Concert Choir Day Two: The best thing to come out of Iowa all day (Part Duex)

Aloha – 

My apologies for not getting the blog finished last night.  That happens sometimes.  Here is what you missed.

When we last left our polo’d heroes, they were just waking-up for their “nappy-wappy”.  We were still well ahead of schedule, but we just didn’t come across any real great souvenir stores.  Instead, we called ahead to the church and asked if we could stop by early, which is rarely an issue and wasn’t this day either.

Rolling Hills Presbyterian is a wonderful church.  The people are amazing, the facilities are amazing, and the food they serve is outstanding.  We came here last year with the Voyager Choir and they asked us to come back this year with our Concert Choir.  We were very happy to be able to make this work out!

So after getting our things settled and our jobs completed at the church, the boys were treated to a chicken nugget dinner –perfect!  We then proceeded to warm-ups and prepared for the concert.

 

In the midst of all the preparations, Aaron met with their director of music for the church, Mr. Charles Bruffy.  He is a wonderfully talented musician for several organizations:. He currently conducts the Kansas City Chorale, the Kansas City Symphony Chorus and the Phoenix Chorale, and is Director of Music at Rolling Hills Presbyterian Church.  You can read more about him here: http://www.kcchorale.org/conductor.html .  He wasn’t able to make our concert because of symphony practice, but agreed to come on Friday morning and conduct a short workshop with the boys.  What an opportunity to work with this two-time Grammy Award winning conductor!  (Be sure to watch for more in tomorrow’s blog!)

The concert went great!  Because there wasn’t really a great spot to record from, I didn’t, and now I regret it.  Right from the get-go, the boys had energy and really entertained the audience.  It was a fun show to be at.  In the crowd was Mr. Pete DeMars, one of the original 18 choirboys of the LOLCB from 1976.  He was a real treat to talk to and share where our organization is headed.  He seemed very impressed with the boys and program.  We were able to take a quick picture with him before saying our goodbyes for the evening and heading to our host families.

I am happy to report that all of the boys are in good health, great spirits, and the odor level is still at tolerable levels in the bus…but that will be changing in the next 48 hours.  Keep those emails and letters coming!

 One final note - we had another donation towards our tour from former Land of Lakes Choirboy and Prefect Cullen Graner.  Thank you, Cullen!  If you would like to donate towards our tour, please visit http://givemn.razoo.com/story/2012concerttour.  Thank you!

-P.J.