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A Family Affair

We have had a pretty awesome week, we’ve gotta say! First, and most important, we have a new baby in the Epic family. Earlier tonight, Kris and Rob Adams welcomed 8 lb.+ baby girl, Claire, into our Epic family. We are so blessed and super thrilled that she made a safe and healthy appearance into this world. Kris was a trooper through her final weeks of pregnancy… even keeping up with our gigs until just a few short weeks before giving birth!

We are, however, super happy we did not take Kris on a plane with us last weekend when we headed off to Area 2′s contest and convention! We don’t think the airport people would have been amused by a massively pregnant chick in glitter heels and pink/animal print gowns! So we left Kris home to stay healthy and happy while we went to hang out with our Area 2 sisters for a long weekend.

There were many amazing memories from last weekend, but the best of all was the out-of-this-world talented and sweet and flexible and loving Debbie Bosari. We couldn’t have asked for a more prepared or accommodating fill-in. She nailed our songs, put up with our crazy costuming selections, and patiently tolerated the craziness that often happens behind closed doors (and sometimes not!) in Epic’s universe. Larry kept us in line… sort of… most of the time… well, not really. But it was really cool to have him around

We were super impressed with how organized our hostess chapter, Women of Note, were through the whole weekend. These ladies thought of every detail and put on a heckuva party. Well done, chickies!

We are so proud to share (if ya’ haven’t heard) that Area 2 is sending a whole gaggle of quartets to International this year, including Area champs, Moonstruck. Seriously, these Moonstruck chicks are SERIOUS about what they put up there on that stage. It was such a pleasure to watch. Stunning performance…and we can’t wait to see what they have in store for us at IC&C in Windsor this fall.

We have really enjoyed getting to know the “personalities” of the various choruses in our Area these last couple of years. The chorus contest was beyond impressive and we had the best seats in the house. Congrats to Sounds of the Seacoast for the top finish–and to each and every woman in every chorus that crossed that stage. It’s not easy to get up there and give it your all, but you certainly made for an enjoyable afternoon for your audience!

We had a lot of laughs, as usual, and made some fantastic new memories in Leominster. Our Facebook photo album captures some of the fun, so be sure to check that out. We are lucky chicks and we are having the time of our lives… we may have mentioned this one or two times, but we are incredibly blessed. And after our Area 2 weekend and adding another precious gem to the Epic family, we have even more blessings to count.

XOXO… Epic+ (Chris, Anne, Shana, Kris…and Debbie!)

Beautiful all the way around

20 Jun

We are really excited to launch a new fundraiser for Epic! We are kicking-off a Mary Kay online party that provides Epic with 100% of the profits. We are hoping you’ll consider placing an order to help us out. It’s super easy… you order online, pay online, and the order is shipped directly to you for FREE!

We have to work pretty hard to pull in the funds to earn our way to our Harmony, Inc., contests. Because we live in a part of the country where Harmony, Inc., is looking forward to FUTURE growth (hopefully with our help), the epicenter of our home Area is pretty far North and we have to travel a long, long way to get to our contests. We’re not quite fortunate enough to have one in our backyard, or even within driving distance. With the gracious support of our friends and families, as well as the awesome gigs we’ve been blessed to land, we worked hard to get to Montreal, Canada, for our Area 2 contest earlier this year… and came home with the championship.

Now it’s time to work toward Orlando, where our International Contest and Convention will be held in November. We appreciate your support more than you know!!

So just to make things fun, we’ve decided to throw in a little incentive, of sorts! If you feel inclined to stock up on your Mary Kay favorites, or even decide to make these fabulous products a gift for a special person in your universe, and your total comes to more than $100, Epic will email you a special music clip that you can use as your ringtone or keep on your MP3 player just for fun!!

We love you all… and we couldn’t continue this EPIC journey without you. Thank you so much!

Epic Oops

30 May

So, here’s a learning experience for worth a few laughs and a shrug of the shoulders. Our epic oops on Harmony, Inc., protocol.

So before we begin the story, we should state for the record that the only one of us who has any idea what she’s doing is Kris. She has a crown. She is a Harmony Queen. She is also the mother of a 1-year-old so she is not in charge of forms and details. She is in charge of showing up, looking cute, and singing the crappy part that makes the rest of our brains bleed.

Other than Kris, Epic is a bunch of Harmony, Inc., newbies! Our very first Area competition EV-AH had some mighty exciting results (as we may have shared)… we qualified to represent Area 2 at the International competition in November. We were giddy just to be up on the stage with the other mighty-fine qualifiers from Area 2 and then some even crazier news… they announced that we were also quartet champs. Amazing night!

It was also the first step to our amazing oops. See, while on that stage accepting our medals and a cool plaque, they also handed us an envelope. Trisha distinctly told us not to ignore the envelope. The envelope was important. The envelope had information. The envelope was promptly slid into the plaque travel sleeve and carefully packed into Chris’s carry-on and brought back to Virginia and put in the Epic pile of Epic business and Epic receipts on her dresser.

Then Gold Cup. Then Robert Duvall. Then Fairfax show. Then a nap. Then… a found envelope… and an “intention to compete” form and fee that was postmarked two days past the very-clearly-spelled-out deadline. Epic oops.

We have learned:

Contest organizers cannot read minds. They must have our form stating that, yes, please, we would like to compete. Earth to Epic… send in your form!
Contests cost money, which is why said form must also be accompanied by a check. Because our form was late, our check was bigger So we’re supporting the cause with extra enthusiasm!
As a penalty, we will probably sing first, which is totally fair since we really do suck and forgot to look in that envelope.
This is probably not the last time we will miss a deadline or forget a form…

Here’s the thing… it’s all good. Contest is awesome–totally and completely and crazily awesome–but it’s also just one part of who we are. Our form was late because we are now part of the 90-year history of the Virginia Gold Cup. Because Robert Duvall’s “people” now have our availability for the rest of the calendar year. Because we got to sing our Andrews Sisters Medley live for the awesome Larry Wright who arranged it for us. Because Anne sat on Larry Tully’s lap. Because Our Town’s Scott Brannon sat on Anne’s lap. Yup, it’s all good.

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Posted by epicquartet on May 30, 2012 in Contest, Special memories

Tags: contest, fun, Harmony Inc.

Crazy Contest Weekend

01 May

Epic, Harmony Inc., barbershop quartet, contest

One of our final rehearsals in the room before heading off to the contest stage.

It was crazy. It was a weekend. And it was also our very first barbershop contest! We walked out with the first place medals, which is amazing, but we also walked out so much closer to our Area 2 sisters, more educated thanks to the judges and the incredible performers who call Area 2 home, and more deeply bonded as a quartet than we could have ever imagined at the start of this amazing journey!

If you’ll indulge us in a few moments to share all of our thanks, we promise to also include some embarrassing behind-the-scenes Epic stories. For those of you who know our lead, Anne, you know that things can get out of control when she’s involved, so this is actually a pretty good deal for you :-)

We met at Dulles Airport Thursday morning with an obscene amount of luggage for a four-day trip! Our flight was delayed, which allowed Anne to get really excited (insert sarcastic tone here) about our tiny little plane. She hates flying. But she loves Epic, so alas…. As we were waiting for our delayed flight, we entertained ourselves with the airline worker who was making announcements on the PA for “Alllllllll-Baaannnnnn-eeeeeeeeee.” (Seriously, ask Richard to do the voice. It’s awesome)

After landing in Burlington, Vt., we rented our mini-van (woo hoo! party!) and headed toward the border. Shockingly, they let us into Canada. Anne immediately decided to use her “French” accent to say everything she read, regardless of whether or not the words were indeed in French. Unfortunately, Anne’s French accent comes out a little more like cockney….think ‘ello-guv’nuh Brittish accent plus a bottle of wine. Thus, the newly-minted Epic saying (with a Brittish, not French accent), “Would you like a Beignet??”

Epic, Harmony Inc., female barbershop quartet, Richard Lewellen

Coach Richard Lewellen kept us calm and focused... we couldn't have done it without him!

We are so incredibly grateful that our coach, Richard, was in Montreal with us. He kept us focused and on time–which is defintely saying something for Epic. We know that we have a lot to learn and more growth to accomplish, but Richard helped us take onto the contest stage the skills and knowledge we have at this point in our development. We love our Ricky… our moments on the contest stage couldn’t have happened without his love, expertise, and spankings (just kidding).

We are completely in love with the judges/candidates who conducted our evals… John, Chris (music), Claire, Lynn (singing), and Linda and Kerri (presentation). We love you. We trust you. We will work on everything you shared. We won’t let you down.

And, ohmygoodness, Area 2!!!! These women are AMAZING. The Montreal City Voices chorus not only hosted the entire weekend event, but also took to the contest stage a super-fun package! We are so excited that Sounds of the Seacoast took the top honors… and we have to say that those Saturday night coconuts in the front row were getting us all hot and bothered !! New England Voices of Harmony (2nd place) wowed us with its “Shall We Dance” tune and the Women of Note chorus had such a great presence on stage (and they have the presentation scores to prove it!). The Capital Chordettes of Ottawa have a special place in Epic’s heart. We performed for them in Hershey last year and they welcomed us back with such warm arms to their hospitality room in Montreal… a big congrats to them on their 4th place finish. At the end of the day, Area 2 is sending TEN choruses to International in Orlando. We thoroughly enjoyed the entire chorus contest!!!

Since we performed first in the quartet contest, we were able to watch many of the performers who came after us. So much talent crossed the stage that night. A huge shout-out to Moonstruck…. these ladies, who placed second, had us all sitting on the very edge of our chairs. Their package was stunning and we loved “Mean to Me”… a breathtaking performance. We are very excited to be heading to IC&C in Orlando with not only Moonstruck, but also Songburst, Stay Tuned, Kismet and In Cahoots!

The Saturday night luau-themed dinner was so fun… from judges doing a hula to Linda’s emcee performance to Lindsay C-H shouting out, “Ma!!! Your napkin is still in your pants!” when her mother walked up on stage to make a presentation. OMG, we laughed for a year… We also had a slight love affair with the food. BEST EVER. The staff at the Laval Sheraton was amazing…they put our food under the warmers so we could eat it after our performance. It really made our night.

Epic, Harmony Inc., barbershop quartet, Anne Albright, Christina Lewellen, fascinators

We love our "Andrews Sisters" fascinators! Thank you Debbie!

We were surrounded by loved ones… Dawn, Keith, Epic mom Debbie and Epic aunt Cindy. Thank you for sharing our amazing weekend with us. Thanks for the support and the gifts and the cheers and the hugs and the laughs. And thank you, Debbie, for the FASCINATORS. We love you all to pieces.

A few last-minute facts from Epic’s first contest:

Anne scared away a non-barbershopper hotel patron with her bodily functions.
Kris tripped on her heels, fell to the floor, and showed an entire chorus her undergarments.
Shana’s food-dar found us a restaurant that we visited pretty much every time we ate.
Thanks to Shana’s eloquent words, we invited God to be a part of our performance in our final moments in the warm-up room. It worked.
We are crazy enough to be developing a preference for certain brands of fake eyelashes.
We love Foreign Exchange. Classy chicks. Super talented.
We have developed as a quartet a few new harmless man crushes… they include John Burri, a rude-but-hot server at an Italian restaurant and Shana’s dad.
Chris introduced us to the “On a scale of 1 to 10″ game… a phrase that can be followed with anything. Ex: On a scale of one to ten, I’m blowing the wrong pitch. On a scale of one to ten, we don’t have enough towels.

Ok, ok… enough…. we know! We are just so full of love coming out of this past weekend. We had SO MANY Area 2 Harmony sisters thank us for being a part of the organization and for representing them at Orlando and as Area 2 champs. Please know that the pleasure is all ours. We are humbled and so incredibly grateful for the opportunity. We love you all to pieces…. Can’t wait to reunite once again for more contest craziness.