LGCSF History Corner: More of the Chorus in 1988

Greetings to all of my faithful readers. I hope you all are having a relaxing Memorial Day weekend and staying safe as you celebrate in your own ways. This week I am writing about what went on behind the scenes with the chorus in 1988. This was a busy year for us as we moved forward under the direction of Pat Parr in his second year as our fearless AD.

Some of the accomplishments in 1988 were Menage singing at the Coronation of the Empress and Emperor of San Francisco and the chorus singing at the Cable Car Awards in February.

In March Menage was at the San Carlos Lions Club event. In April we performed our Classics Concert in Berkeley and San Francisco. We reached a new audience in the East Bay which included many heterosexuals. Menage was nominated for a Cabaret Gold Award and performed at the show in the Venetian Room.

In May Menage performed at the Santa Rosa Lions Club and the BAYMEC dinner in San Jose and performed with Fiddlestix at a fundraiser for the East Bay AIDS Project.

In June we produced and performed in the Decade of Pride Concert, had a float in the Pride Parade and Menage and Fiddlestix performed at the Saddle Tramps fundraiser. There was a staff retreat in July.

In August we performed at the return of the Names Quilt from its National Tour and at our General Meeting we approved our incorporation. Since February 1988 there had been many meetings with staff, chorus members and the Community Advisory Board to work on how we would become incorporated and all the steps we needed to take. Michael Clarke was at the forefront of these efforts. One of the next steps to be taken was to elect a Board of Directors for the Chorus. The deadline for nominations for the Board was in October with the final nomination and election happened in November.

In September Fiddlestix performed at the Gay Rodeo in San Leandro and our "LGCSF Goes to the Movies" concert was a smash success. We all had a great time as we donned our costumes as our favorite actor or actress, dancing and singing our way into the hearts of our audience.

In October we performed in and were part of the stage crew for the second "In Memory of Friends" concert at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre. In November the chorus, Menage and Fiddlestix all performed for Danny Williams' Thanksgiving dinner for people with AIDS.

We ended the year with a performance with SFGMC in their "Now Sing with Hearts Aglow" concert, we sang at the Venetian Room for Allen White's 50th birthday event and Menage performed at numerous events to raise money for the GALA Festival in 1989.

On December 11, we sang Christmas carols at the Children's Hospital of San Francisco and received a lovely letter from the hospital's staff. On this day we and several other singers were part of a bus tour that also visited St. Francis Hospital, St. Mary's, Coming Home Hospice and Garden Sullivan Hospital.

There is one more thing I would like to share with you before I close this edition to show how much the chorus was connected to the community during our first decade and how important it was to us. One of the members of the Advisory Board, Joseph Taro, was elected as a non-singing member of the new Board of Directors. To quote from his letter regarding this he wrote, "I would just like to say how excited I am about the recent incorporation of the chorus and my future participation as an active member of the Board. I have been a member of the Advisory Board throughout the last few years. I have participated in numerous fundraisers, such as rummage and raffle sales, as well as having been involved in the decision making process leading to the chorus' tremendous musical and financial growth." We in the chorus really appreciated Joseph and all of the other members of the Advisory Board who served in our interest.

Next week I will be writing more about the chorus in 1988 and sharing some of what was in our Leadsheet that helped to keep us focused with our rehearsal and performing schedules. See you then. As always I send my love to everyone so please stay healthy and share your love and sing to people even if it is by virtual means.

Always in harmony, Michael Lucero