What a wonderful night for an Afterglow. After the contests through the day and the show of champions in the evening, I came to realize that I'd been singing or warming up all day and had not heard anyone else sing except for a bit of the evening show. Here was my chance to hear the rest of the guys.  But first, we had to sing - but we only know two songs.  OK, we'll do Shine On Me.

Click on any photo for an enlargement

Afterwards, everyone is high and wants to keep the feeling alive, and what better way for barbershoppers than to continue singing? But without the strict rules and with other guys whom they don't normally sing with. Hence the afterglow. The informal entertainment. The chance for others to hear what you can do after a big meal and a few drinks.  Still not bad, eh?

This chorus, the Hospitality Singers get down to some serious enjoyment here.  They deserve it after their 12th win at Division.  I guess we'll have to get to know them before we all head up to Anchorage.  We'll come and visit, OK?

Bill & Mufty Mathewson  sang Happy Birthday for Al & Jim - although not Barbershop, still singing.  Well done. On the right is Jim McCaffrey, a newer member of the Grove City Chorus, and on the left is Al Knight, a charter member of The Stampede City Chorus.  Bill met Al in 1958 when Bill joined the Calgary Chorus.  According to Bill,
"I had met Al in 1958 when I joined the Calgary Chorus and he was 40 and I was a kid of 6. He is a real friend of mine and carried me along harmonically on many an occasion. He is still doing many things for Barbershopping including helping us try to introduce our singing hobby to the St. Johns Boys School. He had been fêted earlier in the day by Mike Lanctot but Mufty and I wanted to sing to him. Jim McCaffrey is a newer member like me to Grove City. He really enjoyed the acknowledgement."  (6 years old?  True - Bill is only 51 now - do the math!)

Hey, I miss those bright red blazers - but these casual duds are pretty sharp.  Stampede City certainly provided some good stuff and it was nice to see them up for the contest.

Red Deer did a fabulous job in hosting the convention.
(Yes, we did!)  Poor Trish was really sick - but got up to direct us for the contest, and then came back to direct us in the show of champions.  Don Craig did the honours at the Afterglow.  (Bernie & I were out of the room at the time, and I understand we were missed?)

I went home that night - did I miss anything exciting at Breakfast?

For 6 or 7 years, this Quartet had dominated the Quartet competition top spot.    I first heard them when they were up for the Spruce Grove show two years ago.  I had a chance to sing with them after the afterglow there, and then a few months later, met up with them again at the 2000 convention.  Haven't seen them since. I heard about their Chapter show a month ago and discovered that Mark wasn't singing in a quartet.  Hadn't talked to him in almost two years, but I called him and made my pitch. 

You know mark - everyone ribs him 'cause he takes it so well, but he was the last one to say "let's beat In The Groove"   Not really our intent, but it was damn near a tie! (2 points)  Keep up the good work, guys!

And all the way from Lethbridge, Steve and the gang always give us their all.  During the afterglow, after the afterglow, and well into the wee hours, these guys will always sing!

Thanks for the pop, steve - and those tunes out in the parking lot.  It made for a great theme picture for this site, didn't it?

When does an afterglow end?  Usually when you're down to three guys.  Here, at 2:00 a.m., we're still going strong, and the night shift cleaning staff are politely trying to move us out of the room. 

An Afterglow gives us a chance to sing with a tremendous variety of folks - and we do it because we can!  What fun!

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