So, in case you’re not in the Vanderbilt University Concert Choir, here’s what you need to know for any of this to make sense: Vanderbilt pays for us to go on a tour every spring break as a recruiting method for the university. The locations change according to a four-year rotation, and this year we went to Chicago and St. Louis. Every year, I keep a journal of my tour experience, and this year was no exception.
Day One – Friday night through Saturday Night, February 27th and 28th, 2009
You know what I love? Over-packing. That’s exactly what I did again this year, only this time, I didn’t have to bum a ride off JCR to get my bags to the MRH. I was still late, but so was everyone else. I’ve decided that over-packing and being late are VUCC Tour traditions for me.
Let me back up a bit. Earlier on Friday, I went with Ryan Brazile to Target to acquire secret buddy gifts at real-world prices. (All the food at the munchie marts on campus is ridiculously overpriced. We were delighted to find Goldfish for less than seven dollars.) At Target, Ryan bought a full-sized pool noodle for his secret buddy. We both thought this would be an amusing and original idea. When we arrived at the MRH later that night, we were disappointed to see that two other people also thought it would be an original idea. There were three pool noodles in the secret buddy gift pile.
We hung out and killed time at the MRH. Men’s Group sang, Chamber Singers sang, and everybody ate cookies and drank hot cocoa. Oh, and it was Bill Molesta’s birthday! Happy 22nd, Bill.
The bus was packed and rolling by about midnight. Appropriately enough, someone played Mulan, and we all sang along with the “Be A Man” song. It wasn’t long after that before I dozed off. Here’s the magical part: I didn’t wake up again until we stopped for breakfast at Cracker Barrel five hours later. After breakfast, I fell asleep again, and when I woke up, I was looking at skyscrapers. Oh yeah.
We didn’t really have anything planned for our first half-day in Chicago, but it didn’t take long for us to find something to do. The Art Institute of Chicago was offering free admission for the month of February, so Saturday was our last chance to take advantage of that. We walked many blocks in the (freezing) cold to get there. The museum was nice. There were many original Van Gogh and Monet paintings, as well as a variety of other intriguing art forms. I took some photos.
After the museum, some of us went for REAL Chicago-style pizza at Giordano’s. I shared a deep dish Hawaiian pizza with a few other people, and it was wonderful. We decided to take the train back instead of walking so far in the cold, which was a good decision.
Back at the DoubleTree Hotel, I played some guitar while Craig played violin before a much-needed shower. Then, Room Titillation napped… hard. We all slept for roughly four hours. Then some of us had to leave for ice-skating, which I didn’t sign up for (I find it boring). So when people left, I went down to the lobby in search of free wi-fi and to start this journal. That’s right; the internet was only free in the lobby. If you wanted to use the Internet in your room, it would cost you $10 a day. And the pool? $15 a day. Ridiculous. This is why I’m a Holiday Inn kind of guy.
Then dinner happened. Casey, Angie, Sam, Katelyn, and I went to Panera. I got broccoli cheddar soup in a bread bowl, or, as I call it, a “loaf of soup”. The girls thought that was a gross name for my entrée of choice, but I don’t care. It was wonderful. Also, Sam expressed his insecurity about the fact that I may record embarrassing things he says in this journal. So… this is how that worked out.
Later that night, a couple guys joined me for a hangout in David’s room. This actually started when Craig and I decided to go play “You Raise Me Up” outside his door until he opened it in amazement. That was a fun conversation. I enjoyed getting to know David a little better. We played a bunch of songs together, sometimes using David’s supernatural ear talent to find chords we didn’t know.
Not too much else happened that night after David kicked us out. Back in the room, it didn’t take long to fall asleep.
Day Two – March 1st, 2009
We had to wake up early to leave for the First Presbyterian Church in Arlington Heights. This is Allison Lock’s home church, and she met us there. We didn’t so much give a concert as just kind of fit our music into their church service. It probably wasn’t worth the hour-long trip to get there. When we left, Robbie read the horoscopes to us. Always entertaining.
For lunch, we chose Chipotle because there was one near our hotel. Okay, I need to talk about Chipotle for a second. Apparently, a Chipotle is coming to Nashville, and everyone is really excited about it. I’ve heard endless tales about how much better Chipotle is than other burrito places like Qdoba and Moe’s. People are crazy about Chipotle. Needless to say, I was anxious to see what all the fuss was about. My verdict? If Chipotle is better than other burrito places, it is only marginally so. Specifically, their tortillas were of better quality, but the chicken was spicier and there were fewer options. (I don’t like spicy food.) All other ingredients were exactly the same. So, if you are one of those people who LOVE Chipotle but HATE Qdoba, open your eyes. It’s the same food.
At Chipotle, I began texting my brother Bart to see if he could remember which movies were filmed in Chicago. Some of my favorites on that list of films include Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Dark Knight, Home Alone, Planes Trains & Automobiles, and Rookie of the Year.
It was snowing pretty hard when we visited the Sears Tower. As a result, the view from the top was less than impressive. I took photos of everything but the view.
I was tired when we got back the hotel. Nap time.
Our group dinner happened at a restaurant called Capi’s Italian Kitchen. The “group rate” was $22.50 per person. Dinner was fun, but the food wasn’t nearly good enough to be that expensive. The total check was almost $900, and we had to pay it in cash. I joked that Capi’s didn’t really have a group rate, and we were scammed into paying too much for our food. But seriously, it was a huge rip off. Dinner was good, though, because we started getting to know Tyler Verdell a little better. He has sat next to me in choir all semester, and only now am I starting to talk to him. My name is Shane Stever, and I am a jerk.
The PJ Party, an annual Tour tradition, happened that night. We played all the usual games. David broke the ceiling trying to hit a piñata, Eeyore was enthralling (and heated), and Do You Love Your Neighbor was crazy as usual. I laughed really hard. The laughing continued when I returned to my hall to find a big group of choirites in one room taking turns reading a graphic romance novel aloud. Ridiculous.
I got to bed around 2:15. Luckily, we didn’t have to be up as early the next day.
Day Three – March 2nd, 2009
We got to wake up late, hallelujah. I grabbed a bagel, and we bussed to Hinsdale Central High School. I guess we added Hinsdale to our itinerary kind of late because we sung in their band room for two different periods of music students.
Just… in their band practice room… no auditorium, no risers.
Regardless, both of our performances for the students went well. Men’s group seemed to work nicely.
It was awkwardly between lunch and dinner when we got back to the hotel, and I was hungry. Someone suggested Giordano’s again, and I thought that sounded like a great idea. A group of us walked down there for a second dose of deep-dish Chicago-style goodness. After that, we lingered at the hotel until Second City.
I had signed up for Second City weeks before Tour. I wouldn’t have missed the opportunity to see them perform in Chicago, and I was very excited. Second City is a famous improv/sketch comedy club that has served as the launch pad for dozens of celebrity comedians over the past 50 years. Many SNL cast members got their start at Second City. The show was fantastic. I laughed really hard. We even saw Andy Enkeboll there… random! But the drinks were perhaps the most expensive in Chicago. Andy Brookshire and I shared a thirty-dollar pitcher of Chicago Fire, a really fruity mixed drink. So basically, we found the gayest drink on the menu… and then we split it.
I ended my day by making a run to the grocery store with a few other guys. Craig hadn’t bought anything for his secret buddy since Friday, so we had to help him get back on the ball with that. Sam was also negligent in his duties; he bought fruit snacks for his secret buddy, but he couldn’t refrain from eating them. It was a simple day, but a good one.
Day Four – March 3rd, 2009
On the mornings where we get to sleep in later, we just stay up until 2 AM to make up for it. When the wake-up call comes, we still want to destroy the phone.
Our last concert in Chicago was at Naperville North High School. This was also our last school performance for the tour. Again, we performed for the school’s choir students in their choir room. It has been a bit upsetting that we were given such small spaces and small audiences at the few schools we visited this year. On previous tours, I recall performing in auditoriums for entire student bodies. The scale of our school performances was significantly smaller this year, and I’m not exactly sure why. Maybe it’s the economy.
We were already checked out of the DoubleTree, so we left directly from the high school for St. Louis. The drive to St. Louis took about 5 hours. We didn’t have anything official planned for the night, so I got in touch with KJ Blair (one of our BYX pledges who happens to be from St. Louis) to see if he wanted to hang out. Much to my delight, KJ was available. He picked Ryan, Craig, and myself up from our Holiday Inn (yeah, eff you DoubleTree!) and took us to a sweet place called Fitz’s for dinner. Fitz’s is a restaurant/brewery famous for its root beer. It was delicious. I enjoyed a cream soda, a burger, and good company.
After Fitz’s, we went to KJ’s house to meet the family and hang out. It was delightful. We watched American Idol and parts of High School Musical 3.
“Did that junkyard person just do a triple pirouette?” Good times.
I am SO GLAD we got to hang out with KJ in St. Louis. Definitely one of the highlights of this tour for me. He drove us back to our hotel, and we were mostly in bed by 3 AM.
Day Five – March 4th, 2009
The highlight of the day was our performance at the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica. I was able to wake up at noon because we didn’t have to sing until 2 PM. That was nice. The Basilica is outrageously beautiful. The artwork alone inside this massive structure took 70 years to complete. It features the largest collection of mosaic artwork in the world. And concerning VUCC, the space is known for its seven-second acoustic reverberation time. It was a pleasure to sing there, except for two things. For one, we were only able to do a small selection of our sacred music. But mostly, there was a guy buffing a wall in the lobby of the church with an electric sander, and he refused to pause while we performed. So as our chords rang out in the space, they were accompanied by the shrill whine of a power tool. That was upsetting. But! My day was brightened once more because KJ showed up at the concert with his mom and two sisters. What a swell guy.
After the Basilica, the group went to the famous Arch, but I didn’t go. I hadn’t signed up for it because it was $15 and I had already spent enough money. I went back to the hotel and took a nap.
I woke up around 6 PM, which left me an hour to find my final secret buddy gift before banquet. In Nashville, I had bought gifts for every day of Tour except the final day. I planned to get a nice souvenir or something for my final gift. So Craig and I set off around 6:30 to search the surrounding area for a gift shop of some kind (Craig needed a final gift as well). Unfortunately, nothing within walking distance was open. We were out of luck, so we had to get creative. We ended up giving our secret buddies a few snacks from the vending machines with an I-O-U for a guitar-violin serenade.
The final gift-giving is a part of the ceremonial revealing of secret buddies that happens during Tour Banquet. As it turns out, my secret buddy was Robbie Jones, our accompanist. Her final gift to me was a cool choral CD featuring some pieces she knew that I liked. It was really great.
The banquet food was good this year. It was Italian. The quotes and superlatives were especially entertaining. In general, banquet went really well. In keeping with tradition, many photos were taken at the conclusion.
There was much music-making that night, and it began with Craig and I serenading our secret buddies (Ayla and Juliana) with a folksy-bluegrass rendition of “You Are My Sunshine”. From there, a bunch of us all sat around in someone’s room playing every random song we could remember. That fun lasted several hours. I even got a massage out of it.
When the campfire-esque group finally broke up, I went and hung out in Isaac’s room with him, Grace, Steven, Alex, and Bill for a while. That was cool. By the time I got to bed, I was extremely tired.
Day Six – March 5th, 2009
I woke up early enough to enjoy the continental breakfast this time. We had one last concert to give, even though banquet had sort of “concluded” tour the previous night. We sang at the Christ Church Cathedral for a small audience of mostly senior citizens. Unlike the Basilica, we were able to do our complete program in this Cathedral, including our secular pieces. So we got to do “That Lonesome Road” and the Men’s Group piece “Grace Kelly”, both of which afford me a solo. It was pretty awkward to perform “Grace Kelly” in a church for that audience. I thought it was funny.
The Cathedral was a nice acoustic space. The reverb time wasn’t nearly as long as that of the Basilica, but it was rewarding to sing there. Afterwards, I changed clothes and re-boarded the bus for Nashville. We dropped some people off at the airport as always, but I prefer the cheaper method of getting home.
VUCC Tour 2009 went off without a hitch. It was a great tour, especially for David’s first one. Huge props to him and the officers, especially Isaac, for a job well done!
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