February 04, 2008 11:57 am
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Maybe a serenade for your sweetheart?
You can scan the globe on the Internet for interesting ideas to win the heart of your Valentine. One Web site suggests creating a Web site for your loved one and filling it with pictures, poems and stories. Another site suggests treating each other to a couple’s photo session with a professional photographer. If that doesn’t do, how about filling your loved one’s Valentine’s Day with song?
The Queen City Barbershop Choir is sending out special quartets throughout the region to sing songs of love for that special Valentine.
The Dutch Treat, is one of the groups the choir is sending out on those special missions, and they visited our Tonawanda News office last week to sing some of the songs for receptionist, Jennifer Madole.
The whole place enjoyed the unexpected concert, but the attention made Jennifer a little pink in the cheeks. Apparently, that reaction is not uncommon. The experience can also become quite emotional, according to quartet member Peiter Metz of the Town of Tonawanda. “We have seen many tears,” he said.
The group is also used to hearing people say, “You’ve made my day,” said Don Lewis, a choir member from Grand Island. “You see it in their faces. They start singing with us. It’s just a marvelous deal.”
The deal is that for $40, the group will travel anywhere in the region and sing to your Valentine. They sing two songs and present the intended with a rose.
Just from seeing the concert it’s quite clear that the event can bring joy to more than just that special Valentine.
The Valentine‘s visits are “really one of the most enjoyable things we do,” said Duane Crawford, one of the members, who has been singing with the choir for 24 years.
And, the gift of song doesn’t have to be gender-specific. The guys have sung for men as well as women.
Apparently, they’re quite a sight when they show up on factory floors in hard hats and goggles singing “I Love You Truly.”
If you’ve always wanted to sing barbershop style, there should be a class starting in April. Call Bob Troile at 875-3910 for more information. Maybe there’s some barbershop songs in your future, as well.
— Michele DeLuca
Readers who want to see the guys sing can visit’s any of the websites for the Greater Niagara Newspapers and search Barbershop Quartet or Queenscity Chordsmen and get a couple of songs to sweeten your own day.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.
Photos
John Koons of Blasdel, Norm Guenther of Cheektowaga, Peiter Metz of the Town of Tonawanda an dDuane Crawford of the City of Tonawanda, make up one of the barbershop quartets that will be singing for Valentine's Day from the Queen City Chorus.