history that were quieter and less dramatic than this one was.  Aaron called it “the longest game of war I have ever played”.

Now we are at the rest stop and my stomach is letting me know it is time to go eat.  Keep writing those letters!

-P.J.

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.

Concert Choir Tour - Day Two: Slayed by the Goliath Challenge (1 of 2)

Aloha!

I have a rare moment to sit at a desk (with AC and Wifi) and no boys around!  Sounds like a good time to work on blog post.  We are situated in our dorm rooms for the night at Mount Marty College in Yankton, South Dakota.  It was a pretty short drive today by our standards from LeMars, so we had some time to sight-see this morning.  I’ll get right to it.

The boys met back at the church at 8:30 this morning with their luggage and bag lunches.  Only one boy forgot his hat, so I can live with that, but there is still work to do.  They loaded the bags quite efficiently.  Chi has that group working well together and I keep catching him teaching boys how to do their jobs properly and more effectively.  As far as Quarter Masters go, he is one of the best we’ve had and will leave some big shoes to fill when he graduates this year.  The host home families all seemed very happy with the boys.  Jeffrey got hugs from a number of the moms – some that weren’t even his.  (He can turn the charm on when he needs to, that is for sure.)  Jacob Gordon gathered the boys up and had them “count-off” before boarding the bus and heading for our first stop.

We did not choose our first stop.  When you are in the Ice Cream Capital of the World with a bus full of boys, your first stop chooses you, regardless if it is 9:00 am or not.  The Well’s Blue Bunny factory is located in LeMars, Iowa as well as their Museum and Parlor.  We had an appointment for a tour of the Museum at 9:30 am, followed by a scoop of delicious ice cream afterwards and if there was time, some souvenir shopping.  We arrived a little early so we had time to take a photo on their grand staircase.  If you want the nice picture, I posted it on our Facebook Page.  This one was too funny though, so I had to share it with someone.  This is Arteom in mid-sneeze. 

We started by watching a few short and entertaining videos on the history of Ice Cream and the company.  The jokes were pretty cheesy in the movie, so the boys felt right at home after listening to cheesy jokes from Aaron for the previous 24 hours.  (For those keeping track of the “Funniest Staff Member Contest” at home, it’s a rout right now in my favor.  From the looks of the scoreboard right now, Lisa isn’t even playing.)  ;-)

After the movie, the boys headed downstairs to the ice cream.  There were about 36 flavors and we told them they could have any one they wanted.  When about 2/3 of the boys had gone through the line, one brave young soul asked if he could try “The Goliath Challenge”.  I laughed it off, thinking it was a cute idea, but not something we would generally let the boys do. 

Then he asked again.

I don’t know what came over me, but for some reason I didn’t say “no” and instead said “you have to ask your director”.  Aaron and I both kind of gave each other a look and the words “You only live once” popped out of my mouth.  The Goliath Challenge had been accepted.

So what is The Goliath Challenge?  First of all, you start with a spoon and six scoops of premium Blue Bunny Ice Cream.  Then they cram as much toppings on there as can fit, and follow it up with whipped cream.  Then, the 15-minute clock begins and you must finish it all before the time is up.  It’s a monstrosity of a sundae but if you can slay it, you become immortalized by signing the in-store a
pron and go home with a t-shirt that proudly announces your claim to fame.  Today, we didn’t have David, but we had Joel, and he was determined to eat it.

A huge bell rang-out from behind the counter and the ice cream scooper announced to the world that Joel was going to attempt the challenge.  The rest of the boys were very excited about this notion.  Many others were asking if they could try it until they saw the labor it took just to create the thing.  It probably took about 4-5 minutes to create the sundae, all with wide-eyed Choirboys peering through the freezer doors as the scoops continued to pile up.  Joel was given the middle seat at the parlor bar so everyone could watch as the 15-minute timers were put in place.  The waiter got all the boys chanting for Joel and he began the timers.  Joel dug-in and ate to his little heart’s content.

 

Around minute mark 5 or 6 he began to slow-down a little, but he never stopped.  The weight of the challenge was clearly evident however.  It appeared Joel had scooped out a little more than he could chew.  As time expired, Joel ditched the spoon for the much more primitively efficient “just put your face in the bowl of ice cream method”, but it was too late.  The boys gave him a hearty congratulatory cheer and went through the gift shop before gathering to leave.  The manager of the gift shop was very eager to hear the boys sing so we gathered on the steps one more time to sing “America: The Beautiful” for the staff and several customers in the store.  Many great compliments were given for the boys.  Each of the boys were given a Blue Bunny pencil on the way out and thanked for their visit.  Then it was back to the bus for some free time until lunch.

Time for supper – we’ll finish the rest tonight.

-P.J.

Concert Choir Tour - Day 1

Aloha!

Probably going to be a short blog post tonight so I will apologize in advance.  We're all a bit tired, but things went very well today and the boys were all in pretty good spirits.  Thank you to everyone for helping to get us on the road on time and so far to our knowledge, with 99.9% of everything we needed.

So after the pictures and potty breaks at the building, we hugged our mamas and boarded the bus for the great state of Iowa.  This entire day went very smooth.  This is a great, fairly mellow, group of boys and I am expecting big things from them.  We changed them into their play clothes before we hit Rogers and let them chill-out with some free time all the way to Owatonna.  At the rest stop, we swung in and ate lunch then boarded the bus to continue our trip.  The boys had a rest period for a strong hour and then it was back to some free time.  I played the School House Rock video called "Earth" - quite disappointing.

We entered Iowa and Aaron explained the strange laws of Iowa while I sung a rendition of the Iowa state song for the boys, along with telling them many of the state facts about Iowa.  Before we knew it, we were in  Aaron's hometown of LeMars and preparing to sing in the beautiful St. Joseph's Catholic Church, which only opened this past October.  An amazing space and the boys were quite excited to sing in it.

The concert preparation went very smooth and the boys worked through their concert jobs for the first time. They also prepared very well with their focus and pre-concert routine.  The concert itself went very well and was well attended. We have a little work to do on the post-concert routine, but I am pleased with where we are at for Day One.  After a few cookies, the boys met their host families and made their way home for the night.


A very routine, smooth Day One.

P.J.

Concert Choir Tour - Day 1

This is where you will find the blog posts for the Concert Choir Tour.  Be sure to check back here later tonight for the latest updates.  Thank you!