SEQUIM — If you’re going to drive across the nation, you need some good songs to sing.
That way, you and your fellow travelers can purr your way from coast to coast, passing miles and time with sweet music.
That’s the plan behind “Harmony Hi-Way,” this Saturday’s show starring the Olympic Peninsula Men’s Chorus, the Grand Olympics Chorus of Sweet Adelines and, for extra merriment, the Seattle-area quartet Madison Park.
The flock of singers will offer two performances Saturday — at 2 p.m. and, as is the men’s chorus tradition, at 7:07 p.m. — in the Sequim High School Performing Arts Center, 601 N. Sequim Ave.
All seats are $12.
Tickets will be available at the door Saturday and in advance at Sequim’s Pacific Mist Books, 121 W. Washington St., and Port Angeles’ Port Book and News, 104 E. First St.
Especially for this show, the men’s chorus, which has members from Joyce to Port Hadlock, is building a bus. And, show Chairman Rich Wyatt said, they will put that thing on the stage.
This is because the Olympic Peninsula Men’s Chorus doesn’t just do a straight concert; the singers weave their songs into a story, with plenty of humor running through it.
Transcontinental journey
Saturday’s saga is a transcontinental journey replete with songs about American places: “Coney Island Baby,” “Shenandoah,” “Country Roads,” “California Here I Come” and finally “San Francisco Bay Blues.”
The bus, Wyatt added, “has some very special qualities.”
For example, the chorus will travel across the country in around 45 minutes, including the stops.
Catch the bus
“The bus also has a very dramatic effect on the two guys who are sharing the driving,” he said, adding it’s “something that you will need to come and see for yourself.”
The “Harmony Hi-Way” concerts will go off on a few musical side trips, naturally.
The Grand Olympics Chorus women will take the audience to “Tuxedo Junction” with director Mike Menefee playing trumpet; the chorus will also sing Menefee’s arrangement of “Rhythm of the Rain.”
Aspire!, a Sweet Adelines quartet featuring Linda Muldowney, Connie Alward, Mary Ellen Bartholomew and Lindy McLaine, will do a five-song set to include “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” “Happy Together” and “Time in a Bottle.”
The No Batteries Required men’s quartet will step up, too: Wyatt, Rich Johnston, Bud Davies and Jim Muldowney will sing, among other numbers, “Bye Bye Love” and “When I’m 64.”
Tribute to departed three
The two performances will conclude with a tribute to three Olympic Peninsula Men’s Chorus singers who died this past year.
Hans Kask of Sequim, Jerry Erb of Port Angeles and Ted Anderson of Port Townsend will be remembered with the song “Irish Blessing” as part of the finale.
To find out more about “Harmony Hi-Way” and other men’s chorus activities, phone 360-681-7761 or visit the Olympic Peninsula Men’s Chorus page on Facebook.
The Grand Olympics Chorus of Sweet Adelines International, meanwhile, is accepting new singers and can be reached via www.GrandOlympicsChorus.org.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
