Power Quartetting Weekend

[Admin]

The first ever Power Quartetting Weekend is coming up on June 26-27 in Portland. Hosted by the Bridge Town Sound, it brings together individual singers from all over the Northwest who have learned their part on six selected songs. During the weekend they will sing these songs in various combinations of four singers. To cap off the weekend, there will be an informal contest in which the singers are placed in random quartets, and drawn to sing one of the songs. The audience will select the "winning" quartet. The final contest and show is open to the public, with a $5 admission charge at 7 pm at Holladay Park Church of God, 2120 Tillamook St. in Portland.

[Admin]

Another weekend we are considering is May 21-22, 2010. This is a week before Memorial Day. Often Region 24 has their contest on this weekend, but not this year. If you see any downsides to this weekend, please let me know.

[Admin]

If you have opinions, pro or con, on any of these songs, please post so we can discuss:
Love At Home asb Power Play - Tom Gentry
If I Only Had a Brain asb Four Voices
Pearl, My Rural Plural Girl asb McKenzie Touring Co., or another Olguin song
Recipe for Making Love asb 3 Men & a Melody (published)
Dixieland One Step
Birth of the Blues - David Wright
Cruella DeVille
Yes Sir, That's My Baby
When I Lift Up My Head
Blue Skies
Old St. Louie
Lullaby In Ragtime
Always - Hale
Frog Kissin'
Old Cape Cod
Blew By You
I'll Be Seeing You
Sugarcane Jubilee
Smilin' Through
Tin Roof Blues
Ya Gotta Know
I'll Fly Away
Sweet Georgia Brown
Once Upon A Time
Happy Together
Perfidia
Simon & Garfunkle Medley
I Told Them All About You
The Shadow of Your Smile
Fly Me to the Moon
Cry Me a River
Love Me
Lazy Bones
Love Me and the World Is Mine
South
Come Fly With Me

[Puzzler]

The ones from the list that excite me the most:
Birth of the Blues
Cruella DeVille
Lullaby in Ragtime
Happy Together (especially the David Wright arrangement)
Love Me

I'm very tired of:
Come Fly With Me
Always

Although I like the Simon & Garfunkel Montage quite a bit (as done by Acoustix?), it seems like it is too long to be practical for Power Quartetting.

You didn't list the arrangers for most of the songs, but I tend to like just about anything by David Wright, Aaron Dale, or Greg Volk.

You guys did a great job of picking the songs for this year, I have complete confidence that next year's choices will be just as good!

--Mark Engelberg, bass, Everett, WA

[Johneo4]

Of the suggested songs I had three on my wish list: "Lullaby in Ragtime", "Once Upon a Time", and "I'll be Seeing You". Others that I would be interested in include Steinkamp's arrangement of "Over the Rainbow" as well as the following for which I don't have a suggested arranger:
"San Francisco Bay Blues"
"Thanks For the Memory"
"Somewhere Out There"
"The Little White Cloud That Cried"
"Softly as I Leave You"
"Don't Blame Me"
"I Like Beer"
"If"

I agree that we had a great selection for the first gathering (though a couple were extreme challenges). You have a large list to choose from and I look forward to learning what the final selection will include. I like the idea of May 21-22 as an optional time for the PQ weekend. Perhaps that would encourage some who would have declined a date close to International in late June.

John Osborn

[mottley81]

The songs on the list that grabbed me are:
Birth of the Blues
I'll Fly Away
Blue Skies
Once Upon a Time
Lullaby in Ragtime

There are others on the list that I like and I already know, so that would be almost cheating, so I'll defer on those

Another song to consider for the list is Cheer Up Charlie (did you see the awesome perfomrance by Greater Central Ohio and the New Zealand Chorus on that song - Wow!

Mike Ott

[Admin]

We've tentatively finalized (?) the date and songs for 2010. The date will be May 21-22 and the songs will be:
Be Our Guest (asb Platinum) arr. Volk
Lullaby In Ragtime arr. Gentry
Love Me (asb O.C. Times) arr. Dale
Once Upon A Time arr. R. Campbell
Sugarcane Jubilee (asb Revival) arr. D. Wright
When the Midnight Choo Choo Leaves for Alabam (asb Special Feature) arr. Paul Olguin

We will be setting up a website at www.powerQt.com that should go on line on Wed. July 15.

[Sponsored content]