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Tonight's Limestones concert promises laughter, great music, good cause

By Lisa Gulya '07
September 30, 2005

The Limestones a cappella group, a fixture at St. Olaf for nearly two decades, started out simply as a bunch of guys who liked to sing. Now they want to give more than music back to students, in the form of a scholarship fund and reunion concert during Homecoming and Family Weekend.

The Limestones began in 1989 as a nine-man a cappella ensemble at St. Olaf. Over the past 16 years, the group has had nearly 50 different members, as students enter and graduate from the college. Most of them will reunite at St. Olaf during Homecoming and Family Weekend Sept. 28-Oct. 2 for a benefit concert.

The Sept. 30 concert will raise funds for the Limestones-Bob Gilhoi Endowed Scholarship at St. Olaf. Tickets are $5; students will be admitted free.

Gilhoi was an avid amateur musician and the father of Jay Gilhoi '92, one of the original Limestones. Jay is also the composer of the group's signature song, "Cream of Wheat," which describes the consequences of eating Cream of Wheat in a Malt-o-Meal town.

(Malt-o-Meal is minutes away from St. Olaf, as alumni may recall from the cookie-like smell hovering over campus when cereal was being produced.)

"Bob died a few years ago from cancer, and we thought it would be appropriate to thank Jay for giving us the 'Cream of Wheat' song by honoring his dad, who was a huge music fan and just a great guy," says Houston-based environmental attorney Jed Anderson '92, another founding member of the Limestones.

The scholarship was created shortly after Bob Gilhoi passed away in 2002, but endowed scholarships must reach a threshold amount before they are distributed to students.

"Part of the Limestones' dream is to fully fund [the scholarship] so it can be spent," says St. Olaf Director of Stewardship Jean Callister-Benson. The scholarship would benefit students involved in music.

The Limestones already benefit musically inclined students in many ways. The ensemble allows students to perform and enjoy non-choral vocal music, although Anderson doesn't connect any lofty ambitions with their beginnings.

"We were a bunch of guys who couldn't get a date any other way," Anderson jokes. But members became more serious about continuing the Limestones legacy as graduation threatened to end the first incarnation of the ensemble. They didn't want the Limestones to disappear.

The Limestones held auditions to fill spots vacated by graduating seniors and used the modest profits from sales of their first record to help the next group get started. The ensemble has been going strong ever since.

Musical success continued for many Limestones members after college. The a cappella ensembles Cantus, InPulse and Face each has at least one former Limestone in its ranks.

Some Limestones have become choral directors. Aron Accurso '01, recently toured with Seussical the Musical as assistant musical director, and Face member Ben Lunstad, a 1992 graduate, is a biochemist at the University of Colorado in addition to being a vocalist.

The concert will take place Friday, Sept. 30, at 7:30 p.m. in the Lion's Pause at St. Olaf. Three sets of Limestones group by age (graduates from 1990-95, 1996-2000 and 2000-05) each will perform a set of three to four songs each. Then all Limestones will unite on stage for "Cream of Wheat."

A compilation CD, Geology, which draws from the Limestones' five previous releases, will be available for purchase. Tickets will be available at the door.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.