November – December 2008

President’s Column

Election of Officers was held on October 13th and I’m very pleased to report that the Portland Chap-ter leadership for 2009 will remain the same as 2008 with only a couple exceptions. Scott Kolda who is leaving the Board and we thank him for his many years of service. Al Sargent will fill the Member At Large position vacated by Kolda, and Cy Kendrick replaces Sargent as VP, Chapter Development. An 18 year Society member, Cy brings to us his many years of Board experience with the Lowell, MA chapter. With the 2009 Board consisting of veteran mem-bers, there will be excellent continuity in support of ongoing and planned chapter programs. The VPs, aka Team Managers, will be expanding on their goals in progress, which contributed to the chapter’s success in the current year. While these officers will be seeking knowledge to improve

their responsibilities to the chapter, they will re-quire minimal on-the-job training. They have had many opportunities during this year to network with each other, and this experience will carry over to the coming year. How can a chapter be more fortunate? Many events are in the planning and preparation stages as we enter the holiday season. We consid-ered ourselves long, long shots to advance from the District Contest to the 2009 International con-test, which will have been proven by the time this edition is circulated. It has been a fun time exhib-iting our finer talents in presenting the parodies. Several singout opportunities await us for our Christmas program. These are mentioned in greater detail elsewhere in this issue. Since this publication covers the final 2 months of 2008, I want to express on behalf of the Downeasters our sincere thanks to our families and friends for your strong support of our organization throughout 2008.

Ted

Dec 1 Benefit Concert for Root Cellar @ East Point

Christian Church Scarborough Dec 8 Benefit Concert for Saco Food Bank @ Con-

gregational Church Saco Dec 15 Concert at The Freeport Place May 28 60th Anniversary Spring Show

Downeasters Barbershop Chorus Greater Portland Chapter

P.O. Box 48, Yarmouth, ME 04096 (207) 846-6841 www.downeasters.org

Downeasters Leadership for 2008

Ted Tracy………………………………………. President Bill Peterlein….……..……...VP, Music and Performance Cy Kendrick……..…..….………VP, Chapter Development Dave Marstaller.……...……..…………………..Secretary Larry Bean………………………………………Treasurer Ted Tracy…...…..…….………..……….Delegate to NED Carl Cappello ……………..……………....Past President Jack Baggs……………………………………… Director Dwight Pensiero………....……..…………....Librarian Richard Roberge…….….…Marketing & Public Relations Walt Dowling….……………………….Chorus Manager Doug Skolnekovich………….……………….Webmaster Dwight Pensiero………………...Board Member At Large Dave Brown….….……….…….Board Member At Large Al Sargent …………………….Board Member At Large Wally Duplessie…….………Downeast Soundings Editor 4 Deer Lane, Windham, ME 04062 wduples620@aol.com

Have you signed up for your electronic copy of the Soundings yet?

As you are aware we are in a situation were we need to look at our budget very carefully. As the editor of the Soundings I have been asked to cut my budget in half. How can we do that you ask. Let me count the ways

1) We are going to make an Electronic copy available. If you have access to email please let Larry Bean know at (LBean@RSU1.org) and he will see that you receive your copy in the form of a PDF file. It cost about 96 cents a copy to print and mail the Soundings with one insert. As you can see this would be a great sav-ings to the chorus.

2) I will print an issue of the Soundings every other month. As we send out about 90 copies per month, this will go a long way to meeting our budget

3) Reduce the size of the Soundings. Each insert that is put into the Soundings is a cost of 16 cents. I would ask that when

you submit an article that you keep it brief and to the point.

I feel that with these three steps in place we can continue to enjoy the Soundings and still meet our budget Please get your name to Larry as soon as possi-ble Thanks for your help Wally

SRPING SHOW UPDATE

The Greater Portland Downeasters Presents

60th Anniversary Spring Show

May 23, 2009 Yarmouth High School

Featuring Chapter Quartets

Maine Event, On The Go, Majority Rules, Back Bay Four, Port City Sound, & our VLQ.

Special Guest

Reunited for our 60th "The Management"

A number of former Directors have been invited back to direct the chorus All former members of The Downeasters and guests from all the Maine Chapters are being invited to take part in the grand finale "Battle Hymn" under the di-rection of our former director Dr. Michael Martin

100 men on stage?

It’s possible!

Christmas Concerts

December 1

At The East Point Christian Church in Scarbor-ough, to benefit The Root Cellar.

Meet at 6 PM for warm up.

This is a benefit concert but the chorus will be getting 20% of the door receipts, so please sell this one to friends, relatives, etc. and let’s be sure to come out in force so we can count on a great show for this paying audience.

Uniform will be tux with red bow tie and red vest.

If you need a uniform (new members and guests) please see Dave Marstallar

December 8

At The Saco Congregational Church Church on corner of Route 1 and Route 9 in Saco, to bene-fit The Saco Food Pantry –

Meet at 6 PM for warm

This is at the same location as last year. The Food Bank really needs our help at this time of year. Last year was very successful Re-member what a great audience we had? Let’s all be there and give our best

Uniform Same as above

December 15

Freeport Place – Freeport (exact address will be provided) –

Meet at 5:15 PM for warm-up.

We preformed there last year and the resi-dents were very appreciative. Let’s all be there to bring a little Christmas joy

Uniform. Dress is respectable – dark slacks dress shirt and jacket – tie optional – black or dark shoes.

NOTE;

There is a possibility of a performance at The Freeport Performing Arts Center. This has not been confirmed at press time but the date would be Dec 7th. More details at our next meeting

ED POITRAS IN NORTH KOREA Former Chapter President is “On The Go”

by Dick Wheeler

Ed Poitras, our former chapter president, bulletin editor, and lead of ON THE GO quartet, is on a three month visit to North Korea for humanitarian purposes. Ed, who speaks the language fluently, is part of a team monitoring food distribution.

We wish you safe travels Ed and look forward to seeing you soon.

OVER THE HILL GANG MEETS NINE DINE Nine Downeaster Geezers gathered for grub on Wed., Oct. 1 at Pat's Pizza in Yarmouth. Joining Father Wheeler this time were: Lin Billings, Editor Extraordinaire Wally Duplessie, Snow-birds Bob Quinn and Marshall Wagner, Joe Saun-ders, Lonnie Wescott, your humble reporter, and Bud Mosley -- a Downeaster so many years ago that only Father Wheeler knew him when. It was a pleasure for all of us to meet Bud. Bill Horner, who attended these gatherings for the past year, had a stroke during the summer. He is re-ported to be at home, taking therapy. Bill is in his up-per eighties. The Over-The-Hill Gang is on hiatus for the winter months. Watch for news about luncheons resuming in the spring. Your Humble Reporter, W.Newton

QUARTET CORNER

Back Bay Four Invades Houlton

On Oct. 18th, the Back Bay Four Quartet Back Bay Four (Jay Wiley, Doug Skolnekovich, Walt Dowling , and Rob Sorensen).. moved to yet another venue when they traveled to Houlton, ME to sing in an annual show sponsored by the Shiretones Quar-tet. With one member from Houlton and three from Canada, The Shiretones-sponsored concert is in Houlton every other year; this was Houlton’s year. A fundraising concert for the Houlton High School Acapella Chorus, BB4 performed along with The Shiretones, The Meadowlarks, an award-winning quartet from Canada and the Houlton High School Acapella Chorus. This was the first concert for our new tenor, Doug. The trip to Houlton provided time to-gether for the new foursome. Doug, still on a high from becoming a new dad, acquitted himself very well in our two five-song sets and three af-terglow numbers. And, although a long trip and a long day(9:00 A. M. Sat to 3:40 A. M. Sun.), it was thoroughly enjoyable. The quartet now is working on Christmas music as it prepares for the busy holiday season.