In 1960, while Car 54 and Andy of Mayberry paraded the occasional barbershop quartet across the small screen and the impressionable eyes of the nation, this month's featured BACman, wrapped in awe and diapers, was taking it all in!

Almost every kid wants to be a policeman and those who grew up in the boroughs in the early 60s also wanted to sing doo-wop. "How can I have it all?" is what must have been going through the nascent mind of future BACman Vincent Haynes.

Vinny listened endlessly to doo-wop on radio stations like WABC and WMCA. Sure, he took piano lessons and learned to read music as a child, like his older sisters, but it seemed as natural as mother's milk that he'd end up singing a cappella harmony, even if only on Queens neighborhood street corners with his friends.

In 1985, Vinny co-created The Triboros, a Brooklyn based doo-wop group. They did the street corner thing, but there were also private parties, dances and even a coveted appearance on Don K. Reed's Doo-Wop Shop radio show on WCBS-FM to boot.

Vinny's first real contact with live Barbershop and the Barbershop Harmony Society occurred when The Triboros were invited to perform at an outer borough Barbershop Society chapter open house. Vinney recalls that it wasn't a particularly eventful or seductive experience. By then, barbershop quartets, like those he remembered seeing on Andy of Mayberry and Car 54 were prosaic and passé. "My impression was like everybody else's" Vinny recounts, "four older white guys with striped shirts singing Sweet Adeline like in I love Lucy". That impression and Dixie songs of a dubious era didn't do much for him either, he added tactfully.

In 1989, in order to prepare for a new career as an officer in the New York Police Department, Vinny quit The Triboros. The group replaced him with another singer named Jeff Steinhardt with whom Vinny would became a lasting friend. It was Jeff, in fact, who reintroduced Vinny to barbershop, albeit 10 years later.

In 1999 Vinny reluctantly succumbed to Jeff's insistent, perennial invitations and agreed to see the Big Apple Chorus perform at Lincoln Center. Anticipating the worst, Vinny plotted an intermission escape. To his surprise, the 60 men he heard on stage "sounded really good...I was impressed," he conceded. He also liked the program because it was more contemporary and city savvy than he expected.

He was impressed enough that he started attending rehearsals with Jeff regularly and, like many of the men in the Big Apple Chorus, he quickly found that the camaraderie in the group was just as compelling as the music. Vinny joined the Chorus in 2000.

Over the years he has enjoyed performing in Big Apple Chorus shows (particularly the Chorus' sold out performing tour of Russia) and at International competitions. But he counts among his greatest singing pleasures, the simple ones. "I love the tree" (referring to the Big Apple "Chorus Tree" performances at South Street Sea Port)

In spite of his reluctance to mix his no-nonsense job as an Arrest Processing Officer with his passion for singing, he confesses to the pleasure of having performed in several V.L.Q.s (very large quartets) doing community service functions for the Police Dept, including: a posthumous honorary street renaming dedication, an officer's retirement party and a couple of police award ceremonies.

His service to the chapter goes beyond singing. He has served on the chapter Board of Directors, as a Member At Large, and is currently the chapter Archivist. He is responsible for maintaining past recordings, videos, photos and program records for the chapter beginning with the Manhattan Chapter's first show at Carnegie Hall in 1983. He has also been involved in several unique activities that have contributed to the depth and scope of the chapter, its culture, history and society wide recognition.

As an adjunct to his musical interests, Vinny also co-hosts a variety a cappella radio program called "Tuesday Night Swipes" with Marty Israel, from 7 to 11PM on WVRM 1620-AM and 91.9-FM in Montclair, NJ. The program can also be heard online on the Harmony Network.

Perhaps the most poignant of Vinny's musical experiences was his participation and role in a post September 11th Big Apple Chorus sing-out. During the painful aftermath of the World Trade Towers, when every anxious New Yorker (and the country) seemed at a loss for some outlet and expression of grief, Vinny helped secure a welcome from the New York City Police Department to enter the cordoned area of Ground Zero. There a small assembly of BACmen sang for the stressed and exhausted but completely appreciative workman and residents. Understatedly he says of the reception they received, "the reaction was unbelievable."

The services of Officer Haynes (as a member of the NYPD) and Officer James Patricia (as a member of the New York office of the FBI) -- both as members of the Big Apple Chorus -- were recognized when they were honored guests of the New York Giants and The Great Northern Union Chorus when they were flown to Minnesota to perform the National Anthem on television before a Monday night football game between the NY Giants and the Minnesota Vikings.

There have also been some unanticipated, non-musical rewards along the way for Vinny. "I've met so many different people that I would never expect to meet, and I've made a lot of good friends." He also credits his participation in the chorus with overcoming stage fright. He doesn't hide the fact that he revels in the recognition he has received in the Barbershop Society in general.

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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