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On Sunday, June 25th 2006, Ches-Mont, Chester-Pike,
and Freedom Chapters ushered at the Lion's Club International's
Charity Concert for the James E. "Bing"
Miller Foundation, featuring the 60's musical group The Duprees.
The concert was held at the special Outdoor Pavillion at Longwood
Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.
18 DeMolay members and one prospect attended, decked-out in matching
shirts with the Longwood Garden's logo identifying them as the concert
ushers. DeMolay helped out the Lion's Club wherever they could,
taking tickets, escorting attendees to their seats, offering directions,
and assisting handicapped attendees. DeMolay even assisted in setting
up the Pavillion and managing the crowd that steadily formed around
it. I got a thrill when one of the Duprees personally asked me to
move his car in the parking lot before the performance, and threw
me the keys to his car!
What about the performance? It was simply phenomenal. Despite the
rain, the Duprees showed up in classic style, looking sharp in their
tuxedos as they sung a variety of tunes. The four-man vocal group
was assisted by a 7-man "Duprees Orchestra", performing
a stellar selection of classic songs like "Mack the Knife",
"All Night Long", "Volare", "You Belong
to Me", and "I Believe I Can Fly." I was raised on
much of this music, but most of the DeMolays probably have only
heard these tunes in passing from commercials.
In between songs, The Dupree's baritone singer Tony
Testa even asked what kind of music the DeMolays listened to. When
one member answered "rap", Tony broke into a rap session
right on the stage - impressive!
The Duprees were a class-act even after the concert was finished.
After a long night of singing and signing autographs for the crowd
(almost 300 people), they followed up with signing the shirts of
the DeMolay ushers, and took time to have a couple group photos
taken with the DeMolays!
All in all, it was an outstanding night, and like the Duprees themselves,
many members left that night saying "We'd love to come back!"
Good music, good laughs, good fun, good work. What's not to love?
Steven
R. Walkling, MC
Freedom Chapter
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