LGCSF History Corner: Our Tenth Birthday Party - January 27, 1990

Hello to all of my faithful readers. This week and for the next few editions of the History Corner I thought I would write about some of our traditions. One of the first traditions that I was aware of were birthdays and birthday parties. It seemed in the early years of the chorus, we would have a party at the drop of a hat and of course we celebrated the birthdays of our singers. They ranged from simple affairs to big extravaganzas.

Of course we had to have a big party to celebrate the tenth birthday of the chorus. This was held on January 27, 1990, at the Jon Sims Center for the Performing Arts, which was also the home of the SF Band Foundation. Preparations for the party were under way in December as we sent out invitations to our present singers as well as to our alumni. In 1990 we had no social media so we reached out by telephone, letters, our Leadsheet printed on paper, and the word did get out to everyone.

There was dancing, cabaret, and a talent show featuring acts from our wonderful retreat shows. This was hosted by our fabulous MCs Jill Tallmer, Bill Ward and Robert (Babs) Kirsch. There was also memorabilia, a no-host bar and food. The sopranos were in charge of popcorn, chips and dips, pretzels; the altos had the sweets covered; the tenors brought nuts and fruits (naturally) and the basses brought veggies and dips.

From the Leadsheet that went out there was a call for posters, bananas, or other items from old sets. Yours truly and my husband, Phil Hernandez, were in charge of these items. Jesse Kane would be putting together a concert highlight tape and video. There were also displays of photos and programs so we could relive our past glories from our first ten years.

I have included a few photos taken at the party. The black and white photo is of Robin Kay, who was our first Artistic Director. The others are of the chorus who were attending as well as a photo of Mary Cantrell and Marjorie Sheffield performing in the talent show.

I would surely love to see us have a party like this to celebrate our 40 years of making music, memories and friends. Let's start thinking about this - Membership Committee and Board - and anyone else who is good at organizing something like this. As I continue to go through the historic chorus material I received from Kim Hargreaves there will be more to come about the traditions and community we have built.

Next week who knows what I will write about but it will be something great.

Love and harmony, Michael Lucero