Hello world. Welcome to WFHR's rapid support. Probably brought to you by
Croc Inceptic for the September 10th, 2025. Have your host James here. We're
joined right now by our friend John Geathers. John, good to see you again. Good to see you too.
Appreciate being here. Now, John's here to talk about an evening of harmony
going on over with our students, our friends over at Lincoln High School in this
great workshop that is going on with this, along with the new fangled
four. I want to get into the event itself, John, and talk a little bit about
this. And we've done this before. What I'd like to do real quick is get into
where this idea came from. And I know it's your second year doing something like
this. Is that correct? It is. So when it comes to bringing an act like this to
town, something along these lines, where does that begin? Well, this this
actually kind of culminates out of the shows that we do for the Barbershop or
Steven's Point Barbershoppers. When we bring in a good quartet like this, it's
expensive. So I thought, hey, let's bring them in for an extra day. See if we can
get some of the kids from the surrounding schools to come to Lincoln High School
and have them do harmony workshops. So most of these harmony workshops will,
you know, typically be like an hour long. Last year it was about seven. So we had
some great quartets last year, including the newfangled for and the kids love
them so much. They may be promised to bring them back this year. Right up, right
on. And they are very impressive. Incredible. They're amazing. And they're actually
amazing human human beings as well. So it adds up. You know, that's that's not
surprising to hear, especially that what I've seen to them online and that and
doing a little homework on these guys, certainly not only are they incredibly
talented, but the way that they work with the audience, a lot of that you can see
that there's good people, you know, and they sound so darn good together. One of
my favorite things about harmonizing is is one that it seems like even people
like me that can't sing can at least harmonize with somebody or at least, you
know, not that stand out too bad. It's where we affect the song or something. But
the the lesson that it is harmonizing and working with somebody else, playing
off somebody else, all of those things. Those are life lessons right there. Those
are things that you can take well beyond singing and work with in life. We
talk about this with sports all the time and encouraging kids to be in
athletics. Yeah, it's cool to see that kid go on to college or go on to the
pros, but we know the percentages that are very low. The idea of the next,
you know, barbershop quartet or what have you, getting a huge record deal or
something. The odds of that, we don't know. They're good or bad, whatever it is.
But we do know that those skill sets, these things, these kids learn in these
workshops. They can take that skills to anything. They can take that whatever
industry they go into, working with others, collaborating, all of that stuff.
That's no matter what industry you go into. That's business and that's
things that you can apply to it. Right. You know, music for me has been
a huge part of my life. I attribute it to saving my life as a kid
and just kind of making me who I am today. It's all about emotion, right?
And to hear to hear the Nekusa choir director tell me
that the kids were so pumped up to go, um, says something, right? Because now
you can't even get these kids out of their bedrooms. Right. Right. Yeah. I mean, it's like,
hey, my my 16 year old junior comes down and I thought maybe I saw him yesterday
and he's got a he's got a mustache, right? I didn't even know. Yeah, it's been
that long. Yeah. So, you know, and that that's that's part of this whole workshop
thing, right? If if we're able to, you know, bring a style of music,
not not just harmony, which is a huge, you know, barbershop is a subset.
So we bring in we bring in the the barbershoppers. We teach the kids just the
camaraderie between the different schools. What we did last year was a miracle.
I mean, it was it was absolutely amazing. It's never been done. Right.
It's impressive. Yeah, no, it's really cool. And we actually we actually had
the Manitawak Barbershop chapter email me the other day wanting to come to Lincoln
to see what we're doing. Awesome. So it's gaining it's gaining traction.
And, you know, Wisconsin rapids used to have such a robustness and such a rich,
you know, barbershop. Yeah, it had a presence. It had a barbershop presence.
It was, you know, something that I even know when I first came to this town,
hearing about things like that. So I know what you're talking about.
Bringing some of that back is wonderful for a lot of reasons.
Some we've mentioned already and bringing in an act like this and a performance like this.
We could talk for hours on the economic impact it makes and how much it helps out the whole
community and that. And that's, you know, key and don't want anybody to escape past that.
But there is another, you know, just as important impact that this has,
because not only is it entertaining people giving these kids an example and all that,
but it's also helping the Lincoln High School acquire department as funds will be helping that
going to help the department. Right. Yep. This, this, at least the concert portion of it.
Right. Right. That'll help cover the fee for the day. And then the rest goes right to Lincoln
High School. Yeah. And which is it makes a big impact. And, you know, no matter,
even if our schools were doing great as far as funds and everything, you know,
this would be added and appreciated. Let alone how it is in today's day and age. Every penny counts,
every bit helps. And anytime we can help our teachers, our education system in doing these things
is a great opportunity. It's a true win-win when you go, you get to have a good time. And while you're
enjoying these great musicians and this great music in the back, you're ahead in the front of your
heart knowing, oh, I'm also helping my community. I'm also adding to the betterment of my cute.
You're literally investing in the future. That's what you're doing by helping out anything involving
our education system. Absolutely. You know, I went to school to be a music teacher. Right. And in my
fourth year, they started, they started cutting funding for arts in the schools. So I changed
tracks. And now you look at the teachers and they're taking money out of their own pocket just
just to put signs up on the walls. Right. That's not really fair. No. You know, so this is something that
I thought, you know, hey, the main goal was to, you know, get those kids singing and harmony,
really bring in in barbershop and just camaraderie. And then, you know, we made a little bit of
money last year. So we donated it to the choir. And I thought, hey, you know, if we can put some more
butts in the seats. Right. And really make this, make this successful. It could change, it could
change the trajectory of this art form in rapid schools. And whatever art form, whatever kind of
thing we're talking about. And we see this a lot with even our, you know, some of our sub sports.
You know, we've heard a lot in recent years about ATV use and stuff and getting young kids doing
those because we've seen a lack of that. We've seen other industries where we're seeing people,
hey, get young people involved. Their brains are sponges. They take this stuff in. And so much of what
anybody we talk to really on this show, especially, we encourage the young people to be involved
because you just never know what might spark them, what might catch their interest. And where they,
you know, one kid doesn't, you know, care too much about it. Another kid is going to, this is
the new passion. This is something they're going to dive all into. And that's a great thing to be
able to find as well. And we've touched on it a little bit throughout the conversation. I really
want to focus on the workshop. Again, an evening of harmony featuring the newfangled four is going
to be coming up September 19th, show it 630 over at the beautiful pack at the performing arts
center. And with this is going to be a workshop involved in it for kids, Lincoln High School kids.
Yep. So we're also bringing in another quartet, which is a sweet Adelines quartet.
Oh, nice. So it's a little bit different this year, but a large makeup of the youth choir
is female. So Kathleen Harris from Jeremiah's Crossing sings in a quartet out of Appleton. And we
thought we would invite them to come in and do the initial, you know, two hours at the workshop.
So they're going to teach, they're going to teach a song to the chorus. We're going to work
for a while on that. And then we're going to do some pickup quartets, which is where you throw
four different voice parts, you know, so four people into a group, give them a tag, a barbershop
tag, just the last part of song and say sing it, right? So when they work on it, and if they're
good enough, maybe we'll put them on the show. If not, we won't. Oh, it's fun. That's awesome.
But after lunch, we're going to have the newfangled four spend a couple hours with these kids.
They're going to teach them a song, just kind of teach them, you know, how barbershop works,
kind of how to pull the taffy and, you know, kind of, I don't want to get too technical. But,
taking that sound and singing it right through the front of your teeth, and really teach them
what that barbershop flat seventh sound is supposed to be like. So it's a great thing for these kids.
They win some pretty cool prizes too. I've spent a little bit too much on that. I don't know what that's
like. Yeah, so then we're that night. We're going to come back. We're going to have the two songs
from the chorus. We're going to have my new quartet, which includes one of the girls from Lincoln
High School. We're going to put that together. We're going to sing a song. We're going to have a
couple of quartets. We're going to have a sweet addiction. Yes, one to make sure to mention that.
Yeah, the sweet, the sweet Adelines quartet. And then the evening, the evening is going to culminate
in listening to the great tunes of the new fangles for. Got a great day plan, great night
planned here with this. And it's so much fun. Well, this band coming to town, these guys performing
here, it's going to be fantastic. All the things you mentioned, this workshop, the impact it can
make, oftentimes I like to bring up examples from around the world or local examples or something.
It isn't every day that I got an example right in front of me, John, that you've kind of touched
on this already. How much these workshops can help kids. How much, whether it was a workshop that
helped you or not or just a teacher's added help or something, how much farther that goes for kids
and how much farther, how much of an impact it can make. Certainly, you know, I can talk again
again about the economic impact and, you know, getting great kids into good positions of the workforce
and all that. But let's just talk about having fun in life, in passions in life. And that's just
as important as making a paycheck and the idea of a kid being able to find a new passion,
be able to catch their interest in something. As you touched on, boy, good luck to every single parent
out there when it comes to that. It's not easy to do. But if they do it themselves or even if they're
just in the position to find out about something new, there's really no downside to this. It's nothing
but a win-win for not only our community before our kids. Oh, absolutely. You know, I can't name names,
but I do know, you know, one of the students at Lincoln High School, probably more than one,
that I actually know, have issues at home, right? Like, everybody's got issues. But to the point
where it's affecting their daily lives, they're in music. And when he asks him, hey, do you like singing?
I love it. It's my thing. You know, it's my out. It brings me closer to, I don't know, maybe
it brings a person closer to God. Maybe it brings, you know, a person closer to the person, you know,
next to them or, you know, it's just like a, it's a universal language. And those kids from what
I remember of last year, you know, not all of them get along, right? So, but during that day, it was
fun. It was laughing. It was hugs. It was, you know, it was something like something that every
parent wants to see, right? And I have a, you know, my wife and I have seven kids between the two of us.
They're all musical. And it pains me that they don't go out for choir. But, you know,
I'm trying to, I'm trying to get them involved in this too, but since it's a choir, they can't
be in it. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, what you're bringing up about your, your guys' kids and
kids in general like that, it's certainly just giving them options or just giving them the
opportunity to be able to do these things can open up a whole new world. While I wasn't in a choir
or, or anything, I was one of those kids who was struggling with a lot of stuff at home. And I
was lucky enough to be able to afford for a little while renting a trumpet and I got in a band
and it gave me focus and it gave me something in outlet, something to put my attention to my,
my overthinking brain into without not necessarily thinking about all these other things that were
holding me back and stuff. I bring that up in one beat to add on to what you're saying there,
John, but also to add on to, you know, the, again, part of the impact of this in raising funds for
the choir department. I had to stop playing trumpet because my family couldn't afford renting it
anymore. I don't want one kid to ever be in that position. No kids should be in that position.
You want to play an instrument. Here it is. We got enough instruments. There's enough out there.
There's teachers willing to teach. There's, if these kids are willing to learn, let's get them the
tools they need to learn. I, whatever it might be, here's an opportunity for us to be a part of that.
Here's an opportunity for us as a community to help with that. Right. Yeah. So like, you know,
I wanted Julie to be here today. Yeah. Which she's, she's obviously being a teacher. I don't,
I don't know if, if the community really understands what we have in Wisconsin Rapids for a choral
teacher. She was just honored by Northwestern University. Right. She was a sensuous
constant teacher of the year, unbelievable professional. Right. She, even my own kids,
when they're in music, they're not only looking to play and to be a part of the song,
they're looking to be a part of another family. Right. A lot of these kids will go to Julie
Stoffel or Gene Olson. When they're having a bad day, they go to the choir room. They go to the
bathroom. They talk to those teachers because those teachers, they, they, they exude emotion. Right.
And that's what these kids need. So that's kind of what attracted me as a young, young person to,
you know, to music, to, you know, singing in the concert choir, UWSP and vocal jazz and all
of these different genres. And, you know, ultimately, barbershop, which was really difficult for me
as a classical trained singer. But, um, you know, these, these music teachers bring so much more to
our children than just the curriculum. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So the, all of these kids that are going
to be in this workshop, they live in, in, in, in breathe music. Right. So that's the other reason I
really wanted to get this going and rapids because it's something for the kids to look forward to.
It's not just, you know, honors choirs or, or, or Dorian at Luther College. But this is
something that you will never see. Right. You don't see, you don't see a top five, you know,
world famous quartet coming to little Wisconsin rapids. Right. To even stop to get gas. Right.
Right. Right. Right. Last year, I brought in the culvers and I introduced them to quick trip.
Oh, no wonder they're back. Of course, they, they, they said they wanted to come back. So that's
why we brought these guys back. And when we told the kids it was this newfangled for the room just
exploded. I can only imagine we're very excited about this. Certainly, these guys being here,
that's going to be fantastic. But you laid out the whole evening so well for us. And with this
workshop and these bands, these things that are going to be created from that and getting
entertainment and great, great music from all of that. And kind of leading into this fantastic
evening of Harmony featuring the newfangled for its coming up September 19th. Be sure to get your
tickets. John, when it comes to tickets, send them to Saver the Arts. Is that where we should
send them for tickets? Yeah, you can, you can call Sally over at the Arts Council. You can go to
Saver the Arts or you can go to LHS Harmony.com. And both websites great again, Saver the Arts.com.
You've sure to reach out to them, not only for this show, but all the great shows that got going on.
I'll season Sally and Eric will be with us to talk about those later in the month. And we're
looking forward to it. John, always appreciate the time. Not only do we appreciate your
putting up with me and my questions, but certainly everything you do in this community. I mean,
keep up the great work. Say hi to Julie for us and all these kids. I will. Thank you. Thanks, John.
And thank you for joining us for another edition of WFHR's Rapids Report.
