InCider Press, August 2003, page 3

Call it pure luck, a stroke of genius, or just plain havin' fun, Russ Young's visit to the Little Apple was a great success. Russ, a well-known and sought after barbershop coach and chorus director, had planned to visit friends in Manhattan prior to attending our Society's annual Harmony College in St. Joseph, Missouri, where he would again serve on the faculty of this great school.

An accomplished judge, Russ currently serves as Category Specialist for the Singing Category of our Society's judging program. In this position, he is responsible for making assignments for all Singing category judges to some 90 different contests our Society holds each year, is responsible for overseeing the training and certification of candidates who want to become judges in the singing category, and represents the category as a member of the Society's Contest and Judging Committee. Russ currently directs a new chorus in the Phoenix area, and coaches several quartets. His next quartet is "in the works", but when it does debut, it undoubtedly will be one of high quality and national rankings.

Since he had been here in Manhattan for one of our shows as the baritone/bass of SRO Quartet several years ago, Russ contacted Bob Swenson about possibly having

some fun at our chapter meeting on July 24. Russ was visiting Jack and Norma Larson, whom he had worked with in a high school in Arizona. Jack, as the principal, and Russ, as the choral director, had developed a great friendship so his mission to Manhattan served two purposes.

Needless to say, the evening was full of electricity, great chords, fun, and learning as Russ worked with the chorus on "Once Upon A Time" and "Irish Blessing". Russ's fun way of making corrections, his insistance that we "stand while sitting" and his great understanding and experience in the barbershop world made a wonderful evening of leaning and sharing.

As luck would have it, neither of our "regular" directors were able to be with us that evening, yet with Assistant Director Myron Calhoun heading up the evening, we had a great "regular meeting". While we wouldn't trade Russ for either Ken or Don (or both for that matter!), we're sure all in attendance felt that Russ Young would certainly be welcome for a return engagement. Thanks, Russ, for a great evening!