Shawn Mondragon
Lead
Shawn is the only member of the quartet that was actually born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He says he began singing at the age eight (the first song he ever sung was "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night). His interest in singing, for some reason, sparked in 1977 after the death of Elvis Presley (who eventually become one of his biggest heroes). However, Shawn' greatest singing inspiration was his father, Peter Mondragon. His dad, coming from a musical family, and an extremely talented singer himself, encouraged his son's vocal skills by inviting him to sing, alongside him, in the church choir. Shawn dabbled in the musical arts, taking up the Guitar and Saxophone. He also attended dance school, taking classes in: Gymnastics, Ballet, Jazz Style Dance, and Tap. Even though he enjoyed all of these, they all took a backseat to singing. By the time he hit high school, Shawn discovered that he could do all of the entertaining things he loved to do, all at the same time, it was called Theatre. He excelled in Drama, Speech, Concert Choir, and the high school Swing Choir. When he was a Sophomore he even attended Broadcasting School. During his Senior year, he entered his high school chorus teacher's office and saw a picture of his teacher with three other gentlemen. Shawn asked, "what's this?", his teacher said, "oh, it's just a picture of my Barber Shop Quartet, we have a show this weekend. I have some tickets. Wanna come?" Shawn attended the show, heard his teacher's quartet, and sang tags with them after the performance. He was stung by the "Barbershop Bug" bad! The teacher was Farris Collins, and the quartet was one of the Societies most treasured performers, "Bank Street!" Shawn joined the Barbershop Society that following week and put together a make shift high school quartet (with his girlfriend singing the Tenor part), just in time for a high school ensemble contest. He went on to attend the University of New Mexico on the "Hugh B. Woodward" Acting scholarship. During this time, he also began his first "real" quartet, "Harmony Avenue," a favorite in the Rocky Mountain District for many years. Shawn eventually found his job calling, in the field of Radio Broadcasting, doing what he loved to do--Entertaining! He continued his Barbershop career with many other quartet combinations including "the Mavericks," "Lords of the West," and the 2000 Rocky Mountain District Quartet Champions "Distinction," (with his high school chorus teacher and Barbershop hero, Farris Collins). Shawn is still a local broadcast celebrity in New Mexico. His voice can be heard on numerous television and radio commercials around the state. He is a founding member, and Assistant Director, of the Duke City Barbershop Chorus, the Marketing and Public Relations Vice President for the Rocky Mountain District, a high school choreographer, and freelance graphics designer. He is married to his beautiful wife of nine years Darlene.
Matt Vaive
Baritone
Matt started off as a somewhat musical child in Detroit, Michigan. He began
playing instruments at the age of five. Since then, he has learned to play: the
Piano, Flute, Trumpet, French horn, Baritone Horn, Guitar and Banjo (Matt's kind
of a one man band). He left his hometown of Detroit when he was twenty two and
moved to Albuquerque, NM, and got married to his lovely wife Marianne. Matt's
interest in Barbershop was sparked after seeing, what has come to be on of his
favorite movies," The Music Man." He revealed to his wife how impressed he was
with the Barbershop Quartet in the film. His wife's boss, a Barbershopper, was
trying to get him to visit a Tuesday night "New Mexi-chord's" chorus rehearsal.
Matt's wife overheard the conversation and made sure that he went. She attended
with Matt at his first rehearsal. From that night on, he was hooked. Within
three weeks, he was asked to sing in his first quartet, "Harmony Prescription,"
and has not been without a quartet since. His next quartet of four years,
placing as high as fourth place was the "Delivery Boys." After bouncing around a
couple of non-competing quartets, he became the new Baritone for the "Lords of
the West." This was his first quartet with Shawn Mondragon. "The Lords" were a
group for almost four years, until Shawn and Greg, two of the members, moved to
other states at the same time. That year, one of the Societies most beloved
quartets, "Bank Street," parted ways. Matt and Shawn were approached by the
former Bass of "Bank Street," Farris Collins, and asked if they would like to
sing in a quartet. The Director of the "New Mexi-chords," Darren Pretzel, was
contacted to be the Tenor. With only four weeks of long distance rehearsal,
"Distinction" won the RMD Competition in 2000, and remained a quartet for two
years. Matt is lucky to have a loving wife, Marianne, that is incredibly
supportive of his chosen "Sport" of Barbershop, and has two awesome kids
Genevieve and Joshua, who are very involved in music and have both attended the
"Duke City Chorus Youth Harmony Camp." His daughter ,Genevieve, even has her own
young women's quartet called "Once Upon a Time". Matt can be found at almost any
time consuming the local fare of Green chile in some form or other. This has
been an addiction for so long that he finally found a job spreading the Gospel
according to chile, to the whole state of Texas. Matt works for "Bueno Foods" in
Albuquerque. So, if you are feeling a little down and need some spice in your
life, Matt has your chile hook up!
Marco
Gonzalez
Bass
An avid Barbershopper for over 15 years. Many people find it hard to believe that this is Marco's first quartet! Marco comes from a musical family. He spent many years in various school bands playing trumpet. Eventually he took up singing in the church choir with both his parents. Marco actually led his father, John Gonzalez, to the "barbershop calling" after seeing a quartet sing Christmas carols in, of all places, a barbershop! Who'd have thunk it? Marco, along with his father John, have been beloved regulars at "Harmony College" (now called "Harmony University"), the Society's week long Summer learning camp, for many years. Born in Germany, raised in Texas, with many years living in Albuquerque, and even a short stint in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Marco has recently become the "long distance" member of the quartet. Due to his father's battle with a brain tumor for the past few years, Marco decided to move to Huntsville, Alabama. He wanted to take care of his father, and ease a bit of the burden from his mother Gladys. On a positive note, since his move, he has developed an interest in medicine, and will soon head into the field of health care. Before you know it, he'll be mending bones, and fixing chords. By the way ladies, the "soon to be doctor" is single!
Tim
MacAlpine
Tenor
Tim was born
in Kettering, England, with Welsh roots on his mother's side and Scots on his
fathers. This, of course, speaks of a heritage in vocal music crossed with a
tendency to look
comfortable
in a knee-length skirt. After a whirl-wind tour of Asia and Australia, Tim
landed in Los Angeles, California at a little over one month old and began his
life as an American. Always a ham and class clown, Tim began his musical life
singing with the choir in elementary school in California. He took up trumpet
briefly in middle school and tinkered with guitar in high school and college. He
there discovered concert dance and went on to a brief career in musical theater
in the New York City area, followed by puppetry and a little miming. Then there
was a long dry spell as he settled into the practical life of a computer
programming and support specialist. He returned to the dance in the early '90s
when he joined an amateur dance company after he moved to Albuquerque. While
taking a break from the dance company to review his life priorities, he was
introduced to barbershop harmony by his supervisor at work, Bill Chambers. Tim
found himself being drawn into the formation of a new Barbershop chapter and
chorus -- the Bernalillo County's Duke City Chorus, under the direction of none
other than Farris Collins. Tim started out his barbershop life singing baritone
under the tutelage of Matt Vaive, the then baritone section leader for the DCC.
Ironically, when Tim asked Matt if he thought a switch from baritone to tenor
would be possible, Matt said "NO!", or words to that effect. Of course, being a
good baritone, Tim decided to ignore that and pursue a path as a Tenor anyway.
This, of course, became one of the necessary elements for the formation of "the
Summit." Tim often wonders how he got where he is, but then shrugs and gets back
to annoying Matt and making music with the greatest bunch of guys ever. Tim
lives in a state of tension between technology and the performing arts.
Currently he is working at Sandia National Laboratories as a requirements
analyst while at the same time dancing with Dance Expose' an amateur dance
company, and singing with The Summit. He can even be caught doing vocal and
voice-over work at the Labs on occasion! Everyone wonders what he is going to be
when he grows up; but don't anyone hold your breath! He would like to give
special thanks to his loving wife, Diane, who is his number one fan and source
of support. Big kisses, Honey! (Matt HATES it when we do that!)