DEAR FRIENDS,This month:
- Cabaret - sneak preview
- OUT Music Awards - HELP US WIN (AGAIN)!
- This week at rehearsal - We Are Coming Out
CABARET - WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD
SFGMC's annual Cabaret became part of our official season 8 years ago. We're now in a fancy venue, with a glossy souvenir program, and a 'star'-studded cast to boot! The cabarets give you an opportunity to hear some of the wonderful solo voices the chorus has to offer, including long-time favorites like Cecil Johnson and Steve Valdez, plus plenty of newer members of the chorus that you may not yet have heard. They will be accompanied by a 3-piece band and joined by our very special guest, Donna Sachet.
CABARET PROGRAM
Here's a sneak preview:
Did you know?
Donna Sachet is in truly fine form at the moment! She wowed thousands at the ball park recently, singing the National Anthem, and I saw her at the Rrazz Room on September 26 being interviewed by QTalk (pictured). Donna was absolutely hilarious!
SFGMC's fabulous ensemble, Vocal Minority, will also perform at the cabaret, directed by Carl Pantle. So you're in for a real treat at the Cabaret, Oct. 23 (8 pm) and 24 (2 pm & 8 pm). Note that the matinee is a benefit for Larkin Street Youth Services - net proceeds will all go to this wonderful organization that serves homeless youth in San Francisco.
Did you know?
SFGMC's cabarets are performed with cabaret-style seating, so you can sit at a table with a few friends while sipping a cocktail. It's a very classy event at the Regency Center Lodge (pictured). On our website now you even select your seats from a floorplan. Check it out:
https://www.sfgmc.org/events_calendar_details_WonderfulWorld.shtml
SFGMC's cabarets are performed with cabaret-style seating, so you can sit at a table with a few friends while sipping a cocktail. It's a very classy event at the Regency Center Lodge (pictured). On our website now you even select your seats from a floorplan. Check it out:
https://www.sfgmc.org/events_calendar_details_WonderfulWorld.shtml
CABARET PROGRAM
Here's a sneak preview:
ACT I
Vocal Minority
Another Op’nin’, Another Show from Kiss Me Kate by Cole Porter, arranged by Ed Lojeski
Make Them Hear You from Ragtime by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, arranged by William Miller
Sean Higgins
I Love a Piano by Irving Berlin
Lynden Bair
Peace Train by Cat Stevens
With Walter Guerra, Erik Green, Joseph Peralta, Gregory Sandritter
Bob Connett (Friday)
Old Man River from Show Boat by Jerome Kern
Trace Hollenbeck (Matinee)
Swinging On a Star from Going My Way by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen
Jim Nickerson (Sat Eve)
My Stupid Mouth by John Mayer
Ross Woodall
No Time At All from Pippin by Stephen Schwartz
James Machado
Corner of the Sky from Pippin by Stephen Schwartz
Mark Sorensen (Friday)
For Once In My Life by Ronald Miller & Orlando Murden
Don Ruthroff (matinee)
Taylor, The Latte Boy by Zina Goldrich & Marcy Heisler
R. Karl Hebenstreit (Sat Eve)
Feeling Good from The Roar Of The Greasepaint - The Smell Of The Crowd by Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley
Oky Sulistio
A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke
Ray Perez and Vocal Minority
Home from The Wiz by Charlie Smalls, arranged by Kathleen McGuire
Over the Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz by Harold Arlen & E.Y. Harburg, arranged by Mark Hayes
Frank Federico and Vocal Minority
Save the Country by Laura Nyro
Vocal Minority
What a Wonderful World by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss, arranged by Thaddeus Pinkston (premiere)
ACT II
Donna Sachet
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered by Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers
Vocal Minority
Angel Eyes by Matt Dennis and Earl Brent, arranged by Thaddeus Pinkston
Kenyon DeVault and Vocal Minority
Moonshine Lullaby from Annie Get Your Gun by Irving Berlin
Larry Cruz
My Foolish Heart by Victor Young & Ned Washington
Peter Jacobs (Evenings)
Everybody's Girl from Steel Pier by John Kander and Fred Ebb
Jim Donohue (matinee)
Sixties medley: The Birds And The Bees by Herb Newman, Game of Love by Clint Ballard Jr., Love Potion Number 9 by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Moose Maravilla
Close to You by Burt Bacharach
Steve Valdez
My Buddy/Old Friend by Ann Hampton Callaway
Zack Wilde
Carousel by Jacques Brel, arranged by Zack Thomas Wilde
With Justin Donohue, Dustin Finkle, Jim Graham, Steve Harvey, Ian Harwood (tuba), Skip Leasure, Mark Sorensen, Steve Valdez
Cecil Johnson
Grateful by John Bucchino
Gregory Marks and Dan O'Leary
Come What May from Moulin Rouge by David Baerwald
Stephen Camarota and the Cabaret Cast
Coming Together by Jason Robert Brown, revoiced for men’s voices by Carl Pantle
OUT MUSIC AWARDS - HELP US WIN (AGAIN)!
The OUT Music Awards (formerly the GLAM Awards - Gay and Lesbian American Music) has been around now in one form or another since the late 1990s. SFGMC has been the recipient of several awards, and has been a finalist for almost every submission in the category: Best New Choral Recording. The OMA went through a leadership transition over the last few years, but is now back on track. They are currently receiving submissions of recordings released in 2007, 2008 and 2009. SFGMC made three CDs and a DVD during that period, so we're now faced with the challenge of deciding which tracks to submit. The way it works is that we submit a track or two from each recording, and then the entire album is considered if it's selected as a finalist.
Albums we're submitting for OUT Music Award consideration:
Albums we're submitting for OUT Music Award consideration:
Tune In, Turn Up, Sing Out
A Few Licks
Creating Harmony Disc 1: 30th Season Highlights
Creating Harmony Disc 2: New World Waking
We would like to include your opinions in our track selection process. We've put together a SHORT survey with a small number of quick questions! Please let us know which are your favorite tracks. Here's a link to the survey. Please note that the survey will close at midnight on Saturday (the deadline for submissions is Monday). Thanks for your help!Did You Know? You can listen to excerpts from all of SFGMC's CDs on our website in a really cool Media Player. Just go to the SFGMC website and click on "LISTEN TO OUR MUSIC!" Click on the album you want to hear, then the individual track. You can also find excerpts from our DVD: U.S.S. Metaphor on SFGMC's YouTube Channel (in "Favorites").
THIS WEEK AT REHEARSAL: WE ARE COMING OUT
We've been rehearsing music for the holiday concerts since the end of August, but on Monday, October 5th we also started learning some new music in preparation for the California tour we've planned for 2010. We began with a wonderful new song by chorus member Sean Chapin (pictured). Since the passing of Proposition 8, Sean has chosen to take a new path in his life and has become an activist for human rights and social justice.Sean has written several uplifting protest song. The one we learned and then recorded on Monday is called We Are Coming Out. CLICK HERE to listen to the recording we made.
Did you know... Another Sean Chapin song was played to pump up the crowd in Washington D.C. on October 11 for the equality march! Congratulations, Sean. Called "Equality Now," you can hear it for yourself at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuWCN-IMf9U
I must say, Monday's rehearsal was one of the most exciting I can remember - the chorus members and I were so inspired by Sean's song and the prospect of taking it "on the road" next year. Sean spoke to us briefly about the commitment he has made in his life to fight for our rights. This reminded me that many of our newer members told us in their chorus auditions that they wanted to join us at this time because they wanted to make a difference. While Prop 8 may have been a step backwards for our rights, it has inspired more people to actively participate for positive change. This week, one such chorus member, Lynden Bair, sent me this comment in an email:
Singing and recording this piece at last Monday's rehearsal was one of the most powerful moments I've had with the chorus so far. What a great gift from you and Sean! I too have admired Sean's passion, talent, and activism for the short time that I've known him and being in that room as that final "We Are Coming Out" rang followed by that huge ovation - indescribable, and so well deserved. It was the passage of Prop 8 that finally compelled me to join the chorus and become more involved in the community and the activist side of what we do is really important to me. - Lynden Bair, SFGMC baritone & associate pianist
Whether you went to Washington D.C. this weekend, or marched locally, or sing in a gay chorus, or perhaps you made a donation to help SFGMC get to Chico-Redding-Tracy-Fresno-Bakersfield next year, or even if you just sit at home and pray for a day when we truly have equality for all, thank you for being with us as part of the SFGMC family on this journey to equality. It is my dream that a day will come when SFGMC will sing in celebration of our complete and equal rights. Until then, we will continue to "come out" and sing for our lives.
- Kathleen
- Kathleen
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