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Some of us proudly display our Medicare cards. |
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| Sitting down on the job seems a little unfair. |
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Aren't we all supposed to be together in this dance move? |
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| Our "Thinker"! Hold the presses!! Bob just bought his first cell phone. You can reach him on his new number, 1-800-FOR-HAHA. |
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Our "serious" bass clef. |
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| Our "dignified" treble clef. |
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Our logo displayed on shirts and jackets. |
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| Performing at sea on the 2009 Semester at Seas voyage to the Central America countries and through the Panama Canal. |
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Jim's found the ideal post-retirement job in Costa Rica pulling in bananas from the fields. He got the job by singing, "Come Mr. Talleymon, talley me bananas..." The pay isn't much, but the monkeys in the banana trees seemed to enjoy the cheap entertainment. |
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| Here's our keyboard phenom, Craig Wasner! He was the primary instrumentalist and tracks creator for our first accompanied album, Golden Gospel. In December of 2009, we recorded another gospel CD called, Golden Gospel II, this time with Craig providing piano tracks to go along with our vocals. His keyboard work is more than enough to make this a great CD. We just tried not to mess it up!
We are also doing some live performances with Craig. Our first was on July 1, 2010, at the Good News! Gospel Sing in Philadelphia. Later that same night, he joined us on the AIC (Association of International Champions) Show. There's nothing like starting off with the big shows! His remarkable talent is a great addition to our quartet! His great sense of humor also makes for some fun rehearsals and performances. |
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Here we are at Wild Sound in Minneapolis, in the process of recording our new CD, Golden Gospel II. The new album has been a lot of fun (and work) to produce. It features ten of our favorite gospel songs done in barbershop style with piano accompaniment. Our pianist and fantastic musical talent, Craig Wasner, of Northfield, Minnesota, provided us with the inspirational and motivating piano tracks! We released the new CD in May, 2010. |
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| Here's our famous "Mr. Wizzard", Matthew Zimmerman, of Wild Sound in Minneapolis. This photo was taken during the December, 2009, recording of Golden Gospel II. If you look carefully at the upper right screen, you can actually "see" our voices on the new recording. With Matthew and his great equipment and programs, we have no excuse but to put out a great product! |
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Here's the newest addition to the Foy family! Molly Grace Foy, daughter of Jim & Kay's youngest son, John, which makes Molly the newest grandchild of Jim & Kay Foy. Born 12/28/09. |
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| Molly's "so big"! |
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And there's more from the Foy clan! Here is Jim & Kay's first great grandson, Timothy James Westlund. |
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| This is why Rod lives in Florida during the winter. |
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Arch Street United Methodist Church,
55 N. Broad Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19107.
This was the site of the 2010 Good News! Gospel Sing. OC Times and piano player, Craig Wasner, were our fantastic guest performers. The audience singing for our three guest directors, Joe Liles, Jim Bagby and Drayton Justus was outstanding, as usual!
Located at the corner of Arch Street and N. Broad Street, it is the oldest structure in the Center Square area. In 1987, the 125th year of the church, the sanctuary was painstakingly restored to its original colors and ornamentation.
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| This is the interior of the Arch Street United Methodist Church in Philadelphia, site of the 2010 Good News! Gospel Sing, which was held on Thursday, July 1st from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. The church was a very short walk from the convention headquarters, which helped with the excellent attendance.
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Our latest award, although we really don't know who nominated us or how we won. However, it is a very handsome and appreciated award. |
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| Thanks for the recognition! |
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Some think this quartet looks a bit like ours, but can the tall one dance? |
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| Our quartet even smells better than this one! |
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Pals! |
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| Here we are with our great friend, Paul Nystuen, of Northfield, Minnesota, while in Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul. The picture was taken on December 27, 2008. Paul passed away on February 21, 2009, after a long recovery attempt. We will miss him the rest of our days.
Paul has been a Saint to us! You have likely seen his smiling face at many of the international conventions. He, and his son Tom, have become an indispensible part of the Good News! Gospel Sing team. Our mission has been made much easier and fun because of Paul and Tom! |
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We were in Paul Nystuen's hospital room trying to "lift his spirits" and wouldn't you know... he hit us with another of his famous one-liners... as we were trying to entertain him!
We will miss him at the 2009 Anaheim Convention! |
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| Who are these fresh new faces? How about the Happiness Emporium from 1973?
35 years and two baritones later... less hair, more gray, some added weight here and there... but still performing on a regular basis! |
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35 years later! We gave the attendees at the 2010 Philadelphia AIC Show a sneak preview of our next 35 years. Uff-da! That's Minnesnowtan talk for "whatever you want it to mean." |
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| Well, we can dream, can't we? |
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Central Presbyterian Church was the site of the 2007 Good News! Gospel Sing in Denver on July 5th.
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| This is a view of the sun-splashed interior of Central Presbyterian Church in Denver, the site of the 2007 Good News! Gospel Sing. This beautiful church was filled with the great sounds of your barbershop gospel singing! |
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This excellent Sweet Adelines quartet, Expressions, attended the Land O' Lakes District Harmony College in Clear Lake, Manitoba. The Happiness Emporium was on the coaching staff, and we enjoyed singing with them on the Saturday night show. |
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| Saint John Catholic Church was the site of the 2006 Good News! Gospel Sing in Indianapolis. It is across the street from the RCA Dome and the Convention Center. The date was Thursday, July 6, 2006, and the time was from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. |
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Inside from the rear of Saint John Catholic Church. Seating capacity was about 1,000 using the balcony and setting up chairs. No columns to obstruct views. Concerts are held in the church on a regular basis, and it was air-conditioned! |
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| This picture of Saint John Catholic Church was taken from the steps of the RCA Dome across the street. The Convention Center was directly across from the church and the parking ramp. Other major hotels were also very close. |
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The Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City was the site of the 2005 Good News! Gospel Sing, which was hosted by the Happiness Emporium (the Good News! Quartet). Check the inside photos to see that it was a full house...plus!! |
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| Our guests this year at the Good News! Gospel Sing included the Great Northern Union Chorus. Later in the week they were once again winners of a bronze medal in an extremely tough chorus contest. Is that Bob Dowma in the back row out of uniform? |
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A big day each year for the Happiness Emporium is hosting and performing on the Good News! Gospel Sing at the International Convention of the Barbershop Harmony Society. On July 7, 2005, there were an estimated 1,200 attendees at the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City. Seating capacity was rated at 950! (Note: Bob paid the quartet a $1.00 fine for forgetting to wear his medal during the event!) |
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| The Happiness Emporium with Glenn Van Tassell at his Sarasota, Florida home in February of 2004. We dedicated our newest gospel album, "Beneath the Cross II", to Glenn for his courageous and inspirational struggle with ALS. On September 13, 2005, Glenn's life on this earth ended. The Heavenly Choir is singing much better now. Thank you, Glenn, for all you meant to so many people. |
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The Minnesota Twins' mascot, "T.C." wants to join the act as the Happiness Emporium prepares to lead the fans in, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." |
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| The Happiness Emporium is shown here perfoming on the 2004 AIC Show in Louisville, Kentucky with the AIC Chorus as our "high priced backup group." |
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The H.E. did an impromptu performance at The Abbey Tavern while touring in Ireland. They just happened to have four mic's on stage for us to use. |
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| One of the benefits of performing is the opportunity to meet dignitaries. Here we are pictured, in October of 2003 during our tour of Ireland, with the Lord Mayor of Dublin and the Chairperson for the 15th Annual Irish Association of Barbershop Singers Convention.
Performers were from the countries of England, Scotland, Wales, Sweden, Netherlands, Israel, United States and the host country, Ireland. We found Ireland (including Northern Ireland) to be a wonderful place to visit, with many outstanding sights and very friendly people. |
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From our pals in Ireland. |
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| This photo was taken in December, 2004, during the Christmas Cantata performed by Inspiration. They are the praise choir of Lamb of God Church in Estero, Florida. The H.E. sang a benefit show for the Lamb of God Church building program with Inspiration on March 11, 2005, in Estero. |
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Can you find Bob Dowma and Rod Johnson in the photo? Hint... They're both tall, so they would be in the back row. The picture is of the Great Northern Union singing the National Anthem at the 12/24/04 Vikings/Packers game. |
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| Cameo performance during 2005 AIC Show in Salt Lake City. |
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2005 AIC Show in our AIC Chorus blazers. |
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| Singing in the AIC Chorus in the LDS Conference Center. The theater was magnificent! |
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Rick in the front row and Rod in the back row during 2005 AIC Show performance. |
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| Rehearsing on stage for the 2005 AIC Show in Salt Lake City. |
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Inside jokes and grins during AIC Show preparation. |
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| AIC vowel shapes seem to be working. |
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The "fearsome foursome" teamed up at the HarmonyWorks Make-A-Wish Golf Tournament at the Elk River Country Club on August 8, 2005. Results? Not bad... 6 under par with 20 putts. Maybe there's hope! |
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| The bass cleff more than held up their end of the golf team. In fact, Rick eagled one par five hole all by himself! Jim's drives were much improved this year. His new driver must have cost him big bucks!! Don't tell Kay. |
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The treble cleff practicing their golf gestures. The quartet sponsored a hole for the tournament, but couldn't find their own cart, so they bummed a ride in the Commodores' cart. Notice the Golden Gopher head cover on Rod's driver? Bob may want to buy the driver, but he'll likely wait until it's depreciated a little more. |
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