We Believe That Children Are Our Future

"Putcha hands togethah.. for Mr. RRRRANDY... H'WWWWWATSONN!"

Coming to America reference notwithstanding, we do believe that singing for the youth of America in beautiful Lake Geneva, WI in that good ol' barbershop way (modern jazz arrangments notwithstanding) is a GREAT way to spend a day! I personally love the journey of performing for early morning high schoolers, whose evolution consists mainly of 4 stages:

1) Impress me, old people. Ya.. h'right..
2) These guys are idiots, but they don't seem to care, and that impresses me.
3) Awww, the big one knocked down the little one.
4) I love these guys.




Sure, maybe I took a little libery with step 4, but it's my blog and that's how I party. In any case, thanks to Pete and the awesome fellas of the Country Gentlemen chorus in Lake Geneva for inviting us to be a part of their show and giving us the chance to sing for local high schools. Stand up guys, all of you! We had a great time and felt VERY well taken care of.

Lastly, thanks to KJ for subbing and stepping into Drew's huge shoes and doing an absolutely bangup job rockin' the 5's. And rockin' the guitar. And the piano. And the drums. And the gaggle of high schoolers that slowly decended upon your piano as you swept them away during an impromptu performance of what some people might call magic. You are a giant to me, KJ.

They gots good cheese in Wisconsin!! Oh, and we flew into Chicago Midway and made a pit stop at Gino's East pizza. Hoooooooooly cow!

See the rest of the pics here.

Brothers Don't Shake Hands

Bring it in.

Don't think I'm not the slightest creeped out by this. Maybe even a LOT, but nonetheless, it accurately captures the essence of Lunch Break's spring/summer season. It's been way too long since the last update, and for that I apologize to all the dedicated Lunch Break fans (we call you the "Lunchables", FYI) who dutifully click refresh daily, waiting anxiously for the next awesome-bomb to be dropped blog-style all over this webpage like a hammer of Greatness. Which, by our accounts, is roughly zero people.

Irregardless, Lunch Break's spring and summer were pretty darned amazing from a "whee" point of view. We had a nice run of shows leading up to Internationals in Anaheim this summer where we were fortunate to move up one spot to 12th place and increase our score slightly (hey, it's progress). And then there's Harmony University. That was pretty cool. Then there was a baby and a move for our baritone to Alabama, which is particularly surprising as we thought people were FLEEING Alabama. Who knew?! Our loss is 'Bama's gain.

We've got exciting ideas in the works for the upcoming season, which may or may not involve clones, wrestling, and bumbling odd clumsy physical comedy (more adjectives than a Chilis menu!), so stay tuned.

Daa Da'Da Daaaaaa! Daa Da'Daaaaaa...

A stylized photo of Harrison Ford as the iconic Indiana Jones? Really? Yep, you guessed it! Lunch Break made the short-ish drive up to Indy (get it?) to serve humbly as the guest quartet at the annual Circle City Sound Barbershop Chorus under the direction of the illuminous (that's not a word, is it?) Gary Texeira. Boy oh boy, are these guys sounding fantastic!

But perhaps even better was the crowd, especially the evening show. We're not sure what exactly was being pumped through the ventilation shaft, but that crowd was jazzed up for some good old fashioned laughin' and clappin'! What a great energy for ANY quartet, especially one as sensitive and insecure as little Lunch Break (awwww... him's just a wittle quawtet!).

Irregardless, thank you Circle City Sound! The writer of this blog is still enjoying the rockin' exotically delicious life saver candies purloined from the guest quartet complimentary basket. You guys are the best for enabling me to get my grape on.

Rick and Bubbaaaaaaaaa

omg it's Rick and Bubba!

The faces behind the mad genius of Rick and Bubba were finally unveiled with much fanfare (and some trepedation) EARLY this morning before even the sun dare rear it's blazen head. Lunch Break was incredibly fortunate to be invited to kickstart the morning broadcast with a rousing performance of The Star Spangled Banner. Albeit at 6am, which, as we all know, is in stark defiance of anything above middle-C to the vocal chords. Way to go, high Gs! Whew, we made it.

Rick and Bubba are really, really cool guys! Very laid back, down to earth, and genuinely funny with the wit. At one point, Bubba took a small stroll in the broadcast room and plopped lazily down on several of the large sprawling beanbags strewn about the room, and upon seeing Drew whip out his cell phone cam to snap a shot, struck the silliest of poses, clearly revealing his inner Nice Guy of Good Humor.

R&B even suggested that a barbershop quartet would boost its value were it to consider taking up the haircutting profession simultaneously while singing. We're on it, boys!

Mike knows Lawn-Fu

Mike's OCD finally pays off with a smashing Mansker Farms neighborhood victory, literally crushing his opponents in a relentless onslaught of lawn care dicipline and ninja-like intrepidity. (Note: children in photo are Mike's daughters, not opponents.)

Augusta National Golf Course Lawn Care Professionals were unavailable for comment.

Hall of FAMEOUSNESS

So a long time ago a bunch of really big guys played football really well, so one day someone said "Hey let's make a building dedicated to the big guys who played better than all the other big guys and we'll charge people to come into the building to see how awesome the big guys were!" Big-Money making decisions aren't always the most elegant (at least not in our minds), but we definitely ate what they were serving. Dude! Roger freakin' Staubach's jersey was in there! That's holy ground, baby.

A big THANK YOU to the Hall of Fame Chorus and our host Harlan for inviting us to be a part of their annual show. It's always nice to get away for the weekend and do some good ol' fashioned SANGING, and we would be remiss if we didn't thank our buddy David for stepping into Drew huge bari shoes and totally rocking it out. One more weekend with the SuperSub as Drew and his wife Elizabeth work out how exactly they'll be giving birth to their son, Mason.

He's not yet born as of the posting of this blog, but I offer an early welcome to Lunch Break's newest Lunchable, Mason. Mason, I dub thee 'Snack Pack'.

Check out the pics

Preliminary Results

Hooray! With a 79.8, Lunch Break qualifies for their second consequit.. consequa.. ANOTHER Internationals! We're going to Anaheim, and that can only mean one thing: The pasty white countenance that is Lunch Break will no doubt get their share of sunlight, and perhaps then some. This most likely spells epidermal doom, because in the words of Gullum, 'It burnss usss, precioussss". I, for one, however, am up to the challenge.

The wonderful folks up in the Cardinal District were way too kind, and we thank them for welcoming us into their 'home'. There's a loyalty within each district, that ain't no lie, and so to barge into another District's home and route through their musical fridge takes some trust, and Lunch Break was fortunate enough to return quite well fed. Thank you, CAR!! You're the best! (right behind Dixie. (Go Dixie.))

In other news, Lunch Break was finally edged out by previous champs, Vocal Spectrum for Best Barbershop Album of the year by CARA. Congrats, VS! You guys are true champs and wonderful ambassadors for our hobby, and we're honored to be your runner-ups. (Editor's note: this marks only the first time Lunch Break has lost to Vocal Spectrum in any form of competition. Take that, State Line.)

See you shortly.