Celebration of the Heart - December Event at JSUMC

We held our Celebration at midday this year, to accommodate people who didn’t want to go home in the dark. In spite of the cold weather we still had a good attendance. Even so, the consensus seemed to be that we preferred to meet later, and Len Talalai, our chapter Vice President, promised that the 2010 Celebration of the Heart, on December 9, would be later in the afternoon.

The first order of business was serving lunch, and a fine heart-healthy lunch it was. Len Talalai called us to the buffet by table number and warned us to take fish or chicken, not both, at least until everyone had been served. Next on the meeting agenda was to give everyone a numbered ticket for the drawing for the door prizes. Of course, we were all chatting merrily while this was happening.

Then Len said a few words about Mended Hearts, explaining that “Life doesn’t end because you’ve had surgery; life begins because you’ve had surgery.” Then, to round after round of appreciative applause, he introduced the chapter officers, other members of the chapter who help keep the chapter going, and people at the hospital who support the chapter in one way or another. And he invited all those present who were not members of Mended Hearts to join the chapter. It’s not too late–there’s an application form at the back of this newsletter!

Len paused, and someone shouted “Let’s give a clap for Lenny!” and Len got a round of well-deserved applause. Then Len introduced Bill Ryan, the chapter President. Bill said a few words, principal among which was giving thanks to Meridian Health for their support of the chapter, pointing out that there was no one at the door collecting money from all who came.

After a pause for setup, the entertainers took over. First we all stood and joined in the National Anthem. Then I learned that I had misspelled the name of the group in the announcements - they told us they are the Matinee Idles, because they’re retired and if they didn’t sing they’d have nothing else to do. Opening the program with “Another Opening, Another Show” from the musical “Kiss Me, Kate,” they followed with some joking about growing old and went into their theme song, “We Sing for You,” featuring some good old-fashioned barbershop harmony.

Between songs they invited the men to join the larger chorus of which the Matinee Idles is a part: the Chorus of the Atlantic, the Red Bank Area chapter of the International Barbershop Harmony Society (also known as SPEBSQSA - Ed.). They meet Tuesdays at 7:30 at the Red Bank Middle School. In case you think you’re not professional enough, we were reminded that Noah, who built the Ark, was an amateur; the people who built the Titanic were the professionals.

Within the group that came to entertain us were two barbershop quartets. The Classy Seniors sang “Minnie the Mermaid,” and later on The Bayshore Four sang “Coney Island Baby.” The whole group sang another half dozen or so songs - with comments - did you know that “Beer Barrel Polka” is a translation of a song published in Czechoslovakia in 1934?

The program closed with a medley of patriotic songs by George M. Cohan: “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and “You’re a Grand Old Flag.” After a pause to make sure everybody had a numbered ticket, the drawing for the door prizes began. I don’t know how many prizes there were, but there were a lot. When there were none left, Lenny thanked us all for coming and wished us a safe trip home.