MVE-Sway

1Midwest Vocal Express

PRES IDENT ’S WELCOME

Welcome to Sway, Let the Music Move You! The men of the Midwest Vocal Express have had a lot of fun (and put in a lot of work) preparing all the songs for this show, many of which you’ve never heard us perform before.

Kyle Kurtz is a new MC face for our MVE stage, and comes to us today via Kansas City, MO. I know you’ll enjoy him as much as the audiences there do.

We’re very excited to have Capri as our Headliner Quartet. They have been voted Audience Favorite at the Sweet Adeline International contest twice. This year they were awarded Third Place Medals in Seattle, WA, no small feat in its own right!

Skyline Quartet returns to our stage with good news: they have qualified for the Barbershop Harmony Society International Quartet Contest this July in Kansas City. You’ll see (and hear) why they’ve earned a return trip to the big dance after their Top Twenty finish last year in Philadelphia.

We’ve been focusing on growing our membership, and to that end, after offering free voice lessons to any man for the last six weeks, on today’s show we proudly present the gradu-ates of our Ready, Set, Sing! program on stage with the MVE for two songs. Know any guys that love to sing? Let them know that we’re going to repeat this program again later this year, and that guests are welcome any Monday night for our regular rehearsal at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church here in Greendale.

If you need more Barbershop after today’s show, then for heaven’s sake make sure you attend the Afterglow tonight at the Harmony Inn the Village restaurant in Historic Downtown Greendale. All our performers will be there, singing different repertoire in a casual atmosphere (with adult beverages). Tickets are available in the lobby.

Midwest Vocal Express is proud of our partnership with the Harmony Inn. Check the online calendar at www.MVE.org to find out when a quartet will be serenading diners, and take in the great food and fun!

Make sure to mark the dates of upcoming MVE appearances in your calendar, Like us on facebook, and follow us on Twitter.

Your patronage is always appreciated, more than you’ll ever know.Sincerely,

Sincerely,

Jim LaBelle, President

Midwest Vocal Express • P.O. Box 543 • Greendale, WI 53129www.MVE.org • 888-240-4426 • Facebook • Twitter

2 Midwest Vocal Express 3Midwest Vocal Express

Thanks to the following patrons and sponsors who by their generosity help to make your experience at this

performance one to remember.

Patrons:

Christopher Carlson John “Bo” Gibson

Jeanne Gruber Steve Johnson Dan Krueger Jim LaBelle

Larry Lewis Jane LeFevre

Dennis Monroe Penny Van Wyhe Lorraine Wamai

Cal Wetzel

To become a patron or sponsor and be added to our mailing list, contact us at [email protected] or call 888-240-4426.


Harley Davison

Harmony Foundation

Safro.com

Sponsors:

Sway!!! Let the Music Move YouSaturday, May, 21 2011

Greendale High School Auditorium

featuring

Midwest Vocal ExpressMale A Cappella Chorus

Capri QuartetSweet Adeline’s International 3rd place medalists

Skyline QuartetA Barbershop Harmony Society “Top 20” Quartet

Kyle KurtzShow Host

Order of Appearance Midwest Vocal Express

Highpoint QuartetMVE Quartet Club

Skyline Quartet

INTERMISSION

Capri QuartetMidwest Vocal Express

Finale

Midwest Vocal Express - Show StaffTIM ZEILKE Producer and Creative Director

JOSH UMHOEFER Show ChairmanJIM SCHMIDT Chorus ManagerCHUCK CRARY Ticket Chairman

MATT McCLELLEN MarketingMIKE LIETKE Choreographer and Script Writer

DAVE DUNCAN Stage Manager

Special Thanks to Greendale High School for their support, professionalism and hospitality.

Presenting Sponsor: The Harmony Inn, Historic Downtown Greendale

Midwest Vocal Express * P.O. Box 543 * Greendale, WI 53129www.MVE.org * 888-240-4426 * Facebook * Twitter


SPEC IAL GUESTS AND PERFOR MERS

Capri QuartetCapri consists of two barbershop-brat sisters, a ukulele playing grandma and a single baritone. They are the current Sweet Adeline’s International 3rd place medalists and are two-time recipients of the Audience Choice Award. They are all proud members of the Harbor City Music Company Show Chorus. In the twelve years they have been together, they have acquired, in no particular order, second and fourth place Regional med-als, a 40-point time penalty, a concussion, a Regional Cham-

pionship, seven top ten International finishes out of seven International appearances, two daughters, a parakeet, four cats, three dogs, a whole lot of wonderful memories and deep love and appreciation for the barbershop craft.

Tenor, Nancy Disney, and her sister Jen, grew up with Barbershop music in their lives. Both of their parents were active in choruses. Their mom was an active member of the Elkridge chorus, and their dad is a long time member of the Chorus of the Chesapeake. They loved his quartet rehearsals, and would often get in trouble for sneaking out of bed to listen. Nancy is married to Scott, who has led several quartets to Mid-Atlantic District championships. They live with their three children, Sam, Andy & Abby, two cats, a dog and a whole herd of dust-bunnies. In her “real” life, she is in an Office Manager for the Department of Defense. She likes to read, make jewelry and just loves to clean up cat hair in her spare time. Her favorite part of the quar-tet experience is singing with her sister, and making new friends wherever she goes.

Lead, Jen Kuethe, (pronounced Kee-thee - you know you wanted to ask...), the youngest member of the quartet, which means that her sister Nancy is older than she is. Most people think differently, which Jen used to love when she was in her teens, but not so much now. Anyway, now that we’ve cleared that up, Jen would also like you to know that she has three wonderful children, Alex, Will & Charlotte, two dogs, a lizard and three, two, one, um, no fish. She is a middle school Art Teacher, and despite being a less than perfect house keeper, she also teaches FACS. (That’s short for Home Economics). She hopes the kids like cheese art as much as she does! In between grading papers and running her children to a myriad of activities, she sings in church and likes to paint. Baritone, Kate Mannherz, also a barbershop “brat”, grew up harmonizing with her siblings in the church choir, around the house, and on road trips. In later years she loved to “bust a tag” with her family at afterglows. “Papa” Joe, Sr. introduced his son Joe Jr. to the hobby, and he later directed his own chorus. Following in her Mom’s footsteps, Kate joined Sweet Adelines some 20 years ago and discovered her natural talent for dancing. She’s been a star on the front row ever since. And then, when she least expected it, along came her first quartet, Capri! Sales are Kate’s strong suit - and whether you’re her client or her audience, you’re sure to be a buyer. While awaiting two elusive things - Mr. Right and a crown - Kate is enjoying the moments, memories and mayhem made with Capri.

Bass, Maggie Butts is the most senior member of the quartet. Her doctor feels that, in mod-eration, singing could be therapeutic for her, but that choreography should be applied only sparingly. In direct opposition to his recommendations, through sheer will power, Maggie unflaggingly executes the demands of Capri’s merciless vocal and physical routines with aplomb - and sometimes with a banana (for the fiber, you know). She is also the new direc-tor of the Arundelair Chorus from Annapolis, Maryland. In real life, Maggie runs her own picture framing business called “Hangups”, and is the proud mother of 3 and grandmother of 7. Her 3 cats rule the household she shares with her husband, Wes - who is (seriously) a professional washtub bass player! Sit back and enjoy the sweet sounds of CAPRI!

Skyline Bio Composed of four unique individuals with varied musical background, this foursome had a challenging beginning - most of it geographical. Two of them live in Wisconsin, one in Kansas, the other in Missouri. It took over a month of plan-ning just to find out if it was the right combination of person-alities, much less voices. The planning was worth the wait.

SPEC IAL GUESTS AND PERFOR MERS (c o n t.)

In 2009 Skyline qualified for and competed in the BHS International competition where they finished 29th, and in October of that same year were named the Central States District Champion Quartet.

In 2010, They achieved the honor of semi-finalist, with a ranking of 19th in the BHS Interna-tional competition.

Bass, Mike Louque is preparing for the day when computers actually do take over the world in his position as an instructor for a network security company in KC. His experience in bar-bershop spans 24 years. He is a certified presentation judge for the society, and has coached at Harmony University and has also coached at district schools across the country. He is a co-founder of Central Standard and was the former bass section leader.

Lead, Tim Zielke works for a Law Firm in Milwaukee - but don’t hold that against him. He works in technology and manages video conferences. He began singing at the tender age of four – sitting in front of his parents console stereo – harmonizing of all things. By the time he was eight, he was touring with the La Crosse Boychoir. He found Barbershop in his mid-twenties going from bass to tenor to finally lead. He won’t tell us exactly when that was though. Tim has been rumored to be the love child of Liberace and Bette Midler.

Tenor, Jake Pirner, spends many hours with his head in the clouds. Literally. He flies around the country working as a pilot for an aerial mapping firm. Jake joined the society in late 1999, but he has always had music in his life. His grandfather, Ed Rooker sang tenor in the famous quartet, the Merry Mugs.

Baritone, Josh Umhoefer would like to take this opportunity to remind you that Sweetest Day is not a made-up holiday. Of course, he is the manager of a Hallmark Gift Store. Of-ficially, Josh joined the society in 2000, however he has known barbershop music since he was a wee toddler. You could say it is more of a family tradition. His grandmother, stepfather, brother, and mother are all long time barbershoppers. His mother is a medalist baritone with the quartet Martini.

Skyline loves the opportunity to share their joy of music and perform recognizable songs that are sure to bring a smile to your face. Their repertoire includes barbershop standards, country, Broadway to early American pop.

Audiences from far and wide have grown to love these four guys and their endearing per-sonalities. We hope you will too!

Kyle KurtzKyle has had music in his bones his whole life, but started singing the wonderful art of barbershop at age 13. He has been a part of the Ameri-can BarberBoys (now Voices of America) of St. Joseph, MO and most recently, Central Standard of Metro KC. He studied music and broadcast-ing at Northwest MO State University, and has been a radio DJ in both Kansas City and Lincoln, NE. He coaches competitive cheerleading at the middle/high school level, but don’t expect any backflips tonight. Kyle is incredibly excited to be a part of the MVE’s high-caliber show and hopes

to enhance your experience here today!

MIDWEST VOCAL EXPRESS QUARTET CLUB VLQ (very large quartet)

Founders ...........................................................................................................Bo Gibson and Bill KilbourneTenors ........................................................................................................... Bill Kilbourne and Andre OlivasLeads .......................................................................................................Jim Ansay, Rich Kirwin, Matt Nagel, George Sonnentag, Randy WillBaritones ...............................................................Scott Erickson, Dan Fenske, Bo Gibson, Dick MarcusBasses .............................................................................................Eric Anderson, Bob Krantz, Jim LaBelle, Mark Trevor Ranum, Dick Riege, Eric Senn

The MVE Quartet Club meets the second and fourth Saturdays of the month at the Harmony Inn in Greendale, WI to learn the art of performing in a quartet and small group. The VLQ

received the highest score in the singing category at the 2010 Division One contest.


MIDWEST VOCAL EXPRESS

Founded in 1989, Midwest Vocal Express (MVE) male a cappella chorus specializes in “Storytelling through Song,” performing:

• Traditional barbershop favorites• Show tunes• Spirituals• Popular music

Headquartered in Greendale, WI, and made up of singers from across Southeast Wisconsin, MVE is known locally for the best in family entertainment, and world-wide for their “legendary” theatrical presentations on the Barbershop Harmony Society’s International Contest Stage.

Under Director Grant Wilson, Midwest Vocal Express thrives on changing the lives of the audience through performance. Grant Wilson brings a broad array of singing, directing and coaching talents. His directing career began in Canada, and in 1991, Wilson led the East York chapter of Toronto to the Barbershop Harmony Society International Competition. He has also served as Director for the Milwaukee, WI chapter and as assistant director of Midwest Vocal Express. As a singer, Grant has

performed with a number of quartets, highlighted by appearances on the International Contest Stage with “Highfalutin,” “Hullabaloo,” and “Jackpot!”

MIDWEST VOCAL EXPRESS ON STAGE!


2011Dec. 10 Christmas Shows .................................Greendale High School AuditoriumDec. 11 Christmas Show .............................................................................Reedsburg, WI

2012Feb. 11 Valentine Sweethearts Show ..................................... South Milwaukee PAC

Visit www.mve.org for more information about shows and tickets.

MIDWEST VOCAL EXPRESS ORGANIZATION

President ................................................................................................................................................ Jim LaBellePast President ......................................................................................................................................Larry LewisTreasurer .............................................................................................................................................Andre OlivasSecretary ........................................................................................................................................Fred GraskampV. P. Music ....................................................................................................................................... Josh UmhoeferV. P. Membership .................................................................................................................................Tom WeberV. P. Marketing .............................................................................................................................. Matt McClellenBoard Members at Large ......................................... Brian Younger, Matt Nagel, Mark Trevor RanumChorus Manager ...............................................................................................................................Jim Schmidt Quartet Club Founders ......................................................................................... Bo Gibson, Bill KilbourneMusic Librarian..................................................................................................................................... John WardExpressions Editor .............................................................................................................................. Randy WillLearning Tracks Engineer ..........................................................................................................Harry Hanson

MIDWEST VOCAL EXPRESS M ISS ION STATEMENT

COME S ING WITH US !

Midwest Vocal Express, the Greendale, WI Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society, is a fraternity dedicated to providing its members, audiences and community with: A cappella entertainment excellence, education in this unique American musical style, and altruistic service.

Midwest Vocal Express meetsEvery Monday night at 7:00 p.m.

St. Luke’s Lutheran Church6705 Northway, Greendale, WI 53129

We perform popular songs in 4 part harmonyCall us at 888-240-4426 or visit us on the web: www.MVE.org

MIDWEST VOCAL EXPRESS PERFOR MING MEMBERS

# Assistant Director * Section Leader +CaptainPerformance Team Members in Bold

TenorsJoel Krueger+Mike LietkeAndre Olivas*Paul OestreichBenjamin Stephany*Ashley York

LeadsJim AnsayJohn BiltzChuck CraryFred Graskamp*Paul HultgrenScott HaugenSteve Johnson+Matt McClellenJohn MillerMatt Nagel*Jim SchmidtGeorge SonnentagRandy TeutschmannJohn WardMike Ziegler+Tim Zielke

BassesErik AndersonDerek BalkeBob Fichtner*Jim Franklin*Scott GanswindtDale HeinenTom HermannBob KrantzJim LaBelleJim LewisLarry LewisGary PrattJoe PulvermacherMark Trevor RanumErik SennBill TaggertRandy WillBob WozniakBrian YoungerWalt Ziegler

BaritonesDave Bittrich*Brad CharlesDarryl CremerScott EricksonDan Fenske*Harry HansonDavid KressinDick MarcusDave Spaude#Josh UmhoeferMike VistiTom WeberGrant WilsonJerry Wolf


Come for a meal, stay for the music.

Where Barbershop Quartets sing for their meals.

Large banquet room available for weddings and family affairs.

For reservations, call 414-423-6899Harmony Inn the Village, 5601 Broad St. Greendale

www.harmonyingreendale.com

Tuesday-Saturday Breakfast: 8:00am - 11:00am

Lunch: 11:00am - 2:30pm Friday Night Fish Fry

4:00pm - 8:00pmSunday

Breakfast Only: 8:00am - 1pm

Closed Mondays

Try our Sunday Take-Out SpecialAvailable 8am - 1pm every Sunday

Come for Breakfast...take Home LunCH! Our full menu is available for take-out! Just call ahead or stop by to place your order

MVE-Sway

Documents

Transcript of MVE-Sway