Harmonic ConvergenceThey come from dissimilar walks of...

Harmonic Convergence

They come from dissimilar walks of life, opposing points of view and different geographic locations, but at 8 p.m. on Tuesdays in North Hollywood, they try for perfect harmony.

These doctors, lawyers, engineers, mechanics, teachers and those otherwise engaged professionally meet every week at Temple Beth Hillel in a concerted effort toward becoming culturally attuned.

These people are not looking for inner peace, or their inner child for that matter.

They are 60 guys in search of the ultimate dominant seventh.

The dominant seventh is a perfect chord, according to Don Goss of Granada Hills, founder of this 4-year-old Los Angeles Barbershop Chorus.

“It’s the chord we hit that makes everyone smile,” he says.

Inner peace may be a byproduct of this weekly group session, but Goss says the members just love to perform and sing.

“I’m not saying that all the members, in addition to having good voices, are hams at heart,” Goss says. “But, on the other hand, I’m not saying that they aren’t.”

In addition to singing, group members are now brushing up on their party manners. This Friday, Saturday and Sunday, they host the Barbershop Harmony Society SoCal West division contest at Glendale High School.

It’s a good news-bad news situation for the local singers.

“On one hand, we want to attract new members, and being host of this 14-chorus event will help,” says group director Richard Lewellen. “On the other hand, it makes it impossible for us to sing,” the recent Harvard University law graduate adds.

The group reasoned that it was bad form to both host and compete in this weekend’s contest, so members will be taking their act on the road. They will compete May 8-10 in the SoCal East competition in Riverside.

The winners of each competition will advance to the Far West District finals in October in Phoenix, with the ultimate goal being the North American finals in Calgary, Canada.

The Valley group says winning is nice, but it’s not everything.

“Some groups are really into competition. That’s the whole reason they get together in the first place,” says founder Goss.

He says the North Hollywood-based group is a little different, in that the primary premise for its existence is the pleasure principle.

“We get together because we want to sing,” Goss adds. “We are into competitions, but we are more into the music and camaraderie.”

He adds that this weekend’s program starts at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Glendale High auditorium and is open to the public.

Lewellen says that if people are interested in joining the group, they should stop by Valley Beth Hillel any Tuesday, and follow the music in from the parking lot.

Rolling Along

The Agoura-based Wilderness Institute annually sponsors a “hike” for the handicapped, in which wheelchair-bound people and others who are physically challenged can enjoy the great outdoors.

Institute founder Brad Childs, one of the hike leaders, says it will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday in Point Mugu State Park. He expects about 50 participants, most in wheelchairs, and about 100 friends, volunteers and staff members who will also make the trek.

Childs says that it’s one of his favorite annual activities and that it’s particularly exciting to see some of the hikers graduate from a wheelchair to a walker or cane.

“It’s great to see how much confidence they gain from year to year,” he says.

Childs says the volunteers are usually members of the Wilderness Foundation who want to share the wonders of Sycamore Canyon with people who don’t usually get to explore it, but he is always careful to warn the volunteers about mishaps that may occur.

“Some people have electric wheelchairs that can short out when we cross the 11 creeks on the hike, and there is usually someone who can’t make the whole trip and needs to be picked up by the support van,” Childs says.

But the most important thing that the new volunteers need to learn is how to control hot-rodders and speed freaks.

“Sometimes the fresh air and camaraderie gets to the guys and they think the trail looks like a good place for a drag race. We encourage the volunteers to discourage this kind of thing.”

Personalized Volunteering

It’s not uncommon, in these times, for celebrities to agree to become part of a benefit concert or some other highly publicized charity event.

The cause is identified, the agents and publicity people contact their clients, and the deal, and the show, get done.

When actress Ellen Travolta, who plays the mother on the TV sitcom “Charles in Charge,” became aware of the work being done by the San Fernando Valley Friends of Women and Children, she decided to become one of the anonymous army of volunteers who support the group’s two Valley shelters for homeless women.

Travolta offered to help the group with fund raising, but wanted to keep her efforts local, like the organization. “I wanted to do something that the community could enjoy,” she says.

What she has come up with is an up-close-and-personal event that will cost $10 per person, with all of the proceeds going to the organization.

Travolta has organized a 2:30 p.m. Sunday reading of the play “The Madwoman of Chaillot” by Jean Giraudoux at First Methodist Church of Van Nuys.

About 20 of her actor friends--including Robert Walden and Jack Bannon--will participate. Christina Pickles will take the title role.

Fish Story

June Kisiel of Burbank is suing a Valley pet shop, contending that the store sold her a lion fish without telling her how vicious it could be.

She says the little sea monster stung her and medical care to treat the wound has to date cost her about $26,000. She says doctors have told her that the continuous pain is not going to go away.

Kisiel says she got the pet several years ago. It was a yellow-and-black striped fish that can grow to a length of seven inches, and she called it Lambert. She regularly fed it live minnows by hand.

One day, when she was feeding it, she says, the minnows wiggled out of her hand before Lambert could get to them. He showed his displeasure by zapping her arm.

She says she went to the hospital and has been under doctor’s care since. She’s had CAT scans, received cortisone injections and lost work and sleep because of the pain.

Kisiel says she hopes to recover some of the money for medical care and lost work with the lawsuit, but she also wants to alert people to the danger.

As for Lambert, he’s gone to the big fish tank in the sky.

Overheard

“I know I’m getting into nostalgia because I’m lost without Ms. Pac-Man.”

--One forty-something woman

to another at the Sherman Oaks

Galleria video game arcade.