Singing Valentines

     

     First comes Christmas.  Then comes others, like Halloween or Mother’s and Father’s Days.  Somewhere in there is Valentines’ Day. 

    Americans like to celebrate holidays by spending.  The holidays play a big part in keeping the economy going.  We spend the most at Christmas.  We spend quite a bit on the other holidays, too.

     Valentines’ Day seems tailor-made for those of us in the barbershop world.  The classic old love songs capture and celebrate the sentiment of the day.  Plus we can do our part to keep the economy moving by selling singing Valentines, helping to make Valentines’ Day the third or fourth most expensive holiday. 

     Singing Valentines keep our local barbershop group alive.  The proceeds help to hire a musical director and pay the rent to a local church that allows us to meet weekly on their premises and  provides housing for our music collection.  Two trailers in the church parking lot contain file cabinets and a set of risers.

     Every January, after we have recovered from the Christmas holiday, we begin thinking about doing singing Valentines. Singing songs to blushing recipients is the fun and easy part.  The first challenge is to find someone who will take charge and organize things. 

     That is pretty big job, taking phone calls and making out a schedule.  We had three quartets delivering this year.  Each quartet has to have its own schedule.  Coordinating things so the singers don’t spend all their time driving hither and yon challenges the organizer.

    Getting the word out to all the procrastinating husbands and fiancés is the second big challenge.  (Once in awhile we deliver to a male paid for by a female, but most of our jobs are boys hiring us to sing to girls.)  Advertising is expensive and not always effective.  We hang out posters in stores and restaurants.

     One of the best deals for us is to get a feature on radio, television, or in the local paper.  It’s free and a lot of people see it.  The problem is that most of that kind of coverage doesn’t appear until February 15, the day after Valentines’ Day. Too late to do us much good.

    Valentines’ Day falling on a weekend is also bad news for the singing Valentines business.  It seems most of our patrons prefer to embarrass their significant-other at work, among fellow employees.  Valentines’ Day on Sunday this year proved to be the lemon for lemonade.

     The quartet I just joined has delivered a Valentine to a local lady for the past three years.  This year she turned 105 years-old.  Great stuff for a feature story.  The lady’s son, the buyer of our service, agreed to have us deliver on Thursday.

     Rex, our quartet driver, made a discreet call to the local paper.  They agreed to have a photographer and reporter on hand on Thursday, 11:45 a.m.  It all came together, and voila!  We made Friday’s paper.

    For the complete story, you can go to

http://lovelandreporterherald.co.newsmemory.com/?token=5dyoFS%2for049lh5Bei9oVG5lW5j%2f9ui2&product=eEdition_rh

     Rex’s efforts paid off.  The three quartets delivered over 60 singing Valentines Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  We went everywhere from Assisted Living places to private homes, restaurants, the local Ford dealer, a horse barn, corporate headquarters, and a second hand store.  We finished Sunday evening about 8 p.m. in a classy restaurant where the proprietor’s wife hired us to sing to the proprietor.  She even gave us a tip—a drink from the bar and an appetizer on the house.  Nice way to conclude!

     Monday night, we celebrated Valentines’ Day a day late by taking our sweethearts out for a banquet at one of the nicer restaurants in town (paid for by us, not by the club or our weekend efforts).

      Now it’s time to launder our wash-n-wear white tuxedos, red shirts, and cummerbunds.  Polish those white shoes and put everything in the back closet.  Valentines’ Day will roll around again

     In the meantime, save your money.  Easter is a pretty expensive holiday, too.  Mother’s Day won’t be far behind.