There’s something about barbershop music that makes the genre so unique. It’s at once wholly American and wholly global, as the existence of organizations like Sweet Adelines International demonstrates.

In San Antonio, we have the Alamo Metro Chorus, a local chapter of Sweet Adelines. AMC and its affiliated quartets regularly travel and compete regularly in international showcases. I’ve heard them, so I can tell you they deserve it.

Which brings us to last weekend.

Last Sunday, AMC hosted a fundraising concert, “Fiesta….AMC Style.” The proceeds raised from the event helped fund the chorus’s latest trip, to the Harmony Classic competition in Baltimore.

It was a great show all the way around, a real With A Little Help From My Friends affair (though nobody actually sang that song. And I really wish someone had).

Nikki returned as MC, after doing a fantastic job at AMC’s anniversary concert in November. And it goes without saying (so of course I’m saying it anyway) that she did it again. From a behind the scenes standpoint, it’s always fun to see how she engages with artists and audiences. And as an audience member, she’s just really really good.

That was true of all the artists who performed that day. And as I’d mentioned before, it was a great lineup. The Marcsmen, Head Over Heels, Fourmost, Essence Quartet, and SoundWise brought music. NRG (from the Semeneya dance school) brought dance. Urban-15 brought both. I had never heard one of Urban-15’s drum performances before, and I’ve known of them for years. But after seeing them open the show, it was well worth the wait.

Looking back on the show (or maybe it’s listening back, I don’t know), it strikes me how… malleable barbershop music really is. Each chorus, each quartet, was immediately recognizable as Barbershop, but still managed to make the genre its own for its time onstage. And isn’t that what the best artists do?

It was another reminder of what great talent we have here in San Antonio. Wherever you’re from, whatever you learned growing up, there’s a pretty good chance that you have it in you to sing. To dance. To act. Maybe even to write. And whatever you have in you, it deserves a showcase.

So I’m grateful for events like this. I’m grateful for the chance to witness them. And far more than that, I’m grateful for the chance to take part in them.

So if you get the chance to see a show like this, take it. And if you get the chance to be in a show like this, TAKE IT.

Either way, I hope to see you on either side of the curtain.

Until then, thanks again for following along. Until next time, “be seeing you…”