Barberfellas - Barbershop Meets Jane Fonda?

So, the Barberfellas have had their first rehearsal and already have a schedule planned! The brainchild of Gareth, Hsien, James H and Jules, I guess they are carrying on the the tradition of the Pinkies by challenging stereotypes with music. My impression of barbershop singing is that it is very much white male dominated, probably conservative (with both the large and small 'c's), so the allusion to Jane Fonda at her B-movie best is quite the juxtaposition.

Interestingly, despite all being Pinkies, the Barberfellas are, at the minute, taking some pains to make sure they are not too closely associated with the Pink Singers themselves. A new genre and a new repertoire means the standards aren't quite up to the quality you get from the main choir, but who knows what the future brings? At the moment, the Barberfellas are just a fun musical experiment.

The Pinkies do make a justified deal of the musical variety in our repertoire. This season, for instance, we are covering everything from classical to jazz, from doo-wop to pop. In the past we have done a few SATB numbers which are like barbershop singing, but never barbershop itself. Indeed, barbershop singing has its own codified style. In which other choral genre for instance, is the tenor supposed to sing softly at the very top of his range, and loudly at the bottom? Against the very fibre of being a tenor, he has the quietest voice part of the four, and, to top it off, has to sing in falsetto too. In musical theory as well, the tuning of notes is Pythagorean, and in the chords you are looking for that "ring" in your "tag", amongst other barbershop-specific terminologies.

The Pink Insider wishes them all the best of luck. After all "you got to give a little, take a little, and let your poor heart break a little..."

P.S. Incidentally you can also follow and interact with them on twitter here.

Team PS At The London Pride Run 2008

"Citius, Altius, Fortius" is the Olympic motto, and this last week it has been impossible to avoid being caught up, at least a little, in the Games over in Beijing. Unfortunately, for the somewhat less athletic of us, taking part in any sport is more a case of "Rubor, Calor, Dolor" than anything else!

With that in mind, a group of more the adventurous Pink Singers decided to brave the risk of inflammation, and went on an jaunt on Saturday through Victoria Park for this year's 10km Pride Run. There was, initially, quite a bit of enthusiasm for the run from the choir, but with the usual attrition rate for various reasons, the numbers were whittled down to a hard-core six: Annie, Ben P, Claire G, Hsien, Mark and Michael Da.

The biggest fear had been that it would rain on the day, and given that it had been pouring down just two days' prior, it was definitely within the realms of possibility. As it turns out, meeting at Mile End tube, the sun was trying to peek out from behind the clouds, and there was a pleasant breeze blowing - the perfect weather for a run. I know all of us had been training a little for the run. Some Pinkies like Michael go for runs regularly, and since I joined the Frontrunners, so does the Pink Insider. But that said, for the majority, 10km was an unimagineable distance which they had never even attempted before - just showing up to the start was a definite victory!

We all met at the northeast end of the park where were got changed and pinned the conveniently matching number tags to our Pink Singers T-shirts. There were loads of people there, but the run was very well organized, and it never felt chaotic. Of the 800 people who registered, 577 people (or thereabouts) actually ran. After dropping our bags off in the clubhouse, we went on to the start point. Ooh ooh! Andy Bell from Erasure was there to honk the horn to set us off.

And away we went! The route itself was a fairly simple one: three laps of the park though shaded avenues with no hills. I started the run at a leisurely pace alongside Michael Da, but before long some of the last year's worth of running paid off and I pulled ahead. There were some tremendous runners competing, and I was lapped at 6km by the eventual winner. What is most annoying is that I put my slow running down to my short legs, but this guy was actually significantly shorter than me (damn!). He completed the course in 32 minutes, an unbelieveable time, considering that I finished a good quarter of an hour or so later. The real dark horse was Claire. I know she runs quite a bit, and she certainly has the physique (i.e. long and lean), so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at how fast she actually ran, but she really was a speeding bullet, and she finished right next to me.

As I mentioned, for some of Team PS, 10km was a never-before-attempted distance, and completing it was quite the achievement. When things were getting rather shakey on the ground, it was good to hear the calls of support from the Pinkies who had come to cheer us on. Joey and Charles were there, as was Emelda, and Celso and his friend. Warren also had a word with the race commentator, and whenever a Pinkie ran past the stand, he'd call out "Go Pink Singers!" which was a great psychological boost. Thanks to their help, I am really happy to say that all of us made it through the final rainbow arch, and in pretty good time too. We all walked away with our medals and our goody bags. Then there were the unexpected perks, as Ben discovered, of sharing a changing room with dozens of fit, sweaty atheletes...

Congratulations to all of us - go Pinkies! Pride Run 2009 anyone?

A Coundown Of Blogs: Ménage à Trois

In a burst of self-reference, the third of the Pink Singers official Blog-A-Day Challenge is up. Hsien is looking forward to the concert, and here's why he thinks you should be too:

Every season I think our singing gets better, the harmonies are tighter and the choreography slicker.

What are you waiting for? The Pinkies winter concert is at 7.30pm this Saturday the 19th of January 2008, so get your tickets now.