The Choo Choo Chorus Newsletter for April 7

You're receiving this e-mail because you are a member or friend of the Choo Choo Chorus

April 7, 2021

Wilber Strickland Presents Candlighter Gift

In This E-mail

Script For Thursday's Meeting
From The Prez
Directly Speaking
From Publicity & Marketing VP
From The Business Manager

Calendar
(Click For Details)

Chapter Meeting, Thursday, April 7, 7 PM, Ponders.

Road Scholars, Sunday, April 10, arrive 6:45 PM to sing at 7:30. Double Tree Hotel. Uniform: Class B - Long sleeve blue shirt and Khaki pants. Click HERE for details.

Board Meeting, Monday, April 11, 6PM, Ponders

Ashwood Square, Saturday, April 16, sing at 1 PM. Click HERE for details.

From The Prez

Board Meeting reminder: Monday, April 11th (our Society’s Birthday!), 6 PM @ Ponder’s. Please mark your calendars and send me agenda items for discussion. Until then, KTTWS. SteveG

Directly Speaking

Thank you for another great rehearsal this past week. (If you were not here, we DID miss you)

I am still excited about last weekend in Alabaster. You guys sang really well and represented our city well! And congratulations on your highest score ever!

Our weekly focus for now will be on making every song in our repertoire even better. We have several Road Scholar performances coming up and we want to present our very best to them! Be sure and let me know of your plans to join us on these, especially the TWO in April (10th and 24th). We also have a SATURDAY performance at Ashwood Square on April 16th at 1:00 pm.

We did have a guest this past week. Be sure and be on the look out for guys in your circle that you can invite to come and sing with us.

As always, let me know if you have any questions. I think our future is as bright as ever! Jimmy Tompkins

From The Business Manager

Be sure to go to the website and note your availability for the next two performances -
4/10 - Road Scholars - 6:45 pm
4/16 - Ashwood Square - 12:15 pm

If you can't get on the website to do that, let me or Jimmy know personally so we can mark it down. Pete

Script For Thursday's Meeting

7:00 PM - Meeting at Ponders.

Repertory: America the Beautiful, Armed Forces Medley, California Here I Come, Can You Feel the Love Tonight, Darkness on the Delta, Georgia on My mind, God Bless America, Hello Mary Lou, I’m Sittin’ on Top of the World, It’s the Music that Brings Us Together, Let’s Get Away from it All, Old Folks at Home, Star Spangled Banner, Welcome Song, When She Loved Me, When There’s Love at Home, Yesterday, and You Tell Me Your Dream

From Publicity & Marketing VP

How to Improve Our Choo Choo Chorus Brand Awareness??

A major goal for us is to sell out our next Christmas Show at Ringgold High School - 850 seats. This is more than double the 400 attending last year.

There are 190,000 people living in Chattanooga. That number for the area we serve, from North Georgia to Cleveland, is 500,000! We need to make a lot more people aware of who we are, how great we sing, and then get them to buy tickets and enjoy our performances!

So, what's up? How to make it happen? Several members are actively working on three main areas - improve communications, recruit new members and book new venues. These guys need a lot of help to really make a difference - from each member!

First up, communications. David Murphree, Steve Wixson and I need help next Thursday at 6 pm to begin this effort. We will focus first on the website, social media side of communicating. Everyone is welcome, especially if you are at least somewhat "tech savvy". If not, come anyway to learn and ask dumb questions (like me).

Pete is out for the next 2 weeks. When he returns, we will need help as well, examining the "old school" side of emails and Show Posters.

Pete and I have found some possibilities for new venues by contacting music promoters in the area. Nothing sure yet, but these include Miller Park, Miller Plaza, singing in the area between the Aquarium buildings and River Market on a Saturday and a 2nd large Christmas Show. One promoter thinks next year's 4 Bridges Art Festival is a great fit for us. Also see the email sent to these promoters in this newsletter. Thanks, Rich

The Choo Choo Chorus - A brilliant GEM ready to SPARKLE over Chattanooga!

The Choo Choo Chorus continues to entertain audiences throughout the Chattanooga region singing in beautiful 4-part harmony, Barbershop style. We will sing up to 30 times this year. Free outings include sporting events and honoring our military on Veterans Day and over Memorial Day Weekend. Paid venues include Walden Club, Double Tree Hotel, Rock City, Ruby Falls, Garden Plaza and North River Civic Center.

Other earnings events include Singing Valentines and our Annual Show in the summer, followed by our Christmas Season. This includes caroling, three smaller shows, then our "Big Christmas Show" at Ringgold High School - a venue with great sound, acoustics and sight lines, seating 850. A strong supporter for three years now, is the Best of the Best law firms, Warren & Griffin.

Over the last couple of years, in the midst of the pandemic, we have witnessed the following areas of growth for our chapter:

o Membership increased from 24 to 35 with great new singers joining and other great singers rejoining.

o We found our wonderful new venue at Ringgold High School.

o Roads Scholars (visiting seniors from all over the United States) invited us to sing every month at Double Tree Hotel instead of twice a year.

o We are singing better than ever and continue to improve.

o We sang at the first Dixie District Barbershop Competition in two years in Alabaster, Alabama this past March. We earned our highest score ever and Second Place! This is a Big Deal!!

All of this happened when Jimmy Tompkins joined us as Director in April 2020. Jimmy is a great teacher; motivator and he is fun! Judges at the Competition were most impressed with Jimmy's directing. The one - word description was "Class"!

An important goal for us is to ignite Brand Awareness of The Choo Choo Chorus! The Choo Choo Chorus is a little - known brilliant GEM ready to SPARKLE over the entire Chattanooga Region! We are hoping that you might help us by booking new venues.

You may contact Jimmy Tompkins at 423 838 2957, or jtompkins99@att.net

Thanks for your consideration and hope to hear from you soon!

Rich Wilson, 423-310-5334, Skiwest12@att.net