Barbershop chorus to sing for hospice - tickets on sale now
A local male barbershop chorus that regularly competes in America is busy honing a repertoire for a pre-Christmas charity performance in Lower Hutt.
Vocal FX President Jared Lee says the December 2 concert for Te Omanga Hospice and the community work of Rotary Hutt Valley will feature songs they performed to recently win a Pan-Pacific title in Sydney against barbershop choruses from Japan, Australia and around the Pacific.
Lee says Vocal FX draws its 18-35 year-old members from all over the Hutt Valley and Wellington. True to barbershop's 1870s (and 1930s revival) roots, it's mainly about getting together with others who love to sing a cappella, where the voice is the only instrument.
They perform songs of those original black southern quartets, with flexing of melody to produce wonderful harmonies in 'swipes' and 'snakes'.
"But we also do a New Zealand take on things, and we make quite a splash when we compete in America. We bring in songs from Samoa and other Pacific Islands, R & B, fun show songs and so on.
"Our diversity and local flavour is something close to our heart," Lee says.
And this is not a choir that stands still. "There can be a lot of dancing and movement," Lee says. "It's all about the total performance, not the voices alone."
Launched in 2003 with less than a dozen members, Vocal FX now has up to 50 regulars and up to 40 have made four trips to the USA in the last decade to compete against the cream of barbershop choruses from around the world. The Hutt concert is the last before Vocal FX begins preparations for competing in Orlando, Florida in 2018.
There's extra reason for sports fans to tune in for the Hutt concert. Two polo shirts signed by Olympic rowers Eric Murray and Hamish Bond will be raffled on the night.
* Vocal FX Charity Concert for Te Omanga Hospice, Saturday 2 December, Hutt City Church, Marsden St, 6.30pm. Tickets $25, ph or text 027 484 8892, email jonewlove8@gmail.comor go to Eventfinda.co.nz
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scumbags
There are some really awful people around at the moment. This is what happened on Sunday.
We live in Hinemoa Street opposite the Waiwhetu Stream. At around 3.40 in the afternoon I was looking out my window and saw a car pull up and start to feed the geese and ducks out the window. Then The passenger an asian man jumped out and threw himself onto a goose. he picked it up and put it the boot of the car.
I immediately ran over and stood in front of his car to stop him moving I also called my husband to help. A lovely man was riding his bike and saw it and stopped to help me. The driver tried to drive into me but I didnt move. He tried telling us it was his pet. These are wild geese.
They had a cage in the boot and some wire all ready to catch the poor bird like they have done it before. My husband took the bird from the car and released it. I then moved out of the way and after lots of abuse from the driver they drove off threatening to come back and get more.
No one should be allowed to take these beautiful birds and certainly not like this. they are all starting to have wee babies at the moment the whole thing was so upsetting to me. Another neighbour further down the road also saw it all happen.
Please keep a look out for this car and if you see them by the stream go over and watch them lets all stop this happening.
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