Harmony University

It's difficult to put into words all that the Harmony University experience offers the barbershopper. Of course, things like quartetting, non-stop tagging, world class coaching, barbershop heros, ice cream, new friendships, and lack of sleep come to mind easily, but the overall impact on the total experience is pretty intangible. All we can say is, if you ever have a chance to attend, do whatever you can to do so. The writer of this here blog maintains that it's the best week of barbershop you will find.

Lunch Break had a great time at HU this year, but each of our experiences was entirely different. Mike taught a directing class, Drew taught a membership class, Eddie taught a website development class and maintained the daily bulletin, and Shane once again attended the director's college on scholarship, so we had a chance to enjoy the experience in our own ways.

Oh yes... exactly one year ago at HU 2007, Lunch Break formed as a quartet. :) To celebrate, we had a cake and everything!

Mmmmmm... anniversarilicious.

Clemson Harmony Explosioning

What a great weekend! What a delayed website update! Sorry for the lag.. it's been quite a few months for the Lunch Break webmaster, whew. But hey, we had a whale of a time rocking it out at this year's Dixie Lakeside Harmony Explosion Camp Extravaganza Chordcrushing Blowout Jamboree 4000. Nearly 100 young men took the stage, alongside Lunch Break, State Line Grocery, Fred, and the Atlanta Vocal Project. Despite Lunch Breaks' best efforts to the contrary, that must have been one of the best overall barbershop shows of 2008 anywhere in the world, and the youth chorus without a doubt stole the show.

Particularly the youth chorus' performance of Loch Lomond. there were tears and there was sniffling at the sheer beauty and sensitivity with which the young men performed the epically glorious piece. Well done, lads.

Youths.. healing the world, making it a better place.

Harmony Explosion *KABOOOooOOoOOOoOM*

Lunch Break had a fantastic time in Birmingham this past weekend at the annual Harmony Explosion camp. Nearly 30 high school-ish aged students from around the area decended upon a private secondary school in Birmingham for a veritable "lock down" of harmony and pizza. We served as clinicians and role models for the awesomely talented youths in attendance (who were the ad wizards who thought up THIS one.. us? role models?), and our ringmaster James Estes weaved his web of directoral delights to the enwonderment of all who surveyed. The kids put on an absolutely fantastic show.

With the echoes of song still reverberating in the halls of Birmingham, Lunch Break is already en route to Clemson, NC for yet another week of Harmony Explosionating with a group of 130+ youths, and will share the stage with the youth chorus, State Line Grocery, and the always cromulent FRED. So check back soon for more updates and pics (pending FCC approval).

(tan-cam 4000 was broken at time of photograph)

SKA-DOOOSH!

Lunch Break had the most incredible time at the international barbershop convention this past week, and we would like to give a quick thanks to all those who were so kind and supportive to use throughout the contest. Your words mean so much to us and are a source of inspiration and encouragement as we continue to press forward and act like idiots on stages across the land. We could probably do it without you, but why would we WANT to? That would be truly idiotic.

A more thorough update is pending with more details and photos, but a quick congrats go out to our new champs, OC Times, Masters of Harmony, and Ringmasters for gold medal worthy performances.

Also.. hey, OUR NEW CD IS AVAILABLE WOWOWOWOWOWOOWOW! You can buy it now with a secure PayPal connection.

Enjoy! More soon....

Lunch Break's first CD "Out To Lunch" gone to press

Lunch Break is excited about our very first CD (for any of us!) Out to Lunch which has just gone to press and we expect copies to arrive in a few weeks. Check back here soon for updates as things develop, including a Paypal link to purchase. A full list of "thank yous" will go out once things start rolling in, but in the meantime, we've put clips from the CD online so you can get a "taste" of what's to come.

"Taste." Get it?

This is how the cool people 'snackity snack'.

"Come on get happy, the sun is.. uhh.. ummmmm.... "

Everyday menial tasks take on an entirely new feel when thrust in front of 500+ people and behind 3 of the best quartets in the Society. Take remembering words, for instance. Sigh. Oh well, despite dropping words left and right as thought they were HOT, the wonderful folks in the Johnny Appleseed District received us warmly and made us feel welcome. Having to follow directly behind TKO, Buffoons, and The Allies, certainly didn't help, but who do we have to blame but ourselves for blanking out on what was tried and true.

Speaking of.. the JAD quartets were in full effect and will no doubt make a huge splash at Internationals. Not to mention the mighty Alliance chorus under the direction of Dave Calland. These guys are ready. wow

See you all soon.

Louder please

Loud was definitely the volume du jour as we shared the stage with one of our all time FAVORITE quartets Redline and their absolutely dazzling (and loud?) sound. Watch out for these guys at the International Convention. It'll be a burner of barns. Our wonderful hosts, the chapter out of Jackson, Mississippi were wonderful to have invited us to perform on their May 31st show and open for our friends in Redline.

So we rented a van so as not to put extra miles on any of our own vehicles and make the trip as comfortable as possible for 4.. grown.. men (and 5 on the return trip), and as fate would have it, we blew a left rear tire which we didn't discover until after our meal at Longhorns about 1.5 hours along the way. Awe-some. At least we had tummies full of delicious steak as we scrambled to locate the Holy-Grail of a spare tire and mount the bad boy, before embarking on a rental-replacement trip that turned into a Gilligan's Island-esque stormy perilous quest into the heart of Memphis' seedy underbelly.

It was nearly 1am when we heroically escaped Memphis' late-nite car rental industry's lazy grasp and found ourselves in Jackson a few hours later.

No matter, however. When your feet are comfortable, life is good.

Comfortable feet.