Thanks so much everyone at Rogers TV!
Daytime Ottawa immediately posted the Thursday, Jan 23rd interview with Holly And Pierre on their main page and Youtube channel.
#Ottawa Altos, tenors and basses email us ASAP at info@stairwellcarollers.com to set up your 15 minute #audition Wed Jan 29th.
About The Stairwell Carollers: Pierre Massie created our a cappella choir in 1977 while he was a music student at Ottawa University. With wins in both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions, we are ranked among the best of Ontario choirs. A registered Canadian charity, The Carollers also help local charities with net proceeds from concert tickets, CD and cookbook sales. Since 1997 we have donated over $143,800 to local charities and scholarships.
I've always been one of the oldest members of the Stairwell Carollers - if not the OLDEST - at our choir's 20th anniversary in 1997 I was 41, but still didn't look a day over 30. Pierre had HAIR - and I shampooed out my grey at home in 20 minutes.
Joel actually joined our group soon after our first appearance on his show back in 1993. He sang with our choir for 3 years but never did a Regional segment with us during that time, concerned about how it may look.
This was also the CD launch for Qui creavit celum, and a final song for Katrina. One of our finest sopranos, Katrina lost her battle with breast cancer soon after recording her tracks for our CD. We dedicated Qui creavit celum to her memory and net proceeds enabled us to give a donation to the Breast Cancer society.
We all grieved the loss of a dear friend and an angelic voice.
Joel used clips from our previous appearances on Regional to do a beautiful tribute to her in this episode.
A registered Canadian charity, we also help local charities with our concerts and CDs !
The Stairwell Carollers:
Pierre Massie started our a cappella choir in 1977 while he was a music student at Ottawa University. The Stairwell Carollers are ranked among the best of Ontario choirs, winning both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions.
Gladly, we have saved all our TV appearances. Thank goodness, since the terrible fire at CTV studios in 2010 destroyed much of their archives and all old Regional Contact episodes. Pete uploaded the segment to YouTube today for everyone to enjoy. You should see it embedded below.
This would be the second time we appeared on Regional Contact. We were thrilled that Joel got permission to film at the Billings Estate.
When we arrived, costumes were already there for us to choose from, delivered from Malabar. We all played dress-up to our heart's content. I loved my brown velvet cloak! Being the Drama teacher in the group, I especially enjoyed doing this little Victorian romp!
Joel and Michelle looked great in their outfits too. Of course, they filmed the intro before we got there. Each of them did their own segments separately back then, so Michelle was not there when we did our taping.
We filmed all the interiors and the walk up to the door at the Billings estate. Everyone got a little cameo scene.
Pete got to do a hilarious bit where he walked back and forth through the trees behind the estate -- so many times! He had to chop away at a little tree repeatedly till the cameraman thought the shot was good enough! They assured me it would survive the abuse.
The shot where we are singing by a street lamp were done on set in the CTV studios. At that time we had a makeup person and our own dressing room. We felt like TV stars for sure!
Thanks to Joel Haslam, Michelle Dubois, Max Keeping, CTV and Regional Contact for the wonderful Christmas season memories!
The Stairwell Carollers, an a cappella group, formed in 1977 by director Pierre Massie, has earned the distinction of being ranked amongst the best of Ontario choirs. The group took first place in both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association provincial competition.
Yay! A small contingent of the Stairwell Carollers were invited to appear on Daytime Ottawa with Derick Fage. We braved one of the first snow storms of the season to arrive at the Rogers TV station in lots of time for the live show at 11:00. The hour show is repeated throughout the day.
We warmed up in an unused studio and premiered the new black cloaks for the guys. We think they look pretty cool and they are actually cooler than the green cloaks (lighter weight fleece).
We sang two carols, Wassail Song and Carol of the Bells. Pete chose these since we know them by heart and they are well known favourites.
Andrew, a new Stairweller this year, and obviously very 'puter literate, popped our segment on his YouTube channel -- you can watch it below. A tiny version of the Stairwell Carollers, which now has 30 singers.
Blooming Crown Of Thorns -- photo, Holly Massie, all rights reserved
A long-time dear friend, comic book artist, Mike Grell, just sent me this Youtube Video. A wonderfully old-fashioned rendition of "O Holy Night" sung by Ernie Ford and Gordon MacRae -- names familiar to those of us 55 and older :)
Mike had no idea his little email would stir recollections of my own childhood Christmases. I was only three years old when this aired -- but it is so familiar to me -- and lovely to see and hear again. Hope it brings back memories for you too.
So I decided to search You Tube for my all time favourite Christmas album -- The Sound Of Christmas by Julie Andrews. This is the title song from that album.
It was great seeing Joel Haslam again -- as some of you know, Joel was a member of the Stairwell Carollers for almost three years, following our first appearance on his local show many many moons ago.
When Joel heard about Pierre's compositions receiving attention from our Dominion Carillonneur, Dr. Andrea McCrady, he was eager to follow up on the story.
Here is his little jewel of a piece, positive and uplifting, as always. Thanks, Joel:)
Recorded live at our 2011 Woodroffe Church concert, "Stille Nacht", this Rogers cable TV Special is an hour and a half of traditional and brand new Christmas carols to enjoy all this week on Ottawa's Rogers cable channel
Way back in 1990, when human beings were still manning all the cameras at CJOH and show guests had a dressing room and a makeup artist, Joel Haslam decided to do a segment on us for his own show about local talent in the Ottawa Valley, Regional Contact .
We went on, in later years, appearing many times on Regional Contact (as well as on other TV specials and spots) but our relationship with "Regional" became more special than we ever could imagine.
The first time we met Joel, he, and his cameraman, followed us singing on Sparks street -- and onto an OC Transpo bus. Thank goodness he didn't use the recording done on the bus, since the bumpy ride gave us a challenge to even stay in tune! Then, on Parliament Hill, we stood in a wet, sleety, snowfall singing for the mounties. They seemed to appreciate our efforts to cheer them and we appreciated the cozy fire barrels set up for the public -- and the free hot chocolate. Even then we were jokingly calling ourselves the "Eatwell Carollers". We started the episode on the grand staircase at the Chateau Laurier and finished in the CJOH studios.
The Stairwell Carollers, CJOH studios 1990 for Regional Contact
Joel and Pete discussing carols
All recordings were done live.For those of you who don't know, a 7 minute segment on Regional Contact took hours to shoot, and Joel hung out with us for most of the day.
You may notice how tiny the group was. At only nine members, we had not yet considered going into any competitions or recording CDs. We had however, a cassette for carols released in and CFMO produced a recording on vinyl in 1985 that raised thousands for Ronald McDonald House, so our mandate of raising funds for local charity was already set.
Waiting for them to set up the cameras at the Chateau, Joel chimed in with us on a verse of one of the carols. Pete remarked that he thought Joel had a great tenor voice and asked if he wanted to join the group. Joel grinned and asked Pete if he was serious, Pete said of course, I never joke about music -- and, with that, Joel joined our merry band.
The crew was a lot of fun
Luckily, we had saved a copy of our episode, since The CJOH newsroom and many of the archives were destroyed in the fire that engulfed the CJOH headquarters on Merivale road in 2010. It is embedded here for you to view. Please excuse the lack of quality as it was transferred from an old VHS tape.
Joel stayed with the choir for almost three years, only quitting when the birth of twins and increasing responsibilities with Regional got too weighty for him to juggle. He asked that we keep his involvement low key, and did not appear in many of the TV spots we did on all the local stations.
Joel, Dawn, Bob, Margo and Louise
Joel is a truly humble and sweet person. When you watch Regional Contact -- he is that guy you see. Funny, friendly, warm, serious and silly -- his contribution to the choir was so much more than his sweet tenor tones.
Back in 1988, we were part of a CBC Christmas Special starring Ottawa's own Holly Larocque. Holly was grace personified and the whole choir (all eight of us) couldn't get over her powerful Julie Andrews-quality voice.
We spent eight hours standing, and singing, on a staircase at the Wilson House at Meech Lake, (where the Meech Lake Accord was signed) and further hours at Bayshore shopping center.The whole cast and crew were so professional -- they made the whole process fun and it went smooth as silk. Pete even got to arrange a special intro to "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" for us to sing with Holly.
The funniest moments I remember were...
-- hair and makeup for the whole cast in the most famous home on Meech lake.Very odd indeed!
-- the crew outside throwing fake snow past the window -- since we had to film in September
-- Holly's dog Marlowe walking off set at the WRONG times (to visit with Paul)
-- Holly "driving" her car to the mall to go "Christmas shopping" (actually being towed) -- like me, she did not have her licence yet! (Since then, she got hers and challenged me -- so I finally took the wheel -- now we both love to drive.)
Me in the middle on the Society page of the Citizen
From the second we met, Holly thought it was a hoot that we shared a "Christmas" name and we kept in touch ever since. I still look forward to her hand-made (by her) Xmas cards. In fact, in 2004, Holly requested my help as 'Charlie' at The Silver Screen Gala she hosted for the May Court club of Ottawa. It was a blast :)
Here is her own online scrapbook with some rare clippings and photos.
Do you remember the Christmas special -- or were you on it too? We'd love to hear from you!
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