Jukebox

Before the days of Walkman, CD’s, and even cassette players, people would listen to the hits from the top artists on 45 RPM records. The corner soda fountain would load a variety of these records into an automatic, coin operated player called a Jukebox. To hear your favorite you would drop some change into the Jukebox and make your selections. The songs available would generally include old standards, novelty songs, and the top hits of the day. It didn’t take long before we chose JUKEBOX as our quartet name, as our goal is to entertain our audience with a variety of songs made popular up through the Jukebox era.

We are all members of the West Towns Chorus. Al Becker is the lead singer, or the melody man. He sets the pace--carries the tune, and the rest of us along for the ride. He’s been singing with Jim Ahlgrim, the baritone, longer than either of them want to admit. Their most recent quartet together, called “Harmony Exchange,“ specialized in comedy and novelty songs, supplying us with a repertoire of instant audience pleasers.

Craig Ahlgrim is Jim’s son and sings bass.  He had the privilege of growing up listening to Harmony Exchange, thus absorbing most of their repertoire.   He is a third generation barbershopper and enjoys teaching tags whenever given the chance.

Although he prefers to sing the entire song, it’s not unusual for Jim Jarosz to be the tenor during one of Craig’s tag sessions. Although tenor Jim has the least amount of barbershop experience in the group, he makes up for it by the quantity of singing he does. Jim is a dual member of Chicago Metro and West Towns Choruses and sings in two additional quartets.