CACHET
Sally McLeish • Shawnna Bilyeu • Tove Hoch • Jeannie Vercillo

What a ride! Cachet is so excited to be here at competition weekend competing with our four choruses: Agoura Hills Harmony, Channelaire, Santa Monica, and Verdugo Hills, and also competing as a quartet for the first time! We love singing together and we’re looking forward to singing for all of you.

Tove lives in Pacific Palisades, and it’s 165 miles from Shawnna’s house in Santa Maria to Jeannie’s in Arcadia so we had to find a midpoint for our rehearsals. That would be Sally’s house in Newbury Park. Sally’s new puppy, Buddy (an adorable Bichon Frise), loves to run around our feet and jump up and give us all kisses and chew on our toes while we sing. Sally even says that when she plays our rehearsals back on her recorder, Buddy runs excitedly into the other room to see if we are there! 

We were so proud of Shimmer!, Spirit, Channelaire Chorus, and Voices Unlimited Chorus representing Region 11 in Honolulu. What an incredible International contest.

Cachet has been privileged to have great coaches help us get our start and prepare for contest: Patty Cobb Baker, Alan Gordon, and Laura Pallas. They have all been fantastic and have generously shared their skills, nurturing and tools. 

A huge thank you to Celebrity City Chorus for hostessing this weekend and making it extra special. Good luck to all of the competing choruses and quartets especially our own chorus’ quartets (10 of them!): Many Happy Returns, Spirit, Pipe Dreams, Joyful Noise, Extra! Extra!, Cheers!, Ooh La La, Sirens, Plan B, and What Four!

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CHEERS!
Barbara Gregg • Viena Zeitler • Erin Zeitler • Amanda De Lucia

Toasting a New Addition to Cheers!

Shortly after Summer Sizzler, Jacquie Fernández made the difficult decision to leave Cheers! After moving to Arizona, rising gas prices and work made it impossible to continue the long distance arrangement. While we weren't happy to see Jacquie go, we are pleased that she has a new chorus home, Scottsdale Chorus, and enjoys her full-time teaching job and jewelry business.

In October we began looking for a replacement baritone and auditioned many wonderfully talented women. During this process, Channelaire traveled to Hawaii for International and had a wonderful time with family and friends from far away. Once back and settled, we had our last performance with Jacquie for RiverOaks' annual show – a fabulous treat to sing for the chorus that introduced Viena to barbershop!

Not long after, a decision was made to bring aboard Erin Zeitler, Viena's sister. Erin, a resident of Oakland, CA, has been a member of Region 12 for nearly 10 years (yes, singing is in the genes!). With the holidays approaching, Cheers! began getting back into the swing of things, establishing a rehearsal schedule, and identifying all of the rest stops between Santa Barbara and Oakland. Recently, Cheers! auditioned for Channelaire, and had coaching sessions with Betty Clipman in January and Judy Ashmore in February and March. Erin is looking forward to getting to know everyone in Region 11 so when you see us at Regional, please come up and introduce yourself!

It has been a whirlwind adventure and we are having a wonderful time! We are excited to be sharing the stage with an unprecedented amount of quartet talent and feel very lucky to be a part of Region 11.

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DOLCE
Elaine Casperson • Erin Lunn • Dede Nibler • Wendy O’Connor

Yikes! March already and contest time again! It’s sure been a whirlwind for Dolce since Contest 2008 and we’ve certainly earned our ‘frequent flier’ miles! Elaine’s just back from visiting her daughter and two darling grandbabies in Canada, Wendy’s been back and forth to S.F. to visit eldest son Brendan (who already racked up straight A’s his first semester at State), Erin took another trip to Tulsa for the International Membership meeting and, of course, we all made the exciting trip to Hawaii for contest and had an absolutely wonderful time. What a dream the whole week was, we love our chorus so much and are so proud of our performance on the ‘big stage’.

But Dede trumped us all by leaving from Hawaii and traveling to Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania to coach for three months in Regions 34 and 35. Quartet rehearsals weren’t exactly the same, but we shared via email and kept in touch with regular phone calls. We’re awful happy to have her back and to be here singing this weekend.

Many thanks to Region 11 for all their hard work putting this weekend together and to our hostess chorus for their efforts. Best of luck to all the competitors this wonderful Sweet Adeline weekend! Good on ya!!

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GLORYGALS
Pat Jackson • Dyanna Denari • Vicky Tomasino • Cheryl Rodrigues

GloryGals hit the road running this year, especially in December. We had many performances for the holidays, which helped us bond and unify our sound. This has been an exciting and great learning year for us. We've had some great coaching from Ami Fewell, John Mininger, Jim Halvorson, and we were excited to have the opportunity to work with Bobbette Gantz while she was visiting Las Vegas. We have learned so much; what we've really learned is that we have so much more to learn! What a great journey!

This will be GloryGals second time on contest stage, and we're excited to be among such talented women. We wish the very best of luck to all the competing quartets and choruses this year. It's not the destination that counts, but the journey, and we're so happy to be on this road with all of you!

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OOH LA LA
Barbara Adams • Leah Rippetoe • Jonni Wood • Judy Hatch

The La La Test – Can you say ‘yes’ to the following questions?

• Do you have ADOS (Attention Deficit - Ooh Shiny) syndrome?
• Can you ‘glow’ until at least 2:00am?
• Do you like high heels and short skirts?
• Are these French words in your vocabulary: Beaujolais, Cabernet, and Pinot Noir?
• Do you have naturally curly, red hair?
• Do you sing lead?

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PIPE DREAMS
Stacey Conchelos • Debbie Curtis • Monica Tautkus • Dianne Aldrich

Pipe Dreams is looking forward to our 3rd contest together. We love and appreciate our FOUR choruses (even though calendaring is always a challenge!): Agoura Hills Harmony, Channelaire, Harborlites and Verdugo Hills.

We were also honored to work with some very special coaches over the past few months. We thank Patty and Jeff Baker for the afternoon of “speed coaching”!! You guys rock! It was terrific working twice with Bobbette Gantz, who brings her “judge” ears with her – we love that!! Lynne Smith was her ever-lively, effervescent self during our choreo. brush-up session. And we also had a chance to work on several occasions with Sally McLeish – an untapped local resource with a great set of ears!! Thanks, Sally!

We recently enjoyed singing on AHH! Chorus’ “Happenin’ Harmony” Youth Festival show, and then sang on Verdugo Hills’ “Divas and Desserts” show 2 weeks later. AHH's "Family & Friends" Night rounded out our Spring shows, and now it’s time to hit the contest stage.

Thank you to Celebrity City for all the hours of work you’ve already spent – and will spend – to hostess this year’s contest. And thank you to our friends, Spirit, for what’s sure to be a fun Thursday night Winners’ Circle Quartet Reception!

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RING
Stacey Riss • Ami Fewell • Suzanne Lunak • Bobbie Fewell

Ring has had a very busy year! We have been so honored to be the Regional 3rd place medalist of Region 11. We have enjoyed singing for the community at various sing outs and honored to have been asked to sing for the Nevada Legislative Forum as they honored one of their own, Thelma, 91-years young and a member of Nevada Silver-haired Legislative Forum.

Ring has a new addition to our family. Suzanne Lunak, our baritone, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, River Madeline Larson on December 30. She was 6 lbs, 18 inches long. Mommy and baby are doing great. Although Suzanne will not be competing with us this year we know she is up on that stage with us! This one’s for you, Suzanne! We love you.

We wish all the competitors the best of luck and we are proud to share the stage with all of you.

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SHIMMER!
Patty Cobb Baker • Missy Pearce • Judy Ashmore • Mary Ashford

Shimmer! is thrilled to be back with our Region 11 family. We are honored to be this year’s Region 11 mic testers and we are very excited to present the 1st place medals to this year's quartet champions and to sing on the Parade of Champions.

We are very proud of Patty’s appointment to the International Board. With the four of us actively singing in choruses and on the coaching circuit both as coach and coachee, much of our rehearsal time is spent syncing up our calendars in hopes of finding time to rehearse. It gets crazy but it all seems to work out. And speaking of coaches over the last few months, we were blessed to work with Jeff "sing better" Baker, Lynne Smith, Sandy Marron, Kim Hulbert, Dale Syverson and Betty Clipman.

Did someone sneeze? If so, where’s that Neti Pot? You too could be the proud owner of your very own Shimmer!- endorsed Neti Pot. Along with the Neti Pots, we’re also selling those delicious and highly effective Pastilles that are guaranteed to stop any tickle in its tracks. For instructions on how to use your Neti Pot, simply go to YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6MNr7s7awo). With the help of Missy and Patty, you’ll quickly learn the “how to’s” of Neti Pots.

Our special thanks to the terrific choruses we proudly represent – Channelaire, Harmony Showcase, South Valley Sound and Harborlites. We would also like to recognize the Winners’ Circle for all that they do over competition weekend including the Thursday night quartet reception hosted by Spirit, the Friday night quartet champion reception, the escort vans for top five quartets, the Novice and Sizzle awards, and the flowers for the quartet champions. Thank you, Celebrity City, for hosting this year’s regional weekend. Here's to harmonizing the world as we sing our way into another fantastic regional weekend. Best wishes to all competing quartets and choruses.

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SIRENS
Melissa Hockenberger • Shelly Wilner • Debra Hockenberger • Lisa Kneebone

Sirens has had an awesome year of performing for a wide variety of events, and we've had a blast singing and enjoying these special times together. We had the opportunity to sing on the L.A. South Towns and Southland Harmony shows (thank you to Caroline McLean and Jim Campbell for your generous invitations!) We sang for a fundraising luncheon for the L.A. Philharmonic, a Cirque du Soleil director's show at the Getty Museum, and a number of private gatherings from showbiz to councilwomen! One of our favorites was singing at Hugo's Restaurant for a couple right before the young man proposed to his girlfriend. He had planned it with us and she was taken completely by surprise. His best friend was under the table next to us, filming the whole thing. The best part was that she said YES!

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SPIRIT
Gerry Papageorge • Pam Pieson • Corky Harvey • Catherine Berriz

Hard to believe our year as your Regional champions has come to a close. What an exciting year for us. Last Spring, the Winners' Circle and Rio quartet gave us the royal treatment and they continued to assist us as we prepared the way for the new regional champs. Thank you, Winners’ Circle and Rio!!

We represent 3 choruses whom we love and thank – Agoura Hills Harmony, Verdugo Hills Showtime and Harborlites. Before heading to International with the blessings and financial support of all our choruses, we were able to perform at the Verdugo and Harborlites Fall shows. Performing is always a highlight for us.  And performing for our choruses is even better!  And so the month of March was amazing, as we had the opportunity to sing for all 3 of our choruses at their respective Friends and Family nights. 

Being on the International stage was an unforgettable experience. We couldn't have gotten there without the support of this great Region as well as Region 21! A huge thank you also to our fabulous coaches: the tireless Lynne Smith, Jeff Baker, Joni Bescos and Nick Papageorge. We love you!

We wish all the competing quartets a wonderful experience on stage.

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TOP FLIGHT
Theresa Schonbach • Kelly Robison • Kathy Wright • Karen Laderman

It's time for Top Flight to take flight! We are so excited to be taking the stage for our first journey together in Bakersfield. And some introductions are in order!

Of course, everyone knows our tenor, Theresa Schonbach, the director of the RiverOaks Chorus and Winner's Circle member. In her other life, Theresa is an insurance agent and works to perfect her golf game. Our lead, Kelly Robison, is a brand-new Sweet Adeline. This contest will be her first one for both chorus and quartet, so be sure to welcome our "first-timer"! Kelly is a professional masseuse, so if you're feeling tense, be sure to schedule an appointment with her! Our baritone, Kathy Wright, and our bass, Karen Laderman, sang together in Odyssey in Region 11 for many years and have been singing with the Harborlites Chorus for the last eight years. And they both work for KAL Publications in Anaheim, right by Disneyland. 

As we prepared for our flight in Bakersfield, we had the help of a lot of wonderful coaches along the way. A special thanks to Laura Pallas, Lynne Smith, and our "teeny weenie queenie" Judy Gordon, who was there at the beginning to give us a thumbs-up. We'd also like to thank our choruses, RiverOaks and Harborlites, for their love and support.

Top Flight would like to wish all of the competitors this weekend a soaring experience on stage, especially our "sister" quartets Applause, Spirit, Pipe Dreams, and Plan B. May the overtones fly!

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WILDFIRE
Patti Goin • Mary Jo Wheeler • Delia Price •
Jan Sloan

Greetings to all our friends and competitors! This is Wildfire’s 18th Region 11 competition, and we are still enjoying the journey – rehearsing, working with young singers, and entertaining as often as possible.

We enjoyed more than 25 performances in 2008, which significantly contributed to our costume collection and almost satisfied our shopping genes! We performed at Del Sol High School three times, and participated in an all day workshop with the girls’ quartets and barbershop chorus. What fun to see the joy of accomplishment on their faces as they learned two new songs to perform that evening.

Wildfire was featured on both Las Vegas men’s chorus shows: the Gambleaires, and City Lights. We were honored to sing at several Christmas parties, including an exclusive pilot organization on Nellis Air Force Base and the National Speakers Association. We also sang for two senior center Mother’s Day luncheons, Valentine’s Day, birthday and anniversary celebrations, and on our Celebrity City Chorus shows.

Come sing tags with Wildfire again this weekend!

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