bigmacbear | GALA Festival 8 -- Friday, July 18

gmjambear and I began the day in search of a post office so we could purchase stamps and mail postcards. We were told there was one just down the street. Gary looked up the nearest post office on his cell phone but when we passed it the building was no longer a post office. The next closest office was in the Federal Building, and the line out the door to go through security signaled that this would be too much hassle. So we went to the Government Center mall which is attached to the people-mover station and found it overrun with firefighters doing a charity event (probably a stair climb). I envisioned Jim Ward from The Stephanie Miller Show doing his David Guest impression: "OMG, Liza, there are 500 firemen in this building!!!"

We boarded the people-mover at Government Center and went north a couple of stops to a third post office which was kitty-corner to the State Plaza and across from the Miami Police headquarters; it was open and we mailed our postcards from there. Then we got back on the people-mover and exited at the stop for our hotel, but instead of returning immediately we walked the other way to have breakfast at Don Pan (Spanish for "Sir Bread"), a bakery and short-order cafe. On the way we spotted the place we wanted to go in the first place, a postal store that sold stamps and accepted mail. Aargh. As we walked in to Don Pan, a fellow chorister from Palm Springs noticed my soggy brow and spontaneously mopped it with a couple of paper napkins. Gary ordered an omelet while I ordered the Cuban breakfast of eggs, pork carnitas, and black beans. We looked over the selection of desserts in the display case but chose not to indulge.

After a stop in a local pharmacy for supplies (iced tea and snacks) we returned to the hotel and had time for a quick trip to the pool. We met up with a woman named Sue from Voices Rising in Boston, and had a nice chat about our common religious pursuits and how the rector of our church in Rochester became a bishop in Massachusetts.

We headed for the performance venue, arriving a bit late but in time to see the end of the set from the Small Difference Women's Choral Ensemble from Sacramento. Their most memorable number was "Missile Envy", written by Wild Wimmin for Peace, a singing group spawned on the Great Peace March in 1986. The lyrics were updated somewhat to reflect current events and officeholders. Next was one of two hometown ensembles performing today, Ædonis, who wowed the audience with a program of classic love songs and two outstanding solo performances. They were followed by the Rainbow Chorale of Delaware, whose program had been changed rather radically from the one in the booklet and whose crowning achievement was a performance of "How Can I Keep From Singing?" in an unusually peppy arrangement by Gwyneth Walker. Closing the set was the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles (GMCLA) who began their set with a fully staged and choreographed "Prologue" from Ragtime. Just before they sang "We've Only Just Begun", the mayor of West Hollywood who is also a GMCLA member stepped forward and remarked in part, "I don't cry at weddings... but I've officiated at thirty new weddings and cried at every one." After the set we met up with our friend Jeff from the Music Committee of the Rochester GMC. He's looking well and appeared to be enjoying himself immensely, which I for one am very gratified to see.

There wasn't a whole lot of time between concert blocks today, so we had some drinks and hurried back to the auditorium to hear our other hometown favorites, the BEARatones. They shone on their piece commissioned for this event, "Miami Habañera", which extolled the pleasures of a fine Cuban... cigar. ;-) They also did a great job on a fast-paced arrangement of "California Dreamin'" with vocal percussion performed by

pandabuff, the sweet ballad "Bear With Me", and the hilarious closing sketch, "Tap That Secret Code", about the travails of Sen. Larry Craig in a Minneapolis airport men's room. They rose to accept the audience's ovation with their pants still around their ankles. ;-)

Following the BEARatones was One Voice Chorus from Charlotte, North Carolina. They did much credit to the gospel-flavored "I Know Where I've Been" from Hairspray and the juxtaposition of "For Now" from Avenue Q and "For Good" from Wicked was an excellent choice, with an impressive high tenor or countertenor soloist on the latter. They closed with "what matters", a contemplative piece recalling the events surrounding the life and untimely death of Matthew Shepherd. Next up was the Silicon Valley GMC, with an impressive solo performance on "Eres Tú Juan" and shining choreography on "Wana baraka", a Kenyan folk song. Following them was the Gateway Men's Chorus, of St. Louis, with Big Band-era staples like "Fever" and a choreographed number, "Sway" with red-lined jackets in play. And closing the day's set was Men Alive:The Orange County GMC, with an excellently choreographed performance featuring "Glamorous" which was in essence a rap, "Finlandia" which featured a few men singing soprano, and "Time To Say Goodbye" which was mostly in Italian and featured another gorgeous solo performance.

After this concert block all the delegates began boarding buses to a party on South Beach. The venue for the party was a club that kind of spilled out onto the beach with a lot of lounging mattresses swathed in white sheets. Just as we arrived we got into a conversation with

cincycub and the three of us headed for the ocean, where I dipped my feet in the Atlantic, we got to introduce Brian to fellow SMC bass Dan and Dan took some pictures of us. We went back to the lounge area and relaxed for a few minutes, while I carried on a brief conversation with Peter from NJGMC, and we realized we were not going to indulge in overpriced meals and $10 mojitos. So we returned to the bus and had a chat with David from Cincinnati, who introduced himself as "Mrs. Milloy" (his spouse, Steve, is the composer/arranger in residence with CMC).

On arrival back at the hotel we decided to leave our badges behind and take the people-mover to the nearby Bayside Mall, a partly open-air market with restaurants, shops, and nightclubs. After dinner at Bubba Gump's shrimp emporium, we explored the mall and couldn't help but move to the music that was everywhere, as live bands played on the bayside walk and in several of the clubs. After taking a wrong turn we managed to make our way through Bayfront Park to the front door of our hotel and headed off to bed.

GALA Festival 8 -- Friday, July 18

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