This month we feature a member of our Chapter who has been active in the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) for nearly 35 years and is a dye-hard quartet singer since the age of 21. His abiding love of ethnic and cultural diversity lead him and those of us around him on a winding path of joy and growth. April's Spotlight, frames the variety of experiences brought to the Big Apple Chorus by Joe Husstege.

There seems to have always been music around the Husstege household. Joe's father died when Joe was nine and he's proud of his father's Dutch ancestry and his lineage to Holland's oldest and revered art-dealing families. But he attributes his musical inclinations and knowledge of popular American standard songs to his Italian-American mother who was a dancer and a big band singer on radio station WEVD in the 1940s. He also fell under the influence and watchful eyes of his strict godfather, surrogate guardian, uncle Pete who was a pianist, a bandleader and a professor of music. His ability to harmonize and love of barbershop he credits to his uncle Andy.

In 1970, when Joe was in his early 20s he was the lead singer in several summer, touring rock bands. It was Joe's falsetto that particularly prompted his uncle Andy, a member of Staten Island's Gateway to America, barbershop Chorus, to teach Joe a few simple but lush, harmonious "tags" (little four part song snippets as called by barbershop singers). Eventually his uncle had Joe harmonizing at family gatherings, to his uncle's bass, his cousin Cliff's Bari with Aunt Doris on lead.

In 1971 Joe took his uncle Andy's suggestion to visit the Barbershop Harmony Society's King's Chorus near Joe's home. "I liked the harmony but I thought the music was too square for my taste at first…and there wasn't a guy in the chapter younger than 35", which seemed very old to young Joe. In 1971, the phrase, "Never trust anyone over 35" was loudly ringing in ever young persons ears.

Nevertheless and surprisingly, Joe soon became a member of the Brooklyn chapter's Kings Chorus. The quartet activity was the big draw for him. "There was just a lot of spirited fun around quarteting there," Joe recalls. "We learned a lot of music and there was ample coaching available".

At 21 and after only 3 months at the Brooklyn Chapter, Joe's was singing tenor in his first quartet, The Kingsmen, with Al DiRaffaele (lead), Lou Gallina (bari) and Dan Lynn (bass). The quartet was passionate about performing and would often forgo even modest customary fees paid to quartets. They developed a large and diverse repertory that could serve any occasion and they performed regularly and often into the wee hours of the morning. They were also regular entrants in quartet competitions too. The fun they enjoyed was enough to sustain a 9-year quartet partnership and sowed the seeds of many long time friendships.

While active in the King's Chorus and the Kingsmen quartet he was attending St. Francis College, in Brooklyn for his undergraduate work. Joe simultaniously organized a small barbershop chorus at his college. His exuberance and musical leadership eventually earned him the director's position back at the King's Chorus.

In his second year at Brooklyn, while attending one of the Barbershop Harmony Society's workshops his interest grew even deeper roots that would last his entire life. He attended Harmony College (an intensive music program provided by BHS). There he mingled with and was befriended by many talented singers and internationally renowned coaches, arrangers and quartets who attended as staff and students alike. Some of those fellow students (like the members of The Dealer's Choice) soon thereafter went on to win the BHS International competition. "For me, Harmony College was the biggest turn around experience for me, by far"

Professionally Joe's career choices went from being an Ice Cream man (as a kid), to a paleontologist and a serious adolescent interest in becoming a priest. Ultimately, however, Joe earned his Masters degree in social work at Fordham University ('76). In college he developed a life long love for the social sciences, ethnic studies and cultural diversity. But life has it way of toppling a student's ivory tower. He landed his first professional social work assignment on the Bowery in a run down building once occupied by a Burlesque house named, Sammy's Bowery Follies of the Gay Nineties counseling skid row alcoholics.

Given his dismal work environment he found compelling reason to supplement his days with uplifting social activity. So, not only did he continue to enjoy the fraternity of barbershopping, but he simultaneously joined the National Parks Service as a Park Ranger, conducting tours of Ellis Island to cheery New York tourists.

In 1980 Joe loosened his ties to Brooklyn and began attending a Hampton Long Island Chapter with his new quartet, The Brooklyn Accent The quartet (Tony Prada- bass, John Schafer / Paul Santino -lead, Bill Lundy-tenor and Joe on Baritone) were drawn by its esteemed and lauded director, Don Clause. "The man had ears of gold." Joe recalls. Meanwhile during those same years Joe also began directing a women's Sweet Adelines International, Brooklyn chapter.

It was this association with Don Clause and perhaps the long drive home to Brooklyn that would ultimately lead Joe (like a handful of other, ambitious, barbershop singers, movers and shakers) to support the reinstatement of a once active (but then defunct) Manhattan Chapter and Chorus with Clause as its director. "Don said, he'd only do it if we'd give him 100 men". In 1984 under Clause and with nearly 100 other men (and a number of fine quartets) Joe joined in the chartering of the Manhattan chapter's new, dynamic and highly competitive, performance oriented, Big Apple Chorus He was one of the chapter's first assistant directors as well.

During the late 80s, while still active with the Manhattan Chapter and the Big Apple Chorus Joe joined yet another new quartet, The East Side Kids as it's tenor. But life's twisting path and an unexpected pink slip from the quartet lead send him spinning in an altogether new and fortunate direction.

"I've always had a curiosity for the odd hobby." Single and living in Brooklyn, Joe was used to living with many ethnic groups including the Norwegians living in his Sunset Park and Bay Ridge neighborhood. It wasn't so odd then that a passionate inclinations for travel, cultural anthropology, ethnomusicology, dance and (perhaps most importantly) Scandinavian women would conspired when he took his break from barbershopping to take up Scandinavian folk dancing (costume and all), prompted by one of the women who sang in the Sweet Adeline chorus he was directing.

Now, snicker as you might about those Scandinavian socks and Aeolian vests (as if straw hats are any different) but as fate would have it, Joe did in fact meet his amazing, gracious, music loving, future wife at one of those folk dances. Ironically too, Mireya was hardly Scandinavian. She had just arrived in to U.S. from Colombia, South America to pursue her PHD in cellular and molecular biology and hardly spoke any English - didn't I say she's amazing!

For a while, world travel and the ethnic folk dancing held Joe in its grip. Eventually the lure of Barbershop singing regained its hold on Joe when, in the early 90s he returned to the Manhattan Chapter and the Big Apple Chorus to participate in Calgary, Canada at the BHS International Annual Convention.

"I've always thought Manhattan has an interesting and varied repertoire. Particularly when we were in that Sinatra trend for a while. I thought, well gee, is this really barbershop...is it going to satisfy me? But you know what…it did" Joe finds that the stretch he's been asked to make in his otherwise traditional tastes and the fact the Big Apple Chorus has been able to make these edgier pieces work have been surprisingly satisfying for him.

He also found a new and warm welcome and more travel opportunities when he returned to singing and went to the outer reaches of the Barbershop communities of New Zealand and Australia as a visiting guest chorus coach.

Joe's aptitudes and professional skills of listening and counseling go beyond his work but also benefit his musical associates. "I think I'm a pretty good coach. I've been able to transfer those basic skills to how I talk to people and how I try to bring the best out in them" At the Manhattan Chapter, for example, Joe works currently with the Chorus's professional vocal coach, he does voice part placement with guests, he's the assistant Baritone section leader and he's an informal novice quartet coach. His mission of choice is "to enable new members to have as enriching an experience as possible," passionately adding, "if they only knew a quarter of what I've seen and experienced they'd love this hobby...and would be creative and put some of their own personality into it." "The most satisfying experiences you get out of barbershopping is singing really well for and appreciative audience."

"We have potential for quartets that could do stuff that no one has ever though of... maybe even singing in a foreign language or something that's a little funkier than mainstream barbershop... These are the things I get excited about".

In 2004, with years of fun filled quarteting and numerous award-winning quartets under his belt, Joe finally made it to "The Big Show" (the Barbershop Society's most prestigious and coveted contest and performance venue) the International Convention with Yankee Dime, a fairly new quartet. There he sang Baritone with Tony Carlini (Bass) and his fellow Big Apple Chorus riser mates, Eddie Holt (lead) and Rich Garodnick (Tenor). Great as the experience was too, however, Joe is quick to say, "For me, I love to compete but I love just as much the satisfaction of making beautiful music for an appreciative audience." They finished in 47th place but for many of the 60,000 worldwide barbershoppers it was an enviable opportunity and honor, especially for a guy who would be just as happy singing on a street corner late at night with his friends and couple of pretty girls there to sing to.

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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