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In this monthly feature we spotlight the diverse backgrounds, passions and colorful personalities of the men in the Manhattan Chapter, whose contributions add vitality, texture and depth to the inimitable Big Apple Chorus esprit de corps.

Gary Ford is your typical, iconoclastic, New Yorker; and that's odd because he's not from New York. Listen closely and you'll find that he has some pretty gnarly angles on the music that Barber shoppers love to cherish. If you're a member of the Big Apple Chorus you're gonna love 'em!

He grew up in California, Ohio, and Virginia, the son of a career Air Force chemist- a military brat from a very conservative family. OK, there are only two stereotypical ways to go from there. Yup; by the time he went off to college, his family's mobile homesteading had broadened his world-view that embraced adaptability and a social stand more liberal than his folks'. Not altogether surprisingly he was drawn to social activism. Hey, it was the 70's. No real paradox about that.

But, after living in New York City (a blue town) for nearly a decade, he did a couple of things he said his friends might consider "abruptly out of character". They knew he earned his BA in psychology at a patently left-wing, "experimental" college (Antioch). As a child of the 60's, he is naturally a die-hard rock and roll fan. The Gary they knew surrounded himself with heady intellectual pursuits -like earning a Masters at NYU in Cultural Anthropology and Sociology. His career path was heading him towards not-for-profits, public and social services or journalism--after an internship at The Staten Island Advance. Yet, surprisingly, in the late 80's he became a commercial real estate broker, and in 2001 he became a Barber Shop harmony enthusiast (of sorts) and a member of the Big Apple Chorus. Now that's radical!

Unfettered thinker that he is, Gary doesn't see it as inconsistent or paradoxical for him to indulge in (what is stereotypically thought of as) prosaic, conservative, or mercenary endeavors. He refuses to think or act stereotypically. "You have a richer life, you get along with people better and appreciate other people better if you keep track of whether or not you are being a little too closed in your thinking. One way I try to keep myself in check is to come up with new experiences and new challenges."

No doubt that's what he found doing brokerage in the shark infested waters of New York City. That's apparently what he found in the Big Apple Chorus too. "There are always new and fresh things to learn. It always involves some kind of communication and a special kind of expression in a community that is constantly stimulating and satisfying. It's not easy to communicate the richness, diversity and different types of experiences people have in their lives. To me art and music are a way of doing that," to which he adds, " I'd rather be a participant than a spectator."

So why this chorus? It didn't hurt that in 2001, when he joined the Manhattan Chapter, the chorus was scheduled to go on a singing tour of Russia; or that the chorus performed regularly at Lincoln Center. But there were other reasons to join. "One of the reasons I joined the chorus was because I thought Joe was a fantastic director. I could see that, after being there a half hour" About Joe's directing, he reflectively notes, "In a way your [Joe's] job is to tell people what they are doing wrong and to change it and to do that in a positive way that inspires people. It's an art form in itself."

"I probably wouldn't belong to any other chorus and I don't really like Barber Shop", he says with a self-conscious laugh [heavens!]; "but I like this chorus because it has a lot of passion and a broad interpretation of what barber shop is. This chorus seems more experimental [than other choruses]. They use the Barbershop style more as a model than as a restriction. Before I joined I would not have expected a Barber Shop chorus to be doing Broadway songs or Sinatra or bluesy gospel things… or Elvis: with a great sense of humor too! It's a lot of fun!"

Gary's involvement in the Chapter goes beyond the music. In keeping with his preference for being a participant and not just a spectator, he has skillfully chaired the Big Apple's Annual Show at Alice Tully Hall for 3 years. He concedes that it's time-consuming, but he adds, "I though it was fun and a sociable thing to do. It helps you to get to know people in the chorus better". No small task; certainly one that exercised his love for new experiences, and challenging creative growth.

That same devotion to challenge also takes form, for Gary, in serious, routine weight lifting. Regarding any similarity between the allure of the gym's dead weights and the chorus, he muses, "obviously on the surface they are completely dissimilar. [But] In the chorus every time you take a new song, in a way, you're starting from a stand still- you are making that song happen- it doesn't exist for me until I can actually sing it with feeling. Aside from the creative satisfaction and the community -- which is a big deal for me --both [singing and lifting] are an exercise in will power and bringing something to life that was inert".

Gary lives in Queens (a dense, culturally diverse, melting pot --even by New York standards) so he walks the walk when he says, "I love variety. Diversity is the spice of life". The way he sees it: his activities are actually all just vehicles directed to a few universal objectives. Almost everything he does -whether it's his hobby or his work-- all boil down, he says, to a driving need to communicate, to exercise his creativity and to the extent to which he values people. The medium is somewhat irrelevant to him.

"Life exists for me in its diversity and in creativity and appreciating what's around you -especially the people around you." Regarding the Barbershop Harmony Society in general he says, "We're not there just for the technical task of producing music. Producing music is part of a broader sense of community - making the whole experience much more enjoyable and the music better"

Pretty square stuff for a one-time radical dude.

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Steve Adams	Dan George	Gabe Butler	Glynn Fluitt	Jim and Michael Steiner

Scott Brannon	Gary Ford	Brad Verebay	Vinny Haynes	Frank Hendricks	The Patricias

Bob Kovach	Joe Husstege	Gordon Harrison	Roger Payne	Dick White

John Gouveia	Pat Kelly