After job relocation necessitated the retirement of RAGTIME quartet, Baritone Mike Porrey and bass David Peplinski joined with Gary Thiel and Dick Earnest to from the COMMAND PERFORMANCE quartet from the Northern Gateway Chorus. COMMAND PERFORMANCE was the winner of the LOL District Quartet Championship in its first district competition (1980). The quartet went on to quarter-finalist status at International Quartet contests in Salt Lake City, Utah (1980) and Detroit, Michigan (1981). COMMAND PERFORMANCE headlined many chapter shows in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois.

Quartet personnel consisted of Gary Thiel (tenor)—insurance adjuster for the State Farm Insurance Company, Dick Earnest (lead)—manager of an independent insurance agency, Mike Porrey (baritone)—supervisory staff at Steel King, Inc, and David Peplinski (bass)—bookstore manager at UW-Stevens Point.