Schedule of Activities
Sept 28-30 District Contest - Phoenix
Sun. Sept 30 Catalina Chord Club
Sat. Oct 6 Singout, Exceptional Children
Oct. 30, 2008 Pan Pacific Conv. Honolulu

South Bay Coastliners Celebrate 60 Years

By Mike Martin (Photos also from Mike Martin)

Detroit - June 7, 1947, officers of the SPEBSQSA affixed signatures to a charter for a new chapter in Inglewood, California. The chapter started with 45 names and it was predicted that this chapter would be one of the outstanding chapters in the Society. In May of 1954, officers of the Inglewood and Torrance chapters agreed to merge their chapters and in 1957 moved to Manhatten Beach and became known as South Bay. In the1960's, the Coastliner name became synonymous with South Bay and by January 1965, South Bay was the largest chapter in the Far West District.

It is now 60 years later and on a Saturday in Los Angeles it is raining cats and dogs. It's the first respectable rain we have had in a long while but as nice as that may be, in 24 hours the South Bay Coastliners are going to be celebrating their 60th Birthday out in the open, topside on the United States ship SS Lane Victory in San Pedro, California.

The Lane Victory at the Dock in San Pedro

Advance ticket sales suggest the party will be successful with an unknown additional amount to show up on Sunday, the day of the celebration. Many top quartets and a cappella groups along with several men's and women's choruses have signed up to be present but if Sunday's weather is anything like Saturday's, it will be a very quiet event.

Sunday arrived in beautiful fashion with clear blue skies, comfortable temperatures and gentle breezes to make the perfect day for such a party. A brigade of chapter volunteers arrived prior to the event to prepare by setting up risers, tables, cooking areas, and refreshment stations. By three o'clock, guests started queuing up for ship boarding as they purchased tickets and passed through the newly-required anti-terrorist need to present picture identification to board the ship. Once that was out of the way, the event swiftly proceeded smoothly and wonderfully into the perfect day.

The Coastliners Open the Festivities

A schedule was set up for performances in ten- and fifteen- minute increments starting at 3:00 pm, and going nonstop till 7:00 pm. Appearing on stage were many outstanding barbershop quartets such as The 139th Street Quartet, Hi-Fidelity, Ready Willing & Mabel, Stage Hogs, and dozens of other quartets from around the southland including South Bays Docs on the Rocks and Sound Union.

The Coastliner Chorus under the direction of Pete Neushul opened and closed the show, but in between many fine men's and women's choruses appeared, such as the Santa Monica Oceanaires with their new director Todd Kolberg, The Apple Valley Chorus, (Kristin Taylor directing) the LA SouthTowns, (Caroline McLean directing) the Long Beach Sweet Adelines, (Lynn Smith directing) and the Fullerton Chapter Chorus (Craig Ewing directing).

The crowd Watching Action on the Hatch Cover Stage

But this was truly a multitasking event. While all the upper deck performances proceeded, other venues aboard ship were also in session. On the lower deck in the main museum/dining area, quartets, both formal and pickup, gathered for private performances in nooks and crannies around the ship. In other areas, lines of hungry guests formed to enjoy the great foods being prepared which offered tantalizing fragrances throughout the ship, while still others formed lines for their favorite beverages. On the forward part of the upper deck, tag contests were being held and trophies awarded.

Yet, in other parts of the ship, many first time visitors to this great military vessel visited the lower deck museum and took tours of the ship offered by the SS Lane Victory operators. This ship saw duty during World War II, the Korean and Vietnam conflicts and has a great history. While the ship remained at her berth during these festivities, the Lane Victory is fully operational with WWII-Cruises off Catalina during the summer months. It is one of Los Angeles' great points of interest.

Over 500 Guests Attended the Celebration

The singing throughout the ship represented only a part of the day's enjoyment. Everywhere in little clusters could be seen groups of people who hadn't seen one another in years. Many of South Bay's alumni showed up to participate in the festivities while wives of long-deceased members were drawn to the event on the chance of seeing old friends and faces that were so much a part of their earlier social lives. And they were not disappointed.

As the celebration came to a close at evening time, the beautiful weather continued and we were treated with a lovely sunset and clear starlit skies. South Bay took to the risers once more and offered a few closing selections and a thank you to all those who had taken the time to join them on this extraordinary day. Many came from quite long distances and had the return trip home to look forward to. Without a doubt, everyone in attendance knew that something very special had happened this day and that it was another memory event which will be recounted over again many times.

Guests, far beyond the original ticket sales, had gathered for this experience, pressing the food and drink preparations, but all the challenges were happily met. It would be difficult to name all the Chapter members, wives and friends who came together to make this an impressive event. The South Bay Chorus is truly humbled by the remarkable turnout of fellow barbershop choruses and quartets and other a cappella performers for this special affair. Thanks for the memories.

Thank You Everybody!

By Rick Llewelyn

As Chairman of the Coastliners 60th Birthday bash, I have to take some time to recognize the people who contributed mightily to make this a success. What I fear the most is that I'll neglect to mention someone's name, and hurt his or her feelings. I'll do the best that my addled brain will allow, however if I do miss someone, believe me it won't be intentional.

First of all, let me say thank you to the entire South Bay Chapter, for their involvement in making this event succeed. From what I observed, everyone pitched in and volunteered their services wherever they were needed. This type of volunteer spirit is what it takes to make a chapter flourish, grow, and prosper. PLEASE, keep up the good work. I'll now try to thank as many people as possible, by name, and in no certain order of importance.

I'll start with my close assistant, and whom I considered to be my co-chair, Mike Martin. Mike designed the great flyer that was sent out over the net and posted on our website. He also designed and printed the programs that were handed out to all our guests. Last but not least, he found and hired our two strong-backed helpers, Carlos, and Marcello, without whom, we would not have been able to get all the work done. Mike also visited some local chapters, and was responsible for getting Santa Monica to attend, and perform.

Next, I'll thank Peter Neushul, first of all for coming up with the idea of the 60th bash, and the venue for its location. As usual, Peter's creativity came through. Peter also coordinated the booking and scheduling of all the performers, and the selection of our two very able emcees, Joe Nagle, and Josh Cripps. Stam Hill provided his usual expertise in setting-up, and operating the sound system, with microphones provided by Peter, and John Saffery.

Next I'll turn to the distaff side, in order to thank someone very near and dear to me, our great Ticket Chairman, my wife, Kay Llewelyn. As is her usual way, she took over the ticket job, was able to keep everyone happy, and was able to accommodate everyone who wanted to attend. I'd also like to thank my daughter, Mary Reese, for helping with the ticket will-call, and walkups. Mary manned the ticket table for quite some time, and was relieved by Michael Thorpe, who continued at that post until all were on board, or accounted for.

Thanks to Denny Lawrence for making, and providing nametags for our guests, as well as joining with myself, Jim Labor, Peter Neushul, Bernie Baron, and Mike Martin in inspecting the Lane Victory for its suitability, and lay-out that would serve our purposes. Thanks to Bernie Baron and Jim Labor for making the entire contract, financial, and licensing arrangements.

You may have noticed Jim Labor's name coming up frequently, because he handled various assignments in support of the party. Jim built the scheduling board for the performances, brought some backdrops for the stage, and coordinated the decorating team, which included some volunteers from LAST. Speaking of LAST, they also volunteered to man the bar, sell drink tickets, and a number of other jobs, to help out.

The next gentleman was very important for our event. Michael Borrett didn't know what he was getting into when he volunteered to help-out with the bar. Michael ended up in charge of the bar and all the refreshments, plus picking up the beverages and ice, plus recruiting the bartenders, George and Nancy Jackson, Bob Griffiths, Tony Gione, and Don Barton. By the way, George Jackson came through again with a donation of four cases of red, and four cases of white wine, I know that there were more people that helped out with the bar, but I'm only mentioning the people that I observed. I know that Joe Corter, Steve Bunker, Chuck Chastain, Mike Cavanaugh, Barden Smith, and a few others helped by carrying stuff from one place to another, and setting up and tearing down the risers, chairs, etc.

I know that this is running long, but I must mention a few other people. I'll start with Jim Labor, Michael Thorpe, and John Saffery, for bringing the sets, the risers, and the lemonade, which John provided with the donation of lemons from Mike Martin, and various other South Bay and LAST members. By the way, John Saffery also arranged for our excellent food. We sure got rave revues from the guests for that fabulous taco bar.

Last but certainly not least, my hat's off to Ron Sipes, and Jack Newman (with temporary help from others), for selling over $1,350 of drink tickets.

Let me say in closing, that this party could only have been successful with all the hard work of those I've named, and some I may have missed. Thank you all for making my job as Event Chairman as easy as you did. I couldn't have done it without you.

Some Musings on the Un-Contest and the Chapter

By Bob Griffiths

I suppose I should be more whizzed about losing the $40 nonrefundable registration fee for the Contest in Phoenix. The fact is, I'm glad South Bay elected not to compete, since it's a long drive to have your ass handed to you. But let's examine why it took so long to come to that decision and what finally led the Board to eventually drop the ax.

Firstly, lets look at the Spring Divisional contest. The few men of South Bay that made the drive to sing in the competing chorus, all 25 or so of us, learned one of the songs, or more accurately, somewhat learned one of the songs, in the four hours preceding stage time. Prior to May, I would have thought that would be unacceptable. Apparently it is acceptable to go to contest without knowing notes and words.

Whoda thunk? Not only did we do an ugly rendering of "Shanty" on stage, what with missed notes and so forth, attack and release errors, breathing wherever we wanted (every three words seems to be the average), singing flat, we also did less than a wonderful job on "Stout Hearted Men." That would be the same "Stout Hearted Men" that we've been singing for the last decade (or maybe it just seems like it).

Actually, however well we used to sing SHM at some point in time in the distant past, it's been degrading year by year, and month by month and week by week for a long, long time (I'll get to why in a minute). In any case, the bottom line is, we were LUCKY to make the cut to go to District. You might ask yourself who on the Board was in charge of getting us prepared to sing in the May contest. Can't put a name on it can you? Me either.

OK, so we made the cut in May to go to the District Contest which we knew was in September. Yes, count that on your fingers - we had four months to get ready and we did s---. That's a failure of leadership. One of the Board members told me " you can't lead, if people don't want to follow." I couldn't find that phrase in my Army Leadership Manual. So, let's blame it all on the Board. Uh, not so fast there, Ollie. Yes, it's a monumental leadership failure, but what about the rest of us?

So let's take a moment to discuss our singing. I like to use the ever-popular grading system where "A" is best and "F" is least best. I'm guessing South Bay has 10 "A" singers. Those would be the guys who have International Quartet Medals - Anderson, Brooks, Crawford, Guthrie, Jordan, Kenworth, Kline, Neushul, Sherburn, and West. Then there's the "B" Squad, these are the guys that have been on the quartet night show at District. So here they are: Briner, Campbell, Clark (I think), Griffiths, Hamblet, Nagle, Palmquist, Reeder, Ullfig and Wilson. That's 20 "A's" and"B's".

Next up are the "C" singers. These guys who are in the chapter quartets, do the singouts, compete in Divisional, and are featured on the annual show, and so on. So far so good, although you might have noticed that many of the "A" and "B" singers are not really active with the chorus. The same is true of the 45 or so "C" singers. Either they live out of town or only come to Chapter on some sort of vague schedule. Now comes the "D" and "F" guys. Let's say there are 13 to 15 of us that fit these two categories. That gets us to about 80 guys, of which about 27-30 are regular Chapter guys.

So, do you know the difference between South Bay and the Master's of Harmony? (1) They don't have any "D" and "F" singers and (2) they expect a lot of commitment and dedication from everyone in the form of a contract between the membership and the Chapter. I'll go out on a limb and propose that many of the MOH guys that are "C" singers used to be "D" singers but worked hard to enhance their skills. The MOH members come every week prepared to sing their best.

Many of us, on the on the other hand, come every week not warmed up, having spent no time from the previous week working on notes or craft, and generally slop through the Wednesday rehearsal like it doesn't matter. So we practice, but practice itself doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent. You practice singing crappy and guess what --- YOU SING CRAPPY.

OK, with me so far? So, our fearless Director stands in front of the Chorus (all 27 or so, of us) every week and talks about the same technical stuff every effing week. Tone production, vowels, breath control, moves, faces, etc. Yet, the chorus sings and looks no better today than last year or the year before that. Why is that? Must be a Board failure, right? Uh, perhaps, or perhaps not! I'm thinking there's a membership commitment and dedication failure. I don't know if you can blame the Board for that, although I'm not going to let the Board off scot-free. Can you name the board member who was responsible for getting us ready to sing in Phoenix? Me either.

So here's the next puzzlement. There's 10 guys that do all the work. Everyone else sits on his hands and does zero. You know who these guys are, and you let them kill themselves with seemingly no regard to their efforts and certainly offer none of yours. Why is that? Must be a Board failure, right? Or could it be that you treat South Bay like the Wednesday Gang Singing Society in the singing department, and hey, once there, there's not much left for the joys of actually doing something for the common good.

So, let's review:
1) We didn't deserve to make the cut at the Divisional
2) The Board had a leadership failure as far as the District Contest
3) Our singing is not so hot
4) There's not much member commitment to sing better
5) The same 10 guys do all the scut work

The next contest is in May. That's eight months from now. We can either learn two new songs, at our new learning rate of one new song every four months, or we can rehash our oldies but goodies (those would be the ones we sing flat and slop through and have no SP and don't do vowels, and take breaths every three notes, because that's the way we practice them.) Uh, can you name the Board member who is responsible for getting us prepared for the next Divisional? Me either.
So let's be realistic for a moment. If we were to sing in the Divisional today we wouldn't make the cut. But we have a choice. Either we start singing like it really matters right now, as in today, or we're just shoveling s---- against the tide. Or, we can decide not to put off the inevitable. Let me save my $40 nonrefundable registration fee and vote today to skip the Divisional in May. That also has the advantage of taking the pressure off the Board to show any leadership. And, you wouldn't have to care which Board member is responsible for preparing to sing in contest. Me either.

Missed Opportunity

By Mike Martin

One of the highlights of any barbershop chapter is performing in contest. It's fun, it's challenging, and an occasion to meet with your peers in other chapters and an opportunity to, at least once in the year, be put under pressure to perform at your peak capability.

One of the highlights of my barbershop career was performing on stage with 16 other quartets for the 2005 contest. And rehearsing on Saturday mornings with all these guys was as much fun as the contest itself. It was barbershopping at it's best. Everyone seemed excited and wired. Another event high on the list of fun at a contest was meeting with our Hawaiian brothers up in San Jose with our much smaller chorus in 2006. What a great afternoon we had singing, eating, and sharing time with them. And they will look forward to seeing us next year at the 2008 Pan Pacific contest in Hawaii. Contests are fun!

South Bay has always been a strong contender. We are a good singing chorus as well as an entertaining chorus. I think the concept of a singing quartet chorus makes sense from a standpoint that it is one way to get the guys to learn their material. But is it the only way and is it truly a better sound?

One of the problems of requiring a guy to be in a quartet in order to go to contest is that you can leave some very good voices behind. Some, because of other activities in their lives, cannot commit to three other guys to meet regularly and learn music. Others may find some discomfort in performing in a quartet configuration but are very comfortable with a group. Some simply do not want to be in a quartet but love singing in the chorus and sharing the camaraderie of a fine fraternal organization. There are a lot of reasons men come to chapter meetings.

Do we really sing better in a chorus of quartets? If we have a chorus of men as we did in 2005 the answer is an unequivocal yes. But that was a unique and special chorus. Look at the talent that was in it.

Perfect Gentlemen, 139th Street, Stage Hogs, The Saints, and Sands of Time, as well as our cadre of regular chapter quartets. We had 64 guys on stage. We scored in the top six positions with Rincon, Westminster, Bay Area Metro among others, with a score of 1336. But, was it the South Bay regular chorus singing? Not!

Going to the 2006 contest with our chorus of nine quartets (36) made up of more regular chapter members, we came in 9th with a score of 1240. Clearly, a drop in scoring but the chorus was almost half the size of the 2005 contest chorus.

At the 2003 contest we went in a non-quartet configuration with three less men on stage than our quartet chorus of 2006. We actually scored better than 2006 with a score of 1271 and placed better. We also scored better in 2000 over 2006 in a non-quartet chorus.

I think what is proven is: if you have good singers you will do better.

I think it was unfortunate South Bay did not go to contest this year because we did not have enough quartets, and I think it is unfortunate that being in a quartet was a requirement to go to contest. I remember in 2000, everyone who wanted to go to contest did go, but had to pass a performance test to show they knew the material. If they didn't show they knew the music, they didn't go.

This year's 60th birthday celebration date one week before contest was really poor timing and probably accounts in large part for the lack of enthusiasm in preparing for contest by those who have to call the shots. Quartets or not, we simply were not ready to go from lack of preparation. I really support the off-the-wall things that South Bay does and our general brash ways. Still, I don't believe "quartets only" is fair to all members. Any member who can show he knows his material should be able to perform in contest. If he can do it with a quartet, so much the better. But not going to contest for lack of quartets doesn't have a very good ring to it.

An Opinion on Contests

By Joe Corter

I am coming up on 32 years as a member of the South Bay Coastliners, and can remember when attending competitions was an obligation that each member accepted when he joined the organization. From then until now I have a hard time remembering the last time we went to a competition that we were completely prepared for, and certainly not for the upcoming competition in Phoenix.

The Board said we would withdraw due to lack of participation. I think this is the wrong choice of words; "lack of preparation" would be a better choice. If we were prepared, participation would be sure to follow.

I like singing in a quartet, but some of our crew are not up to it, and either can`t or won`t do it. This is a volunteer organization and twisting arms doesn`t get the results we need.

I like what one of our members said concerning the competition. He said the chorus prepares for competition and enters as a chorus, and the Chapter quartets that are qualified enter the quartet competition -- this way we all get a chance to do our thing....

Harmony Brigades

By Will Hamblet

If you love singing in a quartet, I highly recommend that you read the cover article in the latest (July/August 2007) Harmonizer. The article is entitled "Extreme Quartetting" and it's about "the Harmony Brigade experience."

What is a Harmony Brigade? Well, stripped down to its essentials, it works like this:
1) A number (X) of song-learning CD's are sent out to the Brigade members.
2) After a certain elapsed time (Y), the members gather together.
3) The above meeting lasts for a pre-arranged duration (Z) where the members sing the subject songs within different configurations, have contests, sing as a chorus, eat pizza and generally have one helluva time.

My favorite description of the event (from one of its participants) is, "It's the pleasure of nailing a great tag without the burden of learning it, and the thrill lasts the length of a whole song."

Now, if the above sounds somewhat familiar to you, it's because the concept has many similarities with the way South Bay organized for the District Contest in Pasadena a few years ago. Of course, there were some significant differences, but the idea of gathering numerous singers from the SoCal area, having them learn the songs from CD's and meet regularly to try it all together is certainly similar. In fact, the ultimate contest in Pasadena was, for many of us, just another get together (and we DID get pizza that time). It was the continuing fun of (re-)meeting other singers, nailing the music and… PARTICIPATING in an enjoyable musical experience.

Currently, there are four Brigades. Unfortunately, they are all in eastern states (for me, anything east of Barstow is the Far East). Will one be started in SoCal? With all the coverage in The Harmonizer, I think it's destined to happen sooner or later. But, DANGER DANGER, if the Masters take charge of this function (and it sounds like something they would love to get their claws into), they will immediately stress the contest aspects and systematically suck every ounce of musical joy out of the event

What this needs to succeed here is the right kind of leader. I think the attributes of this leader would be:
1) Experience in leading other events, shows, etc.
2) Charismatic personality
3) Solid musical reputation within the SPEB
community.
4) I think it would also help if he had a dog named
Max!!

Anyhoo, if you know someone who fits the above criteria and you like the idea of a SPEB function where you actually participate (as opposed to merely being a spectator), nag the guy a bit!!!

What I Want

By Peter C. Neushul (Head Chord Flogger)

South Bay is one of the poster boys for the Society. We have close to 100 members, we put on the best shows, we have bucks in the bank and we know how to throw a party better than anyone. The Lane Victory party was a good example. I would give it an A+.

However we can do better. The idea is to have the best possible time. That means that the singing needs to be great as well. We were really good on the Lane Victory but we had almost a full compliment of us there. There were about 40 of us and it really shows in the sound of the chorus. Usually at the Chapter meetings we have around 30. I don't expect that everyone will be there every week. This ain't a job, you know.

My wish is to have 50 men at rehearsals and ten quartets. The ten quartets include The Perfect Gentlemen, 139th and even Mabel. If you add in Docs, Sound Union and Fresh Aire that makes six, so ten is not an unreasonable number. There may be more in the offing but they are not yet emergent. One of our big achievements is that we have a terrific repertoire compared to the other chapters. These songs can be used by your quartet and you will have a ready-made act.

The point of all this is that we need another 20 or so singers to bring us up to a size that makes the singing really fun and good. The new guys that we have are really terrific and they are making an impact in the chorus, so let's keep it going and get another 20. Is that too much to ask?

Quartet Activity

Fresh-Aire - Mike Martin

Fresh-Aire performed for the national management team as well as the employees of the Crown Plaza Hotel at their airport location. The occasion was for a special new international program initiated by management to "Show We Care" and Working Together." The quartet was asked to prepare a song with their themes. The song and lyrics were developed and presented to an enthusiastic audience and to the delight of management. The lyrics were requested by the hotel officers for use in their continuing program across the United States. Fresh-Aire also performed for the Westchester Rotary Club at one of the regular business meetings and was invited to participate in their luncheon.

Board Positions 2008

The following have been nominated for positions on the Board of Directors for 2008.
Voting Board Members
Past President: Rick Llewellyn
President Don Duperon
Secretary Mike Cavanaugh
Treasurer Bernie Baron
Program V.P. Steve Bunker
Music/Performance V.P. Michael Thorpe
Mktg & Pub .Rel. V.P. Jack Newman
Young Men in Harmony V.P. John.Saffery
Membership V.P. Denny Lawrence
Members at Large Stam. Hill, John Upp
Chuck Chastain, Ron Sipes
Chorus Manager Joe Corter

In addition to the above listed voting members,
Ron Sipes will be the Outside Performance Chairman.
Paul Ivanick will be in charge of Costumes.

Dave Miller Passing

Sad news for FWD Barbershoppers and Region 21 Sweet Adelines. Dave Miller, longtime Southern California and San Diego area barbershop singer, woodshedder, and former member of South Bay Chapter, passed away, Sunday, September 16th, at approximately 11:00 pm.
He fought a long and courageous battle with cancer. Dave sang in the San Diego, La Jolla. and South Bay chapter choruses and was a prolific quartetter. A memorial service was held on Saturday, September 22.