All-California Convention

Well, the California Convention in San Pedro was pretty dang nice.



Pat Keating (pictured above with Richard's nose) was a gracious and with-it chair, and the L.A. local singers were excellent hosts. Rick Russell and Bruce Hayes arranged; Laura Boyd Russell pitched, with assistance from Richard DeLong.

Mary Rose valiantly tried to keep it green, although L.A.'s recycling regulations didn't turn out to be quite as liberal as originally thought (let's face it; nobody believed for a second that those waxed paper cups were recyclable).

I liked how this convention was friendly to beginners while still keeping things together -- i.e., the front bench always had responsible singers on it, with few gaps.
Several new singers led, and were well supported by the class. The convention also drew visitors from all over, including many excellent leaders who stretched the class (in a good way!).

It was great to see Ted, Anne, Steve, and Lisa from Chicago; Richard from Georgia, Claire from New Mexico; Leyland and Mary Chris from Virginia, Kiri and James from Rhode Island; Jerry, Carla, Carroll, Midge, and Jeff from San Diego; Steve and Karen from Eugene; the Los Angeles singers; and some semi-locals like Cindy and Jeanette, who live nearby but who I don't sing with that often for various logistical reasons. There were just boatloads of people there with whom I'd sung before, and with whom I was glad to sing again. I'm missing tons of names in this list.

Lots of Bay Area locals went down, and it's always fun to see how we behave when not in our Bay Area bubble. Every Bay Area singer led, including Caroline, who claimed she hadn't meant to sign up to lead, but in fact led really well.

I wasn't able to take that many pictures before my camera batteries crapped out, but here are a few.


This is Linda in front of the Korean Friendship Bell in Angels' Gate Park. No, Linda, you can never escape the paparazzi.


Here are a few pictures as the convention was beginning on Saturday:

Mark, Ted, Carolyn, and Carroll (who was also the outgoing chair).


Claire and Susan


Wade from Utah, Cindy, Inder, and Xaris. Xaris, a treble, claimed to be a new singer but sang everything perfectly, including the shapes. Which makes me wonder: how many singers would be willing to make a dark Faustian pact in exchange for sweet Sacred Harp skills? Is that Darlene's secret?


Here are some leaders:


Anne from Evanston, IL -- who always rocks.


Carla from San Diego


Inder!


Kiri


Laura and the dude from the hostel, whose name I did not catch. Also, part of Leyland's face, because that is the nature of taking pictures from the second row.


Susan and, um, Richard's ear.


Betty from Oakland: my sole singing shot on Sunday before my camera ate Linda's batteries.


Here are some random singing shots:


Linda and Chris in the tenor section


Linda and Chris in the tenor section, with Chris taking a picture. He probably has some awesome ones; hopefully he'll post them.


A piece of the tenor section: Richard, Carolyn, and Mary Rose.


Some basses: Ron H., Steve W., James B., and Paul L.


Here are some (poorly taken) photos of the social:


Linda and fellow tenor Kasia


David and Susan, at whom I tried to pitch a truly brilliant film idea while they smiled and nodded and checked their watches


And finally, the Korean Friendship Bell:




In conclusion, why do we have a "Sacred Harp" label? Aren't all of these posts Sacred Harp posts?