Masters of Harmony

The Masters of Harmony Produces Excellence at Every Season

Kirt Thiesmeyer, Jun 17, 2006

What is it about wine, cheese and quartets getting better (riper) with age? With the concentration on youth and Indy drowning out nearly every other activity – I expect to hear the Westminster Chorus announced as replacing the clown for the next kindergarten birthday party in upscale Pasadena – it is easy to forget that barbershoppers inevitably get older. Youth flees, children impinge, mortgages loom, careers bite, duties abound – until finally we are washed up on the happy shores of retirement and grandchildren. It is then that the quartetting itch really needs to be scratched.

As proof, there are four recent District Senior Champions right in our midst:

1998 – A Touch of Class (Lou Tedesco, Dean Kirkland)
2000 – Mutual Fun (Art Taylor, Les Weiser, Lefty Parasson, Dave Briner)
2002 – Time Honored (Bob Heron)
2003 – Curtain Call (Don Kileen)


Mutual Fun went on to win a second place silver medal at the International Mid-Winter Convention in 2001. A Touch of Class got fifth place in 1999. Time Honored and Curtain Call also did their strut on the International stage.

Meanwhile, Top-Notch (Art Taylor, Larry Goodfried, Bob Heron, Dan Place) is the current senior divisional champion for SoCal West and was an International senior qualifier in 2005, along with Fuzzy Logic (Dan Durfey, Les Weiser, Lefty Parasson, Andy Edwards). And XL, a two-month pickup quartet with Lefty Parasson, won the senior divisional championship for SoCal East (and broke up an hour later). Is it any wonder that Mutual Fun and Top-Notch have both been Masters of Harmony Quartet of the Year?

You probably didn’t know that the ONLY quartets of any age in recent competitions that have every member an active MOHer are Top-Notch and Souvenir (Kirt Thiesmeyer, Jack Peters, Haven Kolls, Dennis Burke), both senior quartets. Maybe it’s because we’re too tired to walk across the road to recruit from another chapter, or simply because our many years on this earth (minimum: 240) lend an appreciation for the seasoning of our own chorus champion brothers. In any case, with all the hoopla (and big $) going to juice-filled jackrabbits like OC Times and Hi-Fidelity, Expedia, Entourage, Afternoon Delight, et al., let’s not forget the steady progress of the tortoises in the senior division, creaking along the well-trod path to glory. (We were going to name our quartet Afternoon Nap.)

Out of eighteen senior quartets entered in the recent divisional competitions, Top-Notch and Souvenir stand second and fourth, respectively, each having a firm resolve at least to whip the other at the District Convention in San Jose next fall, and maybe the remaining three quartet qualifiers as well.

Every time Mark Hale or Sean Devine says, “Don’t be That Guy,” I wonder which of my quartet mates IS That Guy. But with “Don’t Suck” plastered on my refrigerator for high-level inspiration, and a picture of a stern and critical Mark Feiner covering the horn button of my car, can District glory be far behind?

So be kind to your stoop-shouldered riser mates. They might just be future senior champion quartetters, and they need to conserve their strength for the ordeals ahead -- though the groupies are much less demanding.