AGOURA
HILLS HARMONY
www.ahhchorus.com
 AHH
Chorus greetings! We are pleased to announce
that AHH is represented in eight double quartets
here at Fall Festival. From our recent guest
chorus new members program, we are so pleased
to welcome five new ladies to our fold: Mary
Valance and Lynn Mainster (baritones); Anita
Levine and Debbie Kort (leads);
and Allyn Cook (tenor).
Our chorus had a fabulous summer Ice Cream Social Show on August 20 at
CSU Channel Islands, complete with silent auction, singing and scrumptious
sundaes. We were proud of our performance and welcomed many friends and
family members. We also held a Fashion Show on September 9 featuring AHH
chorus ladies as models.
Our holiday Guest Chorus began November 7 where new women joined us in
practice for our up-and-coming Holiday Show on December 10. Mark your calendars
and join us at Newbury Park First Christian Church, 801 Knollwood Dr. near
Lynn and Reino at 4:00p.
We congratulate CHANNELAIRE for making the Top 10 at International
in Las Vegas. Also, great performances by XTREME and SHIMMER!,
all fabulously representing Region 11!!!
We are so proud of all of you! –Tricia Horton
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CALIFORNIA
HEARTLAND
www.caheartland.org
 Hi
from CHC! Golly, didn’t we just check out
of this place? We are back all excited about
working hard with the phenomenal Jim
Arns.
CHC has been very busy with projects, practices, and retreats. Our coaching
with Gerry Papageorge was a HUGE success. She
gave us a renewed boost and we returned home more determined than ever
to be the NEW CALIFORNIA HEARTLAND CHORUS. Lynne
Smith visited with us in September and helped us polish our
contest ballad.
Our October fashion show was very well attended and our quartets, doubles,
and chorus performances were extremely well received by the crowd. We are
now busily practicing new and traditional holiday songs to perform at our
show in December and use for Holly-grams again this Christmas season.
Nineteen of our members, their families, and friends cheered wildly for
Regional competitors in Las Vegas. What an event! Our own Martha
Rasmussen competed as a dual member with Region 12’s PACIFIC
EMPIRE CHORUS. We are SO proud of her. We came home tired, excited,
and thrilled at witnessing this fantastic competition. (We came home from
the Harmony Bazaar penniless too!)
CALIFORNIA HEARTLAND is hosting Fall Festival 2007. Wait ‘til
you see what we have planned! –Sheila Martin
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CELEBRITY
CITY
www.celebritycitychorus.com
 CONGRATULATIONS SHIMMER! and XTREME … way
to go!! CHANNELAIRE, what a
sound, what a performance, WHAT A CHORUS!! CELEBRITY
CITY loved working in the Queen’s
Court and being mic testers in Vegas, our hometown.
What fun to perform on the International stage,
and not be judged … a LOT more relaxing
than actually competing.
David Harrington has
been coaching us on our ballad, “What Kind
of Fool Am I”. David arranged this song,
with all its beautiful words, chords and passion
built in. Renee Porzel will
be coaching us on Tuesday night, November 14, so
if you’re in Vegas, come watch this performance
master work her magic.
CCC sang for the International Fireman’s Convention in Vegas, which
required us to learn the national anthems of all countries represented.
We sang anthems of Canada, Switzerland, France, USA, Great Britain and
China! Three other countries backed out, but we were ready for them as
well.
Now to preparing for “Sing with us for the Holidays” and our
holiday show with the men’s chorus next month. Everyone, have a safe
and happy holiday season. –Karen Lewison
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CENTRAL
COAST CELEBRATION
www.celebration-chorus.org
 Congratulations
to all the competitors in Las Vegas at the International
Competition. You have made our region proud with
your performances.
CELEBRATION CHORUS has had an exciting few months since Summer
Sizzler. Dani Prigge, our new director, is a
fantastic teacher as well as performer. We are learning rapidly to finish
our word phrases as well as other important aspects of producing wonderful
music.
Our annual show, "Over The Rainbow" with special Judy
Garland music is on November 18 at 7:00 pm at the Clark Center
in Arroyo Grande. In case you haven't heard, CHICAGO FIRE will
be our very special guest quartet. Our own Dani Prigge will
be singing lead and the rest of the original quartet is flying in from
Chicago.
Two of our treasured members that have been on leave have recently returned. Stephanie
Brazil and Diane Jackson. The chorus
has also welcomed new member, lead Mary Michaels,
who has never sung ANYWHERE before. We are amazed by the voice of this
talented woman.
Coaching us to new levels has been Fred Bologna and Linda
Kelly (Taylor).
COASTAL BLEND is one of our new
quartets with Mary Michaels,
lead, Cirie Thomas, baritone, Lisa
Miller, bass, and Elaine
Scully, tenor. Another newly formed
quartet is RIO. Members are Dani
Prigge, lead, Alisa Zichterman,
baritone, Diane McGrath,
bass, and Rachael Beckner,
a YWIH CAL member, singing tenor.
Kelly Cope, a senior
student at Cal Poly State University, is working
with our chorus to develop marketing strategies
to attract new members and performances. We welcome
Kelly and her young energy. –Sally Buccola
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CHANNELAIRE
www.channelaire.org
 We
would like to thank our amazing Region 11 for the fabulous
support shown on our journey to Las Vegas. We were
totally overwhelmed having 500+ of our “closest” friends
in the audience cheering us on. We could hear you chanting
for us in the Thomas & Mack Center, and it was
very uplifting and fun! We truly had an amazing time
on stage and attribute much of our success as the new
International 9th place medalists to all of you!
Congratulations to our own SHIMMER! (15th in the world!)
and XTREME (6th in the world!) on their stellar performances.
We are so proud to claim you as our own.
This has been an amazing time for us. Lots and lots of coaching with such
talented people! Those we were privileged to work with included: Ron
Black (who was with us through contest week in Vegas at every
rehearsal), Betty Clipman (whipping us into shape
at our retreat), Diane Porsch, Ase
Hagerman, Lynne Smith, Erin
Howden and our very own special in-house choreo. coach, Lori
DeHoog. Lori is fabulous and keeps us on track in so many
ways. We couldn’t do this without her!
And then we just happen to have two phenomenal directors – Bobbette
Gantz and Judy Ashmore. We want
to thank them for continuing to “crack the whip” by providing
us with the best tools available. We are truly blessed!
Looking back just a short distance… we also need to congratulate CHAMPAGNE for
being named Novice Quartet Champions in August.
In October we had our annual show with the exciting MASTERS OF
HARMONY joining us on stage. Talk about a thrill! We look forward
to future joint opportunities!
Best wishes to all Double Quartet competitors this weekend. Have the best
of holidays and we’ll see you in 2007! –Linda Ragsdale
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GOLDEN
SANDS
www.reynoldsand.com/goldensands/
 With
beach chairs and sunglasses, our annual show, “Sounds
of Summer” was an afternoon of music, friends
and fun in a beautiful park. The opening Beach
Boys medley with wonderful staging from our Venezuelan
International Choreographer, Lynita, set the
tone and off we went into a tribute to summer.
Our guests had their choice of summer snacks
and the treats of our guest quartet, LIFE’S
GOOD, our chapter quartet, AKA and "The
Home Team". For us, it was over way too
soon.
We’ve just started a Diva membership drive. We can’t wait to
share our fun times with other divas out there.
Oops! Is it the holiday season already? Well almost. It’s always
our busiest time. We’ve got lots of fun holiday plans. Singouts,
parties, caroling, singing cards. It may not be a white Christmas, but
who cares as long as it’s fun!
Our coaching season has started. Thank you Laura for the wonderful evening.
You make it all so fun and seem so easy!
A big woohoo! to all of our Region 11 “Top” International competitors: SHIMMER!, CHANNELAIRE,
and XTREME. What a fun week! Talk about winning in Vegas.
Wow! –Kat Shaver
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HARMONY
SHOWCASE
 We
have been in the throes of finding a new director
since the unfortunate resignation of Linda
Kelly. We have interviewed two
prospects and have another on tap. With any luck,
by the time you read this, we will have settled
on one. Meanwhile, Linda and Linda (Ninekirk and Agner)
toil away with great vigor and dedication.
Wasn't Las Vegas a "gas", as Frank Sinatra would
have said? CHANNELAIRE, XTREME, and SHIMMER! did
us all proud, as we knew they would. Las Vegas and Sweet Adeline seems
made for each other – sequins, glitter, Divas, etc. A match made
in heaven. On the Sunday after the contest, most of the HSC members present
in Las Vegas attended the magnificent wedding of our own Brande
Manning to her Prince Jim. It was topped off by the lovely
appearance by SHIMMER! at their reception. They sang beautifully,
of course, for the bride and groom. What a treat for all.
Our chorus has also been busy with community affairs, such as the Senior
Expo, where we garnered many names of interested ladies for both prospective
membership and performance opportunities.
We recently changed our rehearsal site from Lancaster to Palmdale, which
makes it easier for our several members who travel from "down below" to
attend. The site is also much bigger and has a lot of storage for risers
and other paraphernalia.
We’re sure to enjoy Jim Arns this weekend
and will go home with an even greater commitment to our craft. –Ann
Layton
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HARMONY
VALLEY
www.harmonyvalleychorus.org
Community involvement continues to be an important part of our activities
in addition to performances for local organizations.
On September 9th we hosted members of UCM FLO, a student choral group at
UC Merced, at an all day retreat at Henderson Park on the Merced River.
It was a day of camaraderie, singing, and vocal education. Monica
Tautkus came up and presented a wonderful session that included
information on the Barbershop style and an emphasis on healthy singing.
Although they hadn't sung barbershop harmony before, they soon were singing
tags, and leaping in for TAG quarteting. They took away an appreciation
for 4-part harmony that we hope will encourage them to try it in the future.
We will continue to include them in special activities including our holiday
singing. Making this connection is a way of helping them feel a part of
the community.
We also participated in a Helping Hands day where organizations could promote
their activities. And we have been asked again to highlight the program
at the historic Merced Courthouse open house on December 3rd. And, we are
also planning DIVAS WANTED nights in the New Year.
And finally, congratulations to XTREME, SHIMMER! and CHANNELAIRE for
their outstanding performances in Las Vegas. –Nancy Weidenmiller
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HIGH
SIERRA
 Congratulations
to all who competed from Region 11 in Las Vegas!
What a great week, you made us proud.
Sadly, our director, Zona Snyder, has resigned.
We are so fortunate to have our talented member, Nancy Coufal,
who has stepped up and will be directing our chorus. Nancy sings baritone
and has been a member, almost continuously, since 1992. A retired schoolteacher,
Nancy will be working on the DCP program and getting assistance from our
great regional faculty through this transition time. Our October 22 coaching
visit from Mary Ashford and Monica
Tautkus was just perfect for the chorus and our new director.
In September, we performed at the “Good Ole Days”, a wonderful
community event that focuses on local history. We have been working on
getting our holiday repertoire up to speed, and are pleased to have some
interested guests to help us out.
HIGH SIERRA is happy to be your
hostess chorus this weekend. Best of luck to all
the Novice Double Quartets. –Katherine
Little
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KERN
VALLEY
Congratulations to CHANNELAIRE CHORUS and SHIMMER! Fourteen
members of KERN VALLEY were fortunate enough to attend
the International Convention in Vegas. Boy!!! Do we ever want to ring those
chords, just like the big girls do. And then, as if that wasn't enough,
on our road to ringing those chords and performance perfection, Lynne
Smith coached us the weekend after International. Well, she
had one weekend open and we snapped it up.
Members are continuing with their PVIs with Cheryl and Francine to help
us each sing better. We're also looking forward to our Christmas performances
and our retreat in January with Dede Nibler.
Two former members have rejoined this year, Linda Schwass and Ione
Devore singing tenor. Also, two new members are gracing the
risers with us since summer – Valerie Minoux singing
lead and Kay Gregory singing bass. Kay is a former
Sweet Adeline who sang in Region 8 in Montana.
We're really involved this weekend with 5 double quartets. It's the money.
HA!!
Life just goes on, as Cheryl became a great grandmother this year and that
makes Nelda a great, great grandmother and Sandi a grandmother. FIVE generations
in the Kern Valley, and 3 sing in the chorus. Must be the water!! No, it's
the air.
Well, as long as we can share our own special harmony, KERN VALLEY will
continue to grow and cultivate friendships everywhere we go. We couldn't
ask for more, singing and being with friends. –Cheryl Borthick
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L.A.
SOUTH TOWNS SHOW
www.lasouthtowns.org
 Preparations
for our annual show, "I Love the Limelight",
are kicking into high gear. A CAPPELLA
GOLD, the 2001 Queens of Harmony and
winners of the Oreo and Milk Jingle contest,
is our featured quartet. This will be their final
performance together before they retire. Tickets
are selling fast!
You have the opportunity to see our Preview Show, November 30 at 7:30pm
featuring READY, WILLING & MABEL; our Annual Show
Matinee on December 2 at 2:00pm; AND/OR attend our holiday party and get
a chance to hear more A CAPPELLA GOLD harmonizing and
chord ringing, on December 2 at 6:30pm. Both shows will be at the Hermosa
Beach Playhouse, 710 Pier Avenue, Hermosa Beach. The Holiday Party will
be at the Hermosa Kiwanis Club, 2525 Valley Drive, Hermosa Beach. For tickets
and show information please contact Rachel Moine at (310)530-1356 or Rmoine@aol.com.
Visit our website at www.lasouthtowns.org for
details. –Melody Saffery
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PACIFIC
HORIZON
www.slonet.org/~slophc
Here we are looking forward to the holidays again, dusting off all that
great music we get to sing for just about six weeks, and thinking about
that special gift for our secret pals.
This year we hope to have a few new voices join us for our Holiday Show
on December 17 – graduates of our Ready, Set Grow program begun in
October. It’s always fun to show off the fun we have as Sweet Adelines
and to brush up on our own skills as we teach our craft to newcomers!
Last summer we had a very successful program for teens and twenty-somethings
who enjoyed a month of singing instruction from Logan Patrick-Miernicki,
director Kim’s son who recently graduated from Long Beach State University
with a degree in music. Joined by a few of our younger members, they presented
two pieces at our end-of-summer get together with our brother barbershoppers,
the GOLD COAST CHORUS.
That event was attended by an enthusiastic crowd of a couple of hundred
people (and two corgis) who joined us at Atascadero Lake Park for an afternoon
of music and cooling breezes. Afterward, we celebrated with the men and
our families with a potluck picnic.
Of course the highlight of autumn was attending the International Convention
in Las Vegas. So many members were in our sister state that chorus night
was dark in San Luis Obispo that week.
We’ve started working on music for competition in 2007. The wonderful Linda
Kelly has agreed to give us our first coaching session after
we get back from the Fall Festival. She has quite a job ahead of her, but
we promise to be willing and enthusiastic with an eye toward increasing
that magic score in Bakersfield.
That brings us back to holiday anticipations and months of really hard
work preparing for competition. See you all in Bakersfield in March! –Diane
Ludin
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RIVEROAKS
 We
have been hard at work since Summer Sizzler. We are
in the middle of a membership drive that we started
in October where we invited women to sing several songs
in our January 21 show. The script is still being written
but I can tell you that we are thrilled to have READY,
WILLING & MABEL and SWEET SYNERGY gracing
our stage for what is shaping up to be a great show!
Ever since our coaching at the Summer Sizzler with Charla, the tenor from RUMORS,
we have been working on incorporating her unique approach to barbershop
singing into our sound. She is all about relaxation, so trying harder rarely
works. One thing we did learn was to simply do things a little bit differently
and VOILA! a new approach to sound can create a whole new sound. Who knew?
We are also very excited to be working with Dawn Castiglione, Laura
Pallas and Linda Kelly.
In September we performed for a large local retirement home and had a great
time. What fun it is to bring our music into the lives of senior citizens. FRESH
AIRE, one of our chorus quartets, has performed several times
for other community events. We have lined up a number of performances for
the holiday season.
We’d like to introduce our newest members to Region 11: Micki
Price and Evanne Levin. Please
help us continue to give a warm Region 11 welcome to these lovely women.
Our heartiest congratulations to CHANNELAIRE, SHIMMER!,
and XTREME for their amazing performances at International.
You all did a wonderful job. Good luck to our very own RiverOaks double
quartets – DOUBLE EXPOSURE and DOUBLE STANDARD – as
well as all the other competitors this weekend. –Laura Gindy
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SANTA
MONICA
www.santamonicachorus.com
 The
International SAI Convention in Las Vegas sure
was exciting. With so much talent it was a close
race. It was fun to have so many Region 11 members
in the crowd cheering our chorus and quartets
on. Congratulations to CHANNELAIRE CHORUS for
once again making it to the finals at International
competition and moving up the ranks this year
to 9th place, and also to XTREME for
moving up in the top 10 ranks to 6th place. SHIMMER! made
us proud as well with their incredible performance
and 15th place finish. What a region!
We’re still riding high after our 2nd place win at the Harmony Classic
Competition this past Summer. It was fun to wear our International small
chorus medals in Las Vegas. We took a few weeks off after IES and then
had one heck of a Greek Goddess party at Laura’s house and now we’re
back to work on Tuesday nights.
We began a membership drive 3 weeks ago and with the offer of vocal lessons
from Laura Pallas for 6 weeks, we’ve drawn
a great crowd. Our guests will join us for a Holiday Show on December 9.
We will be sharing the stage with the OCEANAIRES BHS CHORUS along
with the two choruses’ quartets.
We’re super excited about our retreat in January with Lori
Lyford. The chorus happily welcomed back Eileen
Erickson to our membership this summer.
Good luck to all the competing double quartets this weekend, especially
our own BAD HABITS, and break a lip to our own SWEET
SYNERGY along with the other YWIH quartets who are competing.
You go girls! –Tove Hoch
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SOUTH
VALLEY SOUND
www.sweetadeline.org
 This
year has certainly been "The Best of Times" for SOUTH
VALLEY SOUND!
SOUTH VALLEY SOUND is bursting
with pride over our very own SHIMMER! and
their 15th International placement, XTREME's 6th
place medals and CHANNELAIRE's 9th
place medals at the 2007 International Convention
last month in Las Vegas.
SVS is proud of our dual members who shared the stage with CHANNELAIRE in
Las Vegas: Mary Ashford, Jeanne Cathaway, Lee
Hays, Jolene Forzetting, Alicia
Mendoza, Elayne Rich and Charlene
Wankum. It was so great to see so many of Region 11 members
attending the convention.
We had a great time launching our debut "Shop 'n Sing" community
outreach program in October. We are looking forward to working with the
wonderful talents Jeff and Patty
Cobb Baker, Dawn Castiglione and Marcia
Pinvidic as we "CHARGE" forward into another exciting
Region 11 contest season!
We are very excited to introduce our newest members: Terri
Schreiner, Helen Gleason and Paige
Willis, who is 14 years old and sings lead in our front row.
And Ashley Judith Salie who is four weeks old. Toni and Will
Salie are the proud parents of the absolutely beautiful Ashley
who was born on October 19, 2006. She weighed in at 6lb. 10oz. and 19 inches
long.
For the second year in a row, every member of our chorus is singing in
a double quartet this weekend. Good Luck to all the double quartet competitors
this weekend and a big thank you to HIGH SIERRA for hosting
Fall Seminar.
Happy Holidays and we look forward to seeing everyone in the spring. –Jolene
Forzetting
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TRI
CITY SOUND
 We
continue to stay busy with community sing-outs.
In September, we sang 4 selections during the
Sunday service at St. Andrew Methodist Church,
whose Fellowship Hall our chorus has used for
rehearsals for more than 30 years. In October,
we performed for the Santa Maria annual Autumn
Arts Grapes and Grains Festival. We also sang
for the residents at the Lompoc Convalescent
Care Center. Last weekend, we performed for the
Lompoc Soroptomists.
We have begun rehearsing for our annual Friends and Family Christmas Chorus
Concert. We have invited community women who love to sing to join us for
rehearsals for the December 7 event. In November, five of our chorus members
were excited and delighted to attend the International Convention. We congratulate
the winners and thank all who participated for giving us a great week of
entertainment.
Another treat – how wonderful it was to have Dani Avalos-Prigge coach
us on two separate occasions. Her expertise, understanding, and excellent
communications skills (along with that great sense of humor of hers) left
us feeling refreshed and smarter! Finally, we happily congratulate our
newest member, Cathie Bennett. Happy Holidays
to everyone. –Lyndell Penney
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VERDUGO
HILLS
www.verdugoshowtimechorus.org
 Great
things have been happening with VHSC. Our Summer
Sing Program welcomed five guests who sang with
us at our 7th Annual Ice Cream Social, Sundaes ‘n
Song. They were Irma Cabanas, Nalani
Lasiewicz, Catherine
Peters, Amanda Sturdy and Sunshine
Marie Smith. Sunshine, in addition
to being a guest singer, sang two Broadway numbers
from “Grease”, the musical she is
currently performing in at her high school. The
social was a sweet mix of chorus numbers, quartets
(ELATION, BRISTOL FASHION, VOICE
QUAD and XTREME) and,
of course, ice cream smothered with syrupy toppings,
which were enjoyed by an audience of almost 300.
We look forward to our next Holiday Guest Program
this December in which we will again share the
stage with invited guest singers at our Holiday
Harmony Show on December 3.
The highlight of September took place when Dale Syverson stood
in front of us sharing her expertise on great barbershop singing. Gerry
Papageorge came up with the brilliant idea of having Dale
coach the chorus in two different groups: the leads and baritones on Friday
evening and the tenors and basses Saturday morning. Then the entire chorus
on Saturday afternoon. Well, that was certainly an enlightening event!
Imagine the connection we felt with each others part!
Six double quartets will be taking advantage of our recent coaching as
they represent VSHC at the Fall Festival.
Joining our membership roster this last quarter are new members: Catherine
Peters and Mary Walker.
Congratulations to Region 11 competitors in Las Vegas: CHANNELAIRE (9th
place), SHIMMER! (15th place) and XTREME (6th
place). VHSC is so proud of Region 11. Yeehaw! –Jo Shannon
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VOICES
UNLIMITED
 Voices
Unlimited would like to congratulate those who
represented Region 11 at International last month.
Great job, SHIMMER! on placing
15th, what an outstanding performance! CHANNELAIRE,
YOU ROCK! You blew us away and looked like you
had so much fun doing it! And how cool to be
able to ‘claim’ XTREME as
part of our Region. We got to root for our friends
all the way to the finals! Everyone did an outstanding
job and we thank you for inspiring us to reach
new levels of creativity and excitement!
In September our chorus showed loving fans how much fun that Good Ol’ A
Cappella can be (especially when sung with a jazzy flare) and now our attention
is focused on getting ready for our first ever IES!!. Dede and Assistant
Director Erin have been tugging on their creative strings to further enhance
our highly energetic and entertaining package. We’re very excited
to be representing Region 11 in the Harmony Classic competition, and coaches Beth
Smith and Carole Kirkpatrick are
keeping us on our toes. Showmanship Chair, Linda Wong,
and our Visual Team are preparing us for coaching with Doreen
Philbin and Renee Porzel. And our
Management Team is busy RAISING FUNDS (so be sure and visit our booth at
Harmony Bazaar!). With such enthusiastic guidance we know this year will
be unforgettable! –Kristi Bispo
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