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Will Portland’s c
or will it succumb to Pearl envy?
Preaching to the choirs
E
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by Jonathan Kipp
The Portland Gay Men’s Chorus
sings home the message of tolerance
by
P aul F indlay
very four years, the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses
gathers all of its members for a week of singing, sharing and
House parties
celebrating.
raise money,
The G A LA Festival 2000 began July 22 in San Jose,
Calif., with 5,500 singers and 140 choruses from around the world.
awareness
We Portland Gay M en’s Chorus members were especially excited
Page 8
to be there, because we brought our specially commissioned song-
Learn how
cycle about queer youth, “Millennium Mosaic.”
A t our first rehearsal in the 2,700-seat concert hall where we
would be performing, our usually composed artistic director, Rob
Mensel, seemed a bit frazzled. Even he was affected by the magni­
tude of the event.
We only had enough time to sing one song and get a sense of
the acoustics— awful! It was like singing in a vacuum.
We couldn’t hear ourselves sing. Instead of calming our nerves,
we were now even more worried about our performance.
At our dress rehearsal, we ran through all of the songs, fixing
the little problems. We sang every song better than the last. Worry
gave way to excitement.
There was nothing we couldn’t do! At the end, Mensel looked
at the chorus, a huge grin across his face.
Continued on P age 3 6
to get
involved
Page 8
A history
of hate
Page 9
T h e Portland Gay Men’s Chorus sings a colorful “Mosaic.’