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Finally I find time to update the news section of our
website again. We just completed a ten day stretch
during which we sang five concerts, four of them in
a span of five days. Needless to say, we are exhausted
and ready for our Christmas break to come next week.
Last week, on Wednesday the 7th, we performed in Rogers,
MN, for the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce. Jake
was unable to sing, so we gladly welcomed back Andy
Johnson, a former Limestone, for that evening of singing.
Andy was a member of the group that graduated two years
ago, so it was great to have him back with the group
again for a night. Not to mention the grandeur
of the facilities. It really was a pleasure to
sing that evening.
Sunday morning, December 11th, Faith Lutheran Church
in Waconia, MN, invited us to sing two songs during
their morning service and then a full set between their
services. This was a homecoming for Marc, whose
family attends FLC. The sound in FLC was unbelievable,
and it was definitely one of our most enjoyable locations
in which we've ever sung. The congregation was
so welcoming and appreciative, and we hope to return
once our upcoming CD is released. Thanks especially
to Marc's parents, Scott and Jan, whose hospitality
was unbelievable. What a great night!
Tuesday night was our traditional home Christmas
concert. The crowd was fantastic, and we enjoyed
ourselves as much as we ever have in a concert.
It was also possibly the best we've ever sung in the
Pause, so Tuesday really was a great night for us.
A group of about fifty St. Olaf alumni held a breakfast
yesterday morning, Wednesday the 14th, in the Cities.
We were thrilled to sing for former St. Olaf students.
It's amazing to see students get together after fifty
years and still share the same bonds they created when
they lived on the Hill together. We enjoyed meeting
former St. Olaf students, and it was a privilege to
realize that we're a part of this group of students,
past and present.
This evening we finished off our first semester with
a concert in Hopkins, MN. We sang at Oak Ridge
Country Club for Jake Mahler's father's company, and
it was fairly well received. Again, a very nice
venue in which to sing, though the timing was made interesting
by late finals and heavy traffic.
And now, we rest our voices for several weeks.
We'll pick things back up again in January, just in
time to record our upcoming album at the beginning of
February. We're excited for the next couple months
of singing, and we'd love to hear from you before then!
Thanks to everybody who made this semester such a
success and so enjoyable for us. We've had a great
first half of the year.
Merry Christmas!!
We've got sound clips!!!! After months of sitting
around trying to find time to spend on the website,
the mystery of embedding sound clips has been uncovered.
Visit our "repertoire" page to find a few audio clips
from the group. This is one of the biggest breakthroughs
in Limestones technological history, so don't miss out!
No real news to speak of, but we have set a date for
our Christmas concert. The 2005 Limestones Christmas
concert will be held Tuesday, December 13th, at 7:30
in the Lion's Pause of St. Olaf's Buntrock Commons.
Once again, admission will be $5, free for students.
We're working on a large new chunk of music by then,
so we hope to see a big crowd again in the Pause.
We're absolutely working our butts off, so the concert
should be an excellent one.
Well, this past month has turned out to be full of amazing
experiences for us. Our fall concert back on September
9th went as well as we could possibly have hoped for.
The crowd that came to support us was phenomenal, and
we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves up on stage. The
next night saw us traveling to Mankato, MN to sing for
the 100th birthday of a house. We were well received
at that party and found the evening to be fun for all.
This past weekend, September 30th, was the first Limestones
reunion concert. Limestones from the past 17 years
of the group came to participate, and we were lucky
to meet members of the group from all the way back to
the founders of the Limestones. It was such a
thrill to meet the original Limestones, and we were
incredibly honored to sing with them and hear stories
about the Limestones of old. It's amazing to see
all of these groups come back together after anywhere
from two to fifteen years, and all of a sudden they're
back in college again. We were blessed with an
amazing experience this weekend, and our thanks goes
out to those who made this reunion concert possible,
particularly Jed Anderson, David Hein, Ben Lunstad and
Aron Acurso, who were instrumental in getting the reunion
off the ground. And the support from the student
body and family and friends was beyond anything we had
hoped for; thanks to all the current and former Oles
for your continued support of the group. This
was an excellent way to usher in the Bob Gilhoi Endowed
Scholarship, dedicated to the late father of the writer
of Cream of Wheat (or Malt-O-Meal, whatever it's really
called). What a weekend!
This year is looking to be a good one! Camp Limestone
was a fantastic experience, preparing for the fall concert
and hanging out as a group. We are incredibly
grateful to Drew's family for their hospitality over
the course of the week. It was great to hang out
with his cousins, and his mother and grandparents were
more welcoming than we could have dreamed. And
the food was most excellent!
We're less than two weeks from our fall concert, and
we're excited to be performing at Olaf again, in the
Lion's Pause. The concert will be Friday, September
9th, at 7:30 pm, and we hope to see a huge crowd there
as this group performs its first concert together.
Here it is, the end of the year. Our concert in
the Pause was a huge success! We felt great about
our performance, and were really happy with the crowd
that turned out, especially for a Monday night.
Agnes, Olaf's new female ensemble, was also amazing;
we were thrilled with their performance, and look forward
to working with them in the future. But now this
group has reached the end of the line, and it's time
for us to take our finals and part ways. This
group has grown extremely close over the course of the
year, and we hate to have to say goodbye to Nev, BK
and Zac, but we've been blessed to have them with us
this year, and the group as a whole has really been
fortunate to have some fantastic opportunities and an
incredible group of guys.
Looking towards the horizon, we now begin thinking about
next year. We're excited already about our week
of rehearsing before school starts ("Camp Limestone,"
to some), and our opening fall concert has been set
for Friday, September 9th, in the Pause. Next
year is of special interest, because some members from
previous Limestones groups have taken the initiative
to plan a reunion weekend, including a concert, which
will be held on Saturday, September 30th, in The Lion's
Pause. We're bringing back as many former Limestones
as can attend, so it will be an event not to be missed!
But for now, finals beckon, with summer break just around
the corner. We will soon bid St. Olaf a fond,
temporary farewell, and we wish our departing members
the best of luck, Nev in his continued studies at Olaf,
and BK and Zac as they graduate and move on in their
lives. Thanks for making this year a memorable
one, guys.
Auditions for the '05-'06 Limestones are now over, and
we have selected three new additions to the group for
next year. The new Limestones are Skip Napier ('06,
VP), Jake Mahler ('07, tenor) and Jeremy Berger ('08,
bass). Congratulations to Skip, Jake and Jeremy, and
a big thank you to everybody who tried out. We were
caught off guard by the amount of talent in the auditions,
and the decisions were much more difficult than we expected.
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