Day Six - Charlotte

This morning began with the boys singing during the morning service at St. Peters Episcopal Church. Following the service the boys made their way to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. What a great museum! The boys had so much fun being a pit crew, driving the cars and learning about the evolution of the cars, equipment and track.

In the late afternoon the boys traveled to Aldersgate Retirement Center where they participated in their chapel service. The staff and residents at Aldersgate were so thankful the boys were there to sing as part of their chapel service. Following the service the boys spent some time chatting with the residents before heading to dinner, generously provided by Aldersgate.

The boys arrived back at the hotel relatively early and began packing. They met back in the breakfast room for some time of reflection and sharing, as well as a few other last-night-of-tour traditions. The evening ended with some sandwiches and Italian ices. Off to bed for a morning at Discovery Place in Charlotte and the long drive home.

Day Five - Charleston

Today started with a pirate tour of Charleston. The boys learned about the history and influence of pirates in Charleston, the south, and the Caribbean. Bob, the pirate guide's parrot, joined the group at the end. The tour ended at Tommy Condon's Irish Pub where the boys enjoyed fish & chips, shrimp & grits, shepard's pie, and burgers for lunch.

Following some last chance shopping at the market, the group gathered at Liberty Square before boarding a ferry for Fort Sumter. It was nice to sit down for the 30 minute boat ride before arriving at the fort. A park ranger gave the history of Fort Sumpter and the boys were off exploring the nooks and cannons. Dolphins were spotted out in the harbor. The day ended with a drive to Charlotte, North Carolina where they stayed for the night.

Day Four - Charleston

Today was the day around which this tour revolved - the prestigious Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. The morning began with a brief stop at the Charleston Visitor's Center where the boys so impressed an employee with their courtesy and maturity that he inquired about their performances - and showed up.

At 11:00am the boys performed a short preview concert in Marion Square for passers by, market vendors, and several parents who made the trip to see their boys. The choir was very well received by an enthusiastic crowd.

Next, the boys headed out in their small groups for some shopping and lunch. The pirate store was a favorite! The group gathered at the Circular Congregational Church for the 2:00 performance by the Jacksonville Children's Choir. This gave the boys some time to be in their performance space and rest in the air conditioning for a little while. At 4:30 the boys took the stage for what was easily their best performance this tour, and likely one of the best tour performances in the last decade. To say the crowd was moved by their music would be an understatement - there were tears in many an eye. They finished to an immediate, genuine standing ovation, and the compliments the boys received themselves after the performance were incredible. Members of the Chattanooga Boys Choir should be so proud.

The evening wrapped up with a little more shopping and dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.

Tomorrow, a day of sightseeing in Charleston and an evening drive to Charlotte, North Carolina.

Day 3 - Savannah

The day began early with a drive from Jacksonville to Savannah, where the boys met their tour guide, Ted. An exceptionally knowledgable guide, Ted led the boys on a scavenger hunt around Historical Savannah, the boys searching for clues to answer questions. In spite of the constant drizzle, the boys had fun and learned about Savannah's history. A member of the choir at Christ Church, Ted was able to give the boys an inside tour of the historical church where John Wesley served.

The rain cleared and the boys traveled to the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum where they performed a few songs in the rotunda for the staff. A volunteer whose father served as a surgeon during WWII lead the boys on a captivating tour of the museum. They learned about the bravery and heroism of those who serve.

Following the visit to the museum, the boys has dinner at The Lady and Sons restaurant owned by Paula Deen. Can you say butter! Ho cakes, cheese biscuits, fried chicken, ribs, pork, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, Mac an cheese, collard greens, baked beans, green beans and more!! Not to mention banana pudding, peach cobbler and chocolate chip gooey butter cake for dessert! Yuuuum!

A short trip to Charleston and a good night sleep before a busy day with two performances for the Spoleto Festival tomorrow.

Day Two - Jacksonville

Today began early with a short drive from the hotel in Tifton to the Jacksonvile Zoo. The morning and early afternoon were spent with giraffes, elephants, rhinos, zebras, monkeys, penguins, Komodo dragons, stingrays, ostriches and more. The weather couldn't have been better - in the low 80's with a nice breeze.

The boys had an early check in time At the hotel, allowing them to rest briefly and change before heading to Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church for their second performance. Preceded by an amazing handbell choir, the boys once again performed wonderfully to a full and appreciative crowd.

The boys settled into their hotel rooms, enjoyed a pizza snack and headed to bed to get some rest for a busy day tomorrow in Savannah.

Day One - Atlanta and Macon

The bus pulled away right on time and made it's way to Atlanta, Georgia. Arriving just in time for lunch, the boys enjoyed a quick bite and shopping at the CNN Center. The Inside CNN tour began with a ride on the longest free standing escalator up to the 8th floor where the boys took a picture behind a news desk and sang for the employees. They learned how the control room is run and got to see the newsrooms for CNN and HLN. Two shows were filming live while they were there, so they got to see the anchors and news directors in action.


Following the tour and a brief walk through Centennial Olympic Park, the boys headed to First Baptist Church of Christ for their first performance of the tour. The 7:00 concert was well attended and vert well received...they enjoyed hearing the boys and talking to them following the concert. And of course, the boys sounded amazing!

Wednesday morning has the boys traveling to Jacksonville, Florida for a visit to the zoo and a performance in the evening.

The last rehearsal

The 2012 Summer Tour Choir is ready to go! They are wrapping up their final tour rehearsal, packing their bags, and looking forward to a week of singing, sightseeing and fun. Follow them on their journey beginning Tuesday.

The 2012 Performance Season has wrapped up and the touring choir is preparing to depart. We're looking forward to sharing our trip with you! Here's where we'll be.

Sunday, June 3        11:00am    Second Presbyterian Church            Chattanooga, TN
Tuesday, June 5       7:00pm     First Baptist Church of Christ           Macon, GA
Wednesday, June 6  7:00pm     Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church    Jacksonville, FL
Friday, June 8          11:00am   Marion Square Stage                       Charleston, SC
Friday, June 8           4:00pm     Circular Congregational Church       Charleston, SC
Sunday, June 10       10:30am    St. Peter's Episcopal Church           Charlotte, NC
Sunday, June 10        4:00pm      Aldersgate Retirement Center          Charlotte, NC

Canada - Day Three

Day Three!

We packed up all of our belongings and headed to the beautiful Church of St. Mary Magdalene in a charming section of downtown Toronto. We warmed up in the beautiful space of the Anglican cathedral that was the long time home of famous composer Healey Willan. his strong musical influence was clearly evident with the impressive musical traditions observed in the space. It was a "high church" liturgical service that included a baptism and all elements of the the full Eucharistic mass. Following the service, the church members provided a generous lunch.

We then made our way to Kingston - a city that is often overlooked, but is full of history and heritage. We had a very entertaining step-on guide who led us through the city's impressive collection of churches, prisons, museums, and historical societies. Kingston, Canada's first capital city, is nestled at the junction of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. The boys were most impressed with the Royal Military College of Canada. Cannons, tanks, jets, and guns lined this campus that is the home to all of Canada's armed forces training.

After our guided tour, we had dinner at the Lone Star Texas Grill...Canada has some of the BEST Tex-Mex! After the evening's fare of chicken, steak, and veggie fajitas - and an impressive offering of local desserts - we headed to a local park along e St. Lawrence where games of tag, picture-taking, and running around preceded our travels to our accommodations for the evening. This night, we stayed in the dorms of Queens College. These kids enjoyed being college students for the evening on this impressive campus.

Canada - Day Two

"This has to be the best breakfast ever served at a Holiday Inn" - Mr. Davis

After a WONDERFUL breakfast at our hotel - endless pastries, fruits, cheeses, eggs, bacon, sausage, etc. - we boarded our bus pleasantly stuffed. We made our way to the famed Casa Lorma, the historic estate of Sir Henry Mill Pellatt, a prominent Canadian financier, industrialist, and military man. The impressive structure, started in 1911, is patterned after Medieval castles, and is now an impressive and beautiful historic site. A wedding was actually taking place as we left ( we offered to sing for some more sending money, but no luck!). One "highlight" included AJ losing a tooth when he bit into a maple candy...we'll see if the tooth fairy leaves behind money in American or Canadian currency tonight!

We then made our way to the Queen's Quay (pronounced "Key") - a nice collection of shops, restaurants, and the like in an impressive structure along the water. Around 1:30, we boarded the Kajama ("Kay-yah-mah"), a 164-foot three-masted gaff-rigged schooner. Before departing, the boys serenaded a young lady celebrating her birthday! Several of the boys were recruited to help raise and lower the sails - a very impressive feat! We had a wonderful cruise of the Toronto harbor, taking in views of an island aiport, the Ontario center, and plenty of birds. After we returned to shore, we made our way to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner, where we were also able to watch the Indian Culture Film Festival Awards taking place outside our window in Canada's version of New York's Times Square. An impressive celebration!

We then made our way to our first concert at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church. It was a BEAUTIFUL room with vibrant acoustics, and the boys sang superbly. We were all impressed with Mark's accompaniment (he didn't know he was coming on this trip five days ago!), as he did an awesome job. This was a great first concert, capped by several folks in the audience singing along when the boys sang "Un Canadien Errant" for an encore.

Exhausted, we all headed back for a good and well-deserved night's sleep (after some donuts generously provided by the host church)!

Canada - Day One

June 10 - Chattanooga/Atlanta to Toronto

What a first day! We actually left from our meeting place 10 minutes EARLY, making it easily into the Atlanta airport. We made it through AirCanada's check- in procedures and the airport's security lines easily, all the while making the straightest lines! While waiting at the airplane's gate, we actually met someone from Toronto who promised to come to out concert on Sunday morning! Once we made it to the Toronto airport, we boarded our tour bus and had a wonderful tour of Toronto with Maureen, our step-on guide Maureen. We took a quick tour of the national hockey hall of fame before making our way to the famed CN Tower. Reminiscent of Seattle's space needle, the boys were enthralled with the impressive structure. Admittedly, though, many of us became a bit squeamish with the glass elevator ride up the 1,815 foot (553 meters) structure, but recalling that we had just gotten off of an airplane that was thousands of feet above the ground seemed to help! After some time in the gift shop and making our way through the crowd of Red Sox fans that were in town to watch the Sox play the Blue Jays, we went for a nice dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. While there, we celebrated Cody's birthday...candles, cake, and Cody's conducting of one of the best restaurant "Happy Birthday" renditions ever performed in an Italian restaurant made for the perfect evening. We then made our way to a very nice Holiday Inn in downtown Toronto, just blocks from the parliament building. What a great first day!

Canada, here we come!

This summer's tour takes us north! We're excited about touring and performing through Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec. We will board a bus in Chattanooga before making our way to the Atlanta airport.

Washington D.C.

Have you missed us? We've been so busy with our activities that we've barely had a moment to reflect. Hopefully, you've caught some of our journey through our Tweets. As we get ready for our second day in Washington D.C., here's what we've been up to.

Sunday the choir participated in the worship services of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in downtown Richmond. It was a large church with a very warm and welcoming congregation. They were thrilled to have the boys participating in the services and were very appreciative. The boys enjoyed pizza, salad, and brownies provided by St. Paul's Youth Choir.

The afternoon found the boys exploring maps, electricity, physics, biology, and space at the Virginia Museum of Science. The day wrapped up with dinner at Red Robin (YUM!!) and a sundae bar back at the hotel.

Monday morning the group traveled about an hour to Colonial Williamsburg, the location of our second performance at Bruton Parish. We started the morning off with guided tours of the colonial era, getting a hands on idea of how life was different - getting water from a well, making your own bricks. We learned about skilled trades such as coopers, printers, and blacksmiths. We had a brief time for exploring and shopping on our own before gathering in Merchants Square for an informal performance. Lots of passersby inquired about our performance as they saw us gathering, and a large crowd formed to watch them sing.

If that wasn't a busy enough day, following a pizza buffet for lunch, the choir traveled a few hours north to Herndon, Virginia, just outside of Washington D.C. for another concert. After warming up and adjusting to the space, the group was provided a delicious meal of fried chicken, potato salad, coleslaw, dinner rolls, watermelon, and chocolate cake. A little rest and a full belly gave everyone the needed energy for a terrific concert. Needless to say, the boys fell asleep quickly in anticipation of an early, and busy day in Washington D.C.

Day 2 - Lots of Traveling

Today was another long day of traveling. We left our hotel at 8:30 this morning and made our way to our hotel in Richmond with a leisurely lunch stop and rest stop. We had a little bit of time to freshen up and change before boarding the bus to our performance location at historic Bruton Parish Church in Colonial Williamsburg. Check out this link to learn more about the history of this church.

We arrived in Colonial Williamsburg and had a quick dinner of sandwiches at the famed "Cheese Shop" yummy! While there wasn't much time to walk around and enjoy the sights of Merchant Square tonight, we are certainly looking forward to our tour and performance there on Monday morning.

The performance tonight was part of a series of Candlelight Concerts that are held at Bruton Parish in the summer for members as well as for Colonial Williamsburg visitors. The boys did a fantastic job and received LOTS of praise from attendees.

Tomorrow we begin our day bright and early, participating in the church services at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond. In the afternoon we'll head to the Virginia Science Museum and end our day with dinner at Red Robin...and there's a rumor going around that we might be getting ice cream after dinner...Bruster's, Friendly's, Cold Stone are all nearby!

We'll be putting up some pictures shortly, so check back. Don't forget...we Tweet too! The link can be found on the left side of our home page at www.chattanoogaboyschoir.org.

We're on Our Way!

Day 1 of Summer Tour 2010 got the Chattanooga Boys Choir off to a great start. We had one of our longest traveling days, driving for about 6 hours to Charlotte, North Carolina. We arrived ahead of schedule and checked into our hotel before heading out for our first performances. Upon arriving at historic St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Charlotte, the boys warmed up and enjoyed a delicious lasagna dinner. The performance followed at 7pm and Mr. Oakes said that it was "easily one of our BEST first concerts!" The performance was very well attended and appreciated, and was in such a beautiful space. Following a snack of ice cream sandwiches, the boys got a good night's rest to prepare for another day of traveling.

Next we'll be heading to Bruton Parish Episcopal Church in Williamsburg, Virginia

Fun Depot

Wow! What a cool place! We pulled into the Fun Depot in Ashville close to noon today where we were met by Roy who hopped onto the bus and told us about all the fun that was ahead. Upon entering the Fun Depot we were ushered to the food area where we were served pizza and sodas. After enjoying a delicious lunch we were given Fun Cards that allowed 3 hours of fun on bumper cars, laser tag, indoor go-carts, indoor mini-golf, mini bowling, rock climbing and arcade games! Everyone had a GREAT time!

We're making our way east from Ashville to Morganton, North Carolina for our performance tonight. The drive through the beautiful, snow covered mountains of North Carolina has been smooth, with a brief stop for a few wild turkeys in the road!

Knoxville - Day 1

Whew! What a busy day we have had! We left Second Presbyterian Church right on time at 7:30am and made our way to the UT-Knoxville campus, where Dr. Sousa met us for a brief walking tour. The tour ended at the music building where Mr. Oakes and the CBC choir presented a workshop to music education students, teaching them about working with the adolescent voice.

Following the workshop the group walked to the University Center and experienced the wide variety of choices while dining at college - pizza, subs, Chick-Fil-A, and just about any other food a middle school boy could want! The afternoon found the group on a walking tour of the campus, ending at the McClung Museum, where the boys explored collections in anthropology, archeology, decorative arts, local and natural history. Before heading onto the bus we paused for a picture in front of Neyland Stadium.

The late afternoon was spent resting at the hotel before the evening performance. The evening performance was at Graystone Presbyterian Church, as part of the John Ribble Concert Series, named for the gentleman who served as the choir director at Graystone for over 40 years. It was the first full concert of the tour, and the boys did a fantastic job, and were very warmly received by the audience.

After an evening snack and a good night's sleep, we're looking forward to a very full day tomorrow!

2010 Mini-Tour Approaching!

On February 12-14 the Chattanooga Boys Choir will be traveling through Tennessee and North Carolina on a mini-tour. The first stop will be Knoxville, where the boys are presenting a workshop for music education students at UT-Knoxville. Following some sight-seeing on the campus, we'll be presenting a concert at Graystone Presbyterian Church in Knoxville. On Saturday, February 13 the CBC will be performing at Salem United Methodist Church in Morganton, North Carolina. On Sunday, February 14, the boys will make their way back to Knoxville to participate in the worship services at Faragut Presbyterian Church before heading back to Chattanooga to join the Chattanooga Choral Society for the Preservation of African American Song for their annual Simmons-O'Neal Memorial Concert.

Join us along the way! We'll be posting updates and pictures as we travel.

St. Louis to Chicago

We have been fortunate that all of the rain we've had has been on the traveling days while we are on the bus. We arrived at our hotel in Chicago shortly after 2pm and had a few hours to get settled and rested before heading out for dinner at Red Robin. After dinner we drove to downtown Chicago to see Blue Man Group, and what a show it was! Here are some quotes from the boys:

"It's not easy being blue, but is sure is fun!" - Graham

"Blue Man Group is a source of mindboggeling entertainment and comedy so funny you'll get sick from laughing." - Austin K.

"It was an exhilerating performance of percussion and comedy. You will never see another mix of show business like this." - Monte C

"The Blue Ban Group was the most totally awesome performers I have seen in my small awesome life span so you should watch them every chance you get." - Sam

Think they liked it?

Updated Pictures

We've added some pictures to the previous posts. Enjoy!