1991 - Pride, Bobby Sox to Beatles and A Not So Silent Night

First for us in 1991 was the 13th Annual Pride Concert.  This was held on June 28 at our favorite, First Congo.  Again we were the producers of this concert.  This concert was dedicated to Robin Kay our founding director.  The concert featured us, Voices:  Bay Area Lesbian Ensemble, Silicon Valley Gay Men's Chorus, Golden Gate Men's Chorus, The Glide Ensemble, Vocal Minority and Menage.  Hank Plante, anchorman and reporter for KPIX Channel 5 News, was the evening's emcee.

From our program - "As producers of this concert it has been the goal to include representation by different performing groups from the Lesbian/Gay community each year.  The diversity in membership, styles and sizes of the groups performing is possibly the greatest we've ever put together.  All artists tonight have one thing in common - the dedication and hard work from each member of each organization necessary to bring the music to life.  It is this dedication that brings the meaning of PRIDE to us as musicians and being truly Together in Harmony."

Earlier in the year at the 1991 Cable Car Awards LGCSF was awarded Outstanding Concert for our 12th Annual Pride Concert and Outstanding Performing Group - Menage.  Hooray for us!!

Next for us was Bobby Sox to Beatles.  This was presented at Cowell Theatre at Fort Mason on October 11 and 12.  It featured music from the fifties and sixties.  We got to wear our bobby sox and poodle skirts and our tie dye shirts and jeans.  One of the highlights was an Elvis medley with four different Elvises.  We went from Graduation Day at the end of the first act into We Shall Overcome at the beginning of the second act as we marched in with protest signs.  Again we had lots of fun, after lots of hard work and dedication to memorizing all of the music, and so did the audience.  Both nights were sold out and they were up on their feet and dancing and singing along.

One thing I would like to let you all know about the chorus at this time.  We had both a Board of Directors which included fifteen members and an Advisory Board which consisted of people from the community to help us with advertising, outreach and fundraising.  Also we had about 90 singers for this concert so we needed a big theatre and stage for us all.  I was getting goosebumps reading through the list of names.  In the bass section alone there were 29 of us.  Our out of town weekend retreat where we rehearsed the show and bonded and shared meals and worked on costumes together was lots of fun.

Our final concert for 1991 was A Not So Silent Night.  This was held on December 7 at the First Unitarian Church and December 8 at First Congo.  We shared the stage with the San Francisco Winds of Freedom, the concert band of the Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band and our award winning octet, Menage.  We all shared some beautiful and fun holiday season with our audience.