AGOURA
HILLS HARMONY
Monica Tautkus, Director
www.ahhchorus.com
 AHH! CHORUS is very excited to compete in Bakersfield with our "new" director, Monica Tautkus. We'd like to thank our coaches Jeff and Patty Cobb Baker, Lynne Smith and Diane Porsch for all their wonderful help in getting us prepared.
Our best wishes to all competitors. We will have special cheers for AHH! quartets, PIPE DREAMS with Monica Tautkus and SPIRIT with Catherine Berriz.
Although she has been with the chorus for a while, lead Bridget Mistry will be singing with us in competition for the first time this year. We also welcome another talented new lead to the risers, Anne Casey. Anne was the director of AHH! for many years and the baritone for NATURALLY. It is great having both of you with us.
AHH! Chorus will be hosting a fantastic Summer Sizzler, "AHH! Tunes", this year from July 31 to August 3 here in Bakersfield. Our guest instructors will be the terrific Ase Hagerman and Sandy Robinson. Start getting your novice quartets together now! Don't forget there will be no Fall Festival this year so this is your chance to have a wonderful weekend of singing and fun. Please mark your calendars! – Kim Toth-Tevel
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CALIFORNIA
HEARTLAND
Adrienne Cluff & Cheryl Tobin, Co-Directors
www.caheartland.org
 CALIFORNIA HEARTLAND CHORUS has had a very busy and exciting few months with our new set of co-directors (Adrienne Cluff and Cheryl Tobin)! These two lovely ladies brought lots of information back from Fall Festival and have put us through our paces to get ready for competition.
We were so pleased that Gerry Papageorge could find the time to coach us in February, followed by Doreen Philbin and Jim Turnmire. Each of these terrific people brought us inspiration and enhanced skills. We are very appreciative of all they did for us!
We had an exhilarating holiday season singing Hollygrams over the phone and via webcam to foreign countries as well as at multiple venues and private parties here in the Central Valley. We also participated in a joint Christmas show with VOICES UNLIMITED and our local BHS chapter (GOLD NOTE CHORUS) on December 2. On December 9, we hosted our third "Christmas through the Ages" concert with guest performers from local high schools, elementary schools, vocal ensembles, and...Santa! Valentine's Day performances were enhanced by our joining with VOICES UNLIMITED and GOLD NOTE to spread the "loooove" around the Fresno/Clovis metropolitan area.
As the final competing chorus on Saturday, we plan to bring the region a rousing conclusion to a spectacular contest. – Shiela Martin
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CELEBRITY
CITY
Jim Halvorson, Director
www.celebritycitychorus.com
 If time really flies when you're having fun, these last months have gone by like Supertrain! November flew with Fall Festival, Thanksgiving, and preparation for a holiday concert with the CITY OF LIGHTS men's chorus at Anthem on December 11. We had a three-week lay-off for the holidays – felt like we were playing hookey!!! – moved to a new rehearsal location (great venue!), and started our new year by welcoming Renee Porzel on January 15. In spite of voice placements putting many of us in new riser positions, Renee's polish on our choreo went surprisingly well! On January 25 and 26, we worked with Pam Pieson. It was our first time with Pam, and this lovely lady was a true inspiration!
For the first time in a number of years, we offered Singing Valentines. Quartets, armed with single roses and small boxes of chocolates, surprised close to 50 recipients with personal deliveries, and sweet songs. About a dozen received their valentines over the phone.
Friends and Families gathered on March 29 to hear our competition packages, and to wish the chorus and our five competing quartets well. We have worked very hard to do our director, Jim Halverson, and Region 11 proud this year. Getting to see and hear almost all of the wonderful choruses in this region is worth the early morning call to be "first out". What a show!! Congratulations to everyone.
On April 29, we will be performing for a pool party at the Rio Hotel for the Las Vegas Fire and Rescue Dept., and that is the beginning of what is shaping up to be a very, very busy Spring! – Betty Campbell
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CENTRAL
COAST CELEBRATION
Dani Avalos-Prigge, Director
www.celebration-chorus.org
 Greetings to all our melodious gal-pals across the region! We know you've been as busy as we have this first quarter of a new year – it seems we barely get through the Holidays and spring is in full swing with all the activities that go with it.
CELEBRATION CHORUS in Pismo Beach is alive and well, adding new members one right after the other. They come to check us out and keep coming back for more! Could it be our warm and fun-loving spirit? Could it be the love of a challenge and quest for personal growth? Could it be that singing clears the mind of all worries and sets the soul free for a few hours? It's all of the above combined with having one of the best directors ever...Dani Avalos Prigge! It's been said that the personality of an organization is dictated by the personality of its leader; so how could we not be the most joyful chorus in the world? We feel so blessed to have her in our midst.
When next you see us, there will be four more wearers of hot pink in our fold: rhe adorable and sassy Melinda Wallin (bass) who really does live in Pismo Beach, the sweet and slender Shar (pronounced Cher) Terborch (tenor), and the beautiful and talented Karen Betancourt (tenor), a charter-member of our regional champion quartet, RIO! But wait, that's only three! That's been saved to illustrate that you just never know when or where you might find a new member. The chorus was performing at a local church when a woman in the audience recognized Dani as a Queen of Harmony. It turns out that years before, they were both singing with Sweet Adelines in another state! Judy Beach (bass) was invited to a rehearsal and even though she was already singing in a church choir, she joined us and became a new member! So if you've been keeping track, that's two new tenors and two new basses in a chorus of less than 30--oh, how the chords do ring!
Speaking of ringing, and breathing, and section matching, and singing the vowels, and phrase endings, and on and on ad nauseam...we were again privileged to have the tirelessly dedicated Linda Kelly in our midst for our retreat in January. How can you love such a task-master so much? Because she won't allow you to settle, that's why. You ask her to make you better and by golly, by the time she's hugging you all goodbye, you ARE better singers than you were 2 days ago, individually and, most importantly, as a group. A huge thank you to Linda from all of us for making our Celebrate Harmony retreat such a joyous success!
From there we launched into Valentine's Day where two of our quartets, RIO and COASTAL BLEND, serenaded dozens of lucky patrons with snappy (and sappy) love songs. COASTAL BLEND was so well received at one stop that they were reserved on the spot for later that evening! Sometimes we get so caught up in focusing on the mechanics of the song that we don't realize what an emotional impact barbershop can have on the listener...we would do well to always recall how we felt when we first heard it so that we remember that what we do is an amazing art form that inspires awe and delight in our audience! – Cindy McBurney
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CHANNELAIRE
Bobbette Gantz & Judy Ashmore, Co-Directors
www.channelaire.org
 CHANNELAIRE members are so thrilled to have been Region 11 Chorus Champions for this past year. We look forward to singing for the best region in the world this weekend! You'll hear some of our new songs for Hawaii, and some songs just for this weekend!
Knowing we will be representing this great region in Hawaii this coming November is very exciting. We look forward to sharing the International stage with VOICES UNLIMITED! We are busily fundraising to cover the cost of getting our risers to Hawaii, among other expenses. Hawaii is beautiful, but it is VERY expensive!!! If you haven't bought a unique Japanese pitch pipe yet, look for them at our Boutique table. And don't miss our SILENT AUCTION – we are offering an iPod, 4 Dodger tickets, digital camera, hot air balloon rides, a beautiful framed musical stained glass piece, weekend get-aways, a Jawbone Bluetooth headset – and much more! Stop by … bid high and bid often!!
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our fabulous coaches who have been working tirelessly with us the past several months. They include
Betty Clipman, Diane Porsch, Judy Poszgay, Jeff Baker (that fabulous Baker Boy), and our very special friend and "whip cracker", Lori De Hoog, who keeps us on track following our work with Erin. And of course, we know how lucky we are to have two extraordinary directors (with big ears!) in Bobbette Gantz and Judy Ashmore.
The holidays kept our Performance Chorus busy with several fabulous opportunities. Many hearts were touched, including our own! Then there was Valentine's Day … 9 quartets delivered nearly 100 Singing Valentines throughout Ventura County. A very special day – one we all look forward to. We had our Sneak Preview show, featuring CHANNELAIRE and SOUND VALLEY SOUND, as well as all of our competing quartets (EXTRA! EXTRA!, PIPE DREAMS, CHEERS!, and JOYFUL NOISE).
We are thrilled to have several new members – several will be singing with us this weekend! Welcome to Samantha Bardelli, Taylor Gipson, Petra Chini, Kerry Mellin, and a pair of Marilyn's… Marilyn Cambier, who is a returning member, and Marilyn Kujat, who just moved to our area, but will continue as a dual member of Celebrity City.
Best wishes to all competitors this weekend. We hope you all let it fly and Defy Gravity!! – Linda Ragsdale
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GOLDEN
SANDS
Linda Kelly, Director
www.goldensandschorus.org
 It's great to be a Beach Girl! The GOLDEN SANDS cup of good things is overflowing and we love it. Not only are we having a really good time under the inspired direction of Linda Kelly, but others are responding to the siren call of our collective voices and the lure of our camaraderie – we had to add another riser to accommodate them.
At regional contest we welcomed 5 first-timers: Heidi Vion, Lynn Kohoutek and Marcia Goodman in the bass section and leads, Lisa DeLosReyes and Vicki Epstein. In addition, appearing with GOLDEN SANDS for the first time, though certainly not new to Sweet Adelines, are basses Helen Benedikter, Linda Glover, and Lulu Lennon; baritones Lou Burgess-Schroff and Teri Marcum; and leads Dee Ketner, Valerie Rhyne, and Vicki Spearman. As if that's not enough, former lead section member Debra Ferrelli has returned and another new member of the bass section, Darice Hawkins, dreamt about contest while vacationing in Hawaii. Still others are waiting in the wings for their auditions. It is truly an embarrassment of riches…even our three splendid tenors are contemplating becoming a foursome.
In January, GOLDEN SANDS retreated to the Emerald City, located in a far off land, where we were mesmerized and musically elevated by the magic of "GaLinda" and our special guest "Wizard of Ahs", Connie Noble. Even fourteen hours of warm-ups, drills, tags and contest songs wasn't enough singing for us … we clicked the heels of our ruby slippers and sang for our Sunday lunch.
At GOLDEN SANDS CHORUS in Long Beach we are serious about our music and serious about having fun. It is great to be a Beach Girl! – Margaret Brewer
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HARMONY
SHOWCASE
Kira Wagner, Director
HARMONY SHOWCASE CHORUS members are eagerly looking forward to this competition weekend. As have you all, we have been working diligently perfecting our package. We have had some awesome help in this endeavor with coaching by Charla Esser, tenor of RUMORS, Lynne Smith working with attitude and showmanship, and the incredible Raymond ("don't call me Ray") Schwarzkopf. They all had a different approach to encourage us to "throw back the shower curtain", "free the butterfly within" and "sing from your soul, not just your body".
We also had a successful Singing Valentine fundraiser. It's always great fun to see the surprised faces of the recipients.
Our chorus welcomed with open arms two "new" members recently. Both are previous members of HSC – Diane McLemore (also a dual member of VERDUGO HILLS) and Sheila Conary, who retired not long ago and is back among us, thankfully.
Upcoming events include a performance at the Antelope Valley Poppy Festival in late April and the singing of the National Anthem at the opening of a Lancaster Jethawks baseball game in August. On May 31, we are presenting a show, as yet unnamed, featuring not only our chorus, but also SHIMMER! You will be hearing more about that soon!!!
Although they are not competing this year, having finished 9th at International last fall (!!!), be sure to watch for SHIMMER! this weekend with HSC's very own Missy Pearce. Good luck to all the contestants, both quartets and choruses, this weekend! – Ann Layton
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HARMONY
VALLEY
Belinda Burnett & Nancy Weidenmiller,
Co-Directors
www.harmonyvalleychorus.org
HARMONY VALLEY has welcomed new member Sandy Hayman into the Sweet Adeline family. Sandy, a lead, is proving to be a strong and enthusiastic member of our chorus. She came originally to our Merced College class last Summer and joined in January!
We stayed very active In November – our Annual Luncheon and Auction was a great success featuring many gift baskets and for lunch, homemade chicken soup and Cap'n Billy's Chili. We continue to be active by performing and participating in community activities. December was a busy month – we decorated a Christmas tree and sang for our Historic Courthouse open house, entered the downtown Christmas Parade with decorated rolling carts, and sang for the lighting of the community Christmas tree. Also, we offered singing greetings by telephone or electronically – 2 songs for $5. And, just for our enjoyment, an ornament exchange and potluck, and an end of the year pot luck and Secret Heart revealing – we do love to eat!
In January, we had a terrific full day session with Mary Ashford who shared her enthusiasm, ideas and knowledge with us. Thank you, Mary!
After Convention, we are planning to again implement the "Shop and Sing" idea to promote the chorus. Thanks to SOUTH VALLEY SOUND for sharing this idea. – Nancy Weidenmiller
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HIGH
SIERRA
Nancy Coufel, Director
 HIGH SIERRA CHORUS has been busy, as usual, since Fall Festival. December was full of Christmas performances with our Holiday Harmony Chorus, and our annual Chorus Christmas Party / White Elephant Exchange was a lot of fun (ask us about the black chicken!).
January was spent preparing for our retreat, including an insightful, productive day with our wonderful coach, Monica Tautkus. We also welcomed our newest member, Kristina Blum. She's 16 and an inspiration to us all!
February was highlighted by a successful Singing Valentine fundraiser and a terrific chorus retreat. Mary Ashford, our amazing and talented coach, returned and helped us to improve, to use the lift, and feel the lyrical flow of the words of our contest songs, especially the ballad. Our No Talent / Talent Show was a great success and showed Mary a side of HSC that she had never seen before! March brought team elections and our Friends and Family Night.
Now April is here and the contest weekend has arrived. We wish all of the contestants, both quartets and choruses, an exciting and successful time on stage! – Susan Daughenbaugh
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KERN
VALLEY
Cheryl Borthick & Francine Stirling, Co-Directors
www.kernvalleychorus.org
Hello, from KERN VALLEY and the land of Whiskey Flat Days, the biggest weekend event held in Kern County. Our Sweet Adelines sell Hot Pastrami sandwiches right across the street from Cheryl's Diner, and this year they said there were over 70,000 folks visiting Kernville and attending the Wild West Rodeo.
We've been working hard getting ready for contest with 4 new members: Dorothy Lewis and Jennifer Buell are singing lead, and Francie Gleason, bari and her mom, Mary Alice Kelsey, singing bass.
Laura Pallas was here for our retreat and whipped us
into shape musically. Doreen Philbin loves to camp in the Kernville area so we've taken advantage of her trips to the Kern Valley for coaching.
We're hoping to be included in Sylvia Alsbury's road trip this June and looking forward to her visit. It should be great fun playing with her and soaking up all the knowledge of Sweet Adelines. Our team is busy at work defining our committee leaders and we plan to have a well-organized team this next year.
In the meantime, we're rooting you all on for a great contest! The best of luck to all of you and your wonderful chorus directors. – Cheryl Borthick
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L.A.
SOUTH TOWNS SHOW
Caroline McLean, Director
www.lasouthtowns.org
 The L.A. SOUTH TOWNS SHOW CHORUS has been singing up a storm since Fall Festival. In December we had our annual show at the Hermosa Beach Playhouse. We had a wonderful, full audience. Special guest quartets included SERIOUS TREBLE, CHRISTMAS PRESENCE, and READY WILLING & MABEL featuring our own fabulous director, Caroline McLean. The SOUTH BAY COASTLINERS joined the show with some fantastic songs. Jim Campbell (the new director of SOUTHLAND HARMONY) provided quite a treat by playing Elvis. He was a huge hit! We hope to see you at our next show in the fall.
We were happy to be part of the Salvation Army show this last December in Redondo Beach. Shirley Jones was the special guest host of the show for the second year. The SOUTH BAY COASTLINERS were the main chorus, and several other groups performed as part of the fun holiday event.
In February our chorus sang at a luncheon for doctors at Kaiser Hospital in Harbor City. We also sang at a Valentine's Day dinner at the El Segundo Women's Club. We were happy to see our own Queen and charter member, Jan Wyckoff. She joined us on stage to sing with us.
Our chorus would like to welcome several new members to our chorus. These new members include Anne Thorne (Bari), Donna Scoular (Bass), Katie Walsh (lead), Linda Cooke (Bass), Marjorie Falcon (Lead), and Lisa Hills (lead).
We have been working hard on our competition package and are excited to perform it for you. We send all of our Region 11 choruses and quartets good luck wishes for a wonderful competition. – Marta Bailey
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PACIFIC
HORIZON
Kim Patrick-Miernicki, Director
www.slonet.org/~slophc
The winter months brought the gift of song. We sang Christmas carols to folks across the United States, "rang" in the holiday with performances for wonderful groups, and some nights we even had two performances, from one town to another!
In January, Lisa Kneebone brought us fresh, bright choreography to complete our contest package. She is so talented, and brought a day of fun and laughter to some hard work. Thanks, Lisa! On January 22, we shared an entertaining evening with the TRI CITY SOUND CHORUS with a Novice Quartet Contest. We featured 8 women's quartets and our judges, the ever faithful men barbershoppers, served both as entertainment and judges. Thanks, TRI CITY SOUND, for your great participation!
Valentine's Day came with a flourish, and our quartets were hard at work singing for unsuspecting folks around the county. This turned out to be an effective fundraising event for PHC, especially since our quartets promoted our singing Valentines on three different radio stations. Special thanks to NOW & THEN, FOUR OF HEARTS, and STEPPIN' OUT!
What better place to "retreat" in February than our own beautiful Cayucos-By-The-Sea.We were joined by special coach Bobbette Gantz who brought perspective, encouragement and motivation. Thanks, Bobbette, for sharing your exceptional talent and knowledge with us... your hard work is much appreciated.
Our next big event for Spring (aside from contest!) will be our annual "High Tea" on May 18th at the Odd Fellows Hall in San Luis Obispo. This event is a real crowd pleaser, with everyone enjoying this great party of tea, scones, sandwiches, goodies, and entertainment by the PHC. We're looking forward to you joining us!
Here's to a great contest weekend! – Alison Drake and Diane Douglas
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RIVEROAKS
Theresa Schonbach, Director
 RIVEROAKS – Riding the Wave! RIVEROAKS has had a lot of fun (and work!) putting together our contest package this year and we're anxious to get on the risers in Bakersfield!
The last few months have been good in so many ways. Over the holidays, we had 7 sing-outs, we entertained at the Los Angeles Police Department holiday bash, and we sang Christmas carols on TV while Fritz Coleman presided over the lighting of the Toluca Lake Christmas tree! We spent one Saturday sending singing holiday-grams to friends, relatives and complete strangers – who were happy, if somewhat perplexed – to hear our enthusiastic rendition of "Christmas Chopsticks."
At the start of the new year, we buckled down to work on our contest songs. While our incredible director, Theresa Schonbach, was – shall we say "off her feet" for a few weeks (foot surgery will do that do you), we enjoyed vocal production coaching by Dave Tautkus. Our February retreat was the best ever – and we had the invaluable Laura Pallas coach us on Saturday, and the talented Karen Laderman for choreography on Sunday. Many thanks to all of you for helping us chart our course. Then it was on to sectionals, drilling, extra rehearsals, more sectionals.
We're anticipating doing our very best in Bakersfield and the minute contest is over – we're all going to Disneyland! RIVEROAKS is proud to have 6 new members on the risers with us this weekend: Kathy, Leanna, Rosemary, Sunny, Teri, and Kelly. We wish the very best to all chorus and quartet competitors! – Katy Theodore
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SANTA
MONICA
Laura Pallas, Director
www.santamonicachorus.com
 It's been a great year so far for the SANTA MONICA CHORUS. Despite the pouring rain, our inspiring Malibu retreat proved to be the most unifying and productive retreat ever, thanks to the amazing talent and exceptional guidance of our coach, Mark Hale. The excellent – and entertaining – Alan Gordon coached us in February, and Mark Hale again graced us with his talent and wisdom as contest crept towards us in March. And now, at long last, we are here in the city where good things happen, that city so dearly loved by women of note from far and wide: Bakersfield!
Our contest season doesn't end here this year as we are once again proudly preparing to represent Region 11 at IES this summer. Although you'll get a tantalizing taste of our IES package when you see our regional contest songs and costumes this weekend, you won't want to miss the culmination of our next three months of coaching and rehearsing in our June 28 show, "Viva La Diva". We'll be featuring the Barbershop Harmony Society quartet, MASTERPIECE (Rob Menaker, Mark Hale, Alan Gordon, and Brett Littlefield), and debuting our exciting new IES show package. Our chapter quartets and special entertainment will round out a show you won't forget, so save the date and come support us on our journey to IES 2008!
We're excited to have one of our members join us on the contest stage for the first time: Kathy Ball. We wish the very best of luck to all our competing sister choruses and quartets, and especially to our very own OOH LA LA. – Lynell Van Bastolaer
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SOUTHLAND HARMONY
Jim Campbell, Director
www.southlandharmony.org
Wow, what a ride SOUTHLAND HARMONY has been on in the last nine months! It started in July with the sudden retirement of our previous director, Stan Sharpe, followed by losing a few members. Our wonderful Assistant Director, Joan King, took up the baton while we conducted a director's search. During the summer months we struggled with 11 and 12 members coming to chorus.
Then, in November we hired our current director, Jim Campbell. He has worked wonders with the chorus, giving us back the joy of singing and performing. You can read his biography on our web site at www.southlandharmony.org.
In February, we were hit with another blow when our rehearsal site had to be closed to re-do the floors. We relented, worked around it, and won out. Our retreat was held just down the street from our rehearsal site at the Guesthouse International. We had a wonderful coach, Chris Robertson of HARBORLITES. There are now 2 quartets (one registered) and 21 members of our chorus! There's only one thing that can be added – we are now on the gravy train with biscuit wheels! – Gail Barrena
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SOUTH
VALLEY SOUND
Mary Ashford & Lee Hays, Co-Directors
www.sweetadeline.org
 SOUTH VALLEY SOUND has had another oo-WONDERFUL year! We are also celebrating our 7th year with our fabulous co-directors, Mary Ashford and Lee Hays. We are still on Cloud Nine with SHIMMER! – our very own 9th Internationally-ranked quartet, and so beaming with great joy over Lee with her HARBORLITES' gold medal. We are so very proud of our coach, Patty Cobb Baker, and her appointment to the International Board, and Jolene Forzetting and her appointment to the RMT as Events Coordinator.
During the past year, the SOUTH VALLEY SOUND has embraced the philosophy of "Believe and Achieve" and that musical excellence is a personal choice. Dubbed as "Operation: Ban Casual Singing", we dedicated ourselves to consistent vocal and performance skills 100% of the time. To keep the chorus and our mission on track, we enlisted the talents of the fabulously talented husband and wife team of Patty "Vocal Gold" and Jeff "sing every note with great intention" Baker, the performance prep expert and Expression Judge Specialist Marcia Pinvidic, the showmanship talents of Marie Hampton, and the phenomenal "ears of a bat" Sound Judge Jurdy Ashmore!
During the holidays, SOUTH VALLEY SOUND had the wonderful opportunity of spreading holiday cheer throughout Taft Correctional Institution. Thanks to Earlene Smith, bass with SVS and Librarian with the facility, the entire chorus sang at three different locations inside the facility. It was an experience that we will remember for the rest of our lives. With almost two years of "Shop & Sing" under our belts and the talents of Tamara Shimmin, we have continued to increase our membership. Competing for the first time this year with SOUTH VALLEY SOUND will be Jerry Beatty, Barbara Delgado, Myrna Denny, Peggy Derleth, Jan DeTomaso, Cris Jacobs, Judy Pitt, Bethany Pomroy and Susan Swertfager.
We are looking forward to seeing all you at competition and wish good luck to all the competitors, especially to our own competing quartet, SOUND SOLUTION. To THREE CHAMPS AND A VAMP (Bitsy, Lee, Diane, Mary) – may you have a blast as this year's mic testers!
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TRI
CITY SOUND
Barbara Nigh, Director
www.tricitysound.org
 TRI CITY SOUND has moved! This is really big news to us, because we have been rehearsing in the same hall, St. Andrew Methodist Church in Santa Maria, for 35 years! We haven't gone far though, just down the street to the Lutheran Church of Our Savior.
In January, several of our members braved torrential rain in San Luis Obispo to compete at PACIFIC HORIZON's Novice Novice contest. It was a fun evening with friends and family cheering us on, as we made new friends and reconnected with old friends in the relaxed and friendly competition.
Valentine singing telegrams were the highlight of February, it was a gratifying experience. We had two groups singing in Santa Maria and Lompoc, singing two songs a combined total of 38 times! It is hard to say who enjoyed themselves more – us or the recipients. We even sang to an on duty policeman. Of course, we made sure he took off his weapon first, in case we went flat.
Close to St. Patrick's Day, (March 15), we performed for the Knights of Columbus. They were a fun loving group who made us feel Irish, as they joined in some of our songs, and invited us to stay and play games with them. In April, we are looking forward to the Chocoholics festival hosted by the Women in Chambers, it is a fun day filled with "sweet" memories. Another exciting upcoming event in June is our coaching day with Sylvia Alsbury.
Finally a warm "Good Luck and "Break a lip" to all of those of you who are competing in the Regional Competition. Remember we are here in the audience this weekend cheering for you!
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VERDUGO
HILLS
Gerry Papageorge, Director
www.verdugoshowtimechorus.org
 VERDUGO HILLS SHOWTIME CHORUS, under the creative and artistic directing of Gerry Papageorge, has been very busy preparing for competition with wonderful coaching sessions by Nick Papageorge, Renee Porzel, Lynne Smith, and Dale Syverson And we have welcomed new members: Rebecca Bennett, Karen Dieterich, Kathy Long and Mary Pierson.
Our annual "Holiday Harmony" Christmas program showcased our special community guests and new members, and featured THE CRUSH (BHS) and our quartets, BRISTOL FASHION, CURTAIN CALL, and the final performance of SERIOUS TREBLE with our own Jeannie Vercillo as bass.
Almost 200 singing holiday cards sent around the world were presented by members of the chorus on a fun day full of holiday spirit, cheer, and good food. At our annual Christmas banquet and party, Sioux Schultz, on behalf of VERDUGO HILLS, gave a special award to Eleanor Gustavson, thanking her for opening her home for meetings and the storage of our photocopying machine, paper, and supplies.
Marcia Bosma continued her 10-year tradition of alternative holiday cards by collecting the money we would have spent on holiday cards for our friends in the chorus and donating it to our two favorite causes – half to the Young Singers Foundation and half to Region 11's Young Women in Harmony Fund.
Singing Valentines were personally delivered by PLAN B and CURTAIN CALL. PLAN B was very touched when they saw how their Valentine brought joy and tears to a 94-year old lady.
We look forward to more great events this year. Again our members have been asked to be docents at the Pasadena Showcase House of the Arts. We would like to extend an invitation to Region 11 to attend our fourth annual A Cappella Scholarship Festival of middle school and high school choruses on May 17, 2008 at Glendale High School. Check our website for further information: www.verdugoshowtimechorus.org.
Break a leg to our chapter quartets – CURTAIN CALL, PIPE DREAMS, PLAN B, SPIRIT, WHAT FOUR! and WILDFIRE – and good luck to all the competing quartets and choruses. – Sue Peacock
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VOICES
UNLIMITED
Dede Nibler & Erin Lunn, Co-Directors
 VOICES UNLIMITED CHORUS is excited to be back in Bakersfield with our friends in Region 11. We've been busy since Fall Festival. We added a new member, Martha Rasmussen, who has been a member of Sweet Adelines for many years; we are delighted to welcome her to our VU family.
How cool is it that Region 11 will have two choruses singing on the International stage in Hawaii? We have been working hard raising money for that November competition. We had a Christmas show and silent auction in December. The grand finale of the show featured VU, the CALIFORNIA HEARTLAND CHORUS and the GOLD NOTE CHORUS all singing together; what a thrill.
VOICES sang the National Anthem at the second annual "Pink at the Rink" hockey game, raising awareness of and money for breast cancer research and on May 10, will present "Mother, Daughter, Sister, Friend", a luncheon and performance also dedicated to breast cancer research. Valentine's Day brought songs, candy hearts, roses and lots of fun. Various other singing gigs, football concessions and our recycling projects round out our money raising efforts.
Besides raising money, we've been working with some awesome coaches to prepare for competition: Jim Arns, Carole Kirkpatrick and Doreen Philbin have been whipping us into shape and our wonderful co-directors, Dede Nibler and Erin Lunn, continue to inspire us. We're looking forward to a fabulous contest weekend and wish all our sister choruses our best. A special shout out to Dolce, our new chorus quartet, who will be competing Friday night. Let's all have some BIG fun! – Susan Sanders
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