Inspired by their high school singing careers, four Saint Michael's friends formed a barbershop quartet two years ago, and since then they have quadrupled the size of the group. This year they are a 15-member, four-part men's a cappella choir, named "Mike Check." And the gig invitations are flowing in.
"Mike Check" sang to an SRO audience in the Alliot Student Center Eddie's Lounge in December, presenting ten songs and some improv, to great applause. They sang the national anthem at the January 24th and 31st Saint Michael's home basketball games in the Ross Sports Center, and performed at the 3rd annual Vermont Family Network Walk-a-thon in the Tarrant Recreation Center on Sunday, Feb 8.
The dedicated group rehearses twice a week, and performs a varied repertoire of barbershop standards like "Goodbye My Coney Island Baby," current hits like Ben Fold's "You don't Know Me," and classic a cappella arrangements like Billy Joel's "The Longest Time." The group is currently arranging and learning new songs for an album they plan to record in March.
Upcoming "Mike Check" gigs:
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March 6 at 9 p.m. in Alliot Student Center for Friday Night Dry, sponsored by the Student Association
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April 4 at 2 p.m. in McCarthy Arts Center for Family Weekend, along with four other musical acts
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April 16, a concert with the Westford Academy choirs in Westford, Mass., the high school alma mater of one of the singers, Chris Gosselin
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April 17 they will perform at the Massachusetts State House at noon. Rep. Jim Arciero's office is helping them set up the concert. Afterwards, they will sing to pedestrians on the Boston Common and at Quincy Market.
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Saturday, April 18, "Mike Check" will be back in Vermont performing on Church Street for the lunch-time crowd, followed that evening by an end-of-the-year concert April 18th, on campus in Alliot Student Center Eddie's Lounge.
To book "Mike Check," contact Tim Mason-Osann by email:
tmasonosann@smcvt.edu or by phone: 207.272.3538.
Saint Michael's College, founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nation's
Best 368 Colleges. A liberal arts, residential, Catholic college, Saint Michael's is located just outside of Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns and less than two hours from Montreal. As one of only 270 institutions nationwide with a prestigious Phi Beta Kappa chapter on campus, Saint Michael's has 2,000 full-time undergraduate students, some 500 graduate students and 200 international students. In recent years Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Guggenheim, Fulbright, National Science Foundation and other grants, and Saint Michael's professors have been named Vermont Professor of the Year in four of the last eight years. The college is currently listed as one of the nation's Best Liberal Arts Colleges in the 2009
U.S. News & World Report rankings.
Photo caption: Saint Michael's College "Mike Check" singing group: front row, left to right, Jon Wheeler, Jan Leja, Chris Crocker, Peter Hudson, Adam Reczek, Zach Pratt, Phil Noonan; back row, left to right,Chris Gosselin, Chris Lavalee, Miles Gasek, Jared Palardy, Bobby Gaglini, Craig Ueland, Ed Griffin, Tim Mason-Osann