Tuesday, October 6, 2009

How Vintage Vocals came to be....


SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM AND WORK YOUR WAY UP FOR CHRONOLOGY..... In fact, we love these guys to the extent that we often refer to ourselves as "Vet-Pets!" Pictured: two interesting and sweet WWII Paratroopers we were honored to sing for at the Currahee Event.


Much of our singing centers around the honoring and appreciating of our veterans, who we have grown to love, whether we're performing at reunions or parades, as in this shot taken recently at Toccoa's Currahee Military Weekend festivities.


This is the persona that folks usually want to see and hear, however, especially when they want to set the ambiance for WWII or the 40's, like at a hangar dance or an airshow. (Peachtree City WWII Heritage Event.)



We realized that even though we are dynamite singers, we're in a business where youth sells, so this is our version of a cheesecake photo! Amazingly, even though we are all AARP members, we're still getting hired in a field that idolizes American Idols that look like they're in the 8th grade or the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders. Go figure, but we're not complaining!!




Now, skipping over a great chunk of time but still keeping the shapely gams and the good vocal blend, we seemed to be hired more and more for the WWII Heritage Events, like this one in Peachtree City this past spring and our 3rd appearance there.





We really 'made our bones' at the Rennfest and some years later, this morphed into a gig at the Biltmore House for their medieval harvest faire, then on to many holiday seasons caroling on the steps to The House, then in the Winery.






From hymns, we moved to, well, a potpourri but even though our eventual forte was 1940's swing, as seen above in a collage created to honor HBO's Band of Brothers Mini Series, which premiered in Toccoa at the Currahee Paratroopers Jump School, where we were the musical entertainment pictured in the heart of this portrait, our first regular gig was singing madrigals at the Ga. Renaissance Festival.








In 1990, Mary, Phil and I and one other singing friend sang together for the Christmas morning service after the choir mutinied because they'd sung the midnight service. We were so pleased at our blend that we decided to take it to the next step. We called ourselves Potpourri Singers, because we were sweet, spicy and we sang a potpourri of styles. We knew just singing hymns would not put us in great demand. Also, the basement of our church, Christ Episcopal Church of Kennesaw, was functioning as the temporary men's shelter before the Extension was built and we filled the room with potpourri to help freshen the air after this onslaught of homeless bodies.