thedrifter
02-09-09, 07:42 AM
Barbershop singing has him hooked
Comments 1 | Recommend 1
February 8, 2009 - 8:37 PM
Charlie Hall
Sun Journal
Tales from the road are legendary among rock ‘n' roll bands, usually with a steamy side.
Retired Marine trumpet player and singer Russ Erwin is no rocker. And his road story is about the creation of the area's best-known collection of barbershop-style voices - the Southern Gentlemen.
Erwin was driving from New Bern to Greenville one night each week to practice with a barbershop group in the late 1980s.
Twice he was stopped by the state Highway Patrol for being a bit too anxious to get home.
Each time, the trooper asked him where he had been and why he was in such a hurry. He explained that he was coming from barbershop chorus practice, which was not a usual story the troopers heard late at night on U.S. 17.
He turned on his car stereo and played a barbershop CD for one of the troopers. He didn't get any citations, but he did get an idea.
"I thought, it's time New Bern had a barbershop chorus of its own," he said recently, as the Southern Gentlemen were preparing for their 14th year of Valentine's serenades for civilian and military wives and sweethearts - all for charity.
After his encounters with the law, he joined Philip Evancho's community chorus and later he and eight other singers formed the Southern Gentlemen.
The name was not new, having been associated with a variety of groups and products, including a motorcycle gang.
"At the time, we had nothing but Yankee transplants in the chorus, so it seemed like a good name," he said.
The eight Gentlemen got their national chapter affiliation in 1991and the chorus has since grown to more than 40 members who meet and practice each Tuesday night at Centenary United Methodist Church under the direction of B.J. Oglesby.
Besides the Valentine's fund-raiser, the chorus has put on a spring concert each April for 16 years, again with the donations going to charity. The group also does other smaller community service benefits, such as singing at assisted-living facilities each month.
"We always welcome people to join us," he said.
Erwin was born in Cleveland in 1945 and was one of four children his mother, a secretary, raised alone after she and Erwin's father divorced.
"I wouldn't say it was tough," he said. "She always provided for us. We had warm food and everything else. I think kids today would think it was tough."
He spent his youth in scouting and at the YMCA, where he later worked summers in high school, including one year as a riding instructor at a ranch-style camp.
He couldn't find a job when he graduated from high school in 1963 and joined the Marines, in which he spent 24 years, including 11 as a trumpet player.
"We traveled a lot and got tired of fried chicken," he said, laughing. His tours brought him to Eastern North Carolina, where he met his wife-to-be, Carol, a Fayetteville native, at a Palm Sunday dinner in 1981. They married in August that year.
"I told her, ‘Don't fix chicken for a while,'" he said.
Stationed at Quantico, Va., in 1986, he and Carol were working on a "fixer-upper" house, and decided to take a weekend break.
"We went to see a barbershop concert and we enjoyed it," he said. "We found out we had a friend singing in it and we got up with him and he invited us to the cast party."
That evening, Erwin sang in an impromptu quartet and was invited to join. He agreed, but had to wait several months while he and his wife finished their house project.
He returned to the chorus around Christmas, but didn't know all the lyrics.
"They said here is the script and I was the emcee," he said. "Then I got to sing and I've been hooked ever since."
He retired from the Marines in 1988 and the Erwins settled in New Bern. He began his three-year weekly drives to Greenville.
For the thousands of people who have heard the Southern Gentlemen over the years, a general sentiment would likely be that a bit too much pedal to the metal has worked out well.
Ellie
Comments 1 | Recommend 1
February 8, 2009 - 8:37 PM
Charlie Hall
Sun Journal
Tales from the road are legendary among rock ‘n' roll bands, usually with a steamy side.
Retired Marine trumpet player and singer Russ Erwin is no rocker. And his road story is about the creation of the area's best-known collection of barbershop-style voices - the Southern Gentlemen.
Erwin was driving from New Bern to Greenville one night each week to practice with a barbershop group in the late 1980s.
Twice he was stopped by the state Highway Patrol for being a bit too anxious to get home.
Each time, the trooper asked him where he had been and why he was in such a hurry. He explained that he was coming from barbershop chorus practice, which was not a usual story the troopers heard late at night on U.S. 17.
He turned on his car stereo and played a barbershop CD for one of the troopers. He didn't get any citations, but he did get an idea.
"I thought, it's time New Bern had a barbershop chorus of its own," he said recently, as the Southern Gentlemen were preparing for their 14th year of Valentine's serenades for civilian and military wives and sweethearts - all for charity.
After his encounters with the law, he joined Philip Evancho's community chorus and later he and eight other singers formed the Southern Gentlemen.
The name was not new, having been associated with a variety of groups and products, including a motorcycle gang.
"At the time, we had nothing but Yankee transplants in the chorus, so it seemed like a good name," he said.
The eight Gentlemen got their national chapter affiliation in 1991and the chorus has since grown to more than 40 members who meet and practice each Tuesday night at Centenary United Methodist Church under the direction of B.J. Oglesby.
Besides the Valentine's fund-raiser, the chorus has put on a spring concert each April for 16 years, again with the donations going to charity. The group also does other smaller community service benefits, such as singing at assisted-living facilities each month.
"We always welcome people to join us," he said.
Erwin was born in Cleveland in 1945 and was one of four children his mother, a secretary, raised alone after she and Erwin's father divorced.
"I wouldn't say it was tough," he said. "She always provided for us. We had warm food and everything else. I think kids today would think it was tough."
He spent his youth in scouting and at the YMCA, where he later worked summers in high school, including one year as a riding instructor at a ranch-style camp.
He couldn't find a job when he graduated from high school in 1963 and joined the Marines, in which he spent 24 years, including 11 as a trumpet player.
"We traveled a lot and got tired of fried chicken," he said, laughing. His tours brought him to Eastern North Carolina, where he met his wife-to-be, Carol, a Fayetteville native, at a Palm Sunday dinner in 1981. They married in August that year.
"I told her, ‘Don't fix chicken for a while,'" he said.
Stationed at Quantico, Va., in 1986, he and Carol were working on a "fixer-upper" house, and decided to take a weekend break.
"We went to see a barbershop concert and we enjoyed it," he said. "We found out we had a friend singing in it and we got up with him and he invited us to the cast party."
That evening, Erwin sang in an impromptu quartet and was invited to join. He agreed, but had to wait several months while he and his wife finished their house project.
He returned to the chorus around Christmas, but didn't know all the lyrics.
"They said here is the script and I was the emcee," he said. "Then I got to sing and I've been hooked ever since."
He retired from the Marines in 1988 and the Erwins settled in New Bern. He began his three-year weekly drives to Greenville.
For the thousands of people who have heard the Southern Gentlemen over the years, a general sentiment would likely be that a bit too much pedal to the metal has worked out well.
Ellie