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Keystone State Boys Choir!

Started by asy, July 03, 2007, 09:25:08 AM

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asy

Well, we're all very excited over here.

For those of you who don't know, my daughter Stephanie is in the Australian Youth choir, and this year made it into the Recital choir.

The next concert they're performing in two weeks time, is a joint concert with the touring KEYSTONE STATE BOYS CHOIR from Pennsylvania!!!

And, to add to the excitement, we're billetting two of the boys (I think you guys call it 'homestaying'). In any case, two of the boys are staying here for 2 days!

I'm dissappointed we don't really get much time with them, I'd like to have had them stay for a few days, so we could take them to Australia's Zoo, and down to our farm, but, alas, it's not to be. They're here for 2 nights, and they have commitments during the day. Still, we'll see what they want to do in the evenings.

I'm not making any plans, because I'm a little worried that after doing Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth before they get here, they'll be exhausted and just want to lie in front of the telly for a night, but I'd really like to show them a bit of our city. We only have one night with them. Well, we have them here for two nights, but the other night is the concert.

The one full day between the two nights here we're not yet sure whether they get to spend the day with us, or whether they have to go to a function. Unfortunately they have to be at the concert venue at 4pm, which, even if they are with us, doesn't leave much time.

I'll give them options, if they DO want to go to Australia's Zoo, it's about 1.5 hours drive from here, I figure if we leave first thing in the morning, like 7am, we'll be there by opening time (9am) and can hang around there till about 1.30. Not ideal, but better than nothing... (only I'm concerned they'll be exhausted after a day zoo-ing, with the concert that night), The other alternative is, since they're already touring, and the new Harry Potter movie comes out next week, they probably won't have seen it, so maybe they'd like to do that...  dunno, but it's all good. We'll play by ear.

Anyway, looks like we'll have some fun, and hopefully make a couple of new friends!

asy :D
Never interrupt your opponent while he's making a mistake.
There cannot be a crisis next week. ~My schedule is already full..

Tom

I'm putting my money on their wanting to sit on something that isn't moving.  :D

TV, Movies and food/snacks generally keep young boys minds off of Girls, their primary attraction. ;D

asy

Quote from: Tom on July 03, 2007, 11:08:53 AM
TV, Movies and food/snacks generally keep young boys minds off of Girls, their primary attraction. ;D

You're telling this to the mother of the stunningly gorgeous nearly-12-yo sharing the house with these boys.

Still, alls well, I'll warn them, if they misbehave I'm sending Roxie around to tell their parents...

asy :D
Never interrupt your opponent while he's making a mistake.
There cannot be a crisis next week. ~My schedule is already full..

beenthere

I woulda thunk you'd asked for girls at that age...... ::) ::) ::)
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Tom

It's  a boy's choir, Beenthere!  They didn't bring their own girls.  :D

beenthere

south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

asy

See, that's what I like about you Beenthere...  :-*

Whenever I need a good hearty belly laugh, you can be relied upon to have said something that will allow it.  8) :D :)

asy :D
Never interrupt your opponent while he's making a mistake.
There cannot be a crisis next week. ~My schedule is already full..

asy

Well, the concert was last night, and it was AMAZING.

These boys were the best ambassadors for the USA ever. They were impeccably behaved, fun, and lovely young gentlemen. It was a privilege to have them in our home.

Here's a photo of Stephanie with her new Philadelphian brothers!!!



And here am I with 'my kids'.



These are the two boys who stayed at our home. Jack (on the left) and DJ.

DJ was one of the soloists, his solo was a rap version of "Joyful Joyful", and it's fantastic. You can see them doing a rehearsal of it with him HERE.  (This was earlier in the tour, not with Stephanie's group, I think it was done in Sydney). If you click on that link, go to the video bit on the right and click on "rehearsing with the AYC" That's DJ doing his "Get down with G-O-D" wrap. You can also see the back of Marcus as it goes past, but you can hear his fabulous Bass voice. He sang the most astonishing rendition of "Old Man River" during the concert. I certainly hope that young man knows what a gift his voice is. He was also a genuinely lovely young man when I had the opportunity to talk to him at the rehearsal. It's funny, he's one of the oldest boys in the choir, and one of the founding boys, he is obviously a real big-brother figure to the boys. My two call him the "tour gorilla". I asked why? DJ said "'Coz he's big and black". (Don't worry, it was said with genuine affection, it was quite obvious the boys both had immense respect and adoration for Marcus). Seriously, though, he's an extremely fine (and very good looking, think a young Denzel Washington!!!) young man. And someone needs to record his voice. I'm sure one day someone will...

I attended the pre-concert rehearsal with the kids, and it was simply hilarious watching their conductor and kids trying to teach our kids to rap and bounce and do an 'attitude pose' at the end of the rap. The conductor said "You have to HIT the beat, if you MISS the beat, you end up standing there looking VERY white...". Trust me, our kids ARE very frighteningly un-hip. hehe The aforementioned Marcus kept shaking his head saying "you guys need to get HIP!" And taking some of the less hip (!) of them and showing them how it's done.

The boys are going home on Sunday, and are all thrilled with their tour, if a little exhausted. My two didn't want to go to the rehearsal (it was optional for the boys) so they stayed home and watched TV and had showers, while Stephanie went to the rehearsal. They did come with me when I went to pick her up early, as I was taking them all to the Harry Potter movie. DJ said, as we went in, "Don't let us get stuck here, please!!!", and we happened to walk in when they were rehearsing Joyful Joyful. We listened to a few minutes, hidden down the back, and then their conductor, Mr Fisher, said "It's a pity DJ isn't here so we can rehearse his solo (as he interacts with our group during his rap), and their boys yelled out "YES HE IS, HE'S UP THE BACK". Their director then called him over. He was reticent to go, but I said to Mr Fisher "You can have him for 5 minutes, then I'm taking him to the movies!!!". DJ laughed and went happilly. After 5 minutes (well a few more, but at the end of that song) I said "OK, we're going now". Mr Fisher said "Can't we just do one more?" DJ looked worried, I said "Nup, sorry, they're mine tonight, and we're going to the MOVIES!!!" and with that, we escaped!
I think they were pleased to have a night off. DJ was so exhausted he didn't make it through the movie, but no matter, he had fun. Jack was the much bigger HP Fan, and he sat next to me and I had Stephanie on the other side of me, and we all had a ball.

Last night after the concert we walked along the Brisbane River and had a look around. Then came home via Subway! Teenage boys know 'hungry' in any language! hehe We didn't get home till midnight (concert finished at 10pm), then I had to wake them up at 7am. Still, I figure they can sleep on the bus today (they have a 5 hour bus trip).

Jack was the much 'chattier' of the two, and it was very interesting to hear about the boys' schools and homes. Stephanie was blown away by the thought that there are somewhere near 1000 kids in DJ's class at school. There are about 380 kids in Stephanie's whole school! We just don't have the size of schools here that you seem to in the major cities there. Jack's school is much smaller than DJ's, but still much larger than ours. They really seem to have paired the boys up well, these two seemed to be really attuned to each other, and great mates by the end of the tour.

They all really enjoyed the exchange, and, as I've said before, I am really disappointed we didn't have much more time to show the boys around. I'd have loved to take them down to the farm.

I've sent them home with our contact details, and I genuinely hope that both boys come back to Australia sometime when they're older and come and stay with us. It'd be lovely to see them again.

asy :D

By the way, on that video link, have a look at the bottom one for a magical rendition of the very beautiful American National Anthem, followed by the Aussie National Anthem. (I wish they'd have sung them in our concert, I'd have loved to have heard (and sang along with) them both!)
Never interrupt your opponent while he's making a mistake.
There cannot be a crisis next week. ~My schedule is already full..

Tom

That will be an experience that will follow those young men for the rest of their lives. They won't forget Asy's house.

asy

hehe, thanks Tom.

I don't guess many people forget a trip to asy's house :D

I cooked my world famous (well, family famous) Lasagne. It's not too shabby, if I do say so myself. I told my friend Fran that I was making my Lasagne and she reliably informed me that she was seriously considering coming over to get some. It would have involved a 3 hour plane trip for her (she lives in Adelaide), but she said it'd be worth it.

The funny thing is, after making the Lasagne and having it in the oven baking while I went to collect the boys, the first thing we learned about them was that DJ was allergic to tomatoes!!! Poor thing, he missed out on the Lasagne, but had chicken, egg and cheese sandwiches instead. He was happy.

I mentioned to Mr Fitz, the boys' musical director, that I'd made Lasagne, as we were talking about the allergy, and I invited him to come with us to have some and I'd have taken him to the rehearsal he had to be at straight afterward. He was sorely tempted, but had to attend a Chaperone meeting instead. He said he wanted to come for the Lasagne, but he was running the meeting and didn't think they'd be happy if he didn't turn up! hehe.

So I took him a big plate of Lasagne and he had it after the rehearsal. He tells me it's worth coming back to Australia for again, and made me promise next time he's in Aus I'll make him a Lasagne! hehe. I promised. Hopefully he'll come back and hold me to it. He's such a lovely guy.

I did get in trouble, though, from the boys' conductor, Mr Fisher, for not sending him Lasagne too.  :D

I promised him some next time he's in Aus.

I sincerely hope I get the opportunity to make good on that promise, too!  :-*

I did tell Mr's Fisher and Fitz that next time they bring the KSBC to Australia, even if Stephanie's not with the AYC any longer (due to moving to the farm) that we'd love to have the whole choir to our farm for an Aussie BBQ and a swim in the Lagoon!

Lets hope they take us up on that, too. I'd be proud to host a huge mob of American Boys at our farm. It'd be great to introduce them to the Goannas and Skippy's in person!

asy :D
Never interrupt your opponent while he's making a mistake.
There cannot be a crisis next week. ~My schedule is already full..

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