BLUE
NOTES FOR TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2006
The
Illinois Arts Council has awarded the North Shore Choral Society
a grant of $3,570.00 from State funds for general operating support.
These
new singers joined the ranks of NSCS last Tuesday. Let’s
take the opportunity to welcome them again this evening.
Brooke
Fox, second soprano
Luke
Hingtgen, tenor
Theresan
Kaefer-Kelly, tenor
Pat
Radosarjevic, second soprano
Joe
Wise, tenor
Meghan
Wolfer, second alto
Auditions
for new singers who wish to join NSCS for its second concert
will be held next month, prior to our October rehearsals of the
Bruckner Mass. Watch for more specific information
in subsequent Blue Notes and on our website.
Reminders:
--Be
sure to get a copy of this year’s Membership Guide.
--Don’t
forget that any of us are welcome to place an item of importance
on the NSCS website by emailing Jim Miller (millerjw@speakeasy.net)
with a copy to Karen Rigotti (rigotti@earthlink.net).
--Items
for Blue Notes are gratefully accepted: lenpbarker@comcast.net
or 847/272-2351.
--Let
your Section Coordinator know if you need a Finzi Magnificat.
--Sign
up to bring juice for our rehearsal breaks.
--Dave
Wojtowicz opens in Carousel this weekend—and encourages
us to attend. The dates are Fridays, September 15 and 22, and Saturday,
September 23, at 7:30, and Sundays, September 17 and 24, at 2:00;
the place is Trinity Lutheran Church, 5106 North LaCrosse in Chicago;
the cost is $10. Tickets are available at the door or by
phone at 773/736-1457.
Tonight—and
on other Tuesdays throughout the year—the Council of Trinity
Lutheran Church meets on the lower level, beneath the sanctuary. It
is important for us to make any necessary trips to that level
as circumspect as possible. Juice will be served in the
foyer. The poor lighting at the church’s north entrance,
about which several of us have complained, is being investigated. For
the time being, watch your step.
And
a reminder of the attendance procedure: Anyone missing two rehearsals
will be contacted by his/her Section Coordinator with the information
that the limit has been reached. Then, the General Manager will
send that person an “official” letter—saying
that, if another rehearsal is missed, he/she will be asked not
to sing. If a third rehearsal is missed, another letter
will be sent, stating that request. What happens next is up to
each individual singer--with one exception, please: Donald is not to
be contacted; his job is music, not attendance. If you
have questions, please ask the General Manager, whose job it
is.
Congratulations
to Wylie Crawford, who was recently elected president of the
World Carillon Federation, the organization that oversees carillonneurs
and their instruments in twenty-one countries.
This
tribute, written by John Shea, was read at last Tuesday’s
rehearsal by President David Hunt.
We
all know that music is the soul, the spirit, of the NSCS; it
is why we are here. But to bring our efforts to fruition,
we need contributions extra-musical. We recognize Marj
Lundy and Kay Rossiter, who for the past four years have taken
charge of this—have helped to keep those contributions
flowing and the Society thereby able to make music for our
audiences.
Ads
for our programs; store benefit days; the wonderful benefit
evening we enjoyed in 2005; revenues from our thirsty juice-drinkers;
the contributions from patrons, members, and friends of NSCS—Marj
Lundy, as vice-president for fund raising, has coordinated
these efforts with the help of her team of committee chairs;
and she has brought her experience, wit, and common sense to
the monthly meetings of the Board of Directors.
Patron
contributions have been the special responsibility of Kay Rossiter. Every
autumn we have looked forward to her eloquent talks to us about
how the Society depends on its members and friends for support. Eloquent,
and persuasive. (The on-air fundraisers for public radio
and TV could learn something by listening to her.)
On
behalf of the Board of Directors, and of the entire membership,
we say “Thank You” to Marj and Kay for all they
have given us.
A
man walks into a bar with his dog, which jumps up on one of the
barstools.
The
bartender says,” You can’t bring a dog in here.”
The
man replies, “This dog is very intelligent, especially about
composers. Go ahead and try him out.”
“Okay. If
he’s so smart,” the bartender says, “let’s
see if he can name the composer of six concertos written for a
town in Germany.”
The
dog looks at his owner, who tries to encourage him, and the animal
says, “Bach, Bach, Bach.”
“How
about a nineteenth-century composer who specialized in songs and
his first name was Hugo?”
The
dog thinks for a minute, then bursts out, “Wolf, Wolf, Wolf.”
“Wow,
that’s pretty good,” the bartender continues. “But
I’ll bet he can’t give me the name of a twentieth-century
composer who wrote a piece based on Medieval texts written by monks.”
The
dog looks confused, but again his master looks at the animal saying, “You
know that.” Finally the dog lifts his head and says “Orff,
Orff, Orff.”
“Okay,
now for a very hard one,” the bartender says. “Give
me the composer of Mathis der Maler,” at which the
dog puts his head down, apparently thinking. After five minutes
the bartender tells the man and his dog they’ll have to leave.
Back
on the street, the dog looks up at his master and asks, “Was
it Hindemith?”
Word
from the Treasurer
Imagine
for a moment that you would like to contribute to the North Shore
Choral Society (and which of us wouldn’t?) Now, imagine
that you have a heap of money and a bunch of stock that has grown
in value to use for this purpose (and which of us doesn’t?).
With
these lovely images in mind, the question now becomes – What
is the most economical way for you to contribute to NSCS? Let’s
look at your options:
- Should
you use your hard-earned (after-tax) dollars to contribute? If
you do, of course, you will be able to deduct the value of
your contribution on your Federal tax return, which is a nice
benefit. But this isn’t the wisest use of your
resources.
- Should
you sell some of your stock and then contribute the proceeds
of the sale? Again, you will be able to deduct the value
of your contribution – BUT, you will be taxed on the
amount by which your stock grew since you purchased it. Again,
not the wisest use of your resources.
The
wisest action is to contribute the stock itself to the
NSCS. That way, you won’t pay tax on the stock’s
growth AND you get to deduct the value of the stock, as well! You
help yourself while helping the North Shore Choral Society. (Note
that this works best with stock that has grown in value.)
There’s
only one logistical problem. Stock in your account may
only be transferred into another brokerage account – it
can’t be accepted by our bank. Fortunately, NSCS
has established a brokerage account to receive such donations. After
receiving the stock, we can sell it and deposit the proceeds
into our bank account. Here is the information your broker
needs to transfer stock into our account:
Account
Name: North Shore Choral Society
Account
Holder: Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
Account
Number: 1141-9660
DTC
Number: 0164
Tax
ID Number: 941737782
If
you want to give an actual stock certificate (i.e., not stock
held in a brokerage account), you must sign over that certificate,
as well as a “third-party release.” Please
contact me to get this release form.
Thank
you.
Wylie
Crawford
NSCS
Treasurer
