ThUpcoming Chorus EventsMarch18 Tech Rehearsalat HobbyCenterMarch20, 21 GMCHPerformanceat HobbyCenterMarch27 MusicbookbuildingApril 3 GMCHCastPartyat Homeof Jeff Salazar

Monday, March 14, 2004 Volume 9 I Number 25GAY MEN'S CHORUS of HOUSTON

Quote Of The Week"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act but ahabit" - Aristotle

Dear GMCHers,Well this is it! It is time to continue to be inspired for excellence.

That comes through the repetition of excellence and I want to thankeach and everyone of you in advance for the hard work you havegiven and will give this week. Let's uphold a HUGE part of theGMCH Mission Statement that says 'We strive to achieve excellencein men's choral music"! Let's do it.

What inspires you? Discover and rediscover those inspirationpoints- those high places from which you can see more, feel moreand more beautifully, Spend time this week taking in a grander viewof life so you can share that view with your audiences this weekend.See how on stage you can return with vigor, humor, enthusiasm,passion and excellence!

Study your words, music, dynamics and movements daily andeach of you will achieve the best performance that you can doindividually. Practice in front of the mirror. That is excellence!

Invigorate your soul and see the large picture of Red Hot andCole! Your singing along with the dancers, orchestra, designs andstaging are going to be nothing short of MAGICAL. We now have tomake the magic happen.

I am so proud of you. Keep up the great work guys!

James

PS I was so sorry to have been in Little Rock for the wonderfulsoiree at Neiman Marcus. Thanks to ALL of you who rallied andturned out for this wonderful event. Congrats to JB Hughes on sucha roaring success and a special thanks to VocalEase in theirperformance.

PSS We are behind on ticket sales guys. Remember each of us ispersonally responsible to sell 10 tickets. Just 10 tickets guys. Wecan do it!

REHEARSAL GUIDE

Review the movements/music sectionsRun the entire show!

MUSTHAVEProps for "Red, Hot and Cole"From Dale Miller and Tim Lankford

This is a list of 'must have' props for Red, Hot & Cole. If you haveany of these items, have a friend who might loan us the items, or you knowa place were we can find them inexpensively, call or email Dale Miller(txgm@aoLcom / 713-529-5952 or Tim Lankford (mans99@sbcglobaLnet/832-236-3506)

1 black stool (bar height) that swivelsStool-height table for Sharon Montgomery2 long-hair wigs

Rehearsal Attendance Policy RevisionFrom James Knapp

Heads up, guys: we'll be making a slight change in the rehearsalattendance rules beginning March 29th, when we begin rehearsals for theJUNE show.

You may be aware that previously, when we kept count for the "can'tmiss more than three rehearsals" requirement, we began counting at thefourth rehearsal: an absence during the first three weeks did not "count"toward the three absences allowed per concert cycle.

Guys, all of our Monday night rehearsals are equally important --Starting with the June show, the "absences" counter will start immediatelywith our first rehearsal for each cycle, including our opening rehearsal onMonday, March 29th. Hope you'll plan to make it a part of your regularroutine on Monday to be present for rehearsal, starting two weeks fromtonight on Monday, March 29th. Thanks, guys!! See 'ya here!!!!

June Concert Recruiting and ConcertAnnouncement From James Knapp

What an exciting and wonderful concert this is going to be. The firsthalf of the concert will some of the most popular music we have sungincluding "Something Inside So Strong" and "The Last Words of David" aswell as a 25th Season commissioned work with a text by Walt Wlitmanfrom Leaves of Grass set to music by Boston composer Eric Helmuth and Iam so thrilled about it!

The second half will be the greatest hits of Sir Elton John! Yes,that's right the Rocket Man! From Disney selections from The Lion King(Circle of Life) to Aida to Crocodile Rock, Candle in the Wind, Daniel,Benny and the Jets. You got the picture...all the favorites!

Please invite new folks to join us for this new concert cycle. They willNOT be eligible to go to GALA in Montreal because of the two concertminimum requirement but they can join us for the June concert and ourappearance in September at the Meyerson Center with Turtle CreekChorale.

Invite them today to come to our concerts this weekend and then toour next open rehearsal Monday March 29th at 7 pm. You can alsocontact Robert Parker with their info.

Thanks guys. We expect a lot of new people after this RED HOT andCole weekend! Woo Woo!!!

Help us Put Together the March Music!From Barb Easterlv

On Saturday, March 27 we need as many able hands as possible tohelp us put together the music books for our June concert. We will, again,be working at the home of Larry Brown - 6670 Meadowlawn, off 1-45southat Wayside - from 10:00 to whenever we finish............C.Qm.e..io.in ..u.s..f.oLaJUD..day: ..oUe.IJ.O.'M?I:1.ip.•....tuocn ..will..b.e..p[Qllide.d .Spring Fever Cast Party!!! From tlte Hospitalitv Committee

Hi everyone! Your Social Directors want to remind you about ourupcoming Cast Party on Saturday, April 3rd, 2004. The festivities willbegin at 2PM and run until 6PM. This is gonna be one HECK of a BASH.Food will be provided, but please bring your favorite libations.The Party will be held at the home of guess who: hehehe Thats right!!!!

Senor Jeffrey Salazar and Senor William Smylie1741 MCilhennyStHouston, TX 77004

Come casual, wear your flip flops or boat shoes. Please no High Heels, .DOCKER!! Just come to have a good time and share your warmpersonalities and reminisce over our Wonderful Concert.RSVP:Lou Anderson281.481.2723ktinker@swbell.net

Dale Miller713.529.5952TXGM@aoLcom

Jeff Salazar713.825.4062MidtownMasseur@aol.com

2 GAY MEN'S CHORUS of HOUSTON

Dear GMCH Family, Friends and Supporters,Words are simply not sufficient to express my pride in our

accomplishment this past Thursday night at Neiman Marcus. Forthose of you in attendance, you can attest to the magnificent tumout, festive party and fantastic public relations achievement we allshared. You were all simply fabulous and you made a tremendousimpact on the staff at Neiman Marcus, Jhane Bames, and her futurecollaborations with other GALA Choruses across the country throughsimilar sponsorship/public relations events. Congratulations! You'rethe best!

Also, we all need to thank both VocalEase for their sensationalperformance and our GMCH models for their "gorgeousness" onstage. In every way possible we all created a slam dunk experienceand it only cost us a trip to the Galleria, except of course for those ofyou who boughUlost your shirt buying clothes. Wow! Now that'swhat I call bang for the buck. Thank you! Thank you!! Thank you forstepping up to the plate!!! It is so comforting to me to know just howcommitted you are. When we need your support you are there, andfolks, boy do we ever need your support right now on somethingcloser to home for all of us.

This may seem like I'm complimenting you and picking on youall at once, but such is the nature of a matter of dire necessity that Imust bring to your attention immediately. Folks, we simply have notdone what is needed in the way of ticket sales for our upcomingperformances. I was in great hopes that this weekend would turnthings around before the show opens, but I must tell you that at bestthe movement since last week is marginal if not downright non-existent.

I'm the whistle blower, so please don't shoot the messenger, butyou just have to understand the gravity of our situation here.Budgets for shows of the caliber we are now performing arepredicated upon the assumption of a certain volume in ticket sales.How could it be otherwise? We are in the performance businessafter all and we have to believe that ticket sales will support ourproductions or we have to completely rethink what we're doing here.

The long and the short of it is simply this. We have over$20,000 invested in production expenses for this show alone, whichby the way is extraordinarily lean in this business given the venueand caliber of performance we expect to produce. The entire sumwill be due upon completion of the final performance. We began thiswhole performance cycle with $40,584 in potential revenue fromticket sales. In other words, with four consecutive sell-outs we wouldhave no difficulty in meeting our financial obligations and would infact produce a modest gain for ongoing operational expenses. Toput this in further perspective, you sold well in excess of 2,000 seatsat the holiday concerts, not to mention the Galveston runoutperformance, and we only had 2,016 to begin with for this show.

Presently, we have only generated $11,066 (25%) of ourpotential ticket revenue with 6 days until our opening. This translatesinto 724 seats sold and includes season subscribers. I do not enjoyalarming people any more than having a toothache but the reality isright here in front of us and we have to face up to the fact that wehave not done all that we can do. The following chart should put thewhole picture in perspective for us:

ISSUED REVENUES OPEN VALUESA T 20 March 8:00 PM

303 $4,064 201 $3,277SUN 21 March 3:00 PM

209 $3,555 295 $6,949

Please See Tickets Sales, Page 3

GMCHSeeks Board of Directors NominationsFrom Stew Zuckerbrod

GMCH is currently accepting nominations for potential members tothe GMCH Board of Directors. Nominees do not have to be membersof the GMCH. Please contact me at szckrbrd@aol.com for moreinformation or if you have a nominee.

Concert Attire for "Red, Hot and Cole"From James Knapp

Due to the limited backstage and dressing room space at the HobbyCenter, the attire for "Red, Hot and Cole" will be your TUXEDO for theentire show. Please take a moment to review the Tuxedo Requirementson Page 3.

Ai's Formal Wear Tuxedo Offer From Steve YocomAI's Formal Wear presents the following TUXEDO offer to GMCH

members at their SOUTH MAIN ST location only:$119.95 Polyester Tuxedo Packageincludes Polyester notch lapel coat

Adjustable pantWhite wing-tip shirtBlack bowtie and cummerbundWool Tuxedo PackageWorsted Wool notch lapel coatWorsted Wool pantWhite wing-tip shirtBlack bowtie and cummerbund

$199.95includes

Just In From GALAChoruses!From Your GALA Project Team

Organizers of Vile Festival International GALA Choruses, to be held17-24 July 2004 in Montreal, Canada announced today that more than5,000 people have registered for the festival. This marks the high~stnumber of registrations in advance of any GALA Choruses quadrennialfestival.

For the first time in GALA Choruses' history, the group has institutedonline registration, a technological innovation that was expected to andhas increased the registration volume.

"We are confident that a quality festival is being built and thedelegates will have an incredibly memorable experience," said SusanHaugh, Co-chair of the Vile Festival International GALA Choruses. "Wenow have more than 160 choruses and ensembles currently registered toperform at the festival and have encouraged individual members tocomplete the registration process. This resulted in a surge in totalnumbers," added Gene Dolphus, Co-chair of the Vile FestivalInternational GALA Choruses.The beautiful performance facility of Place des Arts will be the sight offormal concerts presented by the more than 5,000 delegates expected toattend the eight-day festival. The festival will also offer an Exposition atComplexe Desjardins and special community events open to the generalpublic. Most of the choruses and ensembles registering have come fromthe USA (84%) and Canada (13%). Other countries including UK, France,Germany, Ireland and South Africa will be represented. Choruses arecomprised primarily of women's choruses (22%), mixed men's andwomen's choruses (29%) and men's choruses (48%). The sizes ofchoruses range from a quartet to more than 200 singers. Performancesdeliver powerful messages about social justice and the lives of gay,lesbian, bisexual transgender people. Many new works commissioned bychoruses will be debuted at the festival.

3 GAY MEN'S CHORUS of HOUSTON

Concert AttireTuxedos are worn at most concerts.

Here are some hints on what you'll need:

- Black Tuxedo with satin (not velvet)lapels

- White Pleated shirt with wing collar (noruffles)

- Black studs- Black bowtie and Cummerbund (The

pleats point up: remember, it's a crumb-catcher!)

- Black dress socks and dress shoes.

Tuxedo MerchantsBelow is a list of merchants who offer

tuxedos at economical prices. You cangenerally expect a tuxedo from one of thesesources to cost between $125 and $150.

AI's Tuxedo OutletsNorthbrook Location

11290 Northwest FreewayHouston, Texas(713) 682-1131

Almeda Location9940 Kleckley

Houston, Texas(713) 910.3700

Filly's Men's FormalsMidtown Location

2405 Main Street at McGowenHouston, Texas 77002

(713) 652-2039North Houston Location10998 North Freeway

Houston, Texas 77037(281 ) 445-1898

K&G Men's SuperstoreWest Houston Location

12143 Katy FreewayHouston, Texas 77079

(281) 589-7337Meyerland Location

8717 West Loop SouthHouston, Texas 77096

(713) 667-3945

Suit Mart Men's OutletAstrodome Location

1211 South Loop WestHouston, Texas(713) 796-8196

Sugarland Location11894 Murphy Road

Houston, Texas 77031(281) 495-5656

Tuxedo AssistanceGMCH offers financial assistance to

members who cannot afford to purchase atuxedo. No-interest loans are available withpayment schedules to fit your budget.

If you require assistance, please contactour treasurer, Tony Adam. The tuxedoassistance program is funded by members.

If you would like to contribute to thisprogram, please talk to Tony Adam.

Ticket Sales Continued

for Morehearsal during.concert season.Submission Deadline:

Sunday.9pmTo Contribute:

@gmch:()rg., EEEEEEEEKKK!!!! As you can see,we will not even be able to coverproduction costs, let alone provide forany operational support following theconcert. I don't know if you feel the sameway I do about this but I would so muchrather invite my friends, family, co-workers, and church goers to a concert inwhich I have invested my valuable timeand effort than to any other fund raisingactivity we do throughout the year. Isthere a better way to raise financialsupport for GMCH than our concertsthemselves? This is our top priority itseems to me if we intend to maintain andof course grow beyond our present statusas the most influential and largest gayperforming arts agency in the city.

Think about this with me and what arewarding honor it is to participate in agroup with that much credibility andrespect. We owe it to ourselves to turnthis situation around. And, quite frankly, Idon't see any other way than to spell thisout as a shared responsibility in which weall simply must commit. So, the magicnumber is 10 tickets per singer sold bySaturday. If you have already fulfilledthis assignment, we all say thank you forsetting a good and proper example for usto follow. Personally, I have sold 6 andwill eat the last 4 if I do not have themsold by Saturday.

Lastly, in bringing all of this verbaria toa close, you need to know that neitherthe Silver Edition concert this past fall orthe Holiday concerts met their targetedgoals for ticket revenue. Hence, we arefeeling a pretty nasty financial crunch andit's going to be really grave if we don't getthis situation under quickly in hand. Wecan turn this around with one mighty lasteffort here before Saturday. Please doall that you can to lend GMCH thehelping hand that only you can offer.

RespectfullyYours in ServiceJB

ISS REV OPENSUN 21 March 8:00 PM

61 $1,124 443TUE 23 March 8:00 PM

151 $2,323 353TOTALS

724 $11,066 1,292

$10,950

$8,342

$29,518

GAYMEN'SCHORUSo!HOUSTON

P.O. Box 541004Houston, Texas

77254-1004Phone: 713-521-7464Online: www.gmch.orgE-mail: info@gmch.org

OfficersRichard Hudkins

President & ChairSally Huffer

Vice PresidentTony Adam

TreasurerJerry Aucoin

SecretaryBoard Of Directors

Jerry AucoinBernie BarbourJohn B. Har1e

Richard HudkinsSally Huffer

Howard PollackRandy Reddemann

Jan SollerJim Soller

Gary TeixeiraTracy Webber

Stew ZuckerbrodStaff

James B. HughesExecutive Director

James KnappArtistic Director

Kenneth ClayborneAsst. Conductor

Eric McAnalienDirector, Vocal Ease

Beth McConnellAccompanist

Barb Easter1yLibrarian

John Har1eAttorney

CommitteesAssociates

Lou AndersonPublic Relations

James BlackMembership

Robert ParkerSteve Yocom

Long-Range PlanningJim Soller

Information MgmtTracy Webber

AdministrativeSection Leaders

1st TenorsDaniel Bennett(713) 446-8017

daniel_e_bennett@msn.comUpper 2nd Tenors

Docker Tran(713) 515-1255

vudoct@aol.comLower 2nd Tenors

Dave Swart(713) 953-0636

akdave@aol.comBaritones

Ron LaCarna(281) 484-1305

rlacarna2@earthlink.netUpper Basses

Donald Daniel(713) 520-7662

rollercstr@aol.comLower Basses

David Hughes(713) 869-8051

howie57kh@cs.comMembership Adm.

Steve Yocom(713) 880-5115

syocom@earthlink.netMembershipRobert Parker

(713) 524-6335parkerr1@aol.com

Associate MembersLou Anderson

(713) 419-8152ktinker@swbell.net

VAL

MusicalSection Leaders

First TenorsEric McAnalien(713) 780-9806

eric.mcanallen@cigna.comSecond TenorsKenneth Clayborne

(713) 863-7611keneclay@flash.net

BaritonesDavid Carter

(713) 942-0209dactex@swbell.net

BassesMike McNamara(713) 524-1295

mpmc1@swbell.net

ProductionDale Miller

Financial OversightJanet Soller

Human ResourcesGary Teixeira

Box OfficeMargie Babbidge