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.

CARA-riffic!

Almost forgot, Lunch Break's CD "Out to Lunch" was recently nominated for three(3) Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards, including Best Barbershop Album, Best Barbershop Song (Mr. Potato Head), and Best Comedy Song (Mr. Potato Head). Woo!

Check announcements of the winners April 1 right here.

Coast to Coast

Barbershop is a super fantastic hobby. One weekend, Lunch Break is basking in the sunny glow of the west coast's Pasadena, and a mere 6 days later, frolicking on the Atlantic ocean's front door in Sunny Florida. Thank you, barbershop infrastructure! How on earth could we ever repay the work our harmonious forefathers have done to lay down the foundation upon which we could build a fully realized dream of travelling and singing? Presumably, we could continue the work in our own chapters to keep the dream alive for others. We're modern day bards, people.

OK, maybe we're closer to modern day court jesters, except there are no kings anywhere.

A big shout out to the Greater Canaveral men's chorus, and the beautiful ladies of Sound of Sunshine for inviting us to be a part of their shows. All of you ladies and gentlement were wonderful to us, and even let us share a dressing room with the celebrities from the Humdingers, a world class quartet completely bent on entertainment no matter what the cost, even if it means dancing or doing a hat routine.

But the icing on the cake has to be getting the ol' red carpet treatment at Sunday evening's Orlando Magic game. The mighty Magic basketballers of Orlando defeated the New Jerseys of Nets handily, and Lunch Break got free desserts and center court photos in the process. It's who you know in this world, especially if it's Mike.

But really, the icing on the icing on the cake was sharing a flight back to Nashville with Sarah Palin and Dubya (lookalikes.. fine). There were surprisingly few jeers from onlookers. Way to go, humanity.

Check out the pics!