On the way home

Well, our departure time this morning was probably a bit early after last night's post-concert celebration. We boarded the bus at Rockefeller Chapel and headed north for a quick visit to Chicago proper before hitting the road for the last leg home. Who knew there's be a St. Patrick's Day parade, with thousands of green-clad revelers crowding the streets?

Some of us headed for Giordano's, one of Chicago's famous spots for deep-dish pizza. Others checked out the Chicago River, dyed green for the holiday. And others walked around the Loop, checking out the magnificent architecture and beautiful public art.

Chicago

Well, we made it to Chicago, more or less in one piece and met up with Chicago Men's A Cappella. Rockefeller Chapel is a magnificent Gothic church, far grander than any of our other concert venues.

We rehearsed by ourselves and with CMAC for our combined numbers. After sharing a meal, it's time to get dressed & sing our last tour concert.

Feeding time at the Zoo

Gray skies and chilly temps are accompanying us as we cross Ohio towards Indiana on our way to Chicago. Snow and rain are predicted for concert time, but maybe it won't be too bad. We've stopped for lunch at the last service area in Ohio. We're told the ones in Indiana aren't as nice.

Our final full concert...

It's Thursday night and we've completed our final full concert of this year's tour. Tomorrow night in Chicago, we'll be guests on the concert of Chicago Men's A Cappella, directed by Bruce Tammen, a former conductor of The Virginia Glee Club. We'll be singing  just one set on their program, so tonight was our last chance to sing everything. Fortunately, we had a wonderful space at Westlake United Methodist Church in Westlake, OH, home church of Bob and Carolyn Remington, grandparents of Glee Club Publicity Director Michael Ziegler '15. The audience was enthusiastic and contained a number of UVa alumni (though, alas, no Glee Club alumni). The folks at the church made us a great dinner, so everyone was fully fueled for the performance. I'm hoping they're all catching up on their sleep now to get ready for tomorrow's drive to Chicago.

At last night's concert in Ypsilanti, Brian Ammer's uncle took some shots of the group during our concert (a little Brian-centric, but understandable!). Thanks for sending them along!

It's cold here!

The guys looked somewhat the worse for wear after sleeping in our host church, but they rallied when we reached a fancy Ohio rest stop. Eli, one of our drivers, is from Ohio, and he wouldn't stop telling us how great it is there. All I know is that we're headed to Cleveland now, and it's only 28 degrees.

After watching the announcement of the new Pope on the satellite TV on our bus, we arrived in Ypsilanti, Michigan for our concert at First United Methodist Church. The folks at the church pulled out all the stops and fed us our first home-cooked group meal of the tour. We had a great audience for a fine performance in a beautiful, historic sanctuary.

After a good night's sleep with host families from the church (and some much needed showering!) we met up this morning at Pioneer High School to sing for their Cantare Men's Ensemble. It's always great singing for high school guys and showing them that they can keep singing once they get to college. Onward to Cleveland!

Two more concerts

We had a fantastic time at Millersville University on Monday night, singing a beautiful concert in their brand new performing arts center and joining with their Marauder Men's Glee Club and conductor Mark Boyle for "Brothers, Sing On!" The audience was enthusiastic and there were several Club alumni there, which is always great. There were also a number of Glee Club parents, including the Klings, the Duffins, the Semeskys, and the Talbots.

We began today in a driving rain storm as we headed west across Pennsylvania towards the famous Breezewood Rest Area. While the bus refueled, the guys ate, found amusement and then, like lemmings to the sea, piled on the bus again for the remainder of our journey.

We drove another two hours until we reached the Pittsburgh suburbs, where we spent a couple of hours at a local mall, eating, shopping, playing games and visiting the pet store.

We finally reached our concert venue for the night, Natrona Heights Presbyterian Church. The Pastor, Clerk of Session and congregants were most gracious hosts, and the audience was good-sized and appreciative. It took awhile to figure out what our connection was to the church, but the woman who answered our call for help with a concert venue was Mary Beth Orbin, aunt of Patrick LeDuc (Doppelgänger), a former Glee Club president, and sister of Trish LeDuc, a former parent member of the Virginia Glee Club Alumni and Friends Association board. Everyone worked really hard to make sure we felt welcome, and we greatly appreciated it. We also saw more parents! The Hancocks flew up from Tampa to hear the concert and celebrate their son "Saltine's" 20th birthday.

I hope the church folks are still glad they hosted us when we return in the morning to collect the guys, who are spending the night in the church basement. Their favorite thing so far? An indoor basketball court, on which I saw them playing basketball, frisbee, and lacrosse at the same time. Maybe they'll tire themselves out and go to bed early. Hope springs eternal. Off to Michigan in the morning!

So we survived our 8:25 a.m. performance...

...but it's never easy to sing so early in the morning. As usual, some of the guys showed up late (in time for our third song), and one didn't make it at all. Ah, the joys of touring. We sang for the entire student body at Roxbury Latin, and there was no rioting, which is always a good thing.

We're on the road to Millersville, PA and tonight's concert at Millersville University.

The photo is us singing The Good Old Song this morning. Thanks to Margaret Doyle for the pic and for all she did to make our visit to Roxbury Latin so great!