“A Grand Gathering of Glorious Song”
by Richard Huggins
Page Three

"SET UP, EAT UP, SING UP!"

After oinking at Van's Pig Stand, rehashing hash at a reunion lunch or carrying out corpuscle execution at a greasy spoon somewhere, the alums staggered back into Raley for the Mother of All Setups (until the 75th, of course). Trying to get everyone to be seated and listen reminded me of that time in Black Mountain when I was trying to get them to move to the lake clubhouse from the picnic pavilion. I wished for a border collie then and I wished for one in Shawnee!

With everyone finally down, I began the time with a reminder of the character in the movie Shakespeare in Love who would predict some wonderful occurrence or the solving of some problem, but when asked how it would happen said, "I don't know--it's  miracle!" So would it be today, I said, as we set out to move 150+ people up and down twice, plus six small groups up and down once. Intermixed would be three soloists, representing the quality of graduates the WMACFA could turn out, and several ditties (what else to call them?) from the Embellishments, who acted as our first-half emcees.

BUT...there was a miracle worker in the room, ready to lead the blind and deaf to a water pump! Her name was Mary Kay, producer of the concert, and she was more than cosmetically wonderful. For weeks she had pondered, studied, measured, sketched and otherwise really annoyed the platform area. The issue of using/not using the chair risers had more bounces than than my college-days checks. Finally it was determined that using the steps and regular choral risers would work best. In retrospect, it was the right decision. There even were some acoustical shells behind the risers! I mean, were talking Lincoln Center here! (Jerome Lincoln, mayor of Hoboken, NJ)

Somehow, some way (oh, we KNOW how and way) the plans she made worked and we accomplished in 90 minutes what I had budgeted 120 minutes for. Battle Hymn was rehearsed with three trumpets, snare, piccolo, piano and organ accompanying. In an empty Potter Auditorium, of course, you get to hear music repeated whether you want to or not. Nevertheless what a sound it was going to be!

Buzzing in anticipation, the decade-spanning gaggle of singers fanned out to rest up before they ate up. Meanwile the OBU Bison were slugging big meanie Union University 88-82 in overtime. Ka-rip!

MORSELS, MEMORIES, MONEY AND MOVIES

At 5:15 p.m the Geiger Center dining room doors swung open and 300+ souls came aboard to enjoy the catch of the day or to take a ribbing:

Salad:
Spinach Salad w/ Raspberries and Raspberry Dressing

Buffet:
Herb Crusted Salmon
Stuffed Porkloin
Baked Potatoes  
Sweet Potatoes
Vegetable Medley
Rolls
German Chocolate Cake, Lemon Raspberry Cake, and Carmel/Chocolate Cheesecake

Excuse me a moment while I grab a toothpick...

At 5:45 dinner entertainment commenced with The Embellishments --Don Blackley, age 74; Paul Paschall, age 82; and  Jerry Jones, age 97-- doing the honors. (Okay, okay, they’re not really that old…) Initially it appeared that they had not been taking their medicines, but then we realized that they always sound like that and that that IS their repertoire. Sadly, they had missed the memo about 16th-century latin art songs, but nevertheless we enjoyed 20 minutes of their hit show, Goofy Songs We Learned in Prison.

Following this (highly entertaining, I must admit) set, the program began with a touch of nostalgia designed for the music ministers in the group: not all the speakers were working. But thanks to tech help from the Embellishments (who still were cane-tapping their way to their seats) a Plan B was instituted with a separate system and all was well.

Three people had been invited to share their "Journeys to the BGC," telling how it was that they had elected to audition for the BGC and what their BGC experience had meant to them. This included John Redfearn ('05, Simons); Mark Groves ('91, Cox) and Margi Hawkins ('63, Angell). All of us could resonate with what they said about experiences that literally changed their lives, and in some cases shaped their careers. Peggy Keebler also brought a touching tribute to Dean Angell, as a representative of the Angell Bisonettes.

The Coda Campaign was kicked off at this event. The Coda Campaign is a final fundraiser for the Warren M. Angell Tribute Scholarship, first established at the 90th birthday. It was my great pleasure to announce that we are 2/3 of the way toward our $100,000 goal ($1,000 for each year of his life...of course, we granted him his 100th year!). You will all receive a U.S. Mail mailout about this, and I'm convinced that you will want to be part not only of reaching the goal but of soaring past it!

There were four video presentations at the banquet: a tribute to the BGC, a tribute to Dean Angell, a very special video of Dean directing Deep River, and a humor-laden video of rolling credits to the many people who helped with the event, set to music from Superman! All these eventually will be online; just give me some time!

Saturated with nostalgia, affection, laughs and delicious food, we departed for Raley Chapel all fired up for A Grand Gathering of Glorious Song! Little could we know about how it was going to go.