Here's some oddball Chapel Choir stuff that doesn't quite have a home elsewhere!
**NEW** If you were lucky enough to be in HCC in 1979/80, you were subjected - er, "treated" to warming up for concerts by singing "The Rainbow Connection" at Winston's behest before each concert. Win loved the Muppet Movie. To a fault. No, really. Well, some choir members really loved this bonding moment, while others... not so much. I offer you the following photo from the 1980 tour, courtesy of Barbara Bradley:
Yes, that's Kermit. Thrown under the bus! If you have not had the "fortune" of enjoying the Rainbow Connection, you can see and hear it here.
We now have the 1984 and 1985 Choir Tour awards, courtesy of Patty Yard (HCC 1982 - 1985)! Click here and here for 1984, and here for 1985.
I was surfing around the internet, and found an old 1975 anti-war (Vietnam) newsletter from the Syracuse Peace Council. Just take a look at a couple of ads from the newsletter that may bring back some memories!
I don't know about you, but I drank a lot of 25-cent sangria and played a LOT of Missile Command at Hungry Charley's!
The apparently long-defunct Abe's Donut Supreme supplied the goodies that managed to get many of us out of bed and to church on time on Sunday mornings! - Remember scarfing those down before we went out to sing on the chapel steps?
This is the cassette tape that launched a website. As I'm sure you have read by now, the death of this little beauty sparked the panic that sent me on a mission to save our recorded music. Ironically, I found this cassette buried at the bottom of a desk drawer in my office at work - A drawer that was being cleaned out because my job had been eliminated. If I hadn't lost my job, this cassette would never have been found. And this site would never have been born.
Prior to the 1979 Western tour and again before the 1984 Gulf Coast swing, the choir raised money by breaking up into quartets and delivering madrigal-style "Birthday grams" around campus. I have found a snippet of the song they sang, and Will Headlee explains how it was done in this 1984 performance in Bradenton, Florida. Enjoy!
Think of this as "Men's Quartet" 1.0...
This is the original HCC Men's quartet, "The Augmented Four" circa Spring 1976, when the choir toured in Europe... From left to right - John Martin, Dan Peterson, Wayne Williams and Keith Gatling! Many thanks to Tracy Kaplan Leenman (HCC 1975-1977) for the photo. Tracy helped arrange music and sometimes provided piano accompaniment for the original "Augmented Four"... She recalls, "Being a 'chapel' choir never stopped those guys from pushing the envelope with their innuendos!"
Click here to read a letter from Rep. George Wortley (R.-NY), inviting DC area Syracuse University alumni to see the Hendricks Chapel Choir perform on the East steps of the United States Capitol in March, 1982. You will note that the letter is dated four days before the concert, which probably explains why Congressman Wortley was the ONLY person to see us perform!
Remember when the HCC performed at Washington's National Cathedral in the springs of 1981 and 1982? Well, it might have been YOUR first time performing there, but it was NOT Winston's! Look at what I found being sold on E-Bay! A 1971 high school choir from Roanoke, Va - and just look at the organist's name! ***UPDATE*** (7/20/08) - I just heard from Win - When I pointed this album out to him on eBay, he bought it! (He's lost his copy years ago!)
