Harmony Channel Quartet

2012-01-13T17:32:00.000-08:00

Performance at Ventura County Government Center

Back on December 15, the guys were invited to perform for the Ventura County art awards reception.

Singing Valentines

2011-02-20T15:28:00.000-08:00

Each year on Valentine's Day, the quartet donate it's time to perform singing Valentines for people in the are. The funds raised are used to support music education in local schools. It is a lot of fun to show up at someone's work and serenade them with a couple of old fashioned love songs. We also present the lucky person with a rose and a card. You know, of course, that a guy can score a lot of points with his gal by sending four "handsome" men, (subject to debate), to sing love songs to her.

Everyone else in the room is thinking "oh, how sweet and romantic" or "I wish my boyfriend/husband would do something like that for me". What's really fun is when the gals turn the tables and send us out to sing love songs to her guy, especially at his work, in front of his co-workers! This year most of our deliveries were up in the Santa Barbara area with three in one office in the Goleta area.

The proverbial cubicle "prairie dog" action started as we began our first song with people coming out of offices to see who was the lucky victim. We had such a good time delivering that we couldn't leave without singing a song for the receptionist at the front desk.

Her co-workers help us sneak up on her for a big surprise

These two gentlemen were great sports

Santa Paula Car Show

2010-10-10T19:10:00.000-07:00

On the first Friday of every month, the city of Santa Paula has a cruse night. Main Street is closed and people bring their antique cars and hot rods and park them. The event draws crowds from all over the county. The boys went there this last August and sang for the crowds. They were sporting their brand new shirts they purchased at the International Convention this last summer.

I don't know, do the boys look angry or something?

OK, Duane looks like he is having a cramp or something!

Can someone tell Duane that he needs to not look so, so.....
I don't know what, be he needs to stop it!

HC Performs for Ice Cream Fundraiser

2010-06-27T20:25:00.000-07:00

June 12, 2010 - On Saturday evening the guys convened at the L.D.S. church in Santa Paula where they had the opportunity to perform at a fundraiser being held to support the church's young women's program.

The boys launch into their signature opening number, "We'll Sing All We Know Tonight"

Duane has his eyes closed, (as usual), Bruce is doing his "oriental look", Brent looks like he has a cramp somewhere, and Doug....well, he's just wishing that the rest of us would just try to look normal for once!

Party at Maury's Place

2010-06-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon, the guys all went to Maury Counts' home to perform for his annual summer party. Maury has a fantastic old theatre organ at his house and he loves to play it for guests. The quartet performed several songs for the guests, then helped out with the Bar-B-Que. Doug and Brent tended the grill. After everyone ate, the quartet ended their visit with a handful of songs. They had to leave a bit early because they had another performance that day.

Maury himself in his signature white dinner jacket.

Singing "My Father Was a Widower"

A view through the jungle

Farewell To An Old Friend

2010-06-12T13:51:00.000-07:00

This morning the quartet sang for Ed Lupton. Ed turned 92 yesterday and his son asked if we would come sing for him today to help the family celebrate. Ed loves the Barbershop style and for many years was a member and ardent supporter of the Channel Islands Clipper's chorus. As a member of the chorus, he received several awards from the chapter, including two "Barbershopper of the Year" awards.

Ed and Doug often drove to rehearsals together and he had a strong influence on the early members of Harmony Channel. The quartet sang a couple of the ol' standards, (My Wild Irish Rose and Lida Rose), and also one of Ed's favorite songs, "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling". They also sang "Irish Blessing" as a farewell wish to a good friend, and a good man.
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Added on June 27, 2010

We just learned a short while ago that Ed passed away earlier this week. We bid him a fond farewell and will miss him. Our hopes and prayers go out to his family.

The Fillmore Ebell Club

2010-03-05T22:06:00.000-08:00

At lunch time on Tuesday, January 26th, the guys made their way to Fillmore where they had the pleasure of performing for the Ebell club as part of their lunch meeting. The skies were gray and threatened rain, but it was bright and sunny inside with the gracious club members enjoying the performance.

Near the end of the show, the audience patiently waited while Duane, the Tenor, had to haul out the Barbershop society rulebook to set the record straight, that Tenors are allowed to sing the Lead part on at least one song per performance. To the dismay of Doug, the Baritone, the audience enthusiastically agreed that Duane should be allowed to sing the Lead part on a song. The club members weren’t disappointed as Duane sang the romantic classic, “In the Still of the Night”.

The song was well received, even though the other three members of the quartet got a little carried away with their back-up singing. (They get so jealous when Duane gets all the audience attention. He can’t help it if he is so good looking!).

Sailing, Sailing!

2009-12-20T19:12:00.000-08:00

On Friday, December 18th, Harmony Channel entertained the crowds in the Ventura Harbor as they sailed along as part of the weekend's Parade of Lights event. An armada of ships, large and small, all decorated in lights, paraded around the harbor to the delight of hundreds of people watching from the shore and on boats docked along the parade route.

But for all their glory, there was one boat that was just a little more special than the all others. That boat had the only live music in the Parade, the Harmony Channel quartet! The night was a little bit chilly but the quartet warmed the hearts of parade goers with Christmas carols, receiving cheers and applause as they floated past. (At least I think it was cheers)

A small mis-hap occurred about 1/3 of the way into the first lap; Doug "fingers" VanBogelen dropped our only pitch pipe overboard, and with a 'ploop', it went to the bottom of the harbor. Undaunted the boys carried on, guessing the pitch of each song. For the most part they were able to hit it pretty close but there were a couple of times they had the Tenor squeaking along way up in the vocal stratosphere!

Preparing to get under way, the quartet is working out sound details with sound technician Brian Parra, of Saturday Night Sound, (www.SaturdayNightSound.com). He set up the equipment so the quartet could be heard by the audience on the shore.

Warm up and sound check, (that's "fingers" in the forground).

"...If not for the courage of the fearless crew..."

Heritage Square Performance

2009-12-12T20:18:00.000-08:00

Our first performance of the Christmas season. We sang at the Heritage Square in Oxnard as part of their Christmas tours. We performed for two hours and pretty much wore out poor Brent's voice. (He is on the upside of being sick this week). Attendance was light due to the rainy weather, but those who did brave the elements got to see the beautifully decorated houses, (I just love them), and hear the quartet share their best wishes for the season.

Along with our standard Christmas repertoire we also sang Chanukah Medley in honor of the Chanukah holidays, (started last night). We even threw in a few of our regular songs to fulfill some audience requests.

Left to right: Doug, Brent, Bruce, Duane

We make Brent stand in back to protect the audience.

Just look at that expression and you can understand why.

(And no, Bruce is not scowling).

Did Doug swallow a fly?

Duane is showing his best "butler-in-waiting" look.