ACDA 2014 Santa Barbara

Ever since I got into SLVA, I've been anxious to go on my first tour because I knew it would be then that I would really start to connect with new friends.  Every musical group or play I've been in has resulted in a handful of life-long friends and SLVA is delivering.  We traveled to beautiful Santa Barbara in February to perform at the Western Division ACDA 2014 Conference (American Choral Director's Association) along with a couple dozen other groups from all over the west.  It's a pretty great honor to be invited, and an even bigger one to be invited to nationals in Salt Lake City next year!  We're crossing our fingers for that one…  Check out my group.  Where's Waldo Rachael?

Upon arrival into Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, I rented a car and drove up the coast to beautiful Santa Barbara.  It's one of my new favorite places.  My old friend, Jon Taylor, was nice enough to drive up from Irvine to meet me to hang out a bit that night.  It was so good to catch up!  Wes and I joked about my romantic walks along the beach with another man.  

We found Zoltar from the movie, Big.  Remember?!

And of course, our romantic walk along the beach, finding seashells for my boys.  :-)

We had really bad old-tasting seafood on the pier at the Harbor Restaurant.  Never will return.  

Only a handful of group members arrived Wednesday night as I did; most came in the next morning.  Unlike regular tours, we all kind of fended for ourselves with transportation and food, etc.  When we all needed to get to a performance together, we took The Party Bus which will forever live in our collective memory as a hilarious experience.  Sing Loud, Sing Proud!  (P.S.  That's my friend, Brad Bangerter.  He sang in MoTab for six years and maintains that the level of music we sing in SLVA is far and away more challenging than the Tabernacle Choir, which is why I will wait until Dr. Allred retires (or dies) to audition.)  

The Party Bus came equipped with Christmas lights and a stripper pole.  Load forty singers on it including one pregnant lady and pump some K$sha, and it's a party unlike any other.  There is video.

I love these two; Tara and Andrew Wardle.  Tara has the voice of an angel and is due next month with their third boy and Andrew makes me laugh so hard I CRY in almost every rehearsal.  He used to be in the BYU Men's Choir and sings with SO MUCH INTENSITY, I've honestly become a more confident singer standing next to him.  That is, when I'm not poking fun at his visual crescendos.  

Our first activity as a group was to sing for a high school choir.  We also got the opportunity to meet with the composer of one of the songs in our program and perform HIS song in front of him! (Alleluia by Jake Runestad)  Pretty amazing.  The guy couldn't have been older than twenty-six.  

The high school choir was in for a treat when Brady stepped in to do some guest conducting.  Here he is trying to get a teenage boy to EMOTE in front of the girls.  Hilarious.  

Here is Jake listening to his song performed for the very first time.  Everyone had goosebumps.  He had a few suggestions for improvement but was generally blown away.

And thus we returned to The Party Bus.  Check out my friend Zach Pearce who has since lost over 20 pounds doing paleo with me.  We started a Facebook group that now has over 20 members, many who have lost 10+ pounds in the last month!  He also happens to be designing my new photography website.  

We had a half-hour to rehearse on the Granda Theatre stage, to get our bearings before the show the next day.  It's always interesting to hear how the sound carries in different venues and make mental adjustments before a performance.  

This might be my favorite picture from the trip.  Our fearless leader, Dr. Brady Allred. 

The Fess Parker Doubletree typically charges $720/night for our double queen room, but they gave the choirs special conference pricing of $200/night.  Split 4-ways…not a bad deal.  It was ritzy.  

A few of my fellow altoids.  We've already become such close friends.  (Left to Right: Emily Kimball, Bethany Dunford, me, Elizabeth Bankhead)  

Don't tell Wes, but some of my favorite people in SLVA happen to be guys.  That's what you get when you grow up with brothers and 99% of your friends are male.  I like the no-drama aspect of guys.  It's just fun and easy. I should mention that most of the guys in the group are married LDS fathers.  

This is my "I'm really enjoying this non-paleo horchata" look.