Final prep included the "application of ashes", which is what many of the guys used to "get dirty".

The final rehearsal was at noon at the hotel.

Bemo's final thoughts.

Don Ransom (presentation guy extraordinaire) also had final instructions. Our entrance was very intricate.

Sandy also had some final motivation, telling us his character's story.

We loaded buses across the street from the hotel. It's about a 10 minute ride to the Conference Center.

In the "old days" we comfortably fit on one bus, now with 88 guys, we crowd into TWO buses.

Street urchin Kenton Miller.

Unloading at the Conference Center...

...and head into our normal entrance.

Up the escalator...

...to the picture area.

Richard Crumley is DEEP in thought.

The group behind us was dressed as scarecrows -- and later did a very clever routine.

After pictures, back down the escalator...

...out the main lobby...

...across the patio into another lobby.

While we waited outside our final rehearsal hall (a 900-seat theater also in the Conference Center), we took our traditional overhead picture.

Finally we head into the last warm-up room.

Cindy Hansen, our presentation coach, met us in this room.

Next we headed through a long hallway to the backstage area.

Bemo addresses the group.

EVERYONE was still there for Bemo's comments.

Again, the group stayed together.

We took pictures in the lobby area outside of our seating area. Seemed an odd place to take pictures. This is actually the group ahead of us.

The group as grown a LOT since Buckeye last year, let alone the growth from a couple of years ago. By the way, after the 16th chorus contestant tomorrow, we will be presented the top membership growth award -- FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW!

Sorry for the fuzzy picture, but I had to get Cindy with her brand new BarberBoys button.

This is the last picture I was able to take (other guys may have more later). It was certainly a thrill to get onstage. We were happy with our performance and had a blast presenting it to the audience. We're just not sure if the judges saw it!

After hearing that we were not in the top six or mic tester (seventh), Bemo went down to get our scoresheet. This is when we found out we were 9th.

I was proud that our entire chorus and supporters stayed in the seats to hear Bemo's comments. No other chorus was seen in the hall meeting like we did -- that speaks well for the comraderie of our group. Win or lose we stick together.

Byron also told us that of the 12 competitors, five had medaled and three of those were International champions. In a way that only left one slot with a bunch of choruses trying to fill it.